Malcolm Mask McLaren

Malcolm Mask McLaren Matriculate Maudlin Moods

/ Homicidol Maniac

Ah, as previously noted, everything’s coming up Malcolm Mask McLaren these days, and now a month on from announcing this summer’s new record from them, the group dropped the MV from what I really hope is the trendsetter for the thing, because this was worth waiting for:

What a payoff! MMM and their melodic hardcore thing have always been such a neat package, and filing down the edges for a slightly more radio-friendly product has done nothing to take away from the group’s core merits, which in no particular order are “cool music that people of a certain age enjoy either literally or ironically” and “an effervescent joy that very few loudol acts can approximate, let alone duplicate.” Given the connotations, “maudlin” maybe isn’t the best word, but you try finding M words in English that correspond to net-positive emotional stuff. These highly attenuated post-titling conceits aren’t writing themselves! Continue reading →

Everything’s Coming up Malcolm Mask McLaren

/ Homicidol Maniac

This website is very pro-Malcolm Mask McLaren, so while we do try to keep a certain objectivity about this group and that and which releases are truly good and which are basically warmed-over garbage, some just kind of bring out the enthusiastic fan in us. I won’t make a list; suffice it to say that MMM, the actual focus of this post, is one of them. And when I went to check up on a video I saw they’d released on YouTube, it set off a whole string of discovery moments that make me feel just incredibly happy for them, so yeah, they get a whole-ass post to celebrate the good things afoot! Continue reading →

I Told You Guys That the New Malcolm Mask McLaren Was Awesome

/ Homicidol Maniac

Well by now you’ve likely seen that Malcolm Mask McLaren dropped their new single and gave you an MV, and if you’re the kind of smart person that you no doubt are as a reader of Homicidols Dot Com, you’ve seen it already because my long promotional missive on MMM’s behalf either eased any remaining doubts OR reconfirmed the exceptionally astute biases you have for them, and you were aware of this release the second it happened. This post isn’t for you. It’s for that mere scattering of random humans who have somehow both heard MMM before and read my awesome celebration of them and still isn’t convinced.

So:

See? Awesome.

We Need to Have a Little Talk about Malcolm Mask McLaren

/ Homicidol Maniac

Ed. note: This post has dispensed with the familiar convention of only using M-alliteration in the title of a Malcolm Mask McLaren post; Homicidols Dot Com regrets this immediately.

I listen to a lot of music, as should be obvious. One of my favorite things about Fiancee is that we both consider “good chill time” to include alcoholic spirits and putting a record on the turntable. We sing karaoke, just the two of us, or on those rare occasions when we allow somebody to come over, we invite them to join us. We have a small pile of musical instruments that we’re not any good at but still like to pretend with. We argue about the satellite radio station on car rides of longer than a few miles. We listen to music while we create and often as a wind-down before bed. It’s really nice. Fiancee’s time to break from that is during work hours because she’s the kind of person who needs quiet to concentrate; I, on the other hand, need some kind of background noise to concentrate, as otherwise my brain’s trying to drive in several directions at once, I get antsy in my pantsy, sometimes even aggressive, etc. So what’s pretty much the first thing I do when I sit down at the desk in the morning? Pop open Spotify and/or one of my YouTube home pages (yes, I have several), and find something — preferably new — to listen to while I settle in.

Yesterday, that something new was from Malcolm Mask McLaren. The thing said it was called “ORANGE EP” which I got extraordinarily excited about, only to find that it is in fact only two songs, which is not really an EP unless it’s by like Bell Witch or something, but did I bite the bullet and take one for the team anyway? Yes. Which was easy — Malcolm Mask McLaren owns — and, I will spoil it for you, completely and totally rewarding: Continue reading →

RT If You Agree

/ Homicidol Maniac

So Malcolm Mask McLaren has a new single, and of course it’s both off-easycore goodness and bursting with joy at the same time — I miss OG MMM, but I can’t pretend that I don’t love what they’re doing now — and frankly I enjoy it and its message and this sort of conceptual totality so much that I’m just dropping it right in here like an addendum to the Weekender. I’m even eschewing the usual alliterative title because even I can only take a joke so far!

But yes, here at Homicidols Dot Com could not more cosign on this one:

My Mistake, Malcolm Mask McLaren, Magna Music, More Molim

/ Homicidol Maniac

Well, better late than never, I guess, but Malcolm Mask McLaren dropped this sucker more than a week ago now, and I’m just now getting around to it and I apologize, I really do, but trust me it’s worth the wait unless you’re ahead of me and scoffing, which is your right, but also shut up, let’s enjoy this together.

What was dropped? The official audio (in pieces) and what I presume to be MV clips (also pieces!) of the upcoming … actually, I’m not sure what you’d call this, and if it even has a title. The YouTube description calls it an EP, but it’s just the two songs and ah hell why do I bother. Two songs, effectively a digest, for a release that I don’t completely understand but seems to be coming on the 20th.

Anyway, because this is two things making one thing, but the one thing is all we have for now and this presumably will end as one thing made out of two things, and yet here we are in the present with the one thing being more like two things glued together for the sake of expedience, let’s treat the two songs as separate entities and talk about them like they don’t know each other even though they’re next to each other!

Continue reading →

Man, Malcolm Mask McLaren Makes Music Mucho Merry

/ Homicidol Maniac

Vintage MMM with Ai and Mone and Nao was one of my low-key favorite things in idol (and Ai was one of my favorite people), and they established the formula (beginning around here IIRC); the new members had big personality shoes to fill, but getting right as distinct an identity in a field that’s all about identity? Bigger job. They’ve done it well so far; now does the latest single hold up?

You’re darn tootin’! Continue reading →

Mmm, Much Malcolm Mask McLaren Music

/ Homicidol Maniac

I slay me

So Malcolm Mask McLaren, last seen making their unofficial reboot official by dropping an MV that revealed their new third member, are apparently eager to keep your rapt attention and went ahead and dropped a ton of stuff onto Soundcloud yesterday. Of course we’d all like to listen to it! Let’s get started:

Continue reading →

Malcolm Mask McLaren Makes Multiple Magnificent Moves

/ Homicidol Maniac

Go ahead, tell me all about how much you missed the alliterative wonders that are Malcolm Mask McLaren, who are perpetually too good to not get talked about more but also don’t do enough stuff to warrant talking too much about say la vee. When we last saw our intrepid formerly masked punk rock idols, they were doing legitimately great work and also preparing to say goodbye to the last two of their original members, which … well, they made my list of saddest departures, but nobody else’s apparently. Since then, it’s been the two newbies added last year setting out as their own version of the dynamic duo that Ai and Mone had kept up for a while, keeping the coals burning for another big move.

Hence today, what better way to signal your next steps than in video form? It’s not a new thing, but from their months-old second album My Life, My Way, but obviously a slightly different version for reasons that will become clear in a few seconds:


Hey, who’s that!

I’m sorry, since when does easycore go all-in on a breakdown? That was something else. Hell, with those percussion and keyboard moves, I thought maybe I’d run into a PassCode rendition for a second. I really like this song you guys! Dare I say that this might be the best song that they’ve ever put out? I didn’t pick up My Life, My Way because I bought very little idol music this year, period, but I can say with confidence that I’m having a tough time finding anything from prior releases that would compete with it.

Whew. Anyway, yes, there’s now a third member to round out the group, bringing them back to a trio that has no members in common with any of the previous trio lineups:

Welcome to the club, Shino, and maybe being new will let you be the one to ask the impertinent question: Why are we still called Malcolm Mask McLaren if we don’t wear masks at all anymore?

Malcolm Mask McLaren’s ‘This World’ Is Very Loud

/ Homicidol Maniac

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming! The piece that I’d have preferred to kick off the day is a simple one, folks, in that Malcolm Mask McLaren*, inarguable queens of idol easycore**, really want you to buy their new single and, in addition to last week’s MV for the title track, also want you to hear the B-side:

You know what I say: The B-side is the best side. This is a tremendous example. My goodness, if that breakdown were written in a proper key, entire species might go extinct. Faces would melt. Yellowstone would erupt and make Kilauea look like Old Faithful.

*I’ll spare you the alliteration today
**Not that I’m asking for it, but I think it’d be a good move for more idols to try out this sound