Dope Lemon

One Liner: Laid-back, chilled-out rock in the vein of Mac DeMarco

Wikipedia Genre: Folk, Acoustic, Rock, Soul

Home: Sydney

Poster Position: 3 (13)
Both Weekends.  

Sunday at 2:15.

Thoughts:  I absolutely shifted back over to Spotify and interrupted my work a few times yesterday to verify that I was still listening to Dope Lemon and that the Spotify algorithm hadn't switched me over to Mac DeMarco.  This guy sounds a LOT like Mac DeMarco - that laid back, chilled-out, slightly stupefied rock meanderings sound that DeMarco has copyrighted.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  But it is reaaaally a close match.

Real name is Angus John Stone, and he's an Australian soul and pop musician who used to record with his sister as Angus & Julia Stone, before releasing solo music as Lady of the Sunshine, and then under his own name, and now as Dope Lemon.  His parents were musicians, and so the whole family would gather together and jam out.  Angus would play the trombone.  After his parents separated, around 2000, he started writing original music and then performing with his sister.  But in 2016, he started the Dope Lemon thing.

Three albums - and the covers kind of make me laugh, they are generally of a topless lady with a gigantic cartoon lemon in place of her head.  2016's Honey Bones, 2019's Smooth Big Cat, and 2022's Rose Pink Cadillac.  Well, that last one isn't a topless lady, it looks like Angus in a sweet disco suit, but still has the lemon head.  HIs top song overall, but a long way, is the first track on that debut album.  "Marinade" with 113.2 million streams.

Here that DeMarco vibe?  And I dig the Moonrise Kingdom vibe in that video.  I really liked that movie.  Great lyrics too, although it is a little annoying that he says "marinade on that for a little while," when it should be "marinate."  Maybe they say it differently DOWN UNDAH!  "Howl WIth Me" had me really confused, because it grabs so liberally from that "Jungle Fever" song that has been sampled by other folks for years.  Just strange that he's otherwise making his own music and then fired in a mega sample.  Second-biggest streamer is "Rose Pink Cadillac," with 43.9 million streams.

Great groove in that one, but the tone of those guitars again makes me think of DeMarco.  Sorry if I'm a broken record on that.  Maybe DeMarco sounds like this guy.  I dunno.  But if that tune doesn't make you want to dance a little bit then you need to get to a doctor (if one will even see you).

Totally unrelated diatribe, but both my wife and I have recently tried to get a regular appointment with our normal general practitioner doctor, and both of us have been rebuffed.  I could either wait a week and a half or see the nurse.  Not sure what options they gave my wife.  But so annoying - this is why people end up in the ER.  Or, in my case, why Teledoc and its ilk are so successful.  I met on my phone with some random doctor in Atlanta who talked to me for 2 minutes and then called in a prescription for a Z Pac to deal with my self-diagnosed sinus infection.  The wonders of modern medicine.

Diatribe over.  I really enjoy this dude's stuff.  If I am there by 2:15, I'll absolutely go wander over there and watch him gently wander his way through a set.