Mac DeMarco squares up, Alex Cameron tours Miami, Dollyrots give you everything, Gotobeds throw a cartoon party and more in today’s Roundup. Let’s hit it and quit it!
1 I’ve said it before. I’m saying it again: A lot of the time, I think Mac DeMarco is half-assing it. The same, however, cannot be said about the twisted minds behind the weird video for his piano-ballad single On the Square, the latest preview of his Here Comes the Cowboy album due Friday. If you have any clue what’s going on here, feel free to share. Then again, you might be better off keeping it to yourself. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Over melancholy piano, DeMarco questions self-fulfillment: “Baby are you satisfied? / Is this all that you had in mind? / On the square / living life that isn’t there.” The accompanying video was directed by William Sipos and Sean Campos and stars Tommy Midnight. “This video has been my most intimate experience with milk yet,” says Sipos. “At one point I had Mac in a latex mask, shivering in a kiddie pool filled with cold milk. I did not feel like a nice person.” Into the pool:
2 Australian singer-songwriter Alex Cameron is no fool. The video for his latest single — the sultry, sax-fuelled slow-groover Miami Memory — finds him cruising the streets in a convertible and cavorting with a beautiful woman. If he has any sense, his next songs will be set in Hawaii, the Caribbean and Bali. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Miami Memory is a story about how we audition in the present for our future selves to enjoy in retrospect. In that way, tender memories that we share together are captured in thought and stored with the same electricity that keeps our heart beating,” says Cameron. “It’s a gift for my girlfriend Jemima, and it is dedicated to the artist Greer Lankton and her partner Paul Monroe. I am lucky to have learned that a group of people can be a shining light.” Enjoy the trip:
3 Everything is what you want. Everything is what you need. And today only, I’m giving it to you. Assuming, of course, that we’re both talking about Everything, the irresistibly punchy first single from Daydream Explosion, Florida duo The Dollyrots’ seventh studio album due May 17th on Steve Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool label. If you were talking about something else, that’s on you. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “This [Daydream Explosion] is the best album the Dollyrots have ever done. Their songwriting has reached a consistent level of greatness” – Steve Van Zandt.” From his lips to your ears:
4 TFP, the guitarist for Pittsburgh indie-rockers The Gotobeds, is a man of many talents. Case in point: He animated the video for the band’s cathartically grungy new single 2:15, from their May 31 album Debt Begins at 30. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Hey, thanks for checking out my cool lil video for 2:15. Wow, I can’t believe I actually finished this thing. What an undertaking. I worked on this off and on for two years on a crappy freeware animation program that would crash if the clip was longer than a few seconds. The number of hours I put into this thing are countless and, honestly, I’d rather just get maced again. Enjoy!” Picture that:
5 Cat’s come back. Cat Power, that is. The mercurial singer-songwriter born Chan Marshall unveils the homey video for the sweetly emotive ballad Horizon, from her most recent release Wanderer. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Directed by Greg Hunt, who has helmed all four Wanderer videos, it was shot in NYC and LA and features a cast of Marshall’s friends and loved ones.” Don’t fight the Power play:
6 Want to add a few psychedelic touches to your Tuesday? Look no further than the gently swaying Flor do Real, the soothingly strange — or is that strangely soothing? — first single from Sao Paulo singer-songwriter Sessa’s upcoming debut album Grandeza. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Grandeza is an album about the natural gesture of love and the softness of the human body,” says Sessa. “It’s also about my love for Brazilian music and its many shapes and colors. I like to think that it exists somewhere among the rituals that celebrate life. It’s a reminder that amongst all the pain, music comes to reaffirm the beauty in living.” Visit the Real world:
7 How do you define the word new? If your meaning is loose enough to include videos that were posted back in November, then South African indie-rock outfit Parlotones’ Can You Feel It video is ‘new.’ If not, well, it’s probably new to you anyway, since the clip has only amassed a whopping 5,600 vides over more than half a year. It comes from their June 28 release China, which presumably was recorded sometime in the ’90s. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The follow-up to 2015’s Antiques and Artefacts, China blends monumental sounds and thrilling textures while touching on the deeper meaning of what it’s like to be human.” You feel them?
8 Kacy & Clayton are in good company. The Saskatchewan duo’s next LP Carrying On, out Oct. 4, was produced by none other than Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. And based on the first single — which also happens to be the title cut — it should be a fetching and fascinating fusion of classic and contemporary country. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Of Carrying On, Jeff Tweedy said “When I first heard Kacy and Clayton, I was struck by how much detail and nuance they had absorbed from what sounded like a large swath of my record collection. When I told them that they were as good as the artists they were drawing from, I’m not sure they believed me. On this record I don’t hear those influences as much as I hear them taking the things they love so intimately and telling their own story. I think they’re a truly great band.” Take it from him:
9 Joan As Police Woman is one of those artists who always seems to be just under the radar. Perhaps that’s where she likes it. I don’t know. I do know Joan Wasser deserves more attention than she gets. For those who aren’t on board, her May 24 anthology — aptly titled Joanthology — will probably be a good starting point. It cherry-picks highlights from her five albums, along with collaborations, a live album and covers like this sensual, stripped-down and seductive version of Prince’s Kiss. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “Joanthology spans the first fifteen years of Joan’s remarkable musical output and includes new, rare and unreleased material alongside more than thirty of her most loved songs. Curated and sequenced by Joan and manager Tom Rose (who discovered and released her earliest recordings) this collection showcases Joan’s songwriting chops, her love of music, of experimentation and of life!” She just wants your extra time:
10 Do you know Julio Nickels? Me neither. And no wonder — he doesn’t exist. He the nom de disque adopted by singer-guitarist Jason Orlovich for his upcoming concept album Feeling Fickle. Judging by the sneak-peek single Local Support, it’s going to be a mix of downtown jazz balladry and noisy post-rock. Fine by me. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “The debut collection, loosely told from a bouncer’s point of view, is a nod to the Warholian hustle of Lou Reed, Tom Waits, even LCD’s James Murphy at his most caustic. “It’s the guy we’ve all seen, loading in, tending bar, in the stalls,” Orlovich says. “I’ve always been more interested in those folks, grinding it out into middle age on the Polish metal circuit than anything you’d find in Bushwick.” Meet him here:
11 For some folks, change is a good thing. For others, not so much. For Toronto indie-rockers Shallow Waves, it’s a noisy thing, as showcased on their freaky, epic new track Shapes. SAYS THE PRESS RELEASE: “As we transition from our alternative-rock roots into a more psychedelic sound, Shapes is a very exciting new single for us to be sharing with you today.
While Shapes still encompasses some elements of our original tone, it introduces new elements of what you can continue to expect from us in future releases.” It’s the shape of things to come:
