Magnog, Blue Light Curtain, the Midget

(Comet) Edmonds-based Magnog’s self-titled 1996 debut album for Kranky Records remains a gripping example of pitiless, Tangerine Dream/Ash Ra Tempel–style space rock. They regrouped after about a 13-year hiatus, but in the couple of recent shows I’ve seen, they’ve not recaptured their mid-’90s magic, leaning instead toward more conventional songcraft with vocals. Seattle’s Blue Light Curtain just completed a new album, Clouds in Our Hair, at Gravelvoice Studios with the excellent Scott Colburn. The sound’s lush and gauzy, but there’s still robust rhythmic propulsion bolstering the shoegazey tunes. A windswept grandeur courses through the album’s 10 tracks, as keyboardist Laura Bratton and guitarist Paul Groth’s dual vocals converge to add a rich layer to the dramatic, anglophiliac rock action here. DAVE SEGAL

link: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=11792202