Reviews

"A great album" from "a raising star from Brooklyn" - Whitney Matheson - USA Today's Pop Candy Blog

"Wow, I just couldn’t stop listening to this great music. Excellent vibrant songs, with calming voice." - Hastik Blog

"Everyone has that one album that they will never get sick of, that always hits home, and that they can always relate to in any mood or current situation. Marco Mahler's Design In Quick Rotation can be said to be that album. From the first 30 seconds his meek voice and guitar soak into your skin and permeate happy peaceful memories throughout your being. It's gentle, it's beautiful, and it's sincere. I would imagine this being the soundtrack to a stranger's smile,  or the adventure of looking into someone's eyes and having a full conversation without words. This album is a unique illustration of how beautiful and simple music can be." - The Teal - Indie Rock Reviews

"...eleven diverse, smart and lovely songs ... Mahler’s deep knowledge of a huge range of musical styles and his innate ability to fit pieces of them together so that, even in the most unlikely combinations they sound brilliant, makes Design In Quick Rotation an endlessly enjoyable listen. Folk and anti-folk dance together to smooth hip hop, while a rock band quietly practices next door ... chilled out songs that have clear influences but stand out on their own as something different ... They have a strange calming effect, massaging blissful pleasure straight into your ears. If you’re looking for something new, then you just found it. Do whatever it takes to get your hands on a copy of Design In Quick Rotation." - Andy Malt - Subba-Cultcha

"This is a marvellous debut album and one of those subtle records that gets under the skin in the best possible sense. The songs are intense and literate without being self conscious or morbid ... this a calming record to live with and love." - 10 out of 10 stars - Martin Raybould - Whisperin & Hollerin

"It's honest and touching, the simplicity of the music comes from hearing it as genuine as it can be, without sprinkling the myths of stardom all over the place. Mahler would probably sound good as good in Carnegie Hall as he would on the side of the corner store, there is no thin line between anything that he does (or chooses to do). It's dusty, it has a few scars, but it's there, take it or leave it. Mahler will become one of the most promising musicians of the early 21st century." - John Book - The Run-Off Groove

"Marco Mahler’s vocals may lean more towards a conspiratorial whisper than a shouted ‘hey-look-at-me’, but it’s his music that rises above that charismatic whisper to snag your ear. Acoustic guitar lines cut through all else, crisscrossing, blooming, like kaleidoscopic patterns in tracks like the instrumental “Hike The Lake”. And yet it’s that very voice, that calming, quiet voice delivering Mahler’s abstract lyrics, that’s the perfect foil to the penetrating acoustic guitar. Although all this isn’t in sacrifice to melody, he does wield a number of strong melodies that will lodge like an arrow in your heart. “Orange Chinese Car” softly thumps like a basketball about to be taken hard to the hoop, while “Study Airports” is an anti-lullaby, a song to wake up to rather than deliver the lulling. Design in Quick Rotation is a surprisingly well-crafted debut from a man who, not surprisingly, is also a sculptor." - Alan Williamson - SIXEYES Blog

"Marco Mahler is a pleasant surprise who should be immediately plucked from the seemingly endless horde of stubbled and bearded folkies who keep threatening to hush the world. Last June, Mahler self-released the record Design in Quick Rotation, an effort so beautiful and simple that not much since David Thomas Broughton's 2005 record can comparably stand up to it. There sounds to be little here but a voice, a guitar and a beat barely louder than a footstep, save for the plugged-in guitar on “Think Tank” or additional light percussion on “Study Airports,” which do nothing to speed things up further. The simplicity is divine, as anything additional would damage the soothing nature of the record" - choir croak out them goodies

"Indeed, the stark nature of this recording is its most arresting feature ... Mahler's approach doesn't waver from the first note to the last. He travels through his songs, using each to change course ever so subtly.

Not nearly so idiosyncratic as a Simon Joyner or Songs:Ohia or Will Oldham or whatnot, Mahler has nonetheless managed to notch his own first-rate entry into the minimalist singer-songwriter ledger. Fine work."

Jon Worley - Aiding & Abetting

"Highly individual musical language as well as an innovative guitar style

making the songs and music among the most appealing and interesting things

I heard from a contemporary songwriter ..."

Massimo Ferro - Radio Voce Spazio - Italy

"Private intimate songs that come with invisible headphones, made distinct by Mahler's expert finger work ... there is intimacy and gentleness here, but also a sturdy undertow that rescues the music from the negative space of haunting: these songs endure, they embrace the natural world" - Helvetica Bold

"Marco Mahler could very well be a wet dream for the people that pick the music on “Grey’s Anatomy”. It’s probably just a matter of time before one of his low-key ballads turns up on an episode where Izzy, George or whoever is having an angsty moment. Now, don’t let this reference to said TV-show put you off, because Marco Mahler is someone who’s music I highly recommend. In fact, I order you to give this guy a listen if you proclaim to be a fan of similar artists like Sufjan Stevens and José Gonsález. So give your eardrums a little break from the hard beats and sharp guitars, and enjoy Mahler’s mellow indie-pop instead." - RockSellout.com

"A majestic disc of desolate instrumentals and personal folk songs with crisp instrumentation overlaying sparse melodic backdrops ... “Hike the Lake” is an instrumental that builds from a single guitar, slowly filling in with keyboards and percussion. “Fields” is an elegant song with Mahler’s understated vocals that form the backdrop for precisely layered guitar lines. Give it a listen (or two)." - jefito blog

"As if by divine intervention, Marco Mahler's self released debut album, Design In Quick Rotation, arrived on my doorstep yesterday, just as I was in need of a subtle and quiet, contemplative record to become absorbed in for the night. Mahler holds dual citizenship in the US and Switzerland, and it seems he's picked up some of the finer points in musical tradition along the way. It makes for quite an impressive range of style and influence, but the album's real charm is its acoustic intimacy. As the fire in the hearth burned, and the shadows of snow falling outside chased each other across my eyes, Mahler's beautiful melodies were music to my tired and weary ears. It's not a difficult concept to grasp, this simplicity and gentleness, but in our fast-paced world, it sometimes goes unnoticed. Thanks, Marco, for reminding me to take a break and enjoy something beautiful." - Quick Before It Melts music blog

"The songs feature gorgeously calming and looping melodies and his slightly Cave-ish voice and I find that I can listen to it on repeat for hours when looking for a bit of calm in amongst a busy day. Those of us with that busy train journey know that 'music that's perfect to commute to' is nothing but praise." - Pretending Life Is Like A Song blog

"Brooklyn-based musician and sculptor Marco Mahler's debut album, Design In Quick Rotation, a nod to his mobiles and kinetic sculptures, can feel as airy and dreamy as the title makes out: lying on our backs with sunlight - yes, lots of brilliant, refracted sunlight, for this is a decidedly upbeat album - streaming in the windows, overexposing the light & lovely creation hanging from the ceiling above our heads and pushed and twirled by a breeze or possibly just the force of our breaths.
Design In Quick Rotation is in many ways a remarkable, subtle album, and anyone's guess recommends you listen to more or simply pick up a copy of the disk for yourself." - anyone's guess

"a highly competent mixture of beauty" - 8 out of 10 stars - Drowned in Sound

"These days a lot of music comes through my inbox but very little of it sticks out; this does." - ipickmynose blog

"Marco Mahler produces well written dreamy melodies that are hard to resist. Nowadays many singers are compared to Sufjan Stevens and Nick Drake, but Mahler actually delivers on that promise." - The Plugg

"With lofting, arching melodies over pop and folk structures you'll find his music refreshing and dreamy."

Bring Me Up Blog

Customer reviews from

CDBaby

Author: Leila
"This album is one of the most beautiful and life insightful with all its beauty and fear, expressed in the amazing lyrics and subtlety of sound; it defies classification, except maybe close to heaven...Thank you"

Some Older Quotes

(not about the new album)

“He’s got a voice … listen to the way he sings … wow… your songs are … I mean this is your song? You wrote this? You didn’t find it in a bottle or someplace? … I sure hope the prop has that on tape – That was gorgeous … People who know the scene and know something about music want to be surprised by something like you, new and exciting, interesting and somebody who’s been around …" - Bob Fass “Radio Unnamable” WBAI NYC

“Where do you go for all those ideas?” - Marc Barkan, songwriter for Elvis

“Very beautiful” - Joe Franklin, TV and radio talk show host

"Verbal and Sonic poetry, Acoustic digital strawberry dessert
A poet, Marco makes modern collages of both word and sound that speak from today about today, yesterday and the future. I'm digging on the digital is outrageous, and the image of sea-foam strawberry dessert awaiting the stalwart heart in these apocalyptic times." - Stephan Smith

"This is the kind of stuff I wish there was more of.
It really explores the possibilities when someone is humbled by the force of music. I feel like it says you're allowed to hum whatever tune is in your head regardless of what's going on around you. It's a mutually beneficial experience for the artist and the audience, which is what music should be." - Abbey

“Interesting” – Allen Ginsberg