ISSUE #16
Good News
by Mac Miller
Woozy, worn-out and gently despairing, the first single from Mac Miller’s posthumous project Circles dropped this week and we were not emotionally prepared.
If you weren’t aware of another Mac Miller album on the way, you’re in good company. We’ve been listening to Swimming on repeat and mourning the years we weren’t aboard the Mac train, assuming we’d become fans only at the end of the young star’s discography. According to Miller’s family, the rapper had been working on a companion album to Swimming with producer Jon Brion before his unexpected overdose on September 7th, 2018. That project will see a light of day that Mac never will, and in no small way he lives on to enrapture, inspire and entertain us once again.
Good News opens with staccato guitar that sounds harp-like and echoes as if submerged in shallow water. Something like a marimba softly echoes the bittersweet progression as Mac raps about the trap this is his mind, overthinking and apologizing, running himself in circles.
There ain't a better time than today
But maybe I'll lay down for a little, yeah
Instead of always trying to figure everything out
And all I do is say sorry
Half the time I don't even know what I'm saying it about
The hook revolves around the world’s need to see the young star shine even when he’s ragged and deflated - but not too brightly. There’s a carefully manicured image of the rapper that the world craves, and Mac is tired of being that person.
Good news, good news, good news
That's all they wanna hear
No, they don't like you when I'm down
But when I'm flying, oh
It make 'em so uncomfortable
So different, what's the difference?
While he strives to free himself from the constraints of expectation and rest his tired mind, he ultimately resigns himself to his fate, lapsing back into apathetic surrender and beginning another mental lap with what little gas is left in the tank.
Well, it ain't that bad
It could always be worse
I'm running out of gas, hardly anything left
Hope I make it home from work
Well, so tired of being so tired
This tragically beautiful and resigned song is made all the more powerful by the fate Mac may have seen coming, but which we know he eventually met: permanent escape from the pressure of his fame through fentanyl, knowingly sold as something else.
Mac Miller. Image courtesy of Eonline.
We don’t have a release date for Circles, but the track titles are below. It breaks our heart that Mac isn’t here to bathe in the praise he deserves, but he’ll never be forgotten. Legends never are.
♥ Zach
1. Circles 2. Complicated(Unreleased) 3. Blue World(Unreleased)
4. Good News 5. I Can See(Unreleased)
6. Everybody 7. Woods (Unreleased)
8. Hand Me Downs(Unreleased) 9. That’s On Me
10. Hands (Unreleased) 11. Surf (Unreleased)
Nobilia | Cure
By Recondite
Germany-based Recondite's latest singles are slasher film soundtracks exuding dark energy, sinister tones, and a melancholic beauty. A hopeful preview for his upcoming album, Dwell, set to release on January 24, 2020.
I was riding my bike this morning before sunrise and happened to see that Nobilia had just released earlier this week. I threw it on, and pedaled off into the moonlit bike path near my apartment.
It was cold. I could barely feel my handlebars as my body tried its hardest to self-regulate its temperature. I was a corpse. All the while, Nobilia's discordant synths, ambient textures, and downtempo beat combined to create a fear inside me. A fear that some hideous monstrosity would jump out of the bush-lined bike path at any given moment and tear me to shreds. It never happened, but it gave me a fucking rush. It truly got my heart rate going despite being a slower Recondite track when compared to his previously released material. An interesting sensation.
Courtesy of Recondite.
Where Nobilia stands as a nightmarish soundscape you'd hear in a 80s horror flick, Recondite's previous single, Cure (released in December 2019), stands as its fraternal twin sibling who is similar in personality, but noticeably different when listened to after the other. Cure is more upbeat in rhythm-- its pretty melodies work to cleanse the palette of Nobilia's nightmare fuel and gives you a taste of effervescence. The single also comes with a bonus track: Equal. It's on the more minimal side of things as far as house music goes, and starkly contrasts Nobilia and Cure so much that it honestly sounds like something off of Christian Loffler's discography. It's a beautiful, dynamic sign of great things to come.
You can pre-order Dwell on Recondite’s Bandcamp page here. We can't wait for it to drop later this month, and hope you feel the same way.
