Mac Miller - Balloonerism (January 17, 2025)

"New" album from Mac Miller that was recorded in 2014 at the same time as the Faces mixtape

 

I've had the leak of this album for years but I really can't wait until the general public listens to this, it's seriously incredible. Yet again a totally different sound for him too, it's almost retroactively a mix of Faces and Circles

The version I have is 17 tracks and this release is only 14 so I'm interested to see what made the cut. One of the songs is Yeah which ended up being a bonus track on the re-release of Faces and one song is him shaking a tambourine for 30 seconds and that's it lol so I hope those are two of the cuts

 

Funny Papers is top 10 Mac, need it to be on this

IF I COULD JUST PAY MY RENT BY TUESDAY

 

Here for it

 

I knew this has been out there for years, and have probably heard the demos a few times, but had never given Ballonerism a formal listen. Had been waiting for the official drop on Spotify, but my impatience got the better of me and I VPN'd to New Zealand. This is so good. Pony Rides, Stoned, and Funny Papers are my favorites so far. Shoutout to Mac's family/team for continuing his legacy.

 

Funny Papers really is just unbelievably good

 

yeah this is still great and I'm so happy they put it out mostly as is, probably his most inaccessible work but also some of his best. was worried they'd tried to tone down the weirdness, cut a few minutes off Tomorrow or something but it's basically intact (only 2 songs missing from the leak but there's 2 that are new to me on here as well, Rick's Piano especially was a nice surprise)

 

Yeah, this is fucking great. Weird Mac was always my favourite Mac and this is exactly the kind of stuff I always wanted from him. Abstract, jazzy, chilled. Perfect.

 

His estate have showed exactly how to handle posthumous releases. Doesn't feel like a cash grab and just genuinely wants the world to hear this wonderfully weird music. They've set the benchmark.