Super Young Adult releases Mazzy
Local producer Super Young Adult has been busy this year working on releases with Pony Logan (also known as Easy Tiger), and executing vapor wave-tinged pop singles like “Bonsai” as Cop Kid, which also includes the efforts of usual solo-ist Marny Proudfit. Proudfit also shows up at the very end of the 13-track Mazzy, a track that’s consistent with the rest of the album, a pop effort that sounds like the work of a multi-talented producer. Mazzy, released on Oct. 27, oscillates among seemingly endless influences and never sticks on any one sound. There are punk-ish songs like “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” that stand out with its pronounced bassline and punchy sequence of macho chanting, but that song is followed up by a completely different kind of track in “Glitter,” which features smooth, aquatic contemporary hip-hop beats. Opener “Kids Lost in Disneyland” is a spare track driven by gloomy lyrics and emo acoustics, while later tracks “Sugie” shimmers with funky, beachy guitar parts and “Smile Big” references the sunny weirdo indie pop of Young Guv or Orchin. “Manta Rays” features a squiggly little voice drifting through melancholy beats in the vein of Alex G. The album falls back often into hip-hop grooves (there’s a feature by Ogden rapper Earthworm on “The Coolest Song on the Album”), but otherwise it’s all over the place—tied together by what anyone who’s listened to Super Young Adult’s work on other projects will identify as his signature, piecey bedroom pop sound. This album, like his earlier 2020 release Romance Apocalypse doesn’t feel cohesive thematically, but is rather a dump of influences and interests that show the scope of Super Young Adult’s talents. More than anything, his releases show that he’s a talented artist just as much as he is a talented producer, and that he’s one to watch whether he’s showing up in the credits or on the album cover.

Independent Venue Week Auction Wraps Saturday
Music Nerds and Collectors can rejoice that there’s one day left to swoop in and win the bidding wars going on over on the Ebay page for NIVA’s Independent Venue Week Auction event. From big ticket items to those more budget friendly, there’s something for everyone in this auction that ends Oct. 31—instruments, pedalboards, signed promotional posters, test pressings of records, label bundles, original album artwork and even some original venue seats from Merriweather Post Place. Famous indie artists and labels join famous rock ‘n’ roll bands, storied venues and even a pop star or two in donating the oddest of ends that are full of history and meaning for the right fan. Bruno Mars’s spare ukulele joins the lineup next to a bass guitar from Blue Oyster Cult’s Albert Bouchard, and a 1962 Hofner Solid Bass owned by The Shins’s James Mercer. Among the other offerings are a bundle of 2020 releases from Saddle Creek Records, promotional posters from the likes of Morrissey and Gladys Knight, Vol. 2 of the Blue Note Review for jazz lovers, photos by JJ Gonson of Kurt Cobain and Elliot Smith. If you know anything about auctions, you know that there’s still time to get in on the goods—but you better be watching the clock and have your mouse ready to click “bid.” Head over to independentvenueweek.com for all the links. All proceeds from the auction go to the NIVA Emergency Relief Fund.