Tragic Mag brings a revolutionary proposal for these times. The Argentine duo formed by young Demián Placeriani and Martina Gil Monje They offer a dose of rock and roll, country and skate psychedelia, in a scene marked by shoegaze, emo punk and grunge.
The beginnings of the band were quite curious. Initially, Demian had been involved in different punk bands who used to perform in unconventional places, with mostly adult audiences and an atmosphere that he describes as “living in long tired breaths, unoriginal and a refuge for old punks.”
His relationship with music creation began in the privacy of his room with a guitar, bass, amplifiers, drums, microphones and an audio card on a PC. “At that time he had no knowledge of what an interface was, nor of receiver positioning techniques,” he admits in conversation with Indie Today-. I experienced what it is like to create something real and desired, the quality of the recording did not matter, much less its never successful mix.but what mattered was the feeling of discovering something as pleasant as music.”
For his part, Martina confesses that she had always dreamed of playing an instrument, but had never had access to one due to financial reasons. It was thanks to her parents’ insistence that she finally got a guitar, which introduced her to the world of music. Although at first she was just a spectator, everything changed when he started playing drums in Demian’s rehearsal room in 2021inspired by the music she was listening to at the time, like Rage Against the Machine, Sublime and Lana Del Rey.
“Demian was the one who got me into the world of music and encouraged me to play,” says Martina. He taught me everything I know and it’s amazing because Instead of looking for someone who knew how to play, he preferred to be patient with me and teach me everything he knew so we could merge and create something.“. Thus, the union between Demian and Martina, with different musical backgrounds and previous experiences, gave rise to Tragic Mag, a project that quickly managed to conquer the public with its histrionic energy and passion on stage.
After a series of singles, this year the power duo released their first album titled Great tragedy. The essence of the band shines through from beginning to end: a dizzying sound, visceral rock, strident guitars, overwhelming drums, a sharp nasal voice and songs sung in English. The opening of the album with “Static” functions as a countdown, a countdown towards an explosion that flies through the air before reaching the minute mark. The song mutates towards the middle and ends between psychedelic fuzzes and an amplified and enveloping harmonica.
Sharp cuts and violent rhythm changes are a constant on the album., but perhaps it is “Tree”, the third track, that best fits this Tragic Mag characteristic. The album continues with “Big Stain”, which was the first single released in 2023, and the song with the best score guitar from the album. In the middle of the album, “Streets and Bananas” champions everything from a rock and roll typical of the 60s, and passes the baton to “Guess Who”, a song that dares to slide a mini ballad in the pauses that Demian uses to abandon his liberating screams.
The end approaches with the penultimate single, “Worse”, which serves to predict the end of the album with a fade in and fade out that is somewhat exotic and traveling. The last, “Bike”, is the one that its live audience celebrates the most and an excellent decision to give a wild and danceable closing.. It also serves as a perfect hook for those hearing the band for the first time into their magnetic live shows.
Listen to Tragic Mag on streaming platforms (Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music).
