Magic Lantern/ Hop Frog Kollectiv

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

5...according to our Brett on Thu 26 Feb, 2009.

Yikez! A new Magic Lantern thing that's limited to 300 copies.. These are going to go in about three minutes, aren't they. It's a split with Hop Frog Kollectiv (me neither) who go first; and whose side I probably prefer to be bloody honest with you. It's a long droney bit called 'Somba' that sounds like it's being played in some sort of wacky Indian scale with a wheezing accordion lolling about in the background with accompaniment fading in and out from bleeping morse code sounds, a wonky banjo thing, little prods of feedback and what sounds to me like a windchime.. It doesn't sound like much but it's fucking super. Proper atmospheric wares for poking at your imagination. The Magic Lantern track's good too, nicely continuing the other side's feel but moulding it into a rocky form. It's far more mellow than their other stuff, at times sounding a little like the laid-back opium den repetition Six Organs of Admittance often do so well, but it's equally as easy to get sucked into this as it is their blaring avant-psych. The crackers sleeve can only really help you in your zoning-out quest. Lethal weaponz on Urck!

300 being made!! Magic Lantern being one of our fave sounds of 2008, this simply stokes the fire....Through a mutual admiration of each other's work Magic Lantern & The Hop-Frog Kollectiv have created two stunning masterpieces for a collaborative release. The Hop-Frog Kollectiv's Somba is based on recordings on Silvertone and Hammond organs donated by Shea M. Gauer of OPEN Books and features Yanqin (Chinese dulcimer), Ruan (moon guitar), Been, electric guitar, midi guitar & flutes. The title comes from the regionally known name of three clans in the Atakora Mountains of the Sahara desert who's ancestral and family ties govern their society through their belief that the dead are permanently among us and constantly influencing us. Magic Lantern's Underwater Dynasty was recorded for Ukelele, Guitar, Flute, Piano, Bells, Hand Drums & Voices. This piece could alternatively be titled Underwater Raga. The magic created by the interweaving flute and string melodies creates and epic soundtrack to an Atlantis like Hesse-esque world that'll take you to the outer places you've always needed to explore. This is Magic Lantern's follow up to their highly acclaimed wax release on Not Not Fun entitled High Beams.

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