Are you wearing the big shoes? Are you driving the tiny little car? It's clown season here on the latest edition of Exclaim!'s Staff Picks, where two writers found themselves struck by songs that mention the low-key terrifying entertainers who can be found at children's birthday parties and haunting their subconscious memories long thereafter. We also have selections spanning the spectrum from hyperpop to pipe organ ambiance, and a couple of rising Canadian mononyms worth keeping an eye out for.
Don't be a bozo and feast your eyes (and red nose) on our reviews section for new releases to pay attention to.
100 gecs
"Hollywood Baby"
(Dog Show / Atlantic)
The latest from 10,000 gecs — out March 17 — has been a live favourite among gecs fans for a few years. Now, with the official release of "Hollywood Baby," Laura Les and Dylan Brady have finally put down roots in their drawn-out sophomore album cycle, which began all the way back in 2021. Reading like a blink-182 song performed by Sleigh Bells on speed, the track — with drums from Josh Freese — perfectly taps the duo's signature hyperpop-pop-punk and comes accompanied, fittingly, by a music video of the gecs blowing a bunch of shit up.
Allie Gregory
Liv.e
Girl in the Half Pearl
(In Real Life)
Liv.e's Girl in the Half Pearl is a fluid collision of future-warped R&B and itchy electro-punk, a record that manages to synthesize what should be whiplash-inducing sounds into a boundary-pushing whole. From the jazzy, breakneck textures of "Ghost" to the gentle alien clatter of "Clowns" or the pummelling futurepop of "HowTheyLikeMe!," Liv.e creates with alluring abandon, moulding a wild array of sounds around her distinctive voice and never once losing control.
Kaelen Bell
Loscil & Lawrence English
Colours of Air
(Kranky)
In the latest chapter of my journey into pipe organ ambiance, synesthesia is thankfully not required for this team-up between the Canadian and Australian artists. The enveloping tones and timbres of the duo's Colours of Air — achieved through modulating the sounds of a 132-year-old pipe organ — at times drift from the hues they are named for. Beyond the beckoning depths of "Aqua" and the brilliant shimmer of "Yellow," the unsettled dissonance of "Grey" is punctuated by slight crescendo, while the foreboding "Pink" soon has its threatening two-note theme flattened into colossal drone.
Calum Slingerland
mekel
How to Forgive (and Let Go)
(Amelia Recordings)
Sometimes the most important part lives in parentheses. Montreal-by-way-of-Edmonton singer-songwriter mekel writhes in the process of moving on with her debut collection, staggering back and forth between stages of grief — the denial of listening to an old love song on "Not Good Enough for the Truth," bargaining in fantasies of infidelity with the dark electropop of "SICKWISHES," the underlying anger of antisocial anthem "HOUSEPARTY" and the bassy, off-kilter jealousy of "DROOLING." But it's the soaring, heart-rending "Would-Be Memories" where she bursts forth from her noir aesthetic in pulsing technicolour as she realizes, "I'm like a kid waving goodbye to a clown."
Megan LaPierre
MICO
"m.i.a."
(Independent)
Directly following the success of "cut my hair," his biggest single yet, MICO adds to his kaleidoscopic collection of hits with this powerful pop-rock cut. Percussive crashes and punchy electric guitar strums punctuate the chorus as the Brampton singer-songwriter bemoans his inability to finish what he starts. MICO shows that he's a jack-of-all-trades on the self-produced track, which is said to preview an upcoming EP.
Ben Okazawa
shame
Food for Worms
(Dead Oceans)
shame have just put out their best record yet. On Food for Worms, the UK post-punks soften their usual angular guitars and talk-singing — hanging up genre stereotypes in return for more well-rounded songwriting. This makes vocalist Charlie Steen's exploration of friendship and the way it changes more profound. Whether he's melodically detailing a betrayal, a loved one's addiction or simply just watching as someone becomes unrecognizable, the velveteen around Food for Worms' edges is a welcome pairing to its whirring guitars and palpable angst.
Sydney Brasil
Yaeji
"Done (Let's Get It)"
(XL)
Finally releasing a debut album after years of EPs, mixtapes and singles, Yaeji's latest With a Hammer single blends beats that hit with a hammer and soft pop hooks that stroke with a feather. It's a beautiful combination of force and fragility, swaggering with cockiness despite the gentleness of the delivery. If you missed it, be sure to hear prior single "For Granted" as well.
Alex Hudson
Don't be a bozo and feast your eyes (and red nose) on our reviews section for new releases to pay attention to.
100 gecs
"Hollywood Baby"
(Dog Show / Atlantic)
The latest from 10,000 gecs — out March 17 — has been a live favourite among gecs fans for a few years. Now, with the official release of "Hollywood Baby," Laura Les and Dylan Brady have finally put down roots in their drawn-out sophomore album cycle, which began all the way back in 2021. Reading like a blink-182 song performed by Sleigh Bells on speed, the track — with drums from Josh Freese — perfectly taps the duo's signature hyperpop-pop-punk and comes accompanied, fittingly, by a music video of the gecs blowing a bunch of shit up.
Allie Gregory
Liv.e
Girl in the Half Pearl
(In Real Life)
Liv.e's Girl in the Half Pearl is a fluid collision of future-warped R&B and itchy electro-punk, a record that manages to synthesize what should be whiplash-inducing sounds into a boundary-pushing whole. From the jazzy, breakneck textures of "Ghost" to the gentle alien clatter of "Clowns" or the pummelling futurepop of "HowTheyLikeMe!," Liv.e creates with alluring abandon, moulding a wild array of sounds around her distinctive voice and never once losing control.
Kaelen Bell
Loscil & Lawrence English
Colours of Air
(Kranky)
In the latest chapter of my journey into pipe organ ambiance, synesthesia is thankfully not required for this team-up between the Canadian and Australian artists. The enveloping tones and timbres of the duo's Colours of Air — achieved through modulating the sounds of a 132-year-old pipe organ — at times drift from the hues they are named for. Beyond the beckoning depths of "Aqua" and the brilliant shimmer of "Yellow," the unsettled dissonance of "Grey" is punctuated by slight crescendo, while the foreboding "Pink" soon has its threatening two-note theme flattened into colossal drone.
Calum Slingerland
mekel
How to Forgive (and Let Go)
(Amelia Recordings)
Sometimes the most important part lives in parentheses. Montreal-by-way-of-Edmonton singer-songwriter mekel writhes in the process of moving on with her debut collection, staggering back and forth between stages of grief — the denial of listening to an old love song on "Not Good Enough for the Truth," bargaining in fantasies of infidelity with the dark electropop of "SICKWISHES," the underlying anger of antisocial anthem "HOUSEPARTY" and the bassy, off-kilter jealousy of "DROOLING." But it's the soaring, heart-rending "Would-Be Memories" where she bursts forth from her noir aesthetic in pulsing technicolour as she realizes, "I'm like a kid waving goodbye to a clown."
Megan LaPierre
MICO
"m.i.a."
(Independent)
Directly following the success of "cut my hair," his biggest single yet, MICO adds to his kaleidoscopic collection of hits with this powerful pop-rock cut. Percussive crashes and punchy electric guitar strums punctuate the chorus as the Brampton singer-songwriter bemoans his inability to finish what he starts. MICO shows that he's a jack-of-all-trades on the self-produced track, which is said to preview an upcoming EP.
Ben Okazawa
shame
Food for Worms
(Dead Oceans)
shame have just put out their best record yet. On Food for Worms, the UK post-punks soften their usual angular guitars and talk-singing — hanging up genre stereotypes in return for more well-rounded songwriting. This makes vocalist Charlie Steen's exploration of friendship and the way it changes more profound. Whether he's melodically detailing a betrayal, a loved one's addiction or simply just watching as someone becomes unrecognizable, the velveteen around Food for Worms' edges is a welcome pairing to its whirring guitars and palpable angst.
Sydney Brasil
Yaeji
"Done (Let's Get It)"
(XL)
Finally releasing a debut album after years of EPs, mixtapes and singles, Yaeji's latest With a Hammer single blends beats that hit with a hammer and soft pop hooks that stroke with a feather. It's a beautiful combination of force and fragility, swaggering with cockiness despite the gentleness of the delivery. If you missed it, be sure to hear prior single "For Granted" as well.
Alex Hudson
