Smartpunk Records' indie rock prodigy M.A.G.S. has released his new album CREATOR via Smartpunk Records. It is an accompaniment and reimagination to last year's fan-favorite album Destroyer.
Each song from Destroyer has been reconstructed and bent into new forms to create a new tracklist on CREATOR that is an exploratory showcase of M.A.G.S.'s imaginative, diverse capabilities as a multi-instrumentalist.
When discussing the album, Elliott Douglas (the man behind the moniker) says, "With CREATOR, I wanted to subvert the expectations of my listeners and bend my genre to a nearly unrecognizable extent. There was a moment a few years ago in the music industry where it was sort of this novel trend to be a black person in rock music, like it was some completely new concept that black people could play guitar and be in bands that sound like Paramore or The Strokes. I’ve been on my own wave for the majority of my career and CREATOR is the perfect example of what happens when I choose to create what feels right to me and not what is expected. With the help of 2 of my most talented friends, we reimagined my previous album ‘Destroyer’ over the course of 9 days in an apartment in Chicago in late 2023. Constructed entirely from my acoustic demos, we experimented and collaborated our way into a sound that goes far beyond what I ever thought M.A.G.S. was capable of."
CREATOR was conceived and mixed by Elliott and was produced in collaboration with Jeremy Strange and Ehmed Nauman of Chicago's This House Is Creaking.
M.A.G.S. also announced October tour dates. Those are posted below.
M.A.G.S.:
WITH BARELY CIVIL:
10/10 — Los Angeles, CA — The Paramount
10/13 — Los Angeles, CA — El Rey Theatre*
10/15 — San Francisco, CA — Bottom of the Hill
10/16 — Reno, NV — Holland Project
10/17 — Portland, OR — Swan Dive
10/20 — Boise, ID — Shrine Social Club (Basement)
10/21 — Salt Lake City, UT — Urban Lounge
10/24 — Denver, CO — Marquis
10/25 — Kansas City, MO — Encore
10/27 — Minneapolis, MN — 7th St. Entry
10/28 — Milwaukee, WI — Cactus Club
10/29 — Chicago, IL — Subterranean (Downstairs)
*Supporting American Football
ABOUT M.A.G.S.
M.A.G.S. is the solo moniker for Buffalo-bred multi-disciplinary artist Elliott Douglas. His style seamlessly glides between genres ─ from funky garage rock to minty alt-pop with a punk-inspired energy. The release of his third full-length album Destroyer in 2023 via Smartpunk Records pushed Douglas into a more textural direction, dripping with flavors of post-punk while keeping his genre-bending melodies. Written by Douglas and produced by Jay Mass (Defeater), the album is about having to destroy yourself in order to grow and move forward — an extremely relatable phase in one's life.
M.A.G.S. released his first solo record in 2015, an EP titled Cellophane, and his self-titled LP arrived two years later — securing a seat amongst the most prominent indie/alt-rock artists. With his new batch of music, Douglas displayed marked growth in vocal prowess, overall musicality and lyrical bite through the release of 2020's Lost Tapes EP. Dougals' universal appeal feeds his success, and it's never at the expense of his art. Elsewhere in his blossoming catalog, songs like "MVP" and "Hi Tops" zig-zag from visceral, gnarly heavy metal to lo-fi folk-rock, respectively; his musicianship is a marvel to witness, each entry building on the last with refreshing acrobatics.
ABOUT SMARTPUNK RECORDS:
Smartpunk has been a recognizable name in the scene for a long time (Remember that sponsored Warped Tour stage?!). After exchanging several hands and countless ideas of what it could and should be, they decided to start a record label in 2016 with the main idea of focusing solely on reissuing records that have been out of print or never on vinyl. After all, they're a label of vinyl dorks themselves! After releasing Set Your Goals' Mutiny and Gameface's Good, they started to venture into signing newer bands. They actively balance in between many worlds — putting out amazing music from friends and bands that rock, reissuing older titles, and partnering with other incredible labels in our scene and doing exclusive color variants of their releases.
Since forming the record label, Smartpunk Records has released timeless albums such as Less Than Jake's Anthem, Nominee's Lowlife, RIVALS' Sad Looks Pretty on Me, Virginity's POPMORTEM, and melodic skate punkers The Swellers' My Everest.