#daryl johns

[jordanthecomeback]

The Lemon Twigs at Bonnaroo (2019)

[orpheusdrinkinga40inadeathbasket]

[thebowerypresents]

Mac DeMarco Delights Sold-Out Radio City Music Hall with New Music on Sunday Night

Mac DeMarco – Radio City Music Hall – September 7, 2025

Canadian singer-songwriter, producer Mac DeMarco has fostered a sound that elevates bedroom pop for slackers of the aughts. For more than a decade, the consistent musician has churned out albums every two to three years to the delight of fans, and despite brief rumors of retirement, which DeMarco dispelled when his sixth studio album, Guitar, dropped last month. 

After the 2023 release of One Wayne G, a compilation album of 199 mostly instrumental tracks, Paste described Demarco;s vocals as “wearier, higher and more strained than ever, couching the album’s monotony in a cozy atmosphere.” Opening a two-night stand at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, DeMarco ascended the sparse stage with his four bandmates, keyboardist Alec Meen, drummer JD Beck, bassist Daryl Johns and guitarist Pedro Martins. 

Appropriately, Guitar’s lead track, “Shining,” kicked off the set to an illuminated room full of rabid fans shouting, “I love you, Mac” in between songs. There would be new and old favorites throughout the night to the absolute joy of fans. The singer delightedly announced, “I’m pleased to be back in the Big Apple” before eliciting cheers for “On the Level,” from 2017’s This Old Dog. The canine theme was on full display for 2015’s mini-LP song, “Another One,” when DeMarco pulled someone from the front row to walk him as he wrapped the microphone cable around his neck and moved across the stage on all fours. 

DeMarco’s antics made up for the minimal stage production, as the band and only two crew members have been traveling in a Sprinter van for this tour. His infectious behavior encouraged a sing-along on “Still Beating” and handclaps for “Heart to Heart,” from 2018’s Here Comes the Cowboy. Although older songs received more cheers, the new material was welcomed as he offered playful descriptions. “Rock and Roll” was “the essence of what brings us here,” and the “deeply religious” “Holy” was the last of the new songs for the set. A pair of oldies capped off the evening with the swooning “My Kind of Woman” from 2012’s 2, and this author’s personal favorite, “Chamber of Reflection,”  from 2014’s Salad Days. —Sharlene Chiu | @shar0ck

(Mac DeMarco plays Radio City Music Hall again tonight.)

(Mac DeMarco plays Roadrunner in Boston tomorrow night.)

Photos courtesy of Lexi Yob | @lexiyob

[orpheusdrinkinga40inadeathbasket]

[orpheusdrinkinga40inadeathbasket]

[dustedmagazine]

Daryl Johns — S-T (Mac's Record Label)

At its best, Daryl Johns’ self-titled debut plays joyful, cinematic and a little askew, with an affection for the chintzier things. The gauzy drift and twinkle of “Corner Store” could run under an establishing shot of some vaguely stuck-in-time American small town, neither hollowed out nor booming — the kind that may only exist in the movies and, at the end of the story, never existed at all. It’s a soaring pop ballad, with washy chimes and soft, booming drums, but flown sans Dramamine, a little queasiness induced on the ascent. The vocal’s wayward drawl is reminiscent of Ariel Pink, a fellow-traveler in terms of Johns’ acid-wash experiments with pop music past.

And like Pink’s work, there’s a weirdness eating its way up towards the buoyant surface of Johns’ art. “Corner Store,” for instance, is undercut by a skronking stretch of horns, which adds tension to the otherwise rosy street scene. Or consider the way the chorus of “Barbeque In the Sun” is brought to such a sincere pitch that you can practically feel a layer of hyper-saturated unease spread over the sing-a-long hook. The reverb bounce of the drums and the circular, fuzz-free guitar lick only add to the eeriness — like how Patrick Bateman loves Phil Collins and Huey Lewis. It’s a credit to Johns as a songwriter and arranger, and to his producer and collaborator Chris Fishman, that this disquieting ambience is conspicuous without feeling too knowing or overt.

Prior to this record, Johns mostly made his name as an instrumentalist. He has played in Mac DeMarco’s band and in Drugdealer, to name just two. And indeed, it’s instrumentals that make up half of the album’s 14 songs. “Golden Showers” and “Crash,” played with a clean but edgy aptitude, might be extended Steely Dan intros or bridges. The gleaming guitars on the former dive and noodle over punches of bass and skittery drums, while the latter finds a narrative flow with a lightly buzzing piano connecting the appearances of an almost baroque, guitar-led motif. No doubt the Dan-minded will also approve of “Palermo”’s jazzy jangle. Others, like “Happy” or “The Deputy of East Carlock,” though they hoof similar sonic terrain, can sound slight, headed somewhere interesting but not quite finishing the trip. It’s perhaps down more to the track sequence than the content, but these less fleshy tracks are often where the record bogs down, albeit brightly, in a shimmering slurry; more film score than official soundtrack.

But if Daryl Johns was an official soundtrack, then it’s “I’m So Serious,” a thrusting piece of oddball pop rock, that plays at the movie’s climactic moment. The opulent, ultra-waxed guitar chords hit with the precision of The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” while Johns, over pleasant bumps of bass and fill-happy drums, swerves between the affirmative vigor of Kim Mitchell on “Go For A Soda” and the nervy romanticism of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, or, sure why not, Tommy Tutone. It’s an ecstatic pastiche; the headiest Bleachers song you can imagine. In an interview earlier this year, Johns described his approach: “All these ‘all caps’ artists make unnecessary experimental and dark music.  I just wanna make smiling fun music. Playful music.” The thing is, he’s made an album that’s, yes, fun and playful, but not without moments where an ominous shadow darkens the sheen. Nothing unnecessary about it, and just try not to smile.

Alex Johnson

[inthewindtunnel]

Daryl Johns

Let Her Go

"Love just like a flower But when the flower dies You've got to say goodbye Let her go"

Goodbye x

[thebowerypresents]

Before heading to Europe next week, Canadian psychedelic-pop singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco, a one-time Far Rockaway resident, is in the East Village this week to play his fifth album, the excellent Five Easy Hot Dogs, all the way through each night at three don’t-miss shows at Webster Hall.

(Mac DeMarco plays Webster Hall again tonight and tomorrow.)

Photos courtesy of Emilio Herce | @emilioherce