this week’s opener (7/26) is:

Mk. Gee

🔮the vibe…

bright, angelic Prince-like 🟣 sounds hiding beneath a strange smokescreen

🏡the roots…

Linwood, New Jersey (Atlantic County)📍

📖 the story…

• michael todd gordon (mk. gee) grew up in a jersey shore town

• a big fan of jazz, he was accepted into USC’s thornton school of music but dropped out before graduating

• as a drop out in LA he got work as a touring musician but kept getting fired because people thought he played guitar ‘weird’

• with nobody willing to hire him, he started releasing his own music in 2017, 💿 with his debut single ‘i know how you get’ 

  • (great song - with an unreal guitar riff chorus/ending)

• he then released a debut EP (“pronounced mcgee”) in 2018, and then released a mixtape (“a museum of contradiction”) in 2020 which began to earn him buzz

• over the next few years, mk. gee collab’d and produced songs for Apollo and Dijon - each of whom have since taken off 🚀 in popularity

• in february of 2024 - mk. gee released his debut album “two star & the dream police” to critical acclaim - many people are already saying that it is the album of the year 🏆

• eric clapton recently mentioned mk. gee among his favorite guitarists

  • saying “he has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else”

• overall - in a world of strange/daunting/bad gen z music trends, mk gee (26) gives me hope for the future of music and the boundaries being pushed

  • as mk. gee says - he wants his music to feel like ‘something that you recognize but you feel like you shouldn’t recognize’

🎧 the 🔝 songs…

are you looking up - spotify / apple music

how many miles - spotify / apple music

💿 two star & the dream police (album of the year contender) - spotify / apple music

🎙️ the 🔝 performance…

big mike’s by dijon (with mk. gee on guitar) ⬇️

• I know it’s strange to put a live song by another artist (dijon) here as the top performance - but I think this perfectly exemplifies the unique talent of Mk. Gee

• This collaboration/improvisation is jaw dropping and embodies the mk. gee vibe which he selflessly loans to dijon for many of his tracks (including this one)

📇 the rest…

• currently on tour (ive unsuccessfully tried many times to see him - his following is strong rn)

• IG/Youtube

📩the word…

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