Piano Magic.
Piano Magic unofficial site at Rocketgirl
Piano Magic/Icebreaker - french mittens/melody for NATO
(debut) 7"
Piano Magic - wintersport (ire 203) 12"
Piano Magic - popular mechanics (ire 210 ) cd £10 lp
Piano Magic - for engineers (wurlitzer jukebox) 7"
Piano Magic - The Fun Of The Century (piao) 12" great 4
track 12". Lookout for the new full length on Rocket Girl in
1999.
Piano Magic - A Trick Of The Sea/Bliss Out v.13 Darla CD /LP
This latest blissout features the wonderful Piano Magic, who
deliver two hauntingly dark & moody ambient epics with a nautical
theme. Halloween Boat and A Trick Of The Sea conjure images of
gray, misty shores, rusty old ships and a life at sea, far away
from the trivial concerns of the world. ----
Piano Magic "Low Birth Weight" (rocket girl) cd
Piano Magic "Mort Aux Vaches" CD (Staalplaat)
limited edition of 1000 copies
INFO OFF 4AD-L MAILING LIST:
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 23:43:18 -0400
From: Susan F Curran
Subject: Re: piano magic
> what can people tell me about piano magic? i've just become addicted to
> their track on the spacemen 3 tribute record. it appears they've got a
> readily available record titled "popular mechanics" out. any reviews of
> this?
i first heard about piano magic via an interview in the space age bachelor
which i just posted about the other day. i think my favourite release is
their first 12" "wrong french" on che. slightly spooky female vocals over a joy
divisionish bassline. the b-side "non-fiction" is even better.
(incidentally, if anyone knows where to get another copy of this, i'm in
their debt)
they have a 2nd 12" on che (both a-sides are on the lp) and a 7" on the
esteemed wurlitzer jukebox, which is all i'm aware of. oh, and the album,
of course, which doesn't (in my mind) quite live up to the promise of that
1st single since it's a bit more eclectic, but it is quite good, and
obtainable at a domestic price through riouxs or darla.
speaking of that spaceman 3 tribute, it's pretty much a must-buy given the
line-up, but if anyone has any additional comments, they're appreciated.
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 1998 06:12:40 +0100
From: Jonathan Lees
Subject: Re: piano magic
If you're in the London, they have copies of the first 2 12's . If you're
not in London Action records (http://www.action.co.uk) have them in their
Indie mailorder section. Also there is a recent 12" on Piao records called
sale of the century which is totally brilliant, although it is less
electronic and more post rock.
Jonathan
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 13:28:51 +0000
From: David Thorpe
Subject: Re: People/Strange; Darla's <> 13
I recently acquired the current installment of Darla's <>.
Volume 13 of this excellent series is Piano Magic's two track 40 minute
ode to the ocean. It's filled with short wave radios, mermaidian vocals,
sonar bleeps and buoy bells. Not since Windy and Carl's Bliss Out
<> has there been anything quite so calming.
The first track <> occurs in a series of movements,
slowly building from weaving guitars through bizzarre but touching vocals
by Lucy Gulland ("you in the kitchen/waiting on tea/whilst I lose the
cupboards/to a trick of the sea") to more industrial electronic bleeping
before returning to the weaving guitars.
The second track <> emerges from the sound of waves gently
crashing onto the beach, a sad Charles Wyatt pronouncing that "There's a
hole in my heart/the size of a girl/thirty by fifty/in my pocket a
letter/a let's make it better note/but i'm all out at sea/asking the
harbour to come this way/closer/to swallow me." before the waves do indeed
swallow the music once again.
It's an album that literally turns you soggy at the edges; for more
information see http://www.darla.com/
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1998 15:25:38 -0000
From: Andrew Norman
Subject: Re: People/Strange; Darla's <> 13
David Thorpe, on 9 Dec 98,:
> I recently acquired the current installment of Darla's <>.
> Volume 13 of this excellent series is Piano Magic's two track 40 minute
> ode to the ocean. It's filled with short wave radios, mermaidian vocals,
> sonar bleeps and buoy bells. Not since Windy and Carl's Bliss Out
> <> has there been anything quite so calming.
I'm waiting for the vinyl version, but I'll put in a word for the
"Music for Annahbird" 7" which came out this week on Bad Jazz (home
of i s a n amongst others). Three tracks, the third one goes on a
bit too long but in general Piano Magic are well worth investigating -
I was initially put off by the girly poetry on the first couple of
singles (oddly reminiscent of the spoken interlude in "Hole in my
Shoe"), but the album "Popular Mechanics" is superb. i s a n have an
excellent album of their homemade electronic tunes on Tugboat, the
label run by Piano Magic's Glen. Low also had a single on that label
and cooperated with Piano Magic and Transient Waves (also Darla Bliss
Out contributors) on a recent single for Rocket Girl. Small world.
******************************************************************
Review found at http://www.angelfire.com/wy/neonlights/june.html:
Piano Magic ~ Low Birth Weight (Rocket Girl)
After their glorious contribution to Darla's Bliss Out series
last year Glen Johnson and cohorts return with the second Piano
Magic album proper. Previously Piano Magic seemed to operate in a
rural night time loneliness, far from the hustle and bustle of
modern life, but on Low Birth Weight the evocative aura of eerie
solitude exists in the centre of hectic London life. It's 4.30
AM, it's getting light, the party is going on somewhere else.
This is no desolate depressive album though, Low Birth Weight
exudes a warm mahogany aura, making this a more accessible album
than previous work. Piano Magic have moved closer to the
mainstream, with more 'proper' songs in place of the experimental
pieces of Popular Mechanics. Nearer the mainstream, maybe, but
still lying several miles off course of the usual left field
shipping lanes, still a highly intriguing proposition. It is
clear that the reputation of Glen Johnson has preceded him, and
there are a number of left-field cameos, from The Bitter Springs,
i s a n, Baby Birkin, and Pete Astor. Opening up with perhaps the
weakest track, the My Bloody Valentine meets Field Mice of
Snowfall Soon, there is no hint of what is to come on this
remarkable album. Crown Estate, featuring Simon Rivers, is
stunning, hinting at a depravity lurking below the surface. On
Bad Patient isan provide their trademark pre-fi beats while Baby
Birkin provides the voice, images of drizzly streets come to
mind. Not Fair is another highlight, all shimmery guitars and
lush female harmonies, it could almost be 1991 again. Dark
Secrets Look For Light, featuring Simon Rivers again, is a
haunting tale of secret revealed and a suicide, while Snow Drums
has more poetry, combined with gentle guitar and dripping water
effects, before unfolding into an abstract electronic piece, like
a soundtrack to 19th Century European taxidermy. With a more
song-based approach there are only 2 experimental sample based
tracks, the nursery rhyme eerieness of Birdy Maguire, and
Shepherds are Needed, a collection of bloops, bleeps, hydraulic
sounds and whirring noises that sounds like a deserted
hydroelectric plant in the dead of night. Low Birth Weight is an
intensely brooding lonely album, but has a warm quality that
demands repeated playing, and, by some distance, is the best
release so far this year, but unfortunately will probably go
unnoticed in the release melee. Highly Recommended.