Massachusetts

Mass_Magic_magic

CITY: Boston
SONG THAT GOT US: “Sleepy Lion”
ON THE TUBES: MySpace, YouTube
RECORD LABEL: Unsigned

WHY THEM? In our biz, it’s downright energizing to learn of bands by simple word of mouth, as opposed to by a multi-platform blitzkrieg of publicists. Such was the case with Magic Magic, who rep Boston via Salem rather brilliantly on their self-titled debut. That’s “brilliantly,” because the bulk of their fans (thanks to an arrangement with Rough Trade's retail outlets) are in the UK, where they are a few back-alley candids away from being full-on darlings in the music press. Understandably so, as their deft blend of woozy textures, twinkling guitars, lilting vocals, choral lapses, tasteful percussive clamber (courtesy of two drummers), and sheer variety of styles are all well-tempered by a pop approachability that’s far too rare and oh-so refreshing.

BONUS BIT! The “Magic Magic Expanded Universe” at mikehlady.blogspot.com is rich with all sorts of vaguely band-related multimedia bric-a-brac. Highly recommended: the surrealist laffs packed into each of their “video novels."

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Latest Articles

Gang of four

New work at 5 Traverse and Providence College
The elegantly simple shapes of Providence artist Lisa Perez’s shallow wooden wall sculptures at 5 Traverse Gallery take on charming, wobbly, bubbly forms with uneven edges, as if they were worn away by rivers.
By GREG COOK | November 03, 2009

The Quiet Storm

In this desperate downtime, is Deval Patrick regrouping, or cluelessly steering a sinking ship?
In recent weeks, Governor Deval Patrick has been receiving some of his best press in a long time — which is to say, he’s gotten very little coverage at all.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 04, 2009

Inside the term-paper machine

The black market of term papers exposed
It’s never been easier for college students to hire someone else to write their term papers for them.
By COLMAN HERMAN | November 04, 2009

Wizards and masterpieces

Harry Potter at the Museum of Science, and another look at the Rose
At “Harry Potter: The Exhibition” at the Museum of Science, when a robed attendant places the sorting hat on a visitor’s head and soon after a door whooshes open to reveal the Hogwarts Express, you find yourself filled with the kind of giddy expectation you feel when getting your hands on a Potter book the day it’s released.
By GREG COOK | November 06, 2009

Menino, again

Plus: Latino gains, same-sex defeat, and a buzz for pot
At a time when Americans are racked by anxiety about the uncertain future of a weak economy, Boston voters handily returned Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to an unprecedented fifth term.
By EDITORIAL | November 04, 2009

Difference of opinion

Peter Canellos reinvents Globe ’s editorial page. Plus, Tom Menino’s campaign gets late-breaking help from the Banner and Herald .
It’s been three months since Peter Canellos replaced Renée Loth as editor of the Boston Globe ’s editorial page.
By ADAM REILLY | November 06, 2009

The Snack Bar and O Senhor Ramos

Soul-satisfying, authentic Azorean specialties — oh, and sub-shop fare, too
Despite frequenting East Cambridge, I’m abashed to admit I overlooked the Snack Bar for years.
By MC SLIM JB | October 28, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

Noir comes to Providence

In Cold Blood
Former Providence Journal reporter Mark Arsenault’s new novel, Loot the Moon , is the second in a series focused on obituary writer, inveterate gambler, and investigator Billy Povich.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 28, 2009

In focus

‘Focus on Four’ is a sharp sampler
Photography has been New England’s greatest contribution to art of the past century.
By GREG COOK | October 29, 2009

Taking sides

The US Senate election is forcing Massachusetts pols to choose their team. Plus, Pagliuca’s plan, and the state GOP tries to get serious.
The stakes are high in the battle for Massachusetts’s first new US senatorship in a quarter-century.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 04, 2009

Slow hand

Jeremy Udden’s rocky jazz path
In his Village Voice review of Jeremy Udden’s Plainville (Fresh Sound New Talent), Jim Macnie recalled how a friend of his tried to file it as “jazz for Wilco fans.” As Macnie explained, that’s not the whole story with Udden or Plainville , but it’s not a bad starting point.
By JON GARELICK | October 21, 2009

The battle for our city schools

Boston Phoenix letters, October 23, 2009
In your recent story “ Boston Public-School Apartheid? ”, charter public schools are faulted for taking disadvantaged Boston students and sending them on to excellent high schools and, eventually, college. Why shouldn’t low-income students of color have access to such life-changing opportunities?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | October 21, 2009

Hardboiled hub

The city’s gritty, criminal underbelly has redefined the dark, artistic vision known as Boston noir
When I was growing up in Roslindale a few decades back — among tribes of ignorant, second-generation immigrant kids whose favorite words began with “f” and “n” and who liked to torture small animals and beat up small children before they moved on to their future vocations as petty criminals, dead dope users, or real-estate agents.
By PETER KEOUGH | October 21, 2009

Sarah and the shipmates

Vowell on the Puritans and the founding of Rhode Island
Humorist, historian, superhero. Sarah Vowell is a woman of letters and voices.
By MICHAEL ATCHISON | October 22, 2009

Slow hand

The importance of being Ernie

What drives Howie Carr’s anonymous tormentor?
Media feuds don’t come any nastier than the metastasizing spat between Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr and one “Ernie Boch III,” the pseudonymous blogger at the liberal Web site Blue Mass. Group. (Note: the blogger is no relation to the car dealer.)
By ADAM REILLY | October 19, 2009

The politics of baseball in Boston

It's the Red Sox, stupid
You don’t need a fancy political-science degree to predict voter turnout in Boston city elections. All you need is a Red Sox postseason schedule (when applicable).
By CHRIS FARAONE | October 14, 2009

Searching for a vision

New photographs at Stairwell and RIC’s Bannister Gallery
Haley O'Connor, the co-founder of Stairwell Gallery, includes a few of her own photos in the gallery's new show, "Yesterday Today and Tomorrow."
By GREG COOK | October 13, 2009

Khazei, Like a Fox?

Insiders don’t think Alan Khazei has a chance in the US Senate race. But progressive activists could make him an underdog with bite.
If there is to be a candidate in the Massachusetts US Senate race who inspires the sort of grassroots, progressive following that propelled Governor Deval Patrick into office three years ago — an insurgent candidacy, if you will — it figures to be idealistic public-service advocate Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and founder of Be the Change, Inc.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | October 16, 2009

Latter day taint

How Glenn Beck is driven by Mormonism — and why his fellow faithful (including Mitt Romney) should be worried
Fifteen years ago, Glenn Beck was a small-market DJ with a drinking problem, no friends, and bleak professional prospects. Today, he’s a Fox News superstar averaging 2.4 million viewers, an inexorably successful author, and the leader of a popular movement that condemns government in general and President Barack Obama in particular.
By ADAM REILLY | October 10, 2009

MFA neglects to award prize for neglected female artists

Missing Maud Dept.
In 1993, on the occasion of her 90th birthday, friends of prominent Cambridge artist Maud Morgan donated funds to Boston's Museum of Fine Arts to establish a prize in her name. (She died six years later.) The Maud Morgan Purchase Prize would celebrate under-appreciated mid-career Massachusetts female artists.
By GREG COOK | October 07, 2009

Boston public-school apartheid?

Think busing was a problem in this town? Some are labeling charter schools as Boston's newest educational battleground
At the Edward W. Brooke School in Roslindale — a kindergarten-to-eighth-grade public charter school — the push to advance graduates to elite secondary programs begins in fifth grade.
By CHRIS FARAONE | October 15, 2009

Disclosure: not a dirty word

Menino's shame and Kerry's blunder. Plus, Olympic follies.
The City Hall e-mail scandal that has scored headlines in recent weeks exemplifies Mayor Thomas Menino's antagonistic — almost contemptuous — attitude toward public accountability.
By EDITORIAL | September 30, 2009

Camelot: The Next Generation

Patrick Kennedy is a square peg in his family's historic round table
Senator Ted Kennedy's months-long battle with brain cancer inspired endless commentary about the demise of Camelot.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 01, 2009

Play by Play: September 25, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 22, 2009

What's the scam?

Trying to bilk the Scientologists
Back on the morning of June 7, 1982, a man walked into the New York branch of the Middle East Bank on the 25th floor of a Madison Avenue office building and tried to deposit a $2 million check. The man, a native of the United Arab Emirates, left without completing the transaction.
By JIM SCHUH | September 28, 2009

Can Beacon Hill do better?

Gambling and education take center stage
With DiMasi gone, the idea of casino gambling is again alive.
By EDITORIAL | September 23, 2009

Play by play: September 18, 2009

Plays from A to Z
Boston's weekly theater schedule
By JEFFREY GANTZ | September 17, 2009

Six for the seat

After a tumultuous week, these half dozen are still in the mix for Kennedy's seat.
Over the next few months, as candidates for the US Senate travel the state, you're likely to hear them say again and again that nobody can ever truly replace Ted Kennedy. That's the truth. But what does the state want next, after such a legendary, larger-than-life figure?
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | September 16, 2009

Today's Event Picks

[MUSIC] Boston Lyric Opera conducted by Keith Lockhard - Bizet's Carmen

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