MORE WEATHER

What rhymes with eggnog? MAGNOG were a trio of teenagers out of Washington state recording their music in one of their parent's homes on a 4 track. They seemed to get more serious in 1995 self-releasing three cassettes then sending hours of demo recordings to the Kranky record label out of Chicago. They were signed quickly and in 1996 we got their only studio release.

There was actually a bit of a buzz with this band as Rolling Stone, NY Times and Guitar Player all reviewed it and the band would go to Europe and play in a festival over there. PEARL JAM requested that they open for them on some gigs which they did. It was while recording that second album that the guitarist became seriously ill stopping the recording process in it's tracks. Kranky wanting to keep the buzz going asked the band about releasing some of the demos they had received earlier and the band obliged also sending them some newer demos. So "More Weather" is what Kranky released in 1997 taken from demos recorded between September 1994 and October 1997.

The music is dense, dark, abstract, experimental and inventive at times. The bass player and drummer both add moog while the guitarist adds effects and there is a samey feel throughout this mammoth recording. It was my second spin of this last weekend that I thought I'd take a chance and spend last week with it feeling yeah it seems like a 3 star recording but there's so much to like that it might grow into a 4 star. Turns out this became a chore to get through each time. I mean it's a lot. So despite liking their sound and feeling this is a pretty good document to own for fans of this band, it's hard for me to recommend this as a stand alone recording in the world of psychedelia. But grab their only studio release if you can.