Magic and Medicine

Retro, well-crafted pop with a sense of musical humor. The music is better than the (sometimes inane) lyrics. Skillful guitars, clear unemotional male vocal delivery. Varied styles, ranging from organ solo-heavy Doors to folky country Grateful Dead to poppy early Simon and Garfunkel folk.

1: Organ with squeakings. Clear lyrics. Doors-esque. (2:40)
2: Nice spare percussion. Old west feel. Inane lyrics. Cool miscellaneous whistly sound effects. (4:03)
3: Folky acoustic guitar. A little repetitive. (3:32)
4: Almost Grateful Dead-ish. Badass country vocal delivery. (3:07)
5: Doors mode again, complete with psychedelic bridge. (2:56)
6: Tambourine and organ chords give this a dissonant circus feel, with nice high growly guitar layered above. Uninterpretable lyrics. I like this track, but I like all ominous circus music. (3:54)
7: Uptempo. Storytelling lyrics. Like early Simon and Garfunkel, with more complex interesting music and worse lyrics (ick). (2:37)
8: Downtempo intro. Proto-bluesy horns come in, followed by a nice banjo. Yay banjo! (2:31)
9: Cute lyrics. Pleasant country/latin tinged folk-pop. Medium tempo. (4:14)
10: Sing-songy lyrics, guitar, drums and bass. (2:19)
11: About 5 sec of silence at beginning of track. Quiet all through. Murky and chimey, with low, nearly chanted vocals. (3:06)
12: Introduction with bass. Funky! Atmospheric bridge. High and low brass. Nice distorted guitar at the end with a sound like a flock of helicopters and trucks whizzing by one at a time. Play this! (6:19)
-Kathryn