Search - Piano Magic :: Seasonally Affective Disorder

Great!!!... All Piano Magic music...

Rafael Cova | Caracas, Venezuela | 04/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"BACK IN STOCK. ALL PIANO MAGIC A-SIDES & B-SIDES 1996 AND 2000 INCLUDING THEIR VERY FIRST RECORDINGS, NOW DELETED, FOR CHE, WURLITZER JUKEBOX & PIAO! Piano Magic began as a hobby in a Muswell Hill spare room in Summer 1996 but grew legs when Glen Johnson sent a demo to Che Records who released it as it stood. "Wrong French" won the heart of John Peel's night owl audience and that of Melody Maker who awarded it Single Of The Week back when it meant something. Since then, Piano Magic has blossomed into a sort of shady members only club that's allowed the likes of Darren Hayman (Hefner), Simon Rivers (Bitter Springs), Peter Astor (The Wisdom Of Harry) through it's doors, most notably on 1999's "Low Birth Weight" album. Over their releases for 15 or so labels between '96 and the present day, Piano Magic have bastardised Kraftwerkian small beat industrialism ("Popular Mechanics"), deformed regal Baroque pop ("A Trick Of The Sea") and miscarriaged odes of sorry to the war dead ("Artists' Rifles"). They've also played 48 concerts, gotten medium-to-big in Spain (headlining a main stage at this year's Benicassim Festival) and, most recently, signed in blood with 4AD (their soundtrack to Bigas Luna's "Son De Mar" movie leaked out in August). "Seasonally Affective" collects all Piano Magic a-sides and b-sides between 1996 and 2000 including their very first recordings, now deleted, for Che, Wurlitzer Jukebox and Piao! - labels the band has outlived. It also makes the obscurities for tiny European labels like Acetone, Debut and Alice in Wonder easily accessible for the first time. Rarer than rare is Sketch For Joanne" - a track for Dutch radio station VPRO's Xmas compilation - of which only 50 copies were made.
Buy it now, excellent price for the most beatiful music in the world."

A SUMPTUOUS REPAST

Noel Pratt | Washington, D.C., and better places | 09/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is full of delicacies that will make your mouth water for the next one. Enjoy the swimming in this sea of sweet sound and harmonic convergence and divergence. And the artwork of the cover and liner add to the decidedly interesting vibe. If you like the THIS MORTAL COIL project idea, that's how this started. I might mention, there's really not a lot of piano per se -- there are many instruments. But the magic is here! After only one listen I'm giving it four stars, maybe it should be five. This is a collection of their EPs and singles, 1996-2000..."