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BIOGRAPHY
A Progressive exploration drawing upon many
influences including: Rock, Classical, Jazz, Avant Garde,
Ambient, Middle Eastern, and Trance. Exquisitely recorded
on an organic level, transporting the listener to musical
destinations yet undiscovered.
Magic Box is the brainchild of visual artist/musician
Tom Maxwell (The Blue Hawaiians) and film maker/guitarist
Steve Denny. Together they created musical montages for
fine artist/performance painter Norton Wisdom at live exhibitions.
BLISS OF A MADMAN is the result of "free-form" sessions
assembled into a coherent musical narrative. Obscure audio
samples punctuate and lend continuity. Originally designed
as a "snapshot" of a creative moment, the production
of BLISS OF A MADMAN evolved to a level that far exceeded
its original goal.
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REVIEWS
EDITOR'S PICK
Pascal Records is my new favorite record label.
After hearing the ridiculous amount of genius present on
Oscuro I turned to one of their other releases by Magic
Box only to be greeted by yet another masterpiece. The
album was a result of "free-form" sessions that were later
assembled together almost collage-like. Regardless of how
they did it the album far exceeds any expectations one
would have. Then when you realize that these sessions are
comprised of a variety of music styles that usually don't
relate to one another (we're talking Middle Eastern, classical,
jazz, ambient, rock, and even trance), it simply boggles
the mind that the album doesn't come across as piecemeal.
Call me crazy but this isn't bliss, shoot this is musical
utopia! - J-Sin
Magic Box is the duo of Tom
Maxwell and Steve Denny. Together, the two create wonderfully
heady and free flowing progressive instrumental music that
titillates the senses and challenges the mind. In some
ways, these fellows' music reminds us of a more organic
sounding Grassy Knoll. Rather than let their music be harnessed
by boundaries, Maxwell and Denny instead prefer to just
let things happen...and therein lies the true magic in
this particular box. The compositions on Bliss of a
Madman evoke specific moods and feelings in the mind
of the listener. Musical sounds and ideas from around the
globe collide in one easily digestible twelve track album.
Listening to this music gives us the feeling of flying...or
floating on water...or just the feeling of being really, really high.
But the nicest thing about this music is that...you don't have to
be high to enjoy it (!). Instead, the music itself provides
a quality high...as is evidenced by such groovy cuts as "The
Alchemist," "Trane to Birdland," "Surreal
Games," and "The Book of the Dead" (this
last one is a real killer). Suggestive music
for suggestive minds... Bliss of a Madman is...exceptional.
(Rating: 5++)
Ampersand Etcetera
This album speaks for itself!
Shakers, backward tones and melodic guitars
give a slow intro with some chimes that slips into a big
crowd sample - and a feature of this album is that the
tracks are merged into each other by samples and electronics.
Crisp electric guitar, bass and then jazzy groove over
the crowd in the second track, followed by African rhythms
and singing guitar in the dramatic third, big tones and
chimes ending it. More backward tones, rimshots and a slow
build in four, desert drenched guitar, easing out.
A Satie piece works very nicely as the fifth
track, a simple guitar and drum transposition with a little
phasing; while there is a horn-like quality to the dense
guitar on the next track, complex developments over a melody
with rhythm chords. Another classical - here the Bolero - emerging
from dense swirling guitar and drums, that breaks down
then goes off in a different direction. Private-eye guitar,
echoed and backwards in eight before a brief chugging sampled
piece.
A Spanish feel to ten, but with a drum solo
and then some exciting guitar; lyrical layered surf rock
feel in 11. Then an extended piece to conclude with - the
others have been around the five, this is 12. In a way
it seems to sum up the album as different guitar moods
and styles are worked through - lyrical, eastern, backwards
tone-drones, layered samples, scraping - as the percussion
builds and changes, samples work their way in, a mumbled
chant and drumming build and then finally an Irish singer
over birds, a final percussive flourish. An excellent ending
to a very enjoyable album
AMAZON.com
Exotic Hypnotic Dream Music
The music of Magic Box is instrumental, atmospheric
and haunting. It features the drummer of the Blue Hawaiians.
Middle Eastern Themes abound, and swirl around. The songs
remind me a lot of The Mermen in their mellower moments.
The last 3 songs on Bliss of a Madman are my favorites;
What If, Before the End, and The Book of the Dead. • Gavin
Another moody, sonically expansive instrumental
release from Pascal Records. Although it's very pretty,
this would serve better as a soundtrack for a film, or
at the very least a yuppie sex session, rather than a casual
listen. -Jimmy Alvarado
This remarkable project by visual artist/musician Tom
Maxwell of the Blue Hawaiians and film maker/guitarist
Steve Denny is a masterful synthesis of disparate instrumental
styles: progressive, trance, edgy surf rock, jazz, classical
(Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel), psychedelic and eastern influences.
The band manages to surf atop a melange of free form jams,
audio samples, and original recorded material while maintaining
consistently high levels of artistic integrity. In short,
the whole album coheres and oozes everywhere with deep
atmosphere, a mysterious collage that plays like the soundtrack
to someone's mental life. The fat, pure guitarscapes cut
through the mix like butter, and the band interplay is
dynamic, tight, and infused with a sense of mutual discovery.
Cinematic in scope, Magic Box does something rare for an
instrumental rock album - it tells a story in sound. -James
Esch
For a lounge-style act, the Blue Hawaiians have some decidedly
odd takes on the concept of side projects. While his bandmates
Erik Godal and Mark Fontana spend their time crafting excellent
soundtracks for poorly-received serial killer films, Tom
Maxwell has gotten together with filmmaker and guitarist
Steve Denny to create soundscapes complementing the visual
art of yet another artist. Bliss of a Madman is
the intriguing result of these experiments. Of course,
the visual component of the original presentation isn't
included on the CD, so we're left to judge a part of the
presentation in place of the whole.
Fortunately, the musical portion of the project comports
itself quite well. Those of you who have spent any significant
amount of time listening to the late '90s/early '00s version
of improvised avant rock will recognize many of the techniques
Magic Box employs: the high-hat ride accompanied with feedback
and distant, sustained high notes has been a popular choice
for many similar groups, and its use as a heraldic structure
is similarly well-trammeled ground. The group's most interesting
innovations, in fact, come when they combine a cinematic,
generous approach to instrumental rock free/forms with
snippets of film dialogue (at least some of which come
from David Lynch's Wild At Heart ). This combination,
in turn, is processed, tweaked and given the occasional
electronica flourish, with taste and precision.
The duo does a fine job, on tracks like "Trane To
Birdland", of transporting the listener through textural
and rhythmic shifts. The pleasure of listening to Bliss
of a Madman lies half in simply experiencing the
music and half in imagining what kinds of visual art originally
accompanied it (or in this case vice versa). As a record
to read, think or dream by, it's tough to beat. It's also
great for solitary, late-night headphone listening, with
or without chemical alteration. - Brett McCallon
[ TOP ] TESTIMONIALS
"Magic Box, the duo of Steve Denny and Tom
Maxwell, convey both an epic and minimalist tone on their
new release Bliss
of a Madman . Introspective and wistful, their
songs suit the mood of a Cy Twombly painting, using open
space as an instrument as much as guitars and drums. Bliss
of a Madman owes more than its title to Erik Satie:
individual notes are allowed to play out and drift like
gossamer lines over hushed but creative stream-of-consciousness
rhythms. The instrumental songs are arranged in a
way to reflect melodic themes introduced earlier, creating
a layered, mirroring pool of sound. Their quiet vistas
give way to a pop song (almost) with "Trane to Birdland," the
record's true melodic highlight. In Magic Box's soft
approach lies an encyclopedia of world music: Ennio Morricone,
arabesques, tribal drumming, and jazz are all here in various
forms. This may sound like too many ingredients for
something "minimalist," but Magic Box combine
these elements in a sparing, impressionistic way that creates
open, mysterious meditative spaces for the listener."
- Ara Corbett
“This music seems to describe an existential
awareness that you normally only tap into when you’re
alone, but which you can sometimes share with others at
really good parties, at night, when the starry sky looks
like the whole cosmos. In these magical moments, you realize
that people are astral superheroes who you admire just
for making it to this level of conscious existence--and
you’re even more impressed because they’re
on your side, trying to keep it together as they delve
farther and farther into the Mystery of life.
It’s an infection of perception, and when the party’s
over, you bring it back with you to everyday life (the
sound clips). Your everyday life is infected! Everyday
things only set off this perception again, and keep the
momentum going. You can’t escape it: like the voice
in “The Book of the Dead” says: “Your
awareness will control you. Your instinct will become your
awareness.”
There is no moral hint of where this new awareness will
take you. You just want to rush headlong into the journey,
because the only way to fully embrace it is to be ambivalent
about whether it leads to your enlightenment or doom...and
it even makes you wonder if perhaps both are overrated.
You are experiencing the Bliss of a Madman. And in the
end (in “The Book of the Dead”) when the birds
sing and the goddess sings too, you may not know where
you are, but you know that you’ve reached somewhere
unearthly.”
- Pablo Capra
“This is hauntingly beautiful music that filters
into your consciousness with layers of rich sensual textures
and hypnotic rhythms. BLISS OF A MADMAN transports you
to the exotic, to the nocturnal, to the spiritual. The
grooves here are tight but the atmosphere expansive. MAGIC
BOX is meditative and alluring…music to get lost
in and perhaps music to rediscover ourselves.”
- Don Omelvaney
“Who is Magic Box? The opening track creates an
atmosphere of dreams. Lay back and let the sounds wash
over you. This album is a trip, I mean really a trip. A
conceptual journey that is original, imaginative and very
surreal.”
- Christopher Allen
Los Angeles Street Scene
“BLISS OF A MADMAN is a beautiful record.
An odd description for a recording in today’s pop
market, but this record is not Pop. It is not Jazz. Is
it Rock? Records like this
have been known to fall between the cracks like so many
good things do. Get yourself a copy and tell your friends
you’ve discovered something alternative.”
- Larry Kaplin
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