Alpha Mist shares an experimental fifth record, Courtesy stuns on her new album, and Mac Demarco releases a 199-song selection of demos
Following on from January’s Five Easy Hot Dogs, Mac Demarco has shared a gigantic collection of previously unheard material – 199 tracks to be precise. Titled One Wayne G, the album consists largely of demos and sketches of material recorded between 2018 and now, with countless pleasant-sounding instrumentals that clock anywhere between one to six minutes, and a total of nearly nine hours.
With titles seemingly plucked directly from his voice note archives, it feels like something you’d stumble across on a beats to study/chill/relax to playlist. There’s a steady rhythm to each of the demos, a meandering and wandering sound that conjures young and carefree days on the American road, just a man and his guitar. Demarco’s improvisational noodling is notably effortless – almost muzak-y at points – and the tempo rarely exceeds a baseline pace. Close your eyes and you can practically imagine him laying back on the roof of his car, joint in hand under the blue California sky.
Released earlier this year, Demarco’s third album Five Easy Hot Dogs is an entirely instrumental offering, with 14 dreamy, palette-cleansing tracks that lean into the songwriter’s slacker roots. Recorded in five days and released as a free download, it’s no Here Comes the Cowboy, and there are no indie rock or funk-ridden jams. It’s listless and breezy, a lo-fi collection of low-stakes stoner jams with seemingly no set road ahead. “For me, this record sounds the most like me that I’ve ever been able to put across. It’s the real essence of the music that I grew up with, or what really resonates inside. It just kind of oozed out. I like the purity of it,” he told Dazed earlier this year.
Elsewhere, Alpha Mist shares an experimental and jazzy fifth record, Courtesy stuns with a selection of ambient dance music, and Kat Duma unveils a sensual debut.