Magik Markers PANEGYRIC TO THE THINGS (Gulcher 604)

CALIFORNIA SIDE:
Didion Waltz
The 4th Iliaster
A Manx Is A Rare Guy
One More Time Against The Wall
My Ice Cream Rack
Churchbells/Military Exercises/Tennis Court

PARIS SIDE:
June Knew Enough To Shut Up
Like A Thumbless Beast
The Deuce Aughts They'll Say
Jerking You Out
The Ghost Comes Round At Midnight
Give Me That Geometry Wet
I Construct Dolls Like You In My Sleep

Pete Nolan Stones
E.R. Ambrogio BLT
Leah Quimby Scarfs

KBD at KDVS/UC-Davis/30 Aug 05 and Sonic Protest/Instants Chavires/7 May 05

Mastered by Matt Valentine/Too Tight Studios

So, you know, I was listenin' to the radio back in '76 surprised to hear the title track from Patti Smith's Radio Ethiopia, when the LP was brand new and I hadn't got my copy yet. "Radio Ethiopia" (the track) was this amazing surge of pure sonic madness total free blow-out and it left my head reeling. Then I heard the full album, otherwise devoid of the free thing and I was bummed. Well, 30 years later, here's the Magik Markers. This trio sounds like its ABCs of R&R begin with "Radio Ethiopia" + the breathless free-rock orgasm of the Stooges' "L.A. Blues" + the most open moments of the first Godz LP on ESP-Disk. Of course, a zillion other things've come along in the meanwhile. The Magik Markers were bathed in hardcore as young'uns, and they came of age in the wake of the Dead C, Harry Pussy, and a worldwide noise scene that touches any and every other alleged genre. But at the heart of the Magik Markers is something much older: rock and roll. You know, R+R as envisioned down at the pub by Mark Smith & The Fall except you can't remember the chord changes. Let's twist again like we did the first time we heard Suicide's "Rocket USA."

Drummer Pete Nolan can scatter and merge in a way that you could say references Sunny Murray's free breakthroughs with Albert Ayler, but just as often sounds like he could be playing "Louie Louie" in a '65 garage band. Somewhere behind and beneath the clang and dissonance of guitarists Elisa Ambrogio (also vocals) and Leah Quimby (bass axe), I still hear the distorted blurry notes of Paul Burlinson with the Johnny Burnette Trio the murderous licks of Pat Hare with Howlin' Wolf. And in between: everything from West Coast Quicksilver/Dead/Love to dark heavy Velvets/Zep/Sabbath/PiL. But remember, these young studs take out all the "fancy" stuff: no songs, no scales, nothin' but room lots of rhythms, tons of sounds and noises (although don't mistake the MMs for a power-electronics assault squad), even a few recognizable English words. Yeah, the words. They seem spontaneous, but offer tantalizing hints at the magik behind the musicians: "You're my American woman. You're my American thighs. It's a dark night in Vegas. It's a dark night in Vegas" . . . "I am not compassionate. I don't like mercy. I will take your life" . . . "It's a shy, arthritic sky" . . . ?!

In spite of their punk roots, the Markers' form tends toward extended breakdowns: this disc is divided into two "sides" two long tracks the first running to 19:41, and the other is 19:38. No rules is the rule here. For instance, dig the near-acapella section on the first "side" whistlin', odd voices, clappin', just an occasional rattle or beep very casual and simple but mesmerizing. Then there's the part on the second "side" where it sounds like everything is moving in outta-focus slow-mo, like after you've drank waytoomuch cough syrup (DXM) 'n yr legs 've turned t' melted, oooozing plastic. But my favorite part (swoon!) is when Elisa begins an erotic gutter-cat rant: "I'm your ramblin' rose . . . I'm your Sister Anne," obvious references to the MC5. Imagine THAT band jammin' with Yoko Ono and yer about halfway to here. Elisa raves against the torrent of Quimby's roaring feedback and Nolan's exploding skins in an intuitive way that recalls Patti Smith's lost-in-the-whirlpool moments and/or Damo Suzuki's most tongue-driven gestures with Can. Whew.

Formed in 2000, the Magik Markers have moved from New England to Kentucky to NYC who knows where next? They've played around the U.S. and western Europe, including gigs with alt-rock heavies like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. The trio has released various CDRs and cassettes on their own Arbitrary Signs label, as well as an LP of "early" material for T. Moore's Ecstatic Peace, and CDR releases for Slippy Town, Imvated, and Apostasy. For their first manufactured CD release, the Markers have landed on the Gulcher imprint it somehow makes sense that this group of out-crowders would end up with the same label that spewed MX-80, the Gizmos, and other weirdos onto an unsuspecting world. The strange thing is this time the world might be paying attention! Ssshhhhhh pass the peace pipe turn up the amplifiers.

Eddie Flowers
Slippy Town
(January 2006)