Mac DeMarco: ‘I’d like to feel some kind of peace’

Dazed Digital February 2, 2023

“As his addictive new album Five Easy Hot Dogs is released, the artist opens up to Emma Garland about the emotional – and real-life – journeys he’s been on lately, his monk-like existence and the worst thing he ate on the road…”

SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MAC DEMARCO – FIVE EASY HOT DOGS

Spill Magazine February 1, 2023

Although this record is something different from what it is expected from the artist, it keeps Demarco’s distinctive sound and personality that characterize his songs. With every tune, more instruments and harmonies arise and maintain a smooth mood that is reflected in each melody. Overall, this album is the perfect company for any road trip.

Review: Travel Through Mac DeMarco’s ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’

The Luna Collective February 1, 2023

“Five Easy Hot Dogs has a cohesive sound and stands solid as a unit — it feels present, smooth, and peaceful.”

The winding path to Mac DeMarco’s ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’

Document Journal February 1, 2023

“Five Easy Hot Dogs captures the essence of DeMarco—the person and the musician. The relaxed and somewhat bittersweet record falls between stories of love and youth that characterize his earlier works, like 2, and the melancholy melodies of This Old Dog. The new record relies solely on sound—no lyrics—a decision made by the artist to differentiate his work, and to propose something new. Five Easy Hot Dogs debuts a DeMarco without complacency; he invites the range offered in ambiguity—in storytelling unrestricted by the specificities of language.”

Live Review: Ty Segall @ Princess Theatre

The Music January 31, 2023

“…Suddenly the scene bursts into action as the rest of the Freedom Band emerge amongst a dervish of roadies preparing the stage for the full-band assault, and there’s a sudden wall of noise as they unleash into the buzzsaw dirge of older track Wave Goodbye, the thick molten riffs getting heads up the front, banging in unison before dissolving into a lengthy wig-out. It’s immediately apparent that this is a far different beast to the Ty Segall of last visit, having evolved away from his garage-pop foundations into a more cosmic, jamming behemoth. He’s always given the vibe of not caring the slightest about anything but what he likes, so the shift works seamlessly. His bandmates are fully invested in the transformation and follow their leader into the fray with gleeful abandon”

Hot 100 First-Timers: Mac DeMarco Debuts With 2019 Track ‘Heart to Heart’

Billboard January 26, 2023

“Mac DeMarco has already tallied Billboard chart accolades, and now he’s also a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as his song “Heart to Heart” debuts on the Jan. 28-dated ranking at No. 98

The track, from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s fourth studio album, 2019’s Here Comes the Cowboy, debuts almost entirely on the strength of 5.8 million U.S. streams (up 7%) in the Jan. 13-19 tracking week, according to Luminate”

Stream Mac DeMarco’s New Album Five Easy Hot Dogs

Stereogum January 26, 2023

“Ultimately DeMarco spent four months in this state of creative transit. The result is a rewarding abundance of vibes and textures, less a collection of songs than a state of mind to be explored. It’s as chill as you’d expect — as chill as you’d hope. Stream Five Easy Hot Dogs below.”

Best New Albums: This Week’s Records to Stream

Paste Magazine January 26, 2023

“DIY pioneer Mac Demarco found solace in solitude as traveled the U.S. and abroad to record his newest instrumental record with his makeshift mobile studio. Five Easy Hot Dogs isn’t his first rodeo with instrumental tracks. The singer/songwriter released a small, eight-track instrumental album Some Other Ones for fans back in 2015. This time, the opening track “Gualala” gives Demarco fans a familiar feeling with his signature synths tweeting in and around the song, accompanied by a mixed style of plucking and strumming from an acoustic guitar and a rounded bass line to keep the song moving steady. The LP attests to the joys of escaping to places where no one knows you, if just for a moment. Each song’s runtime is about two minutes and is named after the location where the track was recorded. And the tracks from each place maintain a particular theme with the use of similar instruments. Vancouver, which consists of three tracks on the album, quickens the pace of the record. You can imagine DeMarco getting a little more pep in his step as he takes a little walk around town. The 14-track album bears a light feeling throughout the listening experience, thanks to the stripped-down production, and encourages you to find the beauty in the mundane—create when you feel inspired, and create because you love doing it”

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard share video for ‘Astroturf’

xsnoize January 25, 2023

Today, they present a new video for “Astroturf,” a track off of 2022’s Changes. The album was originally conceived in 2017, and is a concept album that is ” built around this one chord progression – every track is like a variation on a theme,” says Stu Mackenzie. “Astroturf” is one of those creations, a 70s-tinged soft-pop earworm. The accompanying video was filmed in the band’s Australian studio. The band adds: “We filmed this live then overdubbed the fuck over it. Recording is fun.”

Le Tigre Announce First North American Tour In 18 Years

Stereogum January 24, 2023

“Last year, Le Tigre performed together for the first time in over a decade at the This Ain’t No Picnic festival in Los Angeles. Today, the dance-punk trio — which is made up of Kathleen Hanna, JD Samson, and Johanna Fateman — has announced their first full-scale tour in 18 years, which will kick off in May and continue on through the summer. It includes stops at multiple Primavera-associated events and at Mosswood Meltdown Festival, which is hosted by John Waters.”

Le Tigre Announce First Tour in Nearly 20 Years

Pitchfork January 24, 2023

“Le Tigre have announced their first North American tour dates since 2005. The shows take place in the spring and summer. Check out the full list of dates below.”

Le Tigre Roar Back for First Tour in 18 Years

Rolling Stone January 24, 2023

“Electro-punk outfit will kick off a global trek in May”

Mac DeMarco In Blissful Limbo

MTV January 24, 2023

“At the top of 2022, Mac DeMarco packed some guitars and gear in his 1990s Toyota Land Cruiser and started driving north up the West Coast. The singer-songwriter, best known for tucking away heartfelt observations on love and loss behind sluicing guitar lines and a jokester persona, told few about his road-trip plans. He barely knew himself. He just kept driving. A few days in, he pulled off the highway near Fort Bragg, a small city in Northern California, to take in a beautiful triangular rock jutting up from the gleaming Pacific Ocean like a geological shark fin. Then he took a photo of the sewer outlet directly across the road.”

Mac DeMarco Is Doing Exactly What He Wants All the Time

Exclaim! January 23, 2023

“Judging by Mac DeMarco‘s thrift store fashion sense and his reputation as a goofy prankster, it might be fair to assume that he approaches recording with the same sense of irreverence. Spend a few minutes speaking with the man, however, and it quickly becomes clear that he’s an expert studio craftsman who takes his trade seriously”

Ty Segall and Freedom Band @ Adelaide Uni Bar

Scenestr January 23, 2023

“There was a heightened anticipation for Ty’s first Adelaide visit and judging by the post-show discussions overheard from fanboys, there was not any disappointment”

The 25 Best and Most Anticipated New Albums of 2023 (So Far!)

Cosmopolitan January 22, 2023

“Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs” included in the best albums of 2023!

Best New Albums: This Week’s Records to Stream

Paste Magazine January 22, 2023

“[Five Easy Hot Dogs] bears a light feeling throughout the listening experience, thanks to the stripped-down production, and encourages you to find the beauty in the mundane—create when you feel inspired, and create because you love doing it.“

Hold on tight to garbage you love

Blackbird Spyplane January 22, 2023

“Mac DeMarco — he’s a young “GOAT of melody” who’s been running musical circles around the competition since he put out his first album of funny, off-kilter guitar pop in 2012, kicking off a Spyplane Certified Run of Zero Wack Albums (S.C.R.O.Z.W.A.)”

First Stream: New Music From Trippie Redd, Kali Uchis, The Kid LAROI and More

Billboard January 22, 2023

“Last year, Mac DeMarco challenged himself to start driving and not return home until he had created a new album. “Maybe it’s the last couple of years, or maybe it’s my age now, but the idea of forgoing any sort of normalcy or comfort and making my entire life, for a segment of time, completely insane feels very inspiring to me,” he explains in a press release. “I stayed out on the road doing this for almost four months.” He came back with Five Easy Hot Dogs, a charming instrumental exercise that plays out in the order of his trip, and feels like a sumptuous conversation with a curious soul who happens to be an acclaimed, still-evolving indie singer-songwriter.”

‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ Out Now!

Mac DeMarco January 20, 2023

Check out Mac’s new album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs!’

How to Quit Smoking and Record an Album While On a 7,000 Mile Road Trip, According to Mac DeMarco

GQ January 20, 2023

“Around this time last year, Mac DeMarco started off on what can properly be called a Great Big Adventure. As a mainstay of the music scene since 2012, he’s already spent a lot of time on the road touring his easy-going indie rock tunes like “My Kind of Woman” and “For the First Time.” But after two years cooped up at his home in Los Angeles during the pandemic, he had a backed-up well of wanderlust. So after finishing a show in San Francisco, he sawed a kick drum in half in Golden Gate Park, packed it up with a portable recording rig in the back of his Land Cruiser, and hit the road. “I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t know where I was gonna go, and I didn’t know when I was gonna come back,” DeMarco told me”

The 34 Most Anticipated Albums of 2023

Pitchfork January 13, 2023

Mac Demarco: Five Easy Hot Dogs

“Mac DeMarco recorded his new album, Five Easy Hot Dogs, on the road. “The plan was to start driving north, and not go home to Los Angeles until I was done with a record,” he explained in a press statement. Each song on the album, as a result, is named after the city in which it was recorded, including three in DeMarco’s native Canada—Victoria, Vancouver, and Edmonton. Five Easy Hot Dogs follows DeMarco’s 2019 record Here Comes the Cowboy”

Special Interest Is The Last Band Standing

SPIN January 6, 2023

“Special Interest’s breakthrough sophomore album, The Passion Of, was released in June 2020 — in the midst of a summer that marked nationwide social uprisings and innumerable protests against police brutality and the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. It was a time laden with intense strife, anger, and grief. The no-wave punk quartet debated whether or not it was the right time to release a new album, but they ultimately decided to do it. People could use it as a motivational soundtrack to fight against the fucked up shit going on, to put it succinctly’

The Incandescent Hope of Special Interest’s Dance-Punk Anthems

Pitchfork January 4, 2023

“In this Rising interview, the New Orleans band discusses the delusions of American exceptionalism and what it means to make radical ideas a reality.”

Mac DeMarco announces new instrumental album, ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’

NME January 4, 2023

“Mac DeMarco has announced a new instrumental album called ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ – find all the details below.

The Canadian artist is due to release the 14-track project on January 20 (CD/digital) via his own Mac’s Record Label. A vinyl edition will follow on May 12 – you can pre-order/pre-save here.”

Mac DeMarco Announces New Album Five Easy Hot Dogs

Pitchfork January 4, 2023

“Mac DeMarco has announced a new album of instrumentals recorded on a 2022 road trip. He made Five Easy Hot Dogs during a jaunt from his Los Angeles hometown to a cabin in Utah, which he conceived as “kind of like being on tour, except there weren’t any shows, and [he’d] just be burning money.” The song titles correspond to the cities where they were made, and it arrives on January 20, with vinyl editions following on May 12. Check out the tracklist below”

Mac DeMarco’s Next Album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ Chronicles an Epic Road Trip

Rolling Stone January 4, 2023

“Mac DeMarco — fresh off his annual Christmas cover — will kick off 2023 with his first new album in four years, Five Easy Hot Dogs. The instrumental album will arrive on Jan. 20 on digital/CD, while a vinyl drop is scheduled for May 12 via Mac’s Record Label.”

These Offbeat Australian Rockers Became Stars — By Breaking Every Music Industry Rule

Wall Street Journal December 29, 2022

“King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard released five studio albums this year, encouraged fan bootlegging and didn’t rely on TikTok”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: “Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava”

Pitchfork December 21, 2022

“Certainly, this is one of their loosest, most sprawling records, with almost every track exceeding seven minutes; on the other hand, even the most outré odysseys are less a product of improvisation than intricate arrangement. When the Afrobeat-steeped “Ice V” and the dizzying 13-minute showstopper “Hell’s Itch” settle into their fleet-footed grooves and start introducing new ideas every 16 bars, the effect is less like a band showing off their chops and more like rotating MCs chiming in with a few rhymes on a posse cut. And where past Gizzard epics have embraced a racetrack construction, whipping in and out of recurring motifs at regular intervals, the mischievous “Magma” is built more like a spiral staircase, its guitar accents and frisky rhythms swirling skyward en route to the cataclysmic, wah-wah-splattered finale…”

Ezra Furman tells us about her Top Five Records of 2022

Brooklyn Vegan December 12, 2022

“As is widely known, I have the correct music taste,” Ezra Furman says, tongue perhaps in cheek, in presenting us with her list of favorite music of 2022. “Other people are in error. For example, the number one album of 2022 seems to be something called Mind-Nights by Tailor Swift. The most talked-about artist of the year is Conye West, who very clearly said ‘slavery was a choice’ in 2018, giving decent people reason to ignore him forever, and yet he is still selling lots of records and commanding the public eye. Meanwhile the transgender rock’n’roll artists creating the great classics of our era (Alex Walton, Asher White, Harmony’s Cuddle Party) go mostly unheard and unheralded.”