Ayo! We’re back with the first official episode of 2025! We’re both tired as hell but this week we’re happy to be covering one of our favourite artists of all time - the late, great Mac Miller! In this episode, we do our best to cover his career from his breakout mixtape “K.I.D.S.” to the most recent posthumous release “Ballloonerism”. Mac’s got a surprisingly deep and varied body of work and we both feel a deeply personal connection to his art so this episode was a long time coming. First, before all that, we discuss the general feeling of unease across the board and the state of the world. Spoiler alert: It kinda sucks! There is a silver lining to be found in the newfound unity growing here in Canada… but at what cost? Daily existential dread. Sigh.
From there, it’s all about Mac! We trace his artistry, career, and releases from his early days as the “frat rap” luminary to his creative evolution post-“Blue Slide Park” to his many awesome and underheard mixtapes to his various side projects to his multifaceted trio of final albums that prove just how amazing he was (and highlight what we’re missing now that he’s gone). Although we try to cover all his releases, we spend extra time discussing our favourites including “Watching Movies With The Sound Off”, “Faces”, “Swimming”, “Circles”, and the recently released lost album “Balloonerism”. Producer, rapper, singer, musician… Mac did it all and was on the way to becoming an even bigger and more important pillar of modern music. We discuss his legacy and impact, his frequent collaborators, how his music and passing impacted us, our favourite tracks, and more. He was a major part of our friendship and an inspiration to us both so we get a little emotional.
We close the episode with a short discussion about the passing of artists and how it can impact you, the difference between parasocial relationships and genuine admiration and appreciation when it comes to loss, the Grammy’s (neither of us watched the ceremony but we have some thoughts), new projects from the both of us including Otis’ new solo podcast and PALMREADER’s new Anxiety Weekend album, how Kanye and Elon Musk still stink, and some other ramblings. Are we living in an idiocracy? Maybe… sure feels like it.
Listen to “When This Is Over, Let’s Go Dancing” by Anxiety Weekend here:
https://anxietyweekend.bandcamp.com/album/when-this-is-over-lets-go-dancing
Listen to “The Otis Morris Benefit Show” here:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1pC1y6mzWGQ4067IGIkFqq?si=77db8326a5b3482a
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