Stream: Magic Bronson, ‘It’s Happening’

Kevin Bronson on December 6th, 2016

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Magic Bronson (Photo by Emily Linderman)

L.A. duo Magic Bronson now count a full-length and two EPs in their catalog, but they have had to scratch and claw for every ounce of the modest acclaim those releases have earned. At its most bombastic, the duo’s bass-propelled synth-pop is ready for festival dance tents; at its lushest, it would reign in a chillwave cave; in either place, it’d be the cleverest music on the bill. As the year draws to a close, Michael Nicastro (the tall one) and Matthew Lieberman (the not-as-tall one) are clearing the decks for 2017. This week they are releasing a 13-track collection titled “The Lost Songs 2012-2016” — material the duo recorded or demoed over the past four years that never made it on an album or EP. For most bands at Magic Bronson’s level, an odds-and-sods release might be a complete throwaway, or at least a dicey conceit. Not here. It’s includes the can’t-sit-still single “It’s Happening” and the shimmering, washed-out “You Know What I Mean.” If Magic Bronson are leaving songs like this off their albums, it’ll be interesting hear what they concoct when they go into the studio after the first of the year to work with Will Brierre (Walk The Moon, XYLO, American Authors, Youngblood Hawke) on a new release.

||| Stream: “It’s Happening” and “You Know What I Mean”