Styles: singer-songwriter, Americana, regressive Others: Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons
Mac DeMarco is a formula musician. That’s not a bad thing. He has a passion for A&R rock, but on Here Comes the Cowboy, he leans toward the singer-songwriter motif moreso than the controlling maestro persona of previous releases. We know that Mac records all his albums by himself, and the cowboy motif here only reinforces any sort of solitary confinement he seeks. It’s a convenient out for how self-manifested aspects of his artistry are, straddling the line between casual jokester and precise composer.
Circuit des Yeux releases live album and DVD Reaching for Indigo: GAIA INFINITUS on Drag CityCircuit des Yeux releases live album and DVD Reaching for Indigo: GAIA INFINITUS on Drag City
Why, it’s your friend and ally Haley Fohr, back from the live circuit as Circuit des Yeux, and she returns bearing happy tidings from the Netherlands. I’m sure you’ve guessed at the meaning of this jocund meeting from the title above, so here it is writ plain: welcome to your consciousness the news of a Circuit des Yeux live album titled Reaching for Indigo: GAIA INFINITUS, chronicling Fohr’s landmark performance at last year’s edition of the Dutch festival Le Guess Who? It’s OUT NOW through Drag City in multiple comely forms.
Oren Ambarchi announces Simian Angel with percussionist Cyro Baptista, out in July on Editions MegoOren Ambarchi announces Simian Angel with percussionist Cyro Baptista, out in July on Editions Mego
The time has come for one of our Top 5 Living Australians, Oren Ambarchi, to follow-up his 2016 LP Hubris with a brand new slice of full-fucking-length studio-recorded music.
Félicia Atkinson unveils new album The Flower & The Vessel, out in July on Shelter Press, shares trackFélicia Atkinson unveils new album The Flower & The Vessel, out in July on Shelter Press, shares track
Styles: anti-cynicism pop Others: Ariel Pink, Karen Carpenter, Sarah Cracknell, Trish Keenan
At some point this decade, time began to falter. It would skip and repeat itself, stutter dumbly in place, surge violently ahead, and crash back to the present. It was the “End of History,” but for the exact opposite reasons that neoliberal scholars like Francis Fukuyama argued at the turn of the millennium.
Styles: ambience Others: c-, Motion Ward, West Mineral Ltd.
If a horse stops in front of your house for no reason.
If a horse comes in the night.
I turn the matter over and over in my mind and on my computer.
When rooms go quiet buildings speak.
Surround.
Straus calls forth superstitions embedded in spaces.
Casts them out.
Soft little sounds dampened by must.
Like a small mouse nibbling on the sepia pages of water-warped books lined up under a windowsill.
Like something shuffling through the front gate, through the years.
Like a closed door swinging open and nobody’s there.
Lena Raine is in high demand. I get a taste of this while trying to schedule this interview. Between travelling worldwide to awards ceremonies — most recently the BAFTAs, where she was nominated for Video Game Music of the Year — and navigating work (including the colds that always seems to prey on those who travel), it feels like luck when we finally catch each other on the phone.
