“These days, the Mac you encounter via phone is much more laid back and affable, similar to the one you encounter on his last two records, the critically acclaimed and Polaris Music Prize shortlisted Salad Days, which ended up on several “best of 2014” lists (including Rolling Stone’s), and its followup Another One…”
“Mac DeMarco admits it was a strange choice, ending Another One—the mini-LP he released back in August—by listing his New York address and offering to make you a cup of coffee if you ever stop by. Not a bad choice, per se, but he definitely underestimated the implications: people have taken him up on the offer in droves…”
” Marlon Williams puts his choir boy-meets-punk rocker touch on country music, King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard brings us back to the sunny ’60s and Savages forcefully reminds us that love is the answer…”
“Ty Segall isn’t yet as prolific as Robert Pollard or Ryan Adams, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying his damnedest to reach their collective level of (over)productivity. Since 2008, his solo output alone encompasses seven full-length albums and in excess of 30 singles, EPs and miscellaneous live or split records. Factor in his collaborations with Sic Alps, White Fence and Mikal Cronin, as well as limited-run releases, and it’s clear that the 28-year-old’s catalog is calibrated to give completists fits…”
What do Boy George, Sufjan Stevens, and James Murphy have in common? A love of Ezra Furman, apparently, two of the three were spotted at a recent Furman show. The 29-year-old Chicago songwriter has been releasing records in various guises since 2007—initially with his band, the Harpoons, and more recently with The Boy-Friends who play on his current solo album Perpetual Motion People (out now on Bella Union).
” Fuzz do try to fancy things up with string charts on the relatively graceful “Silent Sits the Dust Bowl,” and the 13-minute title track (yes, a song called “II”) shows this band can jam at length without losing the plot or the intensity…”
“The results on their second album, II, are not much different from their self-titled debut except it’s clear Segall’s actually had more time to put into songwriting. Not only is the album longer, the songs take time to develop. Opener ‘Time Collapse pt. II / The 7th Terror’ starts off with the sound of a vinyl being scratched and chopped up under a needle which then segues into a barrage of low-end bass and guitar, amplifier gain turned up to a level that shouldn’t even be legal…”
“Mac Demarco has a way about him. It could be the boyish smile, Canadian chill vibes or that gap between his teeth (sigh), but the moment “Mac Daddy” (yes, someone called him that) took the stage voices were blown and phones were up. I had expected this sort of crowd response from Father John Misty, but Demarco’s giddy fanbase came as kind of a surprise…”
““This is weird, huh?” says Ezra Furman, genuinely mystified. “What happened here? Two thousand people at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. What the hell happened here?”
We’re just two songs into an hour-and-50 minute set from Furman and his band, the Boy-Friends. As they move breathlessly from the itchy, life-affirming pop of Anything Can Happen to the searing, Bo Diddley-indebted At the Bottom of the Ocean, it’s impossible not to love and admire them in equal measure.”
“Drinks is the delightful project of Welsh singer Cate LeBon and Tim Presley (White Fence). Their tunes are a little bit severe and minimalistic in all the right ways. Live, the music has a rougher edge and the shared stage presence is powerful…”
“Louder, darker and half an hour longer than 2013’s self-titled debut, the double-album depicts a society numbed by its own emptiness; a world where people can’t think for themselves. You can hear it in the combative frustration behind ‘Red Flag’ (“Seen the secrets of your wasteland/Open up, I’ll make you face them”) and the flashes of fatalism in songs like ‘New Flesh’ (“Feel no pain, feel no sadness/In this world where living is lifeless”)…”
“The set, which touched on favorites from each of his four studio albums, clocked in at about an hour and a half, normally too slight to be satisfactory, but it worked with DeMarco’s rapid-fire pacing. And a quick scan of the audience as they filed out showed that they heeded his call. Relaxed? Check. Enjoyed themselves? Double check. And you get the feeling DeMarco did the same…”
“Mikal Cronin is the latest artist to stop by the A.V. Club’s offices for their “Undercover” series, which features artists selecting songs to cover from a list. Cronin picked the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ hit “The Impression That I Get”, swapping his usual guitar for the song’s signature trombone. Watch the performance below via The A.V. Club…”
“On their second album, Fuzz II (due October 23), the three friends—Segall on drums, guitarist Charles Moothart, and bassist Chad Ubovich—pick up right where their pummeling, proto-metal, self-titled 2013 debut left off…”
“The new release comes of the back of the band’s 2013 self titled debut LP Fuzz, released through independent Californian record label In The Red Records. Very little has been said by the band about this latest release. The band seems to be content with letting the music do the talking.
“the Ty Segall-fronted (or backed, since he sings from behind the drum kit) project has gained a new bassist: Chad Ubovich, mastermind behind one of our favorite groups to emerge out of the local scene in 2014, Meatbodies. And when it came time to write their forthcoming LP, Fuzz II, out Oct. 23 on In The Red, the group took a stab at a songwriting process that was foreign to each of them, resulting in a much darker, doomier and, as Ubovich notes, “way more evil” sound…”
“Then Ezra Furman took things up a notch with a spirited, sax-fueled set. Furman’s a charismatic, charming guy and between the confessional, storytelling nature of many of his songs and folk-rock style, it’s all a little late-’80s Violent Femmes yet there’s nobody else quite like him…”
“In a raucous headlining set for Panache Booking’s showcase at the Knitting Factory on Wednesday, Ezra Furman proved why his brand of snarling glam-punk goes above and beyond mere posturing and into essential territory. Clad in a plaid school-girl skirt, with pearls around his neck and lipstick on his face, the purple-haired, gender-fluid Furman delivered a series of three songs mid-set that were clear game-changers. The first, “Body Was Made,” is a vitriolic fuck-you to body police; he dedicated it to “all the queers.” That was followed promptly by “Wobbly,” possibly one of the truest odes to gender dysphoria ever penned. But it was a rollicking rendition of the Velvet Underground’s “Rock & Roll” that placed these personal protests back within a musical milieu, reminding the crowd that music has been about rebellion for a long, long time now. Furman is brilliant at using his art to examine the possibilities of a post-gender reality. — Lindsey Rhoades…”
“If II proves anything, it’s that Fuzz remains a force to be reckoned with. Segall and co. have only honed their chops in the years since their debut, and it’s almost terrifying to project what will come in the next stage of their evolution…”
“America’s current favorite Canadian, Mac Demarco, returned to Dallas last night and he brought all of his synthy, dad rock hits with him. The wunderkind, who is no longer 22 or booking free shows like he did at Bryan Street Tavern way back in 2012, proved he was playing in the big leagues, performing charismatically to a packed house of screaming fangirls at House of Blues on Monday…”
“The opener, “Time Collapse Pt II./ The 7th Terror” has Segalls’ vocals screaming over the coming doom no one can escape. “Let it Live” comes with an opening riff that rattles over Chad Ubovich’s bass and Segall’s more than competent drumming. The song comes to a close with a wailing string section, which scratches itself right into the thrashing of Mootheart’s guitar. ..”
“Mac DeMarco discovered Rockaway the way so many others since 1977 have. “Probably from the Ramones song, I think,” he said. DeMarco is a star in the indie-rock scene and prior to the recording of his most recent album Another One, he began looking for a new home base…”
“Fuzz, a no-nonsense garage rock trio that specializes in loud kickass songs and even louder kick ass songs, will play two shows in the Bay Area on Sunday and Monday nights…”
“With a new Fuzz album, though, Segall is back in the spotlight, playing drums with his power trio of guitarist Charlie Moothart (Moonhearts) and bassist Chad Ubovich (Meatbodies). This time around, he heaves forth an impressive 14-song double album made for headbanging and the cultivation of bad vibes, as if all the warmth and goodwill of last year’s Manipulator had turned to ash…
“Furman’s latest album, “Perpetual Motion People,” seems to incorporate the entire history of rock and roll. He takes everything from art-pop to ?50s doo wop and filters it through his unique perspective, writing about personal topics like gender fluidity, depression and identity…”
“Mac DeMarco right now is definitely one the favourite musicians in skateboarding. We met him on his recent tour at the Gebäude 9 in Cologne. And after the interview and the concert he told us a a few things more while a social plate of sausages…”
“His latest full-length, Perpetual Motion People, is a study in extremes between body-shaking punk rock and achingly emotional songs. With a voice reminiscent of Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes, the 29-year-old Furman — a devout Jew who identifies as gender-fluid and occasionally dons dresses and red lipstick — is a whirling dervish of sound as well as a deft and endearingly vulnerable lyricist.”
“Mac DeMarco, Indie rock’s hardest-working slacker, needed a new passport. So the Canadian was leaving his home in Queens and driving to Montreal when he spoke with The Journal News by phone…”
“She Got Harder” (out on a 7″ in November) doesn’t read like three dudes serving the base by capitalizing on name recognition. This is music that’s exciting on its own merits, and impressively, it isn’t dwarfed by their collective discography.
“Leading the bill is Brian-fucking-Wilson, who will be performing Beach Boys’ 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds in full, which is worth the ticket price alone. Joining him will be Animal Collective, Ty Segall, Sleep, Flying Lotus, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Lee Scratch Perry. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats and Black Mountains complete the first wave of acts…”
