Posts Tagged ‘double A-side’

Listen: ‘Time to Dream’ / ‘Signal’ (remix) by Magic Wands

Posted: 22 September 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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US dark/dream-pop duo Magic Wands have released a new digital double single today that couples the brand new song ‘Time To Dream’ with a remix by Metropolis Records labelmates Lost Signal of their ‘Armour’ single issued in October 2024. Video clips of the original version of ‘Armour’ and the remix have also been made available and can be seen here (original)….

…and here (remix):

“‘Time To Dream’ is about entering a dreamlike state where the boundaries between reality and imagination dissolve,” the duo explain. “It was inspired by magic and a sense of stepping through the looking glass.”
‘Time To Dream’ is included on a new Magic Wands album entitled ‘Cascades’, which is out on 24th October via Metropolis Records. It also includes the original single version of ‘Armour’, as well as the previously issued ‘Hide’, ‘Moonshadow’ and ‘Across The Water’ . It will be promoted with an appearance at the Substance festival HERE in Los Angeles on 7th November, with further shows to be arranged.

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Magic Wands is a dark-pop duo originally formed in Nashville by guitarists and vocalists Dexy and Chris Valentine. Now based in Los Angeles, they are known for their shimmering and dreamy sound, which incorporates elements of shoegaze, dream pop, post-punk and goth. They utilise heavily textured guitars, synth drones and ethereal vocals to conjure an otherworldly atmosphere in their songs.

Dedicated to creating music that is both imaginative and emotionally engaging, Magic Wands found success soon after forming in 2008, gaining a loyal fanbase that has grown ever since. They have issued five studio albums to date, the most recent of which is ‘Switch’ (2023). Its songs were also remixed by guest artists and released as ‘Switched’ later that year.

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Cold Comfort – Suck My Blood (Please Don’t) / I Shot The Messenger

Posted: 18 February 2022 in Singles and EPs
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Die Das Der records – 18th February 2022

Cold Comfort is, it would seem a ‘one man punk machine’. This double-A-side effort is certainly pretty punk, both in terms of musical style and approach, in that we’re talking about sub-three-minute three-chord thrashabouts with DIY production values, accompanied by a video for one of the songs that has recreated the experience of early Internet animations. And that’s a large part of the appeal.

It’s immediately apparent that Cold Comfort places some investment in quirky humour / irony: the song titles on this release are not-so-subtle inversions, although they’re a step up from sticking ‘not!’ after each of them. And it’s very soon apparent that subtle isn’t Cold Comfort’s forte, but there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, punk and subtle don’t really go together.

‘Suck My Blood (Please Don’t)’ is a two-minute blast of primitive overloading guitars and its grungy punk is rough and ready and exploding with energy. And yet there’s still time and space for a nagging lead guitar line and a hook reminiscent of DZ Deathray. On top of that, it inverts vampiric kink tropes with its parenthetical ‘Please Don’t’, as well as booting the machismo of horror conventions into touch in the video as a digitized CC runs away from bats.

‘I Shot The Messenger’ is more spirit of ’78, with heavy hints of The Fall pitched against a booming bass that’s pinned to a vintage drum machine track that’s got the ferocity of Metal Urbain and the bedroom basicness of Young Marble Giants.

It’s not pop-punk in the contemporary sense: it’s pop-punk in the way The Buzzcocks and The Adverts were punk while writing pop songs. It’s fun, but still kicks arse, and it’s a rush.

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