Yesterday I had the amazing wonder of getting to see Majical Cloudz at Claremont’s very own favorite record store, Rhino Records.  Majical Cloudz, comprised of Devon Welsh (vocals) and Matthew Otto Kolaitis (keyboard/beats), is a current KSPC favorite and their new album Impersonator is one of my favorite things in a while.  I actually had somehow missed the memo that they were going to be playing until a couple of hours before the performance so I was still somewhere in the shock/excitement stage when I arrived.  The record store was sparsely populated and I sidled up to a row of records pretty close to the stage (the M-R section of rock, I believe.  Notable artists surrounding me included Roxy Music, David Lynch, and inexplicably a 12″ of the Lonely Island’s album (did that really need to be pressed in vinyl?)).  At first it seemed that the lead singer, Devon, was no where to be found (I even thought that maybe a vocal track was being used) but after the song he emerged from behind a shelf where he had been hiding, presumably seated on the floor.  The whole show seemed to follow the same tone – a solemn yet playful performance of sad, soul-wrenching electronica.  Majical Cloudz remain remarkably light in their demeanor despite the heavy subject and tone of their music.  At one point Devon even walked all the way across the record store with his unimaginably  long mic cord, leaving Matt alone in the back corner.  Apparently the goal is to someday sing his way out of a venue.
The whole show I stood mesmerized by the music and the performers. Â Matt maintained a sort of lofty nonchalance while Devon sung forcefully into the microphone, his full voice filling the room. Â The whole thing is so stripped down. Â Despite Matt’s stand full of various pedals and keyboards (I actually don’t know what all of those things are called, so we’ll go with pedals and keyboards), Devon sung on a normal mic, one that, from what I could tell, was completely free of any effects. Â His voice just sounds that way (amazing).
After the show I stayed to try to get a station ID for KSPC. Â They said yes, but then they had one of the boys in the crowd record it for us, pretending to be Devon. Â It’s supposed to be a joke on the listener… but it’s also maybe a joke on us. Â We didn’t actually get Majical Cloudz to record anything for us… Â Did we get played? Â Who cares, I got to see them for free.
-Ali