Wizard Prison

“Wizard Prison is no charm school, no rose garden, no [Harry] Potter tribute band and, no, it's not a brand of deodorant. What is it? It is humanly organized sound looking to soundly organize humanity. It's peace dealing with its tensions without cowardly resorting to war. It's earth-mother-speak,” writes Wizard Prison “magic mind” (as he’s credited on their MySpace) John Vallier in a tour diary recounting the bands most recent outing with none other than Animal Collective—who have Wizard Prison’s Scott Colburn (also of Sun City Girls and Climax Golden Twins) to thank for the production in their full-length Feelsand PeopleEP). Live, the band is more Blaire Witch Project than Order of the Phoenix, shrouded in wizard costumes (sometimes with no pants underneath!), shadowed in darkness, creating sounds that would evoke a chill paired with even the most mundane of spooky stories. On “Gogon’s Family Conference” from II, the band’s 2007 release, a little girl speaks in an eerie high-pitched, unidentifiable language over rhythmic chanting all while a slowly driving drum beat buoys the track down a cold dark river to a sea of blackness. The psychedelic ambience is boosted tonight by local instrumental projects Beast, Please be Still and Joy Wants Eternity. AJA PECKNOLD

Listen to a sample of Wizard Prison's "Welcome to Friendship Harbor."