Mick Magic Celebrates 40 Years in Underground Music with ‘The Bridge’

I have a soft spot for artists I discovered in the early years of publishing my Aural Innovations zine. One tale I never tire of telling is how the 1995 ‘Creavolution’ album by Mick Magic’s space rock band Magic Moments At Twilight Time (MMATT) remains one of my most frequently revisited albums from those days. I reviewed it in issue #3 of the magazine. From 1987 to 2003, Mick’s Music & Elsewhere (M&E) label released a whopping 597 cassette albums and two CDs.
 
Mick dates his initiation into the world of underground music to Saturday, August 23, 1986, when a simple weekend jam with a coworker later ended up as part of an MMATT recording. The M&E label may have been discontinued in 2003, but Mick has remained busy. Current activities include his music as Magic Bullet and hosting his monthly Radioshow To The Stars broadcast which airs on KOWS 92.5 FM in Sonoma County, California.
 
Mick is celebrating his 40 years in underground music with ‘The Bridge’, a collection of music presented in the style of his Radioshow To The Stars. As Mick explains - “What I was trying to achieve was a bridge in every sense of the word. The music from 1986 to present, the formats from cassette to download, the transition from making music to the radio show. So, I thought to do ‘Bridge Mix’ tracks, joining the Magic Bullet stuff to the early MMATT material they were built from samples of, plus including some Magic Bullet reworks of the old stuff.”

​Sure enough, this couldn’t be a more offbeat way of presenting selections from 40 years of music. Anyone acquainted with Radioshow To The Stars will immediately recognize the format. We’ve got MMATT classics, freaky Magic Bullet-ized mixes, and more, all strung together by the funky commentary heard on the radio show. Settle in and listen in its entirety for a psychedelically entertaining experience. Kudos to Mick for doing something different.
 
‘The Bridge’ is available as a digital download and on cassette – “The media that started it all – 40 years of DIY culture”.
 
The download comes with a 24-page information packed ‘Album Guide’. You also get the 244-page ‘The Second World Chronicles’ by Sati Varg, originally created for the 30th anniversary online event. Mick describes the premise as – “I was supposed to be joining the MMATT of another dimension for a big celebration. However, something goes wrong in transit and I wake up in a dark cellar, having no idea who I am, and find myself alone in a completely lifeless world. So, the book is the journals of the months spent there, and Sati Varg comes from the man in the cellar (who doesn’t know he’s me) just choosing a name for himself. It was written in real time over the same period the story covers. I wanted to give it the feel of a genuine journal.”
 
Yes indeed, an overall cool, strange and gloriously FUN celebration package. Check it out.
 
I also recommend spending time on Mick’s website. Not many bands/labels do websites anymore and Mick’s is a MASSIVE resource that includes detailed M&E history, among other things.
 
And if you haven’t heard Radioshow To The Stars, bookmark the archive page where each new show is lovingly stored after broadcast on KOWS.