MAGIK MARKERS
Surrender to the Fantasy
Stop right there, hands in the air! If you want to know what Magik Markers think is good for you, you'll Surrender to the Fantasy. For this long-desired alpus, they've been working in threes and stuff. Triangles. The hermetic trifecta of knowledge, Christ and the two thieves, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and the original tagline of the Markers' symbol: '3 down, no to go.' Meaning, these three get it and literally no one else needs to, 'cept the record-buying public, tra la la, ha ha ha ha. STTF (nev…
Balf Quarry
LP version; printed innersleeve with lyrics. Before Balf Quarry landed on my desk, I figured the dirtiest thing in Connecticut was Chris Dodd's browser history. Not so. Among other things — like guitar tones that buzz around like contact-high June bugs, Elisa Ambrogio's slack vocals wavering between coy calls and willfully distant snarls, and a production value so low and dense you feel you're listening to them from the dining room above their rehearsal space — Hartford natives the Magik Markers…
Boss
From the clatter of the White Stripes to the dream-pop of Beach House, there have been plenty of duos to please divergent tastes. Perhaps the appeal of the twofer is that it requires a minimalism that mothers interesting combinations, and the Magik Markers are no different. “Axis Mundi” tears Boss open with a tea kettle-hiss of feedback, affirming the group’s noise pedigree. The shifting rhythm of drummer Pete Nolan and Elisa Ambrogio’s barbed guitar reveal a newfound ease with free-flowing groo…