Wack De-Who?
As far as my memory reaches, I think I’ve always had a bit of a laziness when it comes to investigating trends. By no means do I mean this in an “I’m so cool” kind of way (this is not to boast or to brag), in fact I’ve generally found that it leads to finding out about cool things later than I would have if I’d simply listened to my peers’ recommendations. Mac DeMarco is definitely one such artist that I have more or less ignored for no good reason over the past three years. Sure, I’ve heard tracks in passing and even tossed out an ill-informed opinion now and again, but for the purposes of being a participant in present day culture I’ve decided enough is enough; if I want to go on being the type of person who gives opinions on music, it may as well come from a place of pseudo-authority.
Doing the Work
For the purposes of efficiency and having the sound fresh-in-my-mind, I felt it was paramount that I perform my listening in one sitting. One can only take so much of any artist, so I limited my selections to Mac’s four studio albums: “Rock and Roll Night Club," “2," “Salad Days," and “Another One." To be clear though, this was still 122 solid minutes of Jingle Jangle Mac-Rock—nothing to sneeze at.
The Good
If there’s one thing Mac DeMarco’s good at, it’s coining a sound. I can honestly say DeMarco has created one of the most recognizable tones in popular music today. Though “Rock and Roll Night Club” is significantly more slowed down than the rest of the albums, I found that for the most part instrumentation stays pretty consistent throughout all the albums released so far. Chorusy, reverby, airy guitars hard panned to the left and right channels, subdued Beatles-like bass, simple rock drum riffs, cassette-esque phase, and a slightly pitched down mix show up on nearly every track. Consequently, I think I’d be able to identify if a song was by Mac DeMarco within the first couple seconds of its playing.
With that specific instrumentation, DeMarco has also done a great job of defining an aesthetic; I can’t help but get distinct pictures in my head when listening. I find it all to be quite beachy with a twist of modern stoner-chic. It’s like '60s surf rock with a distinctly slowed down energy; I imagine a beach town outgrown of its heyday, not quite sure what to do with itself as the neon hotel signs, which have gone unchanged since the release of “Surfin’ Safari,” begin to rust in front of a palm tree filled sunset (not so unlike my own Santa Cruz, eh?). This tone is niche and highly crafted, so if you find yourself digging it, no Mac album in particular is going to let you down.
The Bad (?)
It’s not really the place of anybody to criticize music, but I would say there are some specific phenomena of ‘Mac DeMarco’ as an artist that I feel are worth addressing. The sound consistency which I mentioned earlier for instance functions as a double edged sword in my eyes. After “Rock and Roll Night Club,” which has a distinctly more slowed sound and vocal style than the other tracks, I could have believed all of the following albums were one big super mix. Often times long stretches of albums would blend together, the 4/4 drums and poppy vocals fading over each other to form one long track with a few stops and time changes, every so often punctuated by the jarringly different (and much welcomed) tracks such as “Boe Zaah,” “Still Together,” or “Chamber of Reflection.”
Another thing I’ve noticed, which I must admit is a bit of a turn off, is that liking Mac DeMarco himself seems to be a big part of the scene. Among hardcore fans I’ve found there to be this sort of infatuation about how ‘real’ and ‘genuine’ Mac is, and he certainly isn’t doing anything to dissuade those ideas. While I can’t really know how much is actually real and how much is personae, little things like giving out his address and saying, “Come over, I’ll make you a cup of coffee!” at the end of “Another One” strike me almost as painfully down to Earth—a sort of stunt or joke upon the whole matter. I’m sure he has his rationales, but sometimes I can’t help but wince at what strikes me as trying a little too hard.
Conclusions
In the end, I would definitely confirm that Mac DeMarco is well worth the exploratory listen. He’s certainly talented, and though I’m not sure I’ll ever remember more than a few song names, I’m sure I’ll find myself using Mac DeMarco as the perfect soundtrack for driving up the foggy Pacific coast sometime soon.
