In 1997 the founders of the Magic Marker label, Mark and Curt, moved into a big house in SE Portland and began having shows first in the basement, then in the living room. Magic Marker's
House Full of Friends collection is a brilliantly conceived, lovingly executed remembrance of the house and the many nights of indie pop glory. The 34 songs on the two discs make up nearly the entire slate of acts that played the Magic Marker house between 1997 and 2004. The artists range from indie pop royalty like
the Shins,
the Lucksmiths,
the Decemberists,
Dressy Bessy, Softies and
the Aislers Set to lesser-known but still worthy artists like
Cowboy, Benji Cossa, My Little Brother,
Aerospace and
Darren Hanlon. The songs are a good mix of previously released tracks, rarities and unreleased songs and the two discs unspool like a history of turn of the century indie pop. Listing highlights would be a lengthy and ultimately fruitless endeavor because it would read just like the track list. Well, if pressed maybe, there's
Mates of State's surgingly beautiful "Invitation Inn," Benji Cossa's lo-fi blend of '70s soft rock and ska horns on "Going Back, No More,"
the Shins' loose take on
T. Rex's "Baby Boomerang,"
the Aislers Set's unreleased "Untitled," Softies' "It's Love" recorded live at MM house, and
Darren Hanlon's lovely "Video Store." The booklet comes with a handy guide to staging your own house shows (good luck finding bands this good) and is loaded with great photos of the bands in various states of rocking out (check out the cloud of sweaty fog
the Thermals performance created.) One of the regulars, Jeff Mawer, was a pro photographer and his shots are dead-on at re-creating the intimate joys of the house show. Any indie popper who has ever been to a house show has to just marvel at the quality of the bands that played the MM house and revel in the chance to relive the memories vicariously. ~ Tim Sendra