News Tracks: Mac DeMarco, Disclosure & More

Hello everyone and Happy New Issue Friday!

You know how it is these days - every week the pile of impromptu collaborations and sneakily released new tracks form a mountainous pile of clutter that wouldn’t look out of place on an edition of Britains Biggest Hoarders. Never fear, though. The DIY writers have gone all Cash In The Attic on the internet and combed through to pick out the gems that need expert attention. With Mary J. Blige back on her soul game after her festive album, our favourite cheeky chappy Mac DeMarco also up to his usual tomfoolery, and much more to boot, this week is golden.

Mac DeMarco – Passing Out Pieces

When a typically cheeky Mac DeMarco shuffled in his seat, on air for a TransCanada Alberta Backstage show, and quietly declared his new album was called ‘Salad Days’ and that it’d be out in April, anybody with their wits about them might’ve thought he was taking the piss. The build up for the Canadian’s third LP is all about the inside jokes, the parody lead tracks; naked dancing to boot. But just like on his last record ‘2’, there’s an earnestness to DeMarco’s music that he’s maybe a little shy about projecting, because there’s nothing worse than being serious and going all ‘I’m a songwriter’, holier-than-thou. By acting goofy, Mac gets his kicks, the fans get to joke around - everyone’s happy. But ‘Passing Out Pieces’ (just like the final track, ‘Still Together’, on his last album) is honest, old-fashioned storytelling. ‘Watching my life passing in front of my eyes,’ runs the glazed opening line, practically peering right into a grubby touring van and the process of gig after gig after gig. The guy’s bit-by-bit becoming a star, and ‘it’s hard to believe, what it’s made of me.’ This guy has a heart and at least on record, he’s not afraid to show it. ‘Salad Days” lead track is also, above anything else, hyped up to the heavens on a sweet fix of melodies and short-lived solos. The fairground-ride waltz of it all isn’t too dissimilar to Grizzly Bear’s ‘Two Weeks’, and though it’s not completely representative of the record’s overall, mellowed out groove, it showcases the best of an often divisive character. (Jamie Milton)

Disclosure ft Mary J. Blige – F For You

Normally if you fancy giving ‘F For You’ by Mary J. Blige the old collab treatment, you’re probably going to be emailing her third-in-line PA for a very long time. No such worries for Disclosure, who are rattling names off the bucket list of legends; Chic, and even the elusive Azealia Banks, (oh wait, she flaked on that, didn’t she?). Blige’s vocals throw a warm, sunny Basement Jaxx, Dee-Lite type soul vibe into the mix - I’d neglect to call it vintage-sounding, because that makes me feel bloody old - but there’s a kind of 90s nostalgia about it all the same. Chucked in with Disclosure doing what they best - fidgety, bloopy dance music - it almost makes me want to go and take my camo trousers with dangly velcro tags out of storage. Almost. (El Hunt)

Manchester Orchestra– Top Notch

On the surface, pre-cursoring an album with a lead single entitled ‘Top Notch’ might come across as an act most conceited, but in the case of Manchester Orchestra it’s indubitably justified. An immaculate, steady-paced juggernaut, the track is centred around a gargantuan riff that thrusts its weight around like the indie rock equivalent of a cut from a Hans Zimmer score, a comparison further solidified by the silky string section that lurks subtly in the background. Rounded off with the vocal/lyrical tour de force that is Andy Hull, whose alluring harmonies are more endearing than ever, ‘Top Notch’ is an expert display of rock theatricality, without any of the repulsive gimmickry that usually comes burdened with it. (Joshua Pauley)

Tycho - Montana

It’s fitting that Tycho should take his name from a lunar crater, because his latest offering is out of this world (yes, yes, a dreadful pun, but it’s true) Hansen has being rummaging through used bookstores as of late and plucking out some sci-fi gems. On ‘Montana’ you can hear crisp drums shining like chrome space ships, flying straight through Tycho’s huge, expansive melody. Since focusing more on his live work, Hansen’s music has taken an exciting turn down post-rock alley. Teetering on a shiny tightrope that hangs over the mario kart rainbow road, ‘Montana’ feels emotive, with tension at its core, and it is beautiful work. (El Hunt)

Eagulls - Possessed

Wearing their punk stripes like a badge of honour, Eagulls have always given hints of something colossal. Years worth of standalone singles have given their bombastic, fuzz-drenched take on things an ever-growing momentum. It’s not until everything winds up into an album though, that every piece of the jigsaw comes into place. Listening to Eagulls’ torrent of cascading noise for 30 minutes straight is a vital experience for anyone requiring even the gentlest wake-up. It’s heady, heavy in spirit and ‘Possessed’ is a fitting title for anyone stumbling into the band’s path. They soon become a part of the gang, a fellow ten-foot-tall, screaming fool.(Jamie Milton)

Holly Herndon – Chorus

Holly Herndon has always been forward thinking in terms of vocal manipulation, contorting and twisting organic samples of her voice into short stabs that evoke a feeling of shortness of breath -synchronised perfectly in time to jerky movements in her videos. ‘Chorus’ sees Herndon sharpening and softening her sound at the same time, the menacingly on-point percussion slicing and popping as she browses through computer folders and an animated image of Herndon rendered. An eerily angelic choir of vocal samples that hiccup and skip over eachother sounds like a remixed church choir. The relationship between computers and humans that Herndon often explores in her music is shown clearest here, as you feel intrusive staring at the various workspaces that are featured throughout the video. (Aurora Mitchell)

FAMY - Donkey

Los Porcos are essentially a joke. The London/Manchester group wear all-white suits, swing and pout on stage, sing in almost mocking falsetto. That doesn’t stop the project from being brilliant, but it does lead to the odd suspicion when a band like FAMY (sporting two members of Los Porcos) return after two years out of the spotlight. Also, they’ve got a song called ‘Donkey’. They’ve started writing really huge, anthemic songs that have an undeniable whiff of Mumford about them. And still - it works. Even if they’re secretly all laughing at us, FAMY are writing some momentous, gigantic pop songs that have as much right as an ultra-serious vanity project does of hitting the big time.(Jamie Milton)

Oscar Key Sung - All I Could Do (Hunt for the Breeze Remix)

Oscar Key Sung’s original ‘All I Could Do’ was already a bit of a thumper, but Virginian producer Hunt for the Breeze has pushed it further down that path. With the stretchy vocals manipulated into their own instruments, Hunt for the Breeze makes the absolute most of what he’s been provided. The drum circle rhythms in conjunction with the twinkling production is alarmingly pretty, and somewhat magical. Something akin to a beatmaker on his way to battle, this maestro remix of ‘All I Could Do’ is a fantastic showcase of a budding talent that’s got nowhere to go but up. (Joe Price)

Juan Wauters – Escucho Mucho

To the best of my knowledge, the list of gear Juan Wauters brings to every show goes something like this: framed photo of Andre the Giant (x1), wolf-shaped lamp (x1), small end table for the Andre the Giant photo and the wolf lamp (x1), hand-painted flag honoring Wauters’ beloved neighborhood of Jackson Heights (x3), Queens and bare light-bulb to be mounted on the microphone stand (x1). Once his stage is in order, Wauters runs through a solo banter-less set of nylon-string folk tunes from his upcoming full-length, N.A.P. North American Poetry, with introspective tunes like ‘Water’ and his new and equally pensive Spanish-language single, ‘Escucho Mucho’.(Matt Putrino)