6 New Albums Out Today: Mac DeMarco, John Cale, Måneskin, The Motet, PGroove & The C.I.A.

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Mac DeMarco, John Cale, Måneskin, The Motet, Perpetual Groove and The CIA. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs

Mac DeMarco’s new instrumental album, Five Easy Hot Dogs, is out today through the Canadian musician’s Mac’s Record Label imprint. The 14-track effort was recorded on a 2022 road trip from his current hometown of Los Angeles to a cabin in Utah. Each song on the album, Mac’s first full-length release since 2019’s Here Comes The Cowboy, shares its title with the location where the track was recorded and mixed. DeMarco expanded on the road trip that yielded Five Easy Hot Dogs in a press release, which reads in part:

I had my guitars with me, a bass, a weird little drum kit with a kick drum we sawed in half in Golden Gate Park, all the stands and cabling I’d need, a couple of mics, an old model D, and a TX7. I wound up picking up a bunch of stuff as I went as well, trying to keep it as travel friendly as possible though.

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. I stayed out on the road doing this for almost four months.

All the songs on this record were recorded and mixed at the variety of spaces I stayed, in the corresponding city from each song title. Every track is also in chronological order. I tried to record something every day while I was out there. I kept audio and written journals, and took photos and videos as well. A lot of this stuff will remain just for me for now, but I’m happy to be able to share some of the music with this record.

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John Cale – MERCY

John Cale is back with his first album of new music in a decade. MECRY sees the Velvet Underground co-founder reinventing himself once again. Cale welcomed a number of guests on MERCY including Animal Collective on “EVERLASTING DAYS,” Sylvan Esso on “TIME STANDS STILL,” Weyes Blood on “STORY OF BLOOD,” and more. Across the 12-track set, Cale interprets some of the more turbulent aspects of the past several years and also looks back on his 60-year career, as press materials for the album explained:

The writings and recordings that shaped MERCY piled up for years, as Cale watched society totter at the brink of dystopia. Trump and Brexit, Covid and climate change, civil rights and right-wing extremism—Cale let the bad news of the day filter into his lines, whether that meant contemplating the sovereignty and legal status of sea ice melting near the poles or the unhinged arming of Americans. Lessons from a life (still being) richly lived floated to the fore, too, nodded to on the previously released “NIGHT CRAWLING.” If we’re always regretting our past, aren’t we conscripting ourselves to permanent disappointment? And in the end, as he considers alongside Weyes Blood during “STORY OF BLOOD,” aren’t we more capable of saving one another than a god we will never know?

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Måneskin – Rush!

Italian rock outfit Måneskin released their third full length album, Rush!, today through Sony/Artista. Formed in Rome in 2016, the quartet currently nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy Award is made up of lead singer Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi and drummer Ethan Torchio. The 17-track Rush! serves as the follow-up to 2021’s Teatro d’ira: Vol. I. Produced mainly by Fabrizio Ferraguzzo and Max Martin, the album was recorded in Los Angeles, Tokyo and various spots in their native Italy. The record features previously released singles “Supermodel,” “La Fine,” “Mammamia,” “The Loneliest” and “Gossip.” Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello appears on “Gossip.” Morello discussed the experience, stating:

“When I heard that there was a rock and roll band from Italy that was blowing up around the world, I was like ‘Really? Come on.’ Then when I saw them play live I was blown away. They are unapologetically loud, unapologetically sexy, and unapologetically ROCKING and deserve to be one of the standard bearers for rock and roll for a younger generation. I got to jam with them at their studio in Hollywood, it’s a great band, they all play great, they write great songs, they connect with their audience in a deep and meaningful way, and if you’ve seen them play live the crowd goes OFF! It looks a lot like some of the big bands of the ‘90s with the crowds bouncing, so you know they are doing something right.”

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The Motet – All Day

All Day marks The Motet’s 10th studio album and is the Colorado funk outfit’s first instrumental LP since 2009’s Dig Deep. According to the band, All Day “reatins the infectious grooves and immaculate, layered arrangements that The Motet have become known for. But by recentering the listening experience around the playing and composition, All Day emphasizes the band’s instrumental mastery molded by two decades of shared musical chemistry. As a result, the new LP promises to showcase a world-class band at the peak of their powers.” The Motet — drummer Dave Watts, bassist Garrett Sayers, keyboardist Joey Porter, guitarist Ryan Jalbert and saxophonist Drew Sayers — previewed the album with the single “79.” Watts wrote the song in his home studio, which tragically burned down in Colorado’s devastating Marshall Fire in late 2021.

“’79” is one of four tracks that I’ve written for our new album, and will be the first instrumental song we’ve released for a Motet record since 2009,” Watts shared. “Those tracks were written in my home studio, which was destroyed in the Marshall Fire, so seeing them finally come to fruition feels like a truly cathartic experience.”

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Perpetual Groove – Sweet Oblivious Antidote (20th Anniversary Edition)

Almost 20 years ago to the day, on January 21, 2003, jam scene veterans Perpetual Groove put out their impactful studio album, Sweet Oblivious Antidote. Today, on the eve of its 20th anniversary, PGroove released the Sweet Oblivious Antidote (20th Anniversary Edition) edition featuring two bonus tracks recorded in 2022. Originally recorded by what for many years was the core and most recognizable lineup of the band, guitarist Brock Butler, keyboardist Matthew McDonald, bassist Adam Perry and drummer Albert Suttle, Sweet Oblivious Antidote will also be pressed to vinyl for the first time as part of the expanded reissue. The bonus tracks, recorded last year with current PGroove second drummer Darren Stanley, are the well-established live staples “Suburban Speedball” and “Out Here.” The updated release was produced by Mark Michaelson remixed by Jason Kingsland (Belle & Sebastian, Band of Horses) and remastered by Ed Brooks (Death Cab For Cutie, Brandi Carlile). Sweet Oblivious Antidote, available on vinyl for the first time, begins with the band’s most well-known track “Three Weeks,” which Butler spoke to.

“Not limited to ‘Three Weeks’ alone, a lot of the lyrics on Sweet Oblivious Antidote can feel like a time capsule where I left a letter to my future self,” Butler explained. “Some things seem silly put through the lens with 20+ years of life experience. Some feelings are so different from how I see the world today, it’s almost like a different person altogether.”

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The C.I.A. – Surgery Channel

Surgery Channel marks the return of The C.I.A. whose membership consists of Denée Segall (vocals, lyrics), her husband, Ty Segall (bass, percussion, backup vocals), and Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly (bass, synth, back up vocals). The new LP follows the trio’s previously released 2018 self-titled debut. Their sophomore effort was written by the three members in 2021 and it was recorded at Ty Segall’s Harmonizer Studios and mixed at Golden Beat by Mike Kriebel. The band previewed Surgery Channel via the singles, “Bubble,” “Impersonator” and “Inhale Exhale.”

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Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.