Green Magnet School...

I wasn’t originally going to do a post on Green Magnet School; however I was messing around on Allmusic and was stunned to see such poor ratings on two out of three of their major releases. I mean I know the band wasn’t some type of revolutionary musical force, but two stars for Blood Music or one and a half for Revisionist? That just seems a bit low, and even more baffling is that the actual tiny write up for Revisionist is pretty positive. Don’t get me wrong, I love Allmusic and I use it quite frequently for various things. It’s an invaluable resource and regardless of the cruddy ratings, it at least gives me a good reason to mention something about the band on here.

After coming together in the late eighties the band released a handful of singles, two albums, and an EP. They also had a few tracks here and there on some compilations/promotional albums. Green Magnet School’s sound was definitely hard to pin down, however one of the most consistent to be heard over the span of their entire output in my opinion. They were also fairly crafty folks as well, using an array of different items to achieve unlikely sounds through percussion and such. That and the monotonous plodding rhythms found on some of their earlier material gave them a bit of an industrial sound. However, their music was fairly abrasive while alternating between the use of three guitarists and two bassists. Maybe a bit much in retrospect, but I got to admit it made for one hell of a mess at times; a really loud but great sounding mess. Both of their albums were fantastic in my opinion, although I find myself liking their last album Illuminatus a bit more mostly because it’s bit more straight forward rock as opposed to Blood Music.

White People 7”:
Green Magnet School – White People [MP3]
Green Magnet School – Ammonia Bath [MP3]

Blood Music:
Green Magnet School – Ellipse [MP3]
Green Magnet School – Noxia [MP3]
Green Magnet School - Windshield [MP3]

Revisionist EP:
Green Magnet School – Spitter [MP3]

Illuminatus:
Green Magnet School – Downstat [MP3]
Green Magnet School – General Cornelius [MP3]

I believe the majority of their material is out of print yet you can find all the larger releases on Amazon for pretty cheap used. Definitely worth the small amount for anyone looking for some interesting yet very solid noise rock.