“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.” – Andy Malt – Subba-Cultcha

“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

More reviews at www.marcomahler.com/reviews-of-design-in-quick-rotation-and-laptop-campfire-speed/