Album Review- Mark Mallman- Magic Time

Mark Mallman is a Minneapolis legend. I don’t know that I would have ran into his music if it had not been for a Minnesotan who told me to see him when he came to town. I saw him in 2006 which doesn’t seem that long ago. Mallman has been described as “Elton John meets Darby Crash” which feels quite accurate. His reputation as a piano player with punk attitude made wanting to see him in concert a “no brainer”. 

I find it hard to explain Mallman’s music as he is one of those musical chameleons but definitely the biggest influence is 1970s glam. There’s a lot of Bolan, Elton and Mott in his style. There’s plenty of 70s American rock too- a bit of Aerosmith, a bit of Springsteen, and yeah even maybe a bit of John Cale confrontational craziness. 

He has recorded ten solo albums starting in 1998 and on those albums- a whole list of Midwest and Minnesota rock royalty have guested-Kat Bjelland (Babes in Toyland) Davey Von Bohlen and Dan Didier (The Promise Ring)Slim Dunlap (The Replacements) Ed Akerson (Polara) Erik Applewhite (Tapes and Tapes) Jeremy Ylvislaker (Andrew Bird) Craig Finn (The Hold Steady) and Shannon Frid (Cloud Cult). Mallman is a Minneapolis legend with a star on the outside of the legendary First Avenue. It was a Minnesotan (a different one this time) that reminded me of Mallman. You see besides making solo records, he has written books, curated playlists, made music for TV and Movies, and maybe now in 2025, his highest profile gig- Musical historian on TikTok and Instagram. 

It prompted me to look to see what he had been up to, and sure enough, he had released an album a few months ago called Magic Time. He’s always been on small labels and the only time the Press really seemed to cover him was those magical “indie rock” years of the late aughts before Pitchfork and their ilk moved from Fleet Foxes, Panda Bear and Bon Iver to more pop fare like Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Lana Del Rey. 

 In many ways. 2002s Red Ballroom was his high watermark produced by Paul Q Kolderie (Uncle Tupelo, Radiohead, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Hole, Morphine). It was around this time, he was making a name for himself with his marathon performances in Minnesota. In 2004, he performed a song over two consecutive days only breaking for the bathroom. In 2010, he performed for 78 hours straight. He would outdo that in 2012 with “Marathon 4” a continuous 180 hour moving performance, broadcast on his webpage- starting in New York going to Los Angeles with Mallman wired up in such a way his biorhythms continued the music while he was sleeping. I have to admit that the last time I took notice of Mallman’s 2016 The End is Not the End which was probably his most explicit Bowie homage- following his mother’s death, he drew heavily from Bowie’s Scary Monsters. When it came to 2020, Mallman like a lot of artists used his Covid-era time to record the memorable single “Quarantined”.

I totally missed his last album 2021s Happiness, an album that was an extension of his 2019 autobiography- “The Happiness Playlist” Checking out Mallman’s short music history videos as suggested by my Minnesotan friend, I immediately thought I would check for recent albums and sure enough, there was Magic Time- released in June of 2025, how fortuitous to find it in time to mix it into my October listening. As someone who had enjoyed Mallman’s music but never drawn to a particular album, I was shocked how much Magic Time sucked me in. I would imagine most would be put off by the cheesy horror movie cover and song titles full of cryptids, vampires and ghosts. That surely isn’t the sales pitch for a lot of indie rockers, but it somehow is the perfect fit for Mallman. 

His piano driven style is still hard to pin down, though there’s definitely an emphasis on 70s glam. Like the things that go bump in the night, it’s hard to take the proceedings too seriously. Yet, the way Mallman weaves seemingly autobiographical facts makes it a compelling listen. There’s a bit of Ben Folds. There’s Bolan of course. Yet I also hear some Warren Zevon who fittingly wrote his most famous song about a monster. The best song on the album is “I Know the Mothman” in which the most memorable character may be that of Mallman himself-a long time, high mileage musician. Songs like “Clowns” and “Christopher Lee” come close to that high watermark. For seemingly silly subjects, there’s a large amount of pathos. 

While certain songs are better than others, there’s generally no bad songs here “Screaming in My Dreams” opens with a cinematic flourish fills with biographical details. Is the real horror the Music Industry? The theme makes the album fun and smaller gems like “Seen My Own Ghost” give real depth with new wave keyboards and storytelling lyrics, while “Poison Flower” slows things to an Alice Cooper worthy glam horror ballad, and “The Cancer” is a string laden Beatlesque number with accompanying flute. If you don’t like Mallman’s voice, it’s likely that this won’t win you over. That said, I was impressed with how Mallman was able to put together a signature album this far into his career. I rate it highly and find it one of the most compelling albums of recent years.

Album Review- Voxtrot- Dreamers in Exile

Voxtrot was a favorite band of mine from the early 2000s. The Texas-based band evolved from the same vein of the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian. Like some of the British bands of the prior decade (The Smiths, Suede, Cocteau Twins), they decided to release their music in a series of EPs. There's some fantastic music on these records, and those early songs of theirs finally got compiled in 2022. The band planned on recording their debut full length album with Stephen Street (Morrissey, Blur, The Cranberries), but that did not work out and so it ended up being produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Kirstie MacColl). The album did not receive the rave reviews that the early songs did. The expectations were surely too high in the days where Pitchfork and its ilk were looking to break the new big thing. As a fan of the band, I think it is safe to say the debut isn't good as the EP songs. That can be attributed to the album being less guitar fueled indie rock, and more wistful bedroom piano musings. But it also has some great moments, so dismissing it seems unfair, too. 

In 2010, three years after that debut the band broke up. I am only making assumptions but I assume that based on singer Ramesh Srivastava's public communication and the musical environment, that the rollercoaster ride had lost its appeal. 

I was excited to hear Voxtrot had reunited and planning music when they made the announcement in 2025, releasing their first song in years. Ramesh had released a solo album in 2014 but he had been largely out of the spotlight. I am super excited to hear the new album. It's great to see the band get a proper "next chapter" in their story. I imagine "Quiet Noise" is the sound that the band wanted on that 2007 album. It sounds like a potential radio single and an arena singalong, but it still sounds intimate and real. It is important to focus on how great Ramesh's voice sounds. It wasn't important in the early days, but it is a real strength. I am not an emo fan, but I can see where he might translate to that crowd. Certainly, it feels in line with something that might appeal to fans of The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie and indie bands of that ilk. 

The title track evokes a little bit of the Killers with its nostalgia for U2, Duran Duran and the Smiths. Srivastava no longer sounds like the bedroom depressive hiding behind jangle guitars. You may love the album or hate it, but he's not going down without a fight. "My Peace" even with its bright production recalls the driving hunger on those early Voxtrot songs. "The Times" is reminiscent of C86 or perhaps the literate rock of Lloyd Cole, but smooth enough it could have been a college rock single from way back. "Rock and Roll Jesus" is surely more of a glam emo stomper. Those songs stray a bit from the early songs that I fell in love with, but there are those moments here too like "Fighting Back". The band on Dreamers in Exile is one that has grown over the years. It is much more steeped in pop and emo sounds with way more polish. That said, I am glad to be on this journey with them and hope this is just the first of many more records.