Somewhere along time’s continuum, this generation’s music got mired in predictability, entering into a recursive set of musical memes that started some time around 2005—synthesizers, sampling, Beach Boys, Phil Spector girl pop, precious twee hymns, etc. And so it is with no small amount of delight when a band truly displays some hooks and talent to make the guitar and vocals actually sing again. To force us into the realization that so many recent bands have gotten a free pass simply because they can obscure a lack of craft behind a veil of MacBook pro-inspired production. Exceptions are few.
However, Magic Castles are one of the exceptions. This Minneapolis-based band is, without doubt, one of the most satisfying acts to come along in quite awhile. Their music has a pulse. Its acid-drenched beauty vibrates through the aether.
Magic Castles are, in a sense, the looking glass magicians of the ’60s, sent to liberate us from the miasma of homogenous modern indie music, and do so by singing about Hobbits on acid, ancient gardens and kings of distant lands. And while it might be accurate to describe their music as plucked from the halcyon days of psychedelic pop, inspired by 13th Floor Elevators, Velvet Underground and Spacemen 3, they somehow manage to sound remarkably current. Alongside the criminally-neglected Colourmusic, they might well be pointing us toward good old psychedelic rock and roll.
On their side is the enfant terrible of underground music, Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre, who signed Magic Castles to his label and is releasing their double album on March 1, 2012. Newcombe came across the band by way of a music video uploaded to YouTube. And while such easy means of music distribution have resulted in a lot of middling bands hyped beyond belief, Magic Castles are as good as Newcombe claims.
Stream the tracks “Death Dreams” and “Ballad of the Golden Bird,” both of which will be appearing on the eponymous double album, and watch the music video for “Ballad of the Golden Bird” below.
Magic Castles DOUBLE LP-Track Listing / Available on 180 gram Black virgin vinyl.
SIDE A – 1) Death Dreams 2) Now I’m a Little Cloud 3) Imaginary Friends
SIDE B – 1) Ballad of the Golden Bird, 2) All My Prayers…
SIDE C – 1) Songs of the Forest 2) 10,100 3) Letterbox
SIDE D – 1) Big Sur 2) Mystical Sage Warrior 3) Emory’s Memories
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