Mac DeMarco

Canadian singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco became a counter-cultural icon with his blend of juvenile humour, psychedelic video art and hazy slacker rock. Born in Duncan, British Columbia in 1990, but raised in Edmonton, DeMarco first began performing in high school bands named The Sound of Love, The Meat Cleavers and Outdoor Miners, and after graduation relocated to Vancouver where he recorded his self-released debut E.P., Heat Wave in 2009 under the moniker of Makeout Videotape. DeMarco, who had also begun to build a loyal cult following with a series of psychedelic video projects, then issued his first full-length effort, Ying Yang, joined forces with Alex Calder and Jen Clement in order to take his warped jangly sound onto the road and briefly signed to Unfamiliar Records. By 2011, DeMarco was participating in medical experiments and working in a road paving crew to make ends meet. However, his career fortunes changed in 2012 with Rock and Roll Night Club, an E.P. released under his own name through Captured Tracks which caught national attention thanks to its eccentric mix of Elvis-esque vocals, goofy meta-comedy and androgynous glam-pop. DeMarco's 2012 first proper LP, a more lo-fi affair simply titled 2, also received near-universal critical acclaim, while 2014 follow-up Salad Days saw him slowly move into the mainstream with an appearance on "Conan" (TBS, 2010-) and a nomination for the Polaris Music Prize. In 2015, DeMarco released a mini-album of love songs, Another One, and a nine-track instrumental BBQ soundtrack, Some Other Ones, the former of which peaked at No.25 on the Billboard 200.