Majical Cloudz

This Alice Cohen-directed video for Majical Cloudz (f. Grimes) “Dream World” is a little Realms of the Unreal. But instead of using Darger source material we’ve got a montage of girliness. Collaged cut outs of punk ladies in dresses, hippie princesses ensconced in triangles. It’s all faery-glitter-magic, and it’s pretty much any four-year-old girl’s dream world. Majical Cloudz II is out now on Arbutus/Movie Star.

Read more: http://www.thefader.com/2011/06/28/video-majical-cloudz-f-grimes-dream-world/#ixzz1vBHzI5JM - The Fader

You guys liked Altered Zones right? Well Ric and Emilie who ran that are trying to start a new website that will do the same thing called Ad Hoc. This will be a website, like AZ, that will support stuff that can’t or has not yet made it to Pitchfork. It’s really important that a cohesive source of alternative music info exists – so me and Dev from Majical Cloudz made this song for E&R’s Kickstarter so he can raise some money for Ad Hoc. Check out the song and send Ric + Emilie some money! — Grimes - Gorilla Vs. Bear

If nothing else, 2011 has shown that the little guy can still win in the music world. I’m not talking about Rosie O’Donnell not knowing (or ultimately eating) Arcade Fire when they won the Grammy. No, I’m talking about do-it-yourself successes like Arbutus Records, a label punching so far above its weight class you wonder if the Montreal based outlet ground up Little Mac into some thick, snortable lines to leverage his energy and tenacity.



Refusing to slow down, Arbutus has started a new boutique imprint with the singular goal of promoting music they love and I challenge you to find more enjoyable free music. The first Movie Star release to catch my ear comes courtesy of Majical Cloudz. Admittedly, the name is more suited to an all-white gangsta rap/cheeba smoking crew or Ras Trent subsidiary, but Welsh and Duffy expand on their first cassette and continue to show that underneath a hazy, dream-like, dank cloud lies two strong song writers.



At a whopping 15-songs and surprisingly brief 38-minutes, II plays like a collection of fragmented, subconscious thoughts. Sketches to connect the dots of truncated memories. Vocals fade in and out of the mix nicely, letting soft, murky electronics transport the listener into a dream state, but the duo bounces between beautiful bliss (the opening 1-2 combination of “Your Eyes” and “Dream World” – a lovely duet with Grimes – sets the tone for the record nicely before the duo starts experimenting) and unsettled chaos (“Black Lodge”, “Imagination”, “Nocturnal Point”) constantly.



Like any psychedelic dream, the journey isn’t perfect – the spoken word, pseudo rap on “Deep Dragz” kind of disrupts the flow and when they are at their most chilled, you wish the vibe would just keep going – but I don’t think Welsh or Duffy want it to be. They have other outlets for pleasant pop symphonies. This is creativity and experimentation; two things Majical Cloudz have in spades. Grab this now.
- Hero Hill

Devon Welsh-- the creative core of Majical Cloudz and one-third of Pop Winds-- grew up moving between Lake County, CA and Canada, always looking forward to the former's warmer climate. Despite Lake County's proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area, San Fran and its environs had been a non-entity to Welsh prior to moving there. A movie buff, Welsh cultivated a sense of the place primarily from films, and his patchwork vision comes together in this mostly homemade video (with help from Montreal digital media being Erik Zuuring) for his catchy piece of pop-melancholia, "Francisco." Using a camcorder, Welsh recorded almost all of the video directly from his television screen, capturing portrayals of the city in snippets as they appeared in films and shows; it is only occasionally supplemented by footage found online. --Dwight Pavlovic, Get Off The Coast

Welsh and the Montreal crew at Arbutus Records are currently in the process of deciding what precisely to do with his music, but at the very least a new Pop Winds album will be formally announced before the end of the year. - Altered Zones