Pitchfork reviews Mikal Cronin’s “MCII”
The outcome is a great sounding album that sits nicely between the poles of “fuzz war” and “cooing balladeer.” Cronin has proved with this album that, like Cobain…
The outcome is a great sounding album that sits nicely between the poles of “fuzz war” and “cooing balladeer.” Cronin has proved with this album that, like Cobain…
“…the horn-enriched “Better Man” marries a winding, delicate melody to swaths of glowing distortion, resulting in a fragile but formidable tune…”
“Strap on a pair of headphones because SPIN has collected 10 albums that are ready for streaming…”
“Cross-dressing and later undressing, off-kilter Canadian pop singer Mac DeMarco smears makeup and whipped cream over his face in the new video for lo-fi glam lullaby, “My Kind of Woman”…
“…Per usual, the proceeds of the digital sales go to the Ariel Panero Memorial Fund. The 7” comes in a special edition “bronze and beer haze” vinyl…”
“…Prepare to get intimately familiar with the gap in between Mac DeMarco’s front teeth, and learn what he looks like in a dress and wig…”
“…the performance clip opens with a brief homage to Woody Allen’s Manhattan before cutting to the psych-sludge track…”
“…Adult Swim offer a quick taste of the upcoming mix via Thee Oh Sees’ rollicking “Devil Again,” a reliably sloppy jaunt from the San Francisco fuzz warriors….”
“…The free compilation, sponsored by Dr. Pepper and titled Garage Swim, collects 15 previously unreleased songs and is set for a May 6 release date…”
“MCII offers an even split of hooks, beauty and brawn…”
“It was poetic – dozens of scorching garage rock shredders blowing our heads off from one general anonymous direction. It was delirium, the good kind…”
“Part-fuzz, part-adrenaline, all garage-rock fury, “I Come From The Mountain” sounds like a swirling, rapid-fire rocker that emerged suddenly from Dwyer’s Bay Area dungeon…”
“The band’s debut 7-inch sold out almost instantly, but now “Fuzz’s Fourth Dream” from that single has received the video treatment…”
“But Mikal Cronin’s second album, MCII, mixes shambling rock with a perfectionist ear with quality control, as its star applies a beachy sparkle to 37 minutes of fresh, fun rock ‘n’ roll…”
“New Orleans husband and wife duo Quintron & Miss Pussycat managed to kill Mother Earth, use a marshmallow spaceship to travel the universe, and successfully locate the happiest place in the cosmos…”
“Empire of the Sun, Solange, Polyphonic Spree, Mac DeMarco, William Tyler, and more have been added to the lineup for this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, taking place from June 13 to 16 in Manchester, Tennessee…”
“The Canadian performer (and oh, he does perform) has professed an interest in Weezer in interviews, so we weren’t too surprised that he and his band grabbed “Undone—The Sweater Song” …”
“San Francisco font of garage rock Ty Segall will be there, perhaps in an altogether new guise (he’ll have released three new albums by the time Pickathon weekend rolls around, no doubt)…”
“Thee Oh Sees’ music video for “Minotaur” featured some bloodshed, but it was otherwise a pretty lighthearted video…”
“If there’s any band that can get away with a video that grotesquely depicts — and arguably celebrates — murder, it’s San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees, whose lacerating fuzz-rock evokes all sorts of primal urges…”
“Their unique live shows, a combination of homebrew instrumentation and other-worldly puppetry, have earned them fans in odd places and taken them, most recently, to the Kennedy Center…”
“Coffin is an easy, spring-appropriate listen. Something about Thee Oh Sees always sighs warm air. This album does that, too, but with hurriedly-spiked punch heavy on its breath. Drink up, Johnny.”
“…It also illustrates that there’s no pre-established blueprint for an Oh Sees album, which means there’s no telling what’s next. As usual, that’s an exciting prospect…”
“The band played a forceful bunch of songs — at least judging by the four final ones that I saw — that drove the tightly focused, crowd-surfing fans to adrenaline levels unimaginable the morning earlier…”
“But one aspect that’s often overlooked is that Thee Oh Sees mastermind John Dwyer plays a mean flute…”
“…all gorgeous harmonies and palette-cleansing strings, demonstrates a band in charge of its own weird, fuzzy destiny…”
“Frontman John Dwyer licked the mic and wielded his guitar like a bazooka, then he spotted fellow Bay Area groovie Ty Segall in the front row of the VIP section and demanded he join the band onstage…”
“The dominant mode is galloping, double-drummered, overdriven but super-tight ramalam…”
“It’s a song slathered in acid-burnt fuzz where Presley stretches out with an echoing psych guitar solo after hammering out a simple, solid power chord hook…”
“Thee Oh Sees are set to release Floating Coffin, the follow-up to 2012′s Putrifiers II, next week…”