Have Some Faith In Magic

One of my favorite webcomics is Questionable Content, which I’m still surprised I even like at all (but I’ll get to that another day). I first started reading reading it at the end what I guess was 2004 (holy crap) and Jeph Jacques had posted his year end best albums review. Jeph Jacques is a very different person from me, but there is apparently a small overlap in our vastly separate repertoires. Back then, he recommended The Go! Team’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike, by saying ‘Imagine if Fatboy Slim and the RZA got together to record a soundtrack for a 70’s cop show directed by Quentin Tarantino, and you’d get something remarkably similar to the funky, hip-hop-inflected party music that this British band puts out.’ I don’t know about you, but I’d watch that show. And so, I bought that album. And I’ve been a The Go! Team aficionado ever since.

But since 2004, Jacques has been all dub step and metal and god knows what…So I thought maybe The Go! Team was a fluke. Then he mentions something called post-rock. I’m not an expert on modern music, I couldn’t tell you what post-rock is, but something inside me said ‘eh, wtf, go for it.’ And I did.

Have A Little Faith In Magic by Errors.

Now, like I said, I don’t know what post-rock or post-electric or Mogwai is (something about gremlins?), so I can’t rightly place this music in a genre. However, I am a large fan of nostalgia. Probably half (if not more) of my music collection found its way in there because it reminded me of better times. Jacques said it sounded like a rock band making a video game soundtrack, and that alone would probably get my attention. Video games are very nostalgic on their own. I listened to it, and it did make me nostalgic, just not for video games.

When I think video game rock, I think of chip tunes, 8bit emulations or imitations of what video game music was back then. Groups like Anamanaguchi, or YMCK. But they sound new. I like them because they sound new, while reminding me of music that’s nostalgic. But this Errors record is different.

The nostalgia it brought up in me was more in line with music from the 80s. There was a sound then that has mostly disappeared from my perspective (at least until now). I’m talking about music like Tears For Fears, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Vangelis, and Dire Straits, to name a few. Maybe I’m describing what post-rock or post-electric is, but that’s not what interests me. What interests me are these new albums coming out that come pre-baked with nostalgia. This album feels like a record I used to listen to all the time, but has lay dormant and forgotten for 20 years. It’s stunning.

Another album that hits this tone is the soundtrack for Drive. Have Some Faith In Magic is good enough to make me want to revisit that soundtrack to see how it stacks up. Is it new music, new old music, or new music that feels old. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to distinguish it, but it’s worth angry.

Another reason I like this album is because it’s very interesting without the need for lyrics. I love my instrumentals. Music can be so good when there aren’t words to cloud your judgement. This album may contain some lyrics, but they’re so chorale and distorted that I can’t tell. Which is just the way I like it.

And that’s my review. I’d like some feedback on it, specifically, did you get anything out of it? Should I include some arbitrary scale or points system or thumbs up/down or 4 or 5 stars? Are the words enough on their own? Should I say anything more, do more research, or is this anecdotal account enough?

Now it’s 9 o’clock and I find myself…tired. Gonna go to bed and do it again tomorrow, though.

Tomorrow’s potential topics: My first day at work, dread, Great American BBQ, House and/or Alcatraz, Berkeley West Edge Opera


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