Magik Markers

Spanning noisy improvisational rock, folky meditations, and more, Magik Markers make the most of their stream-of-consciousness approach. Emerging from a Connecticut basement in the early 2000s, the group issued a flood of self-released recordings whose raw energy could scarcely be contained by Elisa Ambrogio’s vocals and guitar alongside Pete Nolan’s drumming. Although the band softened its assault on the 2005 official debut I Trust My Guitar, Etc., it was only with 2007’s Boss that Magik Markers shaped its material into sharply delineated songs. Counterintuitively, the imposition of greater structure opened pathways to wider sonic palettes, so that later records such as 2013’s Surrender to the Fantasy and 2020 (issued that same year) incorporated aching ballads, brash guitar pop, and droning experiments while retaining the instinctive assurance of the band’s earliest efforts.

Magik Markers trace their origins to the late ’80s, when Ambrogio and founding bassist Leah Quimby first met in grade school. During high school the pair discovered underground rock and began attending shows. In 1999 Ambrogio encountered Nolan at a Budapest, Hungary youth hostel, and the two became friends. A fixture of East Lansing, Michigan’s indie scene, Nolan also recorded dreamy lo-fi music under the name Spectre Folk for his own Arbitrary Signs label.

In 2001 Ambrogio, Quimby, and Nolan settled into the upstairs apartment of Ambrogio’s grandparents’ home in Hartford, Connecticut. Jamming in the basement, they drew inspiration from acts such as the Dead C for their dense, free-rocking sound. Calling themselves Magik Markers, the trio produced tapes and CD-Rs sold at shows. Among the earliest releases were 2002’s Arbitrary Signs titles Beep! Beep! and Mystery City, both pressed for the band’s initial U.S. tour. Thurston Moore, present at one of those performances, invited the group to join Sonic Youth’s 2004 American tour. That same year Magik Markers recorded at Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room studio, yielding the 2004 CD-R Blues for Randy Lee and the following year’s I Trust My Guitar, Etc., their first album for Moore’s Ecstatic Peace imprint. Also appearing in 2005 was Feel the Crayon, issued jointly by Arbitrary Signs, Apostasy, and Not Not Fun.

Throughout 2006 Magik Markers remained highly active, delivering The Volodor Dance as part of Southern Records’ Latitudes series, A Panegyric to the Things I Do Not Understand on Gulcher Records, and additional titles on Hospital Productions, Textile Records, and Arbitrary Signs. After Quimby departed that year to pursue ventriloquism, Ambrogio and Nolan continued as a duo. For their second Ecstatic Peace album they enlisted Tall Firs’ Aaron Mullen and Lee Ranaldo at Sonic Youth’s Echo Canyon West studio in Hoboken, New Jersey. The outcome was 2007’s Boss, marked by a more deliberate approach to both recording and songwriting. Alongside a steady flow of Magik Markers CD-Rs on Arbitrary Signs, Nolan’s Spectre Folk project made its Woodsist debut that year with The Blackest Medicine.

In 2008 Magik Markers toured Scotland, Austria, Ireland, Latvia, and Wales. While abroad they performed live in Abbey Road’s Studio A, and Nolan sat in on drums for Jandek’s London appearance. Releases that year included Gucci Rapidshare Download, part of Three Lobed’s subscription series, which reworked downloads of earlier CD-Rs with fresh and archival material plus contributions from Six Organs of Admittance’s Ben Chasny, as well as Pewtre Ser, tracked with a former bandmate of Nolan’s in San Francisco. Ambrogio and Nolan also pursued solo endeavors: Spectre Folk toured the U.K., while Ambrogio collaborated with members of Comets on Fire as SF Dirty Stealer and joined Six Organs of Admittance for dates across Europe and the U.S. Late in the year Magik Markers recorded with Grammy-winning producer Scott Colburn. Balf Quarry, featuring additional guitar from Chasny, appeared on Drag City in May 2009 and further refined the band’s sound. That year also brought Baltimore Trust, a live document of a 2003 Baltimore performance, and a split release with Sic Alps sold during joint touring. For the Balf Quarry concerts the group added bassist John Shaw, a longtime friend and former GHQ member.

After Balf Quarry the band’s previously relentless schedule eased as members dispersed across the country and began families. In 2011 Magik Markers issued the limited-edition cassette Isolated from External Time. Ambrogio and Nolan also worked independently: the former teamed with Chasny as 200 Years, releasing their self-titled album that November. Spectre Folk returned with The Blackest Medicine, Vol. 2, incorporating Mullen, Steve Shelley, and the Grey Lady’s Peter Meehan; the same lineup appeared on the following year’s The Ancient Storm. During this period Ambrogio, Nolan, and Shaw tracked their fourth album, November 2013’s Surrender to the Fantasy, across locations ranging from J Mascis’ attic to the basement of Ambrogio’s father’s house.

In subsequent years the members focused again on outside projects. Ambrogio’s solo album The Immoralist surfaced in 2014—the same year Arbitrary Signs released the archival recording Searchin’ Searchin’ for That New Sound—while Spectre Folk issued Vol. 4 on Vampire Blues in 2017. Shaw turned to beekeeping, and Nolan completed a master’s degree in special education. Magik Markers resurfaced in 2020 with two projects: the digital EP Isolated from External Time: 2020, issued that July, and the full-length 2020, which juxtaposed some of the band’s most aggressive and delicate material.