A Magic Castle Land by Super Geek League, 2009

From Bill Dwyer of Gulf Coast Music Review:
Sept. 8 2009

"My Review: “Circus runs amok when stoned clowns enter ring!” would probably be used by some to describe Super Geek League. However, after taking a second look and doing much research on the subject of evil clowns, the fear of clowns and numerous other related subjects I have uncovered a few interesting facts.

First, the image of the evil clown(fool, trickster, jester) has made its appearance throughout history for thousands of years. The native American Zuni Pueblo society has its evil clowns that appear at religious festivals and commit such blasphemies as public masturbation and sodomy as well as blaspheming the Zuni gods and defiling the sacrifices made to them. Cultural critic, Mark Dery, using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnival-esque, Jungian and historical writings on the images of the fool(clown) in myth and history, and ruminations on the mingling of ecstasy and dread in the Information Age, Dery asserts the Evil Clown is an icon for our times. SGL also uses a lot of black and white face paint. Black and white always symbolize good and evil, note that they use more white paint than black which symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. Remember, we’re talking about Super Geek League here, which was originally formed as a group of Super Heroes defending us against the plagues of modern man. So, now that I have laid a rudimentary foundation, or perhaps and “excuse” for SGL’s costuming and actions, lets have a look at the music.

I read one comment to a review of Super Geek League which asserts that rap rock is nothing new, that they are an imitation of Insane Clown Posse, and they play stale 1990 riffs. While it is true their costuming is similar to ICP’s, SGL’s music shows a much broader range styles than Insane Clown Posse, yes, I did actually visit Insane Clown Posse’s website and listen to some of their music! I have listened to a lot of music since starting Gulf Coast Music Review and I’ve found a lot of “borrowed” music or parts of music from the past, not to mention that since 1990 a new generation of music listeners has arrived, so I think they would hardly recognize something from the 90s. While we’re on the subject of originality, Super Geek League does do their version of Hip-Hop artist T.I.’s 2006 hit, What You Know(about that). However, if you research that, you find out that What You Know is T.I.’s interpolation of Gone Away, originally done by Curtis Mayfield when he was with the Impressions and was recorded in 1970 by Roberta Flack!

The next complaint I’ve heard is that female vocalist Eronica, of course the review I read either didn’t know her name or at the least, didn’t mention it, either can’t sing or is singing out of her range. I’ve listened to all the tracks of A Magic Castle Land and especially to her parts. I feel her voice lends a haunting, from another world quality to SGL’s music and fits into this style of music perfectly!

As to the music itself, this is avant garde rock and as with other avant garde style music, weather it be classical, jazz, blues or whatever mainstream genre it originates from, isn’t going to appeal to everyone. SGL’s music most closely fits into the Dada/Progressive/Post RIO sub genres of rock. It can abruptly, but smoothly switch from Heavy Metal, to slow rock, to a chant and back to Heavy Metal, all within one song! What you expect at the beginning of a song may not be what you get by the end of that song! Expect the unexpected is all I can say! Its outrages, its irreverent, but it captures your attention! One thing I and other reviewers have noted is that the album does get more melodic as the tracks progress, so the Heavy Metal/Heavy Rock purist may lose interest near the end.

All in all, for avant garde rock, Super Geek League has done a pretty good job. Whether it appeals to you the reader, only you know the answer to that. As with all avant garde music you have to approach this with an open mind and forget about anything you may know about conventional music theory.

If I had to sum up “A Magic castle Land”, I’d say it “Presents you with an hard hitting, ever changing, mind blowing extravaganza of sound, leaving you with your head shaking and wondering exactly what is was you had just heard”! Of course, that’s exactly what avant garde music is supposed to do, get you to think and question “the norm”! I give Super Geek League 9 out of 10 and a “thumbs up”!