mac demarco

i love that his favorite album is John Lennon Plastic Ono Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_WGJScwjgg

s/o to mac for hipping me to this donald fagen penned song at the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJMelsJukC0

it makes a lot of sense that he loves the solo Lennon stuff--I'd imagine that stuff like Isolation, or Jealous Guy, or the acoustic version of Watching the Wheels are major influences on his writing

This dude is very chill

😔

smth about his phrasings on tracks like "This Old Dog" reminiscent of Albarn on Think Tank - so I'd recommend this to anyone into that record!

aaah, you're correct (not an albarn fan partic)

not sure if he is really worth a deep dive but on a superficial level i find his music really pleasant, great guitar sound, reminds me a lot of 70s lennon but definitely lighter. idk i also dug kurt vile for about 15 minutes before i got bored and slightly annoyed by him so we'll see but im enjoying this now

if you like the new one, you'll probably like Another One, too. My favorite release of his, the first time he mastered the studio. One of the best sounding records I've heard in years.

what a chill dude

http://standardcriteria.ca/cool-story/mac-demarco-filmed-porn-in-front-of-minors-and-me/

lol

not sure what's worse that article or a drunk dude filming his drunk friend masturbating

equally harmless

This past July marked the one year anniversary of the night that is forever embossed onto my mind’s eye. It has taken me until this moment to come to terms with the reality of what happened. At first, I was in awe that I spent almost an entire day with a fellow gap-toothed artist and his seemingly rad friends; prior to this I had only volunteered at venues and other festivals, never spending more than a few minutes with “the talent”. I thought that night was one of the best nights of my life, then I found a pinch of sanity. I occasionally think about the kids I met then – I wonder how they processed the events, if they think back to it as much as I do.

seems kinda awkward and vulernable here (not sure why.. net work television i guess)

love them high notes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRxaATvzZk

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f0/01/16/f0011601abda507f24d793b18c2e5459.jpg

I was really surprised that that was his network tv debut, figured he'd already done everybody's show twice by now.

Wow, "On The Level" is a really ploddingly boring song isn't it.

no it's good, the whole album is good

otm

i keep coming back to the final track, "Watching Him Fade Away." far and away the most moving song he's ever written, just devastating... it makes total sense that his favorite record of all time is John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band... I love this performance of the song, especially when he hits himself in the head with the mic at 1:55... that's fucking real, not this beach ball chill dude stoner formless baseball cap shit that he's spawned/known for... I just got the new issue of Tape Op in the mail and there's a big interview with him about his recording process, can't wait to read when I get home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2T8BRbcybw

yeah it's an honest record, and he makes the prosaic thing work very well, the songs are quite relatable

diminishing returns for me. the last couple albums are a bit plodding to my ears. i like a few of the tracks on the new one a bunch ((my old man, this old dog) and like him over acoustic guitar , but i haven't gone back to listen to it since the first week it came on spotify.

I dunno if I can see what my most played albums of the year are but I'm guessing it's this one and the new Tinariwen

i wish i liked it more, i am a mac demarco booster for sure

Salad Days is what hooked me so I'm trying to get into the early stuff proper

is there a thread for "artists who you would never see live but love their records"? was thinking of starting one with Mac in mind. i've only seen him twice, once at a warehouse show in 2012 with like 30 people, and then a year and a half later at the 9:30 Club. sold out show, insufferable crowd, & Mac hamming it up. I didn't like Salad Days, but that show was so disappointing... it was all about the party at the expense of the music. also, a lot of his songs don't translate well live because of his recording techniques. "Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans" sounds so cool and creepy on that EP because he worked so much with tape speed. played in standard tuning, it was a pretty boring song. the best part about Another One was the way it sounded. This Old Dog has stronger songs that don't rely as much on production, so if he played here I'd see him again... but I ain't goin to DC again...

xp Rock 'n' Roll Nightclub is pretty good, like I said "Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans" is a gem.

i saw him once, it was an ok show. the band arrangements of some songs are a bit too straight ahead sometimes, i.e. freaking out the neighborhood is a lot "funkier" on record

yeah otm, the arrangements are very straight. the appeal of all of his records prior to This Old Dog was the way they sounded imo.

he does different shit with his vocals live, which i love. on record it's kinda in that lou reed mode... and then when he gets on stage it goes to some different places.

i like this better than the album version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWLe2_9a7Ps

sounds v good, interesting that it's slowed for copyright reasons

also interesting that there are plenty of fans interested in a live version of this song, kinda speaks to how he's somewhat positioned in rock history, personally I imagine that even though the recording techniques/studio gimmickry are interesting what'll eventually be his 'legacy' is that he wrote excellent songs

here's that tapeop interview, been waiting for something like this about Mac's recording techniques for years: http://tapeop.com/interviews/120/mac-demarco/

his work ethic is nuts, jesus.

also i love 2 (consider it one of my top five.. maybe ten favorite albums of this decade) and loved this antidote. just imagining the dude working those songs out alone while doing medical experiments and whatever other horse shit for petty tape reel cash is great.

"Sounds like a ton of work. Were your buddies doing this? Would you work for a day, and then go hang out with your buds and talk shop?

No, I closed myself off. The only person that really came in to see me was this guy living across the courtyard from my place. When I was mixing, he'd ask, "Can I come check it out? I'm a musician too." Other than that, Pierce came in and I almost had him sing backup vocals on "My Kind of Woman," but it didn't work out. I stayed at home for a month and figured it out. Now I can think, "Ooh, I want this sound." I'll go on Sweetwater.com, and it'll be here tomorrow morning. But, back then, it was like, "Fuck, this is all I have." I had no money. Even buying reel tape was like, "Fuck, twenty-five bucks!" Luckily there was a place across the street that had a whack load of weird shit."

nice interview!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw5JRwdlorQ

*listens to mac demarco once*
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JO_Tn9d9u1A/hqdefault.jpg

He needs to change his style for the next record otherwise he will be might be forgotten quite fast

i don't know about "forgotten" (he's made a bit of a mark here) but the enthusiasm will definitely decrease, i think.

I'm curious to see if his fans grow up with him & if he continues to gain new young fans. I think he could stay at the level he's at rn sorta like Animal Collective: his new records might get as much praise or attention, but he'll be fine if he can keep a devoted fanbase while continuing to bring in younger fans into the fold.

yeah... i was gonna say the strokes but then i remembered mac is a product of this era of music making and will never actually be "MAJOR LABEL MONEY" rich or whatever. he basically has a good set-up to do whatever the fuck he wants (maybe something amazing?) because he knows that none of this stuff isn't really that important. he's just doing his thing.

might not* i meant to say

because he knows that none of this stuff isn't really that important. he's just doing his thing.

i don't know about that, i think he's just free of the intense pressure & money involved in a major label/pop situation. selling out 1,000+ cap clubs & theaters and plateauing there is a pretty sweet position to be in imo. and yeah he has the freedom to potentially make something amazing, new, and unexpected.

he is free of it, and it's weird how he's like the only "indie rock star" currently (maybe car seat headrest a little now?) but still... he has a cool lane to continue progressing as an artist.

car seat headrest is a flash in the pan, dude is way too po-faced and impersonal to become a star like MD. he's essentially Father John Misty, but worse music and no sense of humor.

i'd put him above father john. teens of denial is pretty damn good in places. but yeah i definitely am not as excited by it as i am (and were) by mac's stuff

i don't care for either of them, but in terms of establishing a devoted fanbase that will follow you thru time, you've gotta get their hearts. MD admitted as much in a recent interview, it was sometime this year, that he did "a lot of internet stuff" at the start of his career. im sure he meets and talks to a lot of fans at his shows. he put his address at the end of a record and invited them over for coffee! it's a personal connection & also an audience that skews younger than CSH & FJM - that's important. the kid that fell in love with your record as a teenager will probably be at least peripherally aware of you the rest of their life.

definitely. but also car seat has a bunch of twitter fanatics into his music similar to mac. father john misty is of a different generation/time of indie music and combats that with cynicism and being a freaky hippie guy or whatever.

i could compare mac to paul westerberg omg

Struggling to think of a more jarring image than this pic.twitter.com/ZVeZl1WynS

— Nicky Smith (@MUGGER1992) October 23, 2017

lmao wearing a cross colors coat on charlie rose