***CHECK STOCK!!! Received a 7.9 rating from Pitchfork. Back working as a trio MAGIK MARKERS return with their first new album since 2009’s Balf Quarry. Surrender To The Fantasy kicks off with that hoary old trope of punk records, the song about the Chesapeake Valley Runoff and the mating cycle of crabs. After that kind of in-your-face Attenborough- core, where could the record go? Nowhere but everywhere, all the creepy outposts of American detritus from other times, when hitchhiking and h-bombs were still hot, viable new ideas, and on beyond zed-bra. “Acts of Desperation” is Shaggs-meets-Stones color commentary on driveway laying, your mom’s Merit Ultra-Light 100’s and the lengths we’ll go to filch a feel of some arcane notion of greatness. Here PETE NOLAN has nixed his kit and Straps Field Handily into a galvanic psych lead. No lame attempt to smoke nutmeg for this jam; it scored real weed. (STREET DATE - 11/19/2013)
LP $19.75
11/19/2013
CD $13.75
11/19/2013
***MAGIK MARKERS put the ‘sense-and-sensibility’ back into ‘sensuality’ with “Ice Skater,” which radiates the mystic allure and cool remove of the best of them pretzel people ’n cold-water dancers. There’s always been that starched-collar, puritanical undercarriage to the MM vibe, right? Well here, it melts all over you with a winsome melody, bloodless disco beat and nu-romance synths blearing in pastel flares behind. The B-side balances the new Markers scale with a blast of freejams based on the chords of . . . well, no chords. Ca-lassic Magik! “Machines” will definitely remind you of nights spent tits-up with these guys playing the soundtrack to your fucking fucked life, you fuck. The sound of the rejuved Markers’ trio features JOHN SHAW’s bass guitar holding it down while ELISA and PETE let it loose. Cymbal stutter and rippin’ guitar tonez will definitely abrade your ears, if you still got ’em, that is. Here’s a pair of teasers that are bound to tweak your thirst-buds into full revolt. (STREET DATE - 9/17/2013)
7" $6.00
09/17/2013