Happy Cinco de Mayonnaise, dorks. Today’s awesome, ya’llz.  It seems like this blog has been reviewing records left and right that have a May 5th release date. Turns out that, yes, today’s a big day. We at the Decibel Tolls support these artists and encourage you to pick these jam hives up from your preferred record store or distributor. If you don’t have the cheese, you can always CHARGE IT 2 DA GAME like Silkk the Shocker do! Stimulate the economy!

Tara Jane O’Neil – A Ways Away
Akron/Family – Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
The Vaselines – Enter the Vaselines
Magik Markers – Balf Quarry
Acid Mothers Temple – Lord of the Underground: Vishnu and the Magic Elixir

There’s also a new Marmoset record coming out this month courtesy of Joyful Noise, but no specific date has been confirmed (or at least I haven’t been able to find one). Shout at me if you know anything about Tea Tornado – tryin’ to see about it!

MP3 :::
Akron/Family – Sun Will Shine
Tara Jane O’Neil – The Drowning Electric
Marmoset – I Love My Things

Now operating somewhere in between the frequencies of Red Krayola and the Raincoats, bare knuckle front-woman Elisa Ambrogio leads the Magik Markers deeper in their quest to mend the fault line between rock deconstruction and a recently budded pop-sensibility on their new album Balf Quarry.

With the album title being a reference to their home town, it is fitting that we find the group stripped down to a duo, reaching for a balance between 2007’s comparatively accessible Boss and the noisier catharsis of their earlier output. The result is a thick visceral batter of rock’s outstanding subversives for the past 30 years all mixed into one. “Don’t Talk in Your Sleep” conjures a detached aggression á la Scout Niblett. Spearheaded by a martial guitar lick, pounding snare rolls, and Elisa’s vengeful narration, it produces a castrating swagger that makes PJ Harvey look like a harmless subway performer. Amazingly, the Markers keep this pace for the majority of Balf Quarry, taking very few breathers throughout the 10 tracks, and when they aren’t swinging for the fence, they opt for brief explorations of the less offensive, but no less compelling angles of their song writing.

One such example is the mid-album gem “7/23″, which contrasts a catchy vocal melody reminiscent of K Records playfulness and a distorted horse-trot percussion that gradually latches on to the beat. Minimally constructed, and confidently realized, this is one of the best songs I’ve heard all year. A similar ambiance is forged on “Psychosomatic”, a twitchy, downer version of The Shaggs’ child-like aesthetic filtered through a dense neurosis.

But in lieu of all this name dropping, perhaps the most remarkable feat is that Balf Quarry is more than the sum of these influences. It’s a triptych of lustful garage howls, off-kilter pop songs, and a few crusty free form jams to mediate both ends of the spectrum. The Magik Markers have become a true adversary to anyone making safe music, and this is their fire-eyed call to arms. A surefire candidate for the 2009 Best Of lists.

Fagen-Becker Quality Rating

Balf Quarry is available May 5th on Drag City.

For fans of:  Sunburned Hand of the Man, The Red Krayola, early Animal Collective, The Dead C, Faust

MP3 :::
Magik Markers – Don’t Talk in Your Sleep
Magik Markers – 7/23

O JUNK YA’LLZ!!1 I’VE BEEN SOOOO BAKED 2DAY I ALMOST 4GOT TO PUT 2GETHER A MIX FOR 420. I’M LIKE THAT ADULTERER IN THE BIBLE STORY… LOVE TO GET STONED, KNOW WUT I’M SAYING?!?!?! NAH I’M JUST KIDDING.

N-E WAYZ, 420 IS MAH FAVORITE HOLIDAY AND I CELEBRATE IT EVERY YEAR B/C I FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE LEGALIZE THE GANJ. GRASS HELPS ME AND OTHER PPL FIND OUT THE TRUTH IN THINGS. AND U KNOW WHAT? MAN, I’LL TELL YOU WHAT THE REAL CRIME IS… IT’S WHEN OUR FASCIST GOVERNMENT TELL US… WAIT, MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT DERAILED. O WELL, LOL. BUT YEAH, AS I SAID EARLIER I MADE YA’LLZ A MIX TO BRING IN THE HOLIDAY RIGHT. ALSO, IF U WANT TO SMOKE GRASS BUT CAN’T ROLL A DEECE J, HERE’S HOW TO MAKE A GRAVITY BONG WITH HOUSEHOLD ITEMS. PEACE.

For this classroom activity, you will need:
- Kitchen mop bucket (preferably unused or at least thoroughly washed)
- a 2-liter bottle
- Sink faucet screen with nut (the lil’ doo-dad where the water comes out)
- Aluminum foil
- Knife or scissors
- Access to municipal tap water, yo

THIS IS 4 TOBACCO USE ONLY, THO, SO DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME WITH N-E THING ELSE *WIIINKZ NUDGE*

Fill bucket about 3/4 with water. Cut four small incisions at the bottom of the plastic bottle. Remove bottle cap, replace with sink screen and nut, and pad bottle nozzle tightly with aluminum foil (don’t want any of the tobackee smoke *wiiink* to get out).  Fill screen with your favorite flavored tobacco. Push bottle toward bottom of bucket. Light tobacco and slowly pull bottle up out of water. Remove cap, put mouth on bottle nozzle then slowly start pushing bottle back down into bucket while inhaling. And viola! ENJOI YR. FINE AMERICAN GROWN TOBACCO PRODUCTS LOLZ.

IF YA’LLZ HAVE N-E ?’S U CAN HIT ME UP ON AIM MY SCREENNAME IS SMOAK420

If you do get busted by the po-lice for enjoyin’ the finer things in life, tell them that you got these gravity “tobacco” bong instructions from Gorilla Vs. Bear, ya know what I’m sayin’.

MP3 :::
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO – Ange Mecanique De Saturne
Magik Markers – There is No Path Which is Not Straight
Loop – Fade Out
Comets on Fire – Jaybird
Pink Floyd – Astronomy Domine
Darker My Love – I Feel Fine
The Byrds – Space Odyssey
Landing – Gravitational 2
Cloudland Canyon – Mothlight Part 1
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Gettin’ High in the Morning
The Black Angels – Snake in the Grass
13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This House
Deerhunter – Octet
Frank Zappa – Flower Punk

I was really stoked on czechin’ the new Lindsey Buckingham joint the other night, as L-Train and I are both huge Fleetwood Mac fans.  And after listening, we were very sad about it.  Now that Lindsey isn’t scoring blow and beating up his girlfriends, his tunes are slowly waning in smooth rock quality.  I don’t even remember what it sounds like now, my mind has repressed that shit really fast.  My brain’s fast like fast actin’ Tenactin.

So I was in a very bad way before pumping proper on the new Magik Markers jam hive.  It’s a recently dropped, limited release, comically titled EP called Gucci Rapidshare Download, part of Three Lobed Recordings’ Oscillations III series (with artwork by my friend Robert Beatty). Within two minutes, I had endorphins kickin’ in, the spunk came back, and I was in such a good mood, I was ready to rake some of my neighbors’ leaves as a random act of kindness. 

“There Is No Path Which Is Not Straight” is really gorgeous. The Raymond Scott-esque atomic age pinging space sounds replete with rich, jazzy percussion provokes Basil Kirchen at his least chaotic.  The first two minutes submerge you in silky ambient textures, and then it kicks in straight kraut style. The rhythmic punch of this number hits so hard that I’m going to pick up some Icy Hot while waiting in the breadline this evening.  Fluttering, melodic vocal chants and motorik timekeeping act impervious to all the swells of dissonance around (thanks to amplified violins in the vein of Burning Star Core).  This is a remarkable track.

“The Place Where What Has Been Taken Is Returned” is more sparse and gutteral, but certainly structured.  As mentioned, Magik Markers have adopted a serious smokey jazz vibe to their usual brainfuck psychedelic. The beautiful vocal harmonies, melodic tone, slight psych approach, and rock-it-till-it-collapses composition actually evoke sort of a noise-damaged Yo La Tengo or a gentler Bardo Pond.  I don’t think either comparison is a stretch.

This is some the finest output from Magik Markers yet. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

Anyway, you can grip this EP and other good stuff by subscribing to Three Lobed.  Do it!  And pass the hashish, por favor.

MP3 :::
Magik Markers – There is No Path Which is Not Straight
Magik Markers – The Place Where What Has Been Taken Is Return