The Magik Markers, the prolific Connecticut-based trio of guitarist Elisa Ambrogio, bassist Leah Quimby and drummer Pete Nolan, performed chaotic dissonant incendiary free-jazz with punk fury, like a psychedelic version of God Is My Co-pilot, on acerbic collections such as
Beep Beep (Arbitrary Signs, 2002),
Mystery City (Arbitrary Signs, 2002),
Book as Symbol of 8 Precious Things - Hand Of The Creator (Arbitrary Signs, 2003),
the live Blues For Randy Sutherland (Arbitrary Signs, 2004),
I Trust My Guitar (Ecstatic Peace, 2005),
A Panegyric To The Things I Do Not Understand (Gulcher, 2006),
Feel The Crayon (Not Not Fun, 2006),
The Voldoror Dance (Southern, 2007).
They released many live albums, notably Inverted Belgium (Hospital, 2006),
They were pared down to a duo (only guitar and drums) on Boss (Ecstatic Peace, 2007), a slightly more accessible album of noise-rock,
that contains Taste and Body Rot.
Spectre Folk, that released Spectre Folk (3 Lobed, 2006), and Folk Spectre, that released The Blackest Medicine (Woodsist, 2008), were the same project by The Magik Markers's drummer Pete Nolan. They were meant to sound like primitive folk recordings: warped folk lullabies drenched in crackle-and-hiss background noise, like a folkish version of shoegazing, or a slower version of garage-rock.
Steve Gunn of GHQ and Magik Markers released the solo
Onomato Disc (Onomato, 2008) for guitars, banjo and voice.
Members of the Magik Markers and others played on the triple-LP Cavehill Hunters (Blackvelvetfuckerrecordings), credited to Valley Of Ashes.
The Magik Markers'
Balf Quarry (Drag City, 2009) sounded mostly like a carbon copy of
Boss, becoming more attractive when it roars and spits
(Jerks, The Lighter Side of Hippies) and experimenting with
a tender side in the lengthy piano ballad Shells.
Ben Chasny
of Six Organs of Admittance
and Elisa Ambrogio formed 200 Years that debuted with the acoustic 200 Years (Drag City, 2011).
