New Commute Albums of the Year 2023
New Commute
Here are the records that caught and held our attention throughout the year. With hundreds of albums that passed through the New Commute headphones, it was not easy to narrow this down.
Here are the records that caught and held our attention throughout the year. With hundreds of albums that passed through the New Commute headphones, it was not easy to narrow this down.
3. Mac DeMarco, One Wayne G
If you have heard all 199 songs (or nine hours and 30 minutes) of this, I am calling the police so that they can remove the bookshelf that has fallen on top of you.
Mac DeMarco’s new album may be entirely instrumental (and based on different cities he’s visited) but even still, “Vancouver 2“ has a melancholy sound about it that’ll let you catch a sad vibe without having to listen to lyrics.
The DIY indie hero shares his adoration for Kenny Beats, his disdain for guitar pedals, and how his 199-song album One Wayne G came to life.
Filipino singer and rapper Eyedress has released a new single featuring Mac DeMarco called “The Dark Prince,” co-written by Demarco and Eyedress, as well as Zach Fogarty and John Hill.
“If I’m going to write something, I need to move forward,” he said in a recent interview, his first since his opus, “One Wayne G,” was released. “I like this stuff. I’d like to share it. I don’t really know how. I might as well just give it all at the same time.”
The artist will be playing a one-off show in Los Angeles as well as residencies in New York, Paris and at London’s Hackney Empire. Accompanied by a full band, he will be performing ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ in its entirety, as well as other songs from his catalogue with new arrangements.
The shows will see the singer-songwriter perform his recent album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs’ in full
“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…”
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.
“Five Easy Hot Dogs has a cohesive sound and stands solid as a unit — it feels present, smooth, and peaceful.”
“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.”
“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”
“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.”
“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”
“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.”
“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”
“Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs” included in the best albums of 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.“
“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.)”
“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.”
Check out Mac’s new album ‘Five Easy Hot Dogs!’
“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”
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”
“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 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 — 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.”
Snail Mail and Mac DeMarco have shared a surprise new song. Their collaboration is called “A Cuckhold’s Refrain – Peppermint Patty.” The song features Lindsey Jordan singing the verses with DeMarco singing the chorus, and the title is not a red herring—this is a song about being cuckolded. “You and my wife, me in my shed,” Jordan sings.
‘Mac DeMarco has announced a number of new North American tour dates. The shows take place across the United States in November. Before then, DeMarco has additional concerts lined up in Europe and the United States. And, tomorrow (April 6), he’ll be opening for the Strokes at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. ‘
Mac DeMarco covers Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas! Happy holidays from Mac.