Review Summary: Cooking up something great!
This album is one of the most solid albums I have heard in a long time because it simply is chill, weird, and rebellious at the same time, while maintaining a vintage vibe to it. I first heard of "2" from Pitchfork and enjoyed the first listen (and many subsequent listens) because of how raw and real the sound was, and how much of an ordinary guy Mac DeMarco seemed to be, looking sort of like an indie frat star who shreds both on and off the stage.
Overall, his music is like the persona he gives off: very personable and interesting. I do not completely understand his love of cigarettes, but hey, it doesn’t do anything to hurt his music, as shown here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgmigN_rWxE), and just gives him more of a “you can’t mess with me” impression.
When you play the tracks, just listen to where the beats take you in your mind. If you keep the vibes from his songs in your head the entire day, I guarantee you will have a more relaxing 24 hours of your life. I love the songs because they seem to be about ordinary, relatable experiences. Mac is a total badass because he says it how it is, which a lot more people are starting to do in music now.
This is kind of off topic, but honestly, the music scene is not getting worse, it is getting more well rounded and perfected. We have (in general) gone from the acoustic, psychedelic, and lo-fi sounds of the 60s and 70s to the more funky 80s and alt-rock heavy 90s, through the pop loving and indie 2000s, to this period in music where bands are looking back in retrospect on all the music in the past and trying to use bits and pieces of inspiration from it to complement their own style in the present. That is what Mac does brilliantly on this album, taking what is good about Lou Reed, Steely Dan, and similar artists to create a soundtrack that sounds as classic as it does modern, with raspy calming vocals and both electric and acoustic instrumentation.
Also, the album is not too long either, so if you have a little 30 minute drive somewhere, you could get the full experience of this album. And now I hear he might be collaborating with Tyler the Creator in the future too… nice.
