Mac DeMarco is a dude who I put off listening to for way too long and now I literally have him on repeat. Sure, there was the whole Pitchfork “Best New Music” credit recently bestowed on his second full-length (8.2, for those who care about such things), but I’m a comedy guy and it was seeing his name pop up on the comedy blog Splitsider in an article titled “The Endearing Goofiness of Mac DeMarco’s Weird Web Videos” that forced him onto my radar completely and absolutely. Who was this weirdo with the beautiful songs, wild grin, passion for Viceroy cigarettes, and shameless distate for production values… AND WHY WAS HE NOT IN MY RECORD COLLECTION YET?!
The Delphines
Friday, June 28, 2013
Memorial Union Terrace
9:30 PM; Free
On record, the music is lovely. Pleasant stocatto guitar melodies floating over bouncy rhythms. Think Deerhunter’s shimmery nügaze, but with the sense of humor of early Ween if they were a Jonathan Richman cover band. Mac’s music straddles two worlds that I very much like, namely the sort of ramshackle lo-fi indie rock of the mid ’80s (Half Japanese and The Feelies come to mind) and the latest bunch of garage-dwelling singer-songwriters including Ty Segall and Kurt Vile.
If you’re like me, you probably knew guys like Mac in college. Maybe he was the dude who spent weeknights looking for oversized bushes to jump into just for the impulsive fuck-all of it, or maybe he was the dude sneaking backpacks full of beer onto the roof of the humanities building, or maybe still the guy pissin’ on the 50-yard line of the football field at 4 in the morning… All I’m saying is that the guy seems cool. Genuinely cool. No pretense, just great songs and mischief.
In terms of Mac’s live show, I’ll leave you with this: There is a short and relatively un-storied history of stage banter albums (“Having Fun on Stage With Elvis,” GBV mastermind Robart Pollard’s “Relaxation of The Asshole,” Tom Waits’ “Tom Tales”) and, maybe it’s just cuz like comedy, but I eventually wanna hear one from Mac. The dude’s cahrming sense of humor easily translates through his between’song riffing. Don’t miss his FREE show tomorrow at the Memorial Union Terrace that’s wedged into his packed summer festival run that includes Bonnaroo, Pitchfork, and L.A.’s FYF Fest.