Stream James Brooks’ New Default Genders LP, Download A “Magical Pessimix”

Jackpot: the Ex-Elite Gymnastics songwriter shares a new LP on Bandcamp and a free mix.



James Brooks, the songwriter who used to be in Elite Gymnastics and last year put out a really good EP under the maligned alias Dead Girlfriends, is now releasing music as Default Genders. Magical Pessimism 2014, the full-length he posted to Bandcamp today, includes all four songs from the Dead Girlfriends EP along with the noisy, mission statment-y opener "Everything Is a Lie and Everyone Is Completely Full of Shit," which we posted here back in May (video is embedded above, also). On first listen, my favorite new song is the rickety "Sophie"; its lyrics resonate so strongly that I have to post some of them below:


"I had a dream that
one day i showed up
at where you work and i paid
all your student loans off
like it was nothing
oh, like it was nothing"

Brooks also put together a hyper-chill "magical pessemix," which you can download for free; it opens with a hushed ASMR voice speaking over a doleful cello cover of Lana Del Rey's best non-single ever, "Radio," and gets weirder from there. Stream both Magical Pessimism 2014 and that mix down below.

Stream: Default Genders' Magical Pessimism 2014

Download: Default Gender's Magical Pessemix #1

Track list:
heather feather - dark feather asmr sound slice
lana del rey - radio (cello cover by darkwinddancer)
passengers - theme from the swan
maxfeeL - 往南 ft.Luvea (Beat by Dj Fatkit)
team ico - heal
excerpt from metal gear solid 2
crowd lu & waa wei - i love you (Conehaed in another Head Remix)
kyle bobby dunn - completia terrace
晟 | SHENG - heartbeat // sound design for hair-style competition
imanity - Tearjerker Pt2
aristophanes - the wall ft. sumi (cassette edition)
lama dalbah - يمكنني أن أتكلم (music by marek iwaszkiewicz )
motoi sakuraba & yuka kitamura - majula
lazy - faraway, so close *ultimate chillout xperience*

Stream James Brooks’ New Default Genders LP, Download A “Magical Pessimix”