Back Magic’s “Blood Plaza” is not your typical Pilgrim Talk outing, delving into white-blue deep-fuzz with boombox recording and trashed-out crash cymbals that dominate the mix when wet. If Lou Barlow is lo-fi, I’m not sure what to call this; shit-fi doesn’t seem gritty enough. Devil-fi? A scrappy effort though, pressed onto the oddest lil’ 5-inch lathe-daddy you ever done seen. I think of Moldy Peaches, Zumm Zumm, and Icky Boyfriends, and muse, “Wow, remember when things were clean?” Once again, we’re left to wonder: How much lower-than-fi can self-recorded rock get? Back Magic make early GBV sound like “We Are the World.” This band was seemingly invented to be the exact counterpoint to Buckcherry, the lowest, dingiest scum imaginable. Yet cute, too.
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