MAGIK MARKERS

Magik Markers self-referential improvisations and gritty brand of strutting, spinning and splitting in packed houses, panel trucks, and the underground sound and light discotheques, began in a Hartford basement around the Millennium. Whilst consistently releasing some wild material on their own Arbitrary Signs label the band have also spun out some remarkable records for Ecstatic Peace, Hospital Productions, Not Not Fun and most recently Drag City, who released their terrific album 'Surrender To The Fantasy'. 'STTF' (never too soon for the acronym) 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. 'Acts of Desperation' is Shaggs-meets-Stones colour 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 "koan on loan" Nolan has nixed his kit into a galvanic psych lead. No lame attempt to smoke nutmeg for this jam; it scored real weed. For these New England nerfherders, whatever terror Hawthorne's wood was meant to hold dissolves in a beer fueled frugging party. 'Mirrorless', the deep-focus track/single-that-never- was/video-that's-about-to-be unspools its jewels and dissolves like all perfect ballads, with a casual chorus of whistled free-melody and a sweet outro-solo. 'STTF' builds monolithically in it's penultimate moment, then blazes out with possibly the best prescription cough medicine solo in the history of Elisa Ambrogio's storied career. This is a Mainliner-ish ode to the American underbelly that spawned rock and roll heroes and bad life choices; long a topic of fascination and adoration in the MM camp, and it ends the Fantasy by beginning another.


magikmarkers.tumblr.com 





SICK LLAMA

Sick Llama is the solo noise/drone project from the man behind Michigan-based label Fag Tapes. He holds the rotten essence of Midwest Basement Mystery Mind Sound inside the marrow of his weird skull, right behind the strawberry blond tuffs, unblinking bug eyes, and mildewed skin. Sick Llama writes imaginary music for your imagination, walking a fine line between composition and improvisation. It's a wall of your own dreams to contend with, a tunnel with no light at the end, a wrong turn down the right road. New LP out soon on Premier Sang.

fagtapes.bandcamp.com/


ALISON’S BIRTHDAY Alison's Birthday are a sour trio of amateur dramatics from Brighton, conjured via seance to soundtrack your VHS-horror nightscapes. Writing spooked hypnotics of songs, Alison's birthday haunt the crossroads between womb gloom and witch punk. A demo tape is imminent via the band themselves, essential listening!

soundcloud.com/alisonsbirthday