Les Moeihs Magiques - Le Dragon Magique

At first, I was sure the download was corrupted, but no. Les Moeihs Magiques dropped a 12 track album with a total of just under 6 minutes of music on it. Sure, Napalm Death, S.O.D., and others have gotten away with some ridiculously short tracks, with Napalm Death's "You Suffer" running for just 1.3 seconds. But even so, Napalm Death's "Scum" comes in with an average song time of over a minute.

So, what does 'Le Dragon Magique' deliver with an average track time of less 30 seconds? Believe it or not, they actually deliver some pretty crafty little bits. The entire 6 minute experience is short clips of electronic beats and hooks with oddball names like "Catnip Phantasies" and "Bird Seed Phone Sex". Just looking at the track names and run times, I was really expecting something really noisy and harsh, along the lines of old Anal Cunt releases, but no. It's nothing like that.

Instead, 'Le Dragon Magique' is mostly pretty straightforward electronic clips, many of them pretty high BPM in addition to being just damn short. The experience is not dissimilar to listening to an album of 30 second song samples while deciding whether or not to buy it; only this time, that's all there is. And despite being very short, most of the tracks seem like complete musical thoughts. "Pre-Ice Age Plankton Shortage" was one that struck me as particularly good for this - except for the random dog barking at the end.

Really, though, it's pretty hard to give this release a great review. The music isn't experimental or unusual enough to keep the interest of people who are happy with the idea of 30 second songs, and the songs aren't long enough to hold the interest of someone who might like the musical ideas that are developed. Hell, I've already spent more time writing this review than it takes to listen to the entire album 3 times. But, hey, we're all busy people with only a few minutes to spare, so you can download this album quickly and give it a listen while you're waiting for someone to make you coffee or bring you a beer. And maybe that's what the whole thing is about: short music for people short on time. Mar 23 2012