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 NEW
ALBUM – EC Split 25 by dabodab / Magic Bullet
Asgard is an anomaly outside the seaside enclave of Knott End. Magic Bullet
hover in the vicinity; their five feet not quite touching the ground as the
evil twins occasionally meet like floppers in a rift. The production line
that is Mick Magic and Skit Zoyd have released a split album with dabodab.
‘EC Split 25’ the Magic Bullet side, takes us on an obscurer than obscure
tour of their household; but in a central dimension. Having visited that
very palace filled with psychedelic children and football memorabilia of the
third kind, I can visualise the tour… Sort of…
Despite the utility room not having a portal, you soon realise Magic Bullet
are in need of lobotomatic surgery and electric shock treatment. Mick, Skit
and various hostessai offer you a minimalist transcendent trip through the
psychodelic suburbs of Knott End. Asgard (real name Arse Guard), a village
where pensioners travel by astral plane and hide their psychedelics behind
wall-mounted plates. Utter nonsense, and more power to Magic Bullet for
being such…
On the flipside, we slip through an open door and down a chute into the
colourful world of dabodab. Before we can say Mi Casa Su Casa we have lost
consciousness, but are still aware. Marilyn Baker is with us, but she’s not
there either… We’re not scared though, in this
amazing place filled with ever-changing
hue |
Neil Crud with our Sam and Twizz - chilling in
Blackpool for Rebellion 2019
and saturation. Marilyn is telling
us about the houses she grew up in, we’re not listening, we’re just
comforted by her Zuvuya-like tones as the lights float, blink and twinkle
by…
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PUBLICATION
LINK - 15th November 2020:
http://link2wales.co.uk/2020/archive-reviews/new-album-ec-split-25-by-dabodab-magic-bullet/
Reviewed by Neil Crud |
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 EC
Split 25 by Magic Bullet & dabodab
The EC Splits are series of collaborations between various members of the
Facebook Electronic Cottage group. The group is private but the Bandcamp
links are not.
EC Split 25 brings together two veterans of the homemade music, cassette
label and zine underground: Magic Bullet (aka Mick Magic) and dabodab (aka
Bryan Baker).
I said Magic Bullet is aka Mick Magic, but it’s actually Mick and Skit Zoyd,
a totally different not Mick Magic entity from a parallel reality.
Assistance is provided by Samantha and Twizzle Magic plus Owen ‘Blacklight
Braille’ Knight. I reviewed Magic Bullet’s Solidarietas and Curiositas last
year and if you’re a fan of Mick’s Magic Moments at Twilight Time band,
Magic Bullet is far more adventures-in-sound experimental than the space
rock ‘n’ roll that characterized MMATT.
Magic Bullet employ an arsenal of ‘gear’, some of which includes
instrumentation, but also makes creative use of the various machines and
utilities that are all about the household. We have a cut-up of telephones
dialing, television samples, rumbling and scratching noise-scapes,
noise-melodies, and percussion, leading into more beat driven
noise-dance-collage foot stomping. ‘We Would Hear The Machines’ is one of my
favorites. It’s tasty Industrial sci-fi dance club collage music for robots
with a KILLER vacuum cleaner finale! NICE touch! We’re also
treated to voice sample
collage cut and stitch plus |
household ambience. ‘May The Waters Run Through Its Pipes For Ever More’ features a running water faucet symphony with a toilet
flush finale. ‘It Is For Sleeps And Dreams (A Lullaby)’ sounds like a
washing machine as machine gun, alternating with blood curdling crow
screams. Is this a horror movie soundtrack to a day at the coin laundry?
‘They Visit Her At Night’ would make for a bit of Saturday morning cartoon
electro rock ‘n’ roll with its robotic toy instrument melody. And ‘They
Depart To The Skies Of The Irish Sea’ is another collaged groove tune that
sounds like a dueling mash-up of cash registers, vacuum cleaners and ray
guns. Fun stuff!
For the dabodab ‘side’ of the split, Bryan Baker uses samples, electronics,
toy piano, recorder, and other keys and effects to create a deep space
journey that combines with Marilyn Baker’s spoken word about the houses she
grew up in. The music is a mesmerizing blend of majestic space excursion,
effects, and light melodies. It’s dreamy, symphonic, and peppered throughout
with fun electronica, creating a nice balance of floating space, rumbling
drone-fest, and alien infestation. At times I imagined Vangelis or Kitaro but
with loads of freaky effects. Around the 10-minute mark electronic blips
create an interesting rhythmic pulse. There are moments of intensity, as if
spacecrafts were periodically rushing by to disrupt our meditation. And the
rhythmic pace picks up… I love the blippity grooving but not quite dancey
pulse. This would be a great one to chill out to in a planetarium.
PUBLICATION
LINK - 1st March 2021:
https://www.facebook.com/aural.innovations/posts/10161181204490620
*Jerry Kranitz is the former editor of Aural Innovations and recent author of
"Cassette Culture" (published by Vinyl On Demand) |
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Andy Martin (UNIT, ex
Apostles) on We Would Hear The Machines; "Now then, guys ‘n’ gals: which
2 pop pieces end with the sound of a vacuum cleaner being switched off? Get
Down by Wire (from the free EP that accompanies the LP 154) and this
splendid conceit which does indeed give us machines . . . a choir of them .
. . each of which clanks, clatters, hammers and grinds away in a finely
crafted precision of rhythm and stereo effects that make this one of my
favourite tracks of the set. Think: Portion Control, SPK or even Nine Inch
Nails but in a 21st century style. It is equally effective heard through
speakers or headphones. 9/10 . . . the missing point is because it ought to
be at least a minute longer." (from a review of the "Godspunk Volume 22"
compilation on Pumf Records, which can be found at;
http://www.batcow.co.uk/pumf/godspunk_reviews.htm#819) |
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