By Steve Lowenthal for the Village Voice:
Elisa Ambrogio is happy today. Her duo with dummer Pete Nolan, Magik Markers, was recently profiled in her hometown paper, the Hartford Courant. Since then, she's been deluged with compliments from her grandmother's friends. "If I can reach just one lady, my grandma's age, I'd say I've made it," she says on the phone from her father's house in Connecticut, where she's staying in advance of a tour with Japanese psych legends Ghost.Read the rest here. Magik Markers visited Soundlab with Sunburned Hand of the Man as part of its Fall Brawl Tour 08/16/05. Sunburned Hand of the Man shared the bill, with openers Caustic Solution. Elisa Ambrogio returned on 01/30/08 as part of Six Organs of Admittance, with Mick Turner (of Dirty Three) on the bill and The Lochs opening. Magik Markers return to Soundlab on 3/25/10 with Bare Flames and Baczkowski/Ranallo Duo.
Since 2003, the band has evolved from a violently raw punk spasm to a more restrained, yet equally challenging, psychic beast. Evidence of this change can be found on their latest album--and first for the esteemed Drag City label--Balf Quarry. The album features the full range of the Markers' abilities, from the hardcore inspired "Jerks," to the Nico-esqe Harmonium anthem "Shells." Ambrogio and Nolan seem more direct and confident than in the past, whether on record or otherwise.
"I was more willing to say things," Ambrogio says, regarding the new album. "The more things you make, the better you are about communicating clearly, and getting what you want to say out. I was listening to the greatest hits of Jimmy Webb this year and found he wrote a book on songwriting. Cause who's a more killer dude than Jimmy Webb? So I followed some of his advice in terms of how to construct a story in song. I really like the way he spoke about the words and the music and how the details were just as important as in any other form of writing."
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