"Have you ever paid attention to the suggestions of the YouTube Autoplay button? No? Dear reader, you better start looking at it with more affection...”
Even upon the arrival of streaming services, YouTube is still one of the most accessed and used platforms to listen to music. Two of the main reasons why may be the possibility to watch the music’ videos, and seeing live performances from your preferred artists.
As YouTube’s success grows, more tools are developed to improve it. One of its most recent additions is the autoplay button, which is based on things you have been listening to lately. It tries to understand your musical taste, tailors some new videos and suggests to you bands, artists and other songs you may like.
Although many people may turn it off, here comes a word of advice: don’t (or: stop doing it). Why? Well, because the best music may be hidden there. I’ve already found four excellent artists through YouTube’s gorgeous suggestions.
The first one of them was our Artist of The Week, The Magic Gang, a band which since I’ve discovered, I just cannot stop listening to. There’s some sort of complexity within their simplicity that gets to me every time. You’ll understand better what’s all the fuzz when we talk more about them. Everything is ready, so let’s sail together.
The Magic Gang
(Source: http://diymag.com/2015/12/11/the-magic-gang-class-of-2016-interview)
The Beginning of The Gang
The group maintains its original formation until nowadays, they were formed during college time when friends Jack Kaye (24) and Kristian Smith (25) met another pair of friends, Angus Taylor and Paeris Giles (both 23). The four of them ended up moving out from Bournemouth to Brighton and besides living together, share the 4-floor house with lots of other musicians.
They say their friendship as well as the band started by chance, but sounding so great together, it seems like destiny definitely had something to do with it. They started as many others out there: uploading material on the internet. Kris had an idea for a song and the quartet ended up executing it and posting online, without great expectations, thinking people wouldn’t notice it… However, they did.
Soon enough, The Magic Gang was making more music and sharing it online, then making EPs, performing live, playing as supporting band for the likes of Wolf Alice and, more recently, headlining their own tour.
The gang consists of Jack (vocals and guitar), Kristian (vocals and guitar), Angus (bass) and Paeris (drums). One interesting fact about them is that, at the very beginning, the group intended to expand its members and have 10 of them in total… Even though they haven’t followed the idea, they technically have three vocalists, that’s right: Angus, Jack and Kristian intercalate themselves on this position.
Released Work
Their first “official” tune was ‘Alright’ in the late 2015’s, the year that the band got together. In ‘Alright’ there’s some sort of indie rawness that is impossible not to like. Recently, they’ve released a new version of the song, which is on their debut album. However, I still prefer the original one, where there’s something about it that just makes it unique, a breeze of fresh air, a true source of magic.
One year later, they’ve released “EP”, their first EP including five tracks. After that, came two more EPs: “The Second Ep” and “EP Three”, quite unusual names, right? For The Magic Gang, it seems that “less is more” and we agree with that.
At the beginning of 2018, the most awaited of the releases finally came: “The Magic Gang”, the band’s first-ever LP. And if you need an example of something that is worth the wait, here is one. Full of sunny and light melodies, their sound is always simple and straight to the point, having something… THAT something, which makes it memorable.
Here, you can find a perfect balance between profound lyrics and cheerful rhythms. The album mixes successes already known by the public, like “Jasmine” and “How Can I Compete” (one of my favourites!), with new tracks, like “Oh, Saki” and “Getting Along”.
What Makes The Magic Gang So Special?
Despite guitar-based bands may seem to be having a difficult time currently, The Magic Gang is changing that, apparently opening the front door for them to enter again. Signed firstly with Yala! Records and most recently with Warner Bros. Records, nothing seems to stop them.
The majority of their lyrics are about relationships (unfortunately unsuccessful ones) and heartbreak; but regardless of these being their “main theme”, they manage to somehow keep everything fresh and optimistic, it’s like they’re telling you that for every night there is a morning and that though you suffered and faced a difficult situation, better days will come. They are incredibly clever, using deep lyrics to talk about unfortunate things (not in an obvious way, of course) and the melody to bring the mood all up again.
A magic quartet.
(Source: https://www.fopp.com/)
How Can I Compete?
The most accurate definition I can think of to describe this song is: it ‘represents’ that huge smile you make to your friends, to pretend you’re ok, when deep down inside... you’re almost dying of sadness.
This is what I feel throughout the song, sadness and an attempt to demonstrate happiness or at least normality. Which makes, for me, this tune brilliant. My interpretation of it would be that someone is heartbroken but trying to be strong, to overcome its struggles and get back on his/her feet again, however, when the ‘person’ seems to be moving forward… he or she stumbles again and ends up saying “I just wanna know that you will be in my arms”.
The song is beautifully done and played, and, though there’s some melancholy on it, we can feel a lot of hopefulness too, so, whenever you’re feeling down, this is a great one to keep close.
Getting Along
The Magic Gang has already been crowned as my best discovery of 2018. I could spend an entire month talking about many of their songs, and how “No Fun”, “She Doesn’t See” and “Jasmine” are perfect to hear at any time of your life. But as that would make this text huge (which it is already, so, even more huge) and as it would spoil the fun of you looking further into their marvellous work, I’ll talk in detail about only one more song.
Getting Along was a pleasant surprise. Here, we can see a lot of the Weezer’s influence everyone talks about. The evolution of the song is spot on, as well as the guitar arrangements and when Jack and Kristian’s voice blend together… it’s heaven, pure heaven, you can even feel yourself being lifted from your chair, seriously, listen to it below and you’ll know what I’m talking about:
The duo sound so harmonic that I wish they would sing together more often. The song, in general, has strong beats, involving melodies and a cool vibe; as most of their music, it makes us feel nostalgic like we’re living in another era.
On a recently shared video (which you can find below), the lads reveal their secret to a good song: “the songwriting must be about something specific, but making it very vague so no one knows it’s about that.”, an awesome tip, indeed. Anyone else got pen and paper to write this down? The video is very funny and features them in an, at least, ‘curious’ environment talking about each track of their debut album, it’s worthy of every single minute of your attention.
With all that being said, we can only conclude one thing: that their name was an accurate choice, as their sound is as magic as them.
To follow their exciting journey and learn more about their hits, next tour dates and where you can buy their album, enter here.
And to keep sailing with us through the best unknown territories and greatest artists, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. There you can also suggest where we should head next in the weeks to come.
Here wrote A., Captain of The Musical Expedition.
Over and Out. 
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