Mk.gee’s Gov Ball Set Was Just The Beginning Of His Quiet Alt-Pop Takeover

“MGK? Like Machine Gun Kelly?”

“No, no,” I would respond with a chuckle. “Mk.gee, like Mick-ghee, the clarified butter.”

From the end of 2023 until about November of 2024, this was a conversation that would ensue immediately after someone asked me what music I was enjoying. When promotional copies of Mk.gee’s February 2024 LP, Two-Star & The Dream Police, began circulating sometime towards the end of the year prior, whispers began breezing through group chats and Instagram DMs amongst journalists and critics.

This was something special, something too weird for mainstream pop music, too amorphous to fit into the traditional indie rock landscape. The man behind Mk.gee, Mike Gordon (no, not the one from Phish), had become a bit of a darling in alt-pop landscapes, both thanks to his solo work and as the lead guitarist in Dijon’s live band. Gordon was an integral part of the Absolutely process, an album that led Dijon, Gordon, and an impressively-tight band to become tour openers for Bon Iver. Earl Sweatshirt was a fan, and just a few weeks ago, I even heard “The Dress” in a Starbucks in Farmingdale, Long Island.

By the time Two-Star had been announced, Dijon was a certified household name, and his bandmate/R&R labelmate/close collaborator was up next. But not even Mk.gee, I think, could predict just how far this collection of scrappy Miami Vice-in-broad-daylight-post-bender songs would take him.

I’m not really forging new territory by suggesting I was early on Mk.gee. After all, he was the subject of a profile on Pigeons & Planes in 2018, but not even Gordon had any idea that he would be gearing up for top-ish billing at this past weekend’s Governor‘s Ball (only Tyler, The Creator and Benson Boone were listed above him for Friday’s lineup). In that story, Gordon explained how he never had any intention of writing his own songs. His move to LA from New Jersey was with the intent of becoming a studio musician. He said, “That was why I first came to L.A. I had no intention of getting really into production and singing on my stuff, and playing it live. I grew up as a guitarist, so sometimes I get this smack in the face like, ‘Holy shit, I’m singing.’ I never thought I’d be singing on all this shit five years ago.”

Not only had that songwriting led to The New York Times calling him “An Unlikely Guitar God” who’s chasing “the Promise of Pop,” but four days after the election, he found himself in Studio 8H as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live alongside host Bill Burr. It was validating that one of the promotional clips for the show found Burr and cast member Sarah Squirm figuring out how to say Mk.gee while a sort-of-uncomfortable looking Gordon stood by and helped spell out the pronunciation.

Mk.gee took his performance in typical stride, using the opportunity to debut a new song, “ROCKMAN,” alongside a Two-Star favorite, “Alesis.” After the performance, life just sort of went on for Gordon. As the Mk.gee Subreddit pointed out, you wouldn’t have even known the show went down if you were getting your information from his Instagram page. No_Mess5105 wrote: “Normally, when going on SNL, the artist posts about it on Instagram, but with him after his performance, he shared nothing… which was weird to me. Maybe something happened behind closed doors, or he is very aloof in regards to trying to get his music more mainstream.”

This general laissez-faire attitude to his growing standing in the modern music landscape begs a question: how does someone so ambivalent towards fame end up headlining one of the summer’s premiere festivals? How does he sell out shows and court fans like Lil Yachty, who flew into his recent New Jersey show and took to IG stories to post a photo of him next to the songwriter. Yachty wrote: “@mk.gee true talent one of the best live shows i’ve been to.” It’s worth noting that in the image, Gordon is almost smiling.

I don’t think there’s any grand code to crack in regards to how the last year has seen Mk.gee go from side player and underrated songwriter to one of the most popular experimental pop artists around. Two-Star & The Dream Police is just a really great album, and sometimes not even a radically quiet artist intent on eschewing the algorithm can get in the way of organic, genuine stardom.

As far as I can tell, Gordon has done very little to help boost his career aside from saying yes to the opportunities presented to him. His status has earned him a reputation from fans and fellow musicians alike. OG guitar God Eric Clapton compared him to Prince in an interview. He said to the YouTuber The Real Music Observer: “The same when I first saw Prince, it was like we’re safe. Just to know it’s there is enough. There’s this thing with Mk.gee and Dijon – Absolutely. It’s a film. I couldn’t believe it. [Innovation is] happening. It’s still going on.”

Mk.gee has put his head down and is focusing entirely on the music. It’s romantic and enchanting in this era of hyper-awareness. Is there a bigger star that we know less about? Is there anyone else able to perform on SNL or headline Gov Ball that isn’t a constant presence on TikTok?

In that New York Times interview, Mk.gee made it clear that his shyness shouldn’t be mistaken for humility. He wants to be great, he just wants to achieve this status on his own terms. “I made the best record ever,” he said to writer Joe Coscarelli. “Nobody in alternative music is allowed to be confident and be like, ‘No, this is the best thing in the world.’ If you make alternative music, you’re supposed to do this, and if you make pop music, you’re supposed to be like this.” What Mk.gee has made clear for a new generation of musicians is you don’t have to be anything at all… as long as the songs are generationally great.