Alex G: Rules (LP+7", deluxe edition, indie exclusive) [LUCKY NUMBER]

Why you'll love it

This deluxe indie exclusive adds a 7-inch single of "Sandy" and "Good" to the album. Rules is one of Alex G's formative records, written, played and recorded entirely by Alex Giannascoli at home.

This edition

• LP+7" set
• Deluxe edition
• Indie exclusive
• Bonus 7" with "Sandy" and "Good"

About the album

Long before the bigger labels came calling, Alex Giannascoli was putting albums up on Bandcamp for whoever found them, building a word-of-mouth following one download at a time. Rules was the third, self-issued in January 2012, and like everything from that era he wrote it, played it and recorded it himself, with a cover painted by his mom.

The songs are small and strange, yet catchy in the way that became his signature: pitched-up voices, tape hiss, a guitar line that wanders off and comes back with a hook. "Wicked Boy" and "Candy" are woozy little pop songs, "Master" and "Know Now" lean into lo-fi folk rock, and the title track turns a bedroom recording into something oddly anthemic. The deluxe 7-inch adds "Sandy" and "Good" from the same period, two more songs in the same hazy spirit, so the set feels like a fuller picture of that winter's work.

Lucky Number remastered and reissued it in 2015, and plenty of listeners have since gone back to treat it as the blueprint for his later records. It's proof that a great album can be made with one person, one room and a supportive parent, although we'd advise checking before you borrow the paints.

Also at Kops: more Alex G on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Lucky Number (cat# LUCKY077LPX), a reissue of the 2012 album.