New Sound of Numbers Becomes Sound Houses

Posted on May 11, 2008

 

Hannah Jones has changed the name of her project The New Sound of Numbers to Sound Houses, to mark a new direction for the band. From TNSON’s MySpace blog:

We, The New Sound of Numbers are officially changing our name to Sound Houses. This change is coming about because our next recording project will sound quite a bit different from The New Sound of Numbers’ Liberty Seeds album - which was recorded for the most part by Hannah Jones in her home studio. Liberty Seeds was recorded a track at a time, each track building on the next. The New Sound of Numbers feels as though it started as a solo project that expanded and evolved into a band whose members each contribute to the song-forming process.

You can find Sound Houses‘ new MySpace page here. Hopefully some music will be added to it soon.

I am utterly indifferent to the name change–or, at least, much more enthusiastic about the fact that there’s new Hannah Jones music in the pipeline.

Ladybug Transistor Acoustic Video from PSL

Posted on May 10, 2008

 

PSL has posted this lovely acoustic performance from The Ladybug Transistor, with (L-R) Kyle Forrester (Great Lakes), Gary Olson, Julia Rydholm, and Michael O’Neill (The Ballet) performing “Three Days from Now” on an empty street corner in Stockholm.

Speaking of the Ladybugs, this last week I added a Ladybug Transistor wing to our Optical Atlas art gallery.

If you’re in New York, you’ll have a couple of opportunities coming up to see them live: May 31st they’re playing a free show at 2PM at the Brooklyn Public Library Grand Army Plaza, and June 14 they’ll be playing NYC Popfest at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Thanks to Gary and Becky for all the info.

Bid on the Dressy Bessy Mask for the Mask Project

Posted on May 9, 2008

The 10th annual Mask Project is a charity auction to benefit the Denver Hospice, featuring masks designed by hundreds of celebrities and artists. Dressy Bessy’s own Tammy Ealom is one of the contributors this year, providing the mask seen at left: the official Dressy Bessy mask.  (Click on the image to enlarge it, and you can see “Dressy Bessy” written into the goggles!)  You can bid on this online through May 30th, or view the masks in person at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Denver, Colorado, through June 1st.

Dressy Bessy is still at work on their fifth full-length album, due out this fall.

Gerbils To Re-Emerge with Circulatory System, Visitations at Free AthFest Party

Posted on May 7, 2008

On Thursday, June 19, at the 40 Watt in Athens, When Jammy Jamm Met AthFest will see three E6 bands on one stage: Circulatory System, The Visitations, and the Gerbils, the latter not having played together (to my knowledge–please correct me if I’m wrong) since the death of photographer and Gerbils guitarist Will Westbrook in December 2006. The event is FREE–FREE, I tell you–and begins at 10pm.

The Music Tapes Prep New Album, Play Athens PopFest

Posted on May 6, 2008

I was a little startled to see, in the latest Merge Records newsletter released this afternoon, an announcement of the long (and I mean long)-awaited sophomore album from The Music Tapes, Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes.  Well, it may be a sophomore album; it depends whether or not you’re counting 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking, a storybook album which was released straight to fans in limited quantities back in 2001, and which lead tape Julian Koster has since referred to as unfinished.  Apart from dispatches on his Orbiting Human Circus website, this is the first concrete Music Tapes news in a very long time.  Plus it comes with a video, an MP3, and the announcement that the band will be playing this year’s Athens PopFest on August 15, 2008, at the 40 Watt.  Here is the complete press release, with the free song, “Majesty,” and the video contained below:

It’s been nine years since First Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, the first album from The Music Tapes, was released on Merge. The Music Tapes is the recording and performance collective formed by Julian Koster. Julian is perhaps best known as the purveyor of the haunting sounds of the singing saws in Neutral Milk Hotel.

In recent years, Julian has hidden himself away concocting new games, inventing new band members, such as the Orbiting Human Circus Tapdancing Machine, and hosting an occasional magical gathering for those lucky enough to stumble upon his secret invitations.

He has also been working on a story album entitled 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking, narrated by Brian Dewan and accompanied by bowed banjos, singing saws and sound effects. Portions of the story were aired in early 2003 on WNYC in New York, and were met with great enthusiasm by Music Tapes fans longing for new material.

Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes spotlights Julian’s songcraft and distinctive vocals, his almost religious devotion to the singing saw, and numerous contributions from other musicians in the Elephant 6 orbit. As on previous efforts, recording was done using an array of antique hardware, giving Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes a timeless, texturally rich sonic palette. It is the sound of Julian’s world poking through the curtain surrounding objective reality. In his words, “I just find the imaginary more real than the physical. Magic, the way we find things beautiful, the light behind eyes, kindness, and how we want to serve and protect the things we care about - these things seem like the real foundation of the world to me. I hope that the songs on this record can be more than just postcards from a world, but an invitation to it, to anyone at all who may find such a place comforting and nice.”

Julian, Static the Television, the 7 Foot Tall Metronome and a few human friends will perform at Athens Popfest on August 15, 2008, at the 40 Watt Club. This event will involve much more than just a rock show, so make your travel plans now!

MP4: The Music Tapes - Majesty (from the forthcoming Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes)

 

CONTEST: Win Jeff Mangum-Curated Yeti #5

Posted on May 6, 2008

The fifth issue of the Portland literary and music magazine Yeti features a bonus CD with artists such as A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Atlas Sound, Iron and Wine, and more; significant to readers of this blog, a portion of that CD is curated by Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, featuring selections from his collection of old, obscure 78’s. Mangum also contributes an original illustration for the magazine. Now I’m giving away my extra copy to Optical Atlas readers. The rules are simple:

The subject line must be YETI. That’s it. Just YETI. Otherwise it gets deleted.

The contents of the email must include your FULL NAME and COMPLETE SHIPPING ADDRESS. Incomplete emails will be deleted.

Only one entry per individual please!

Send this email to: contest@opticalatlas.com.

A winner will be selected randomly on the morning of Saturday, May 10, so please get your email in before that date.  This contest is open to international entries.  Good luck!

YETI NUMBER FIVE

01 Spiritualaires: “Be Ready When He Comes”
02 Sadoum Ouled Aida: “Untitled”
03 Phoaming Edison: “Sheba”
04 Radio Sumatra: “Outtake #1″
05 Atlas Sound: “It’s Fair Fair Game Inside”
06 Dean & Britta: “Tugboat (live)”
07 Akron/Family: “Small Shape (live)”
08 Anglin Brothers: “It’s an Unfriendly World”
09 Deerhoof: “Forbidden Fruits (live)”
10 Radio Sumatra: “Outtake #2″
11 Triptych Myth/Cooper-Moore: “Distance”
12 Marika Papagika: “Sometime You Might Love Me”
13 Alexandra Potskhershvili: “Suliko”
14 Unknown: “?”
15 Marika Papagika: “I Want to Hold You Tight in My Arms”
16 Radio Sumatra: “Outtake #3″
17 D+: “Clever Knot”
18 Mount Eerie: “Blue Light (instrumental)”
19 A Hawk and a Hacksaw With the Hun Hangar Ensemble: “Vereb / The Sparrow (live)”
20 Iron and Wine: “Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog) (live)”
21 Radio Sumatra: “Outtake #4″
22 Shawn David McMillen: “Texarkana 1971″
23 AC & Blind Mamie Forehand: “Honey in the Rock”
24 Mary Price: “Dark Was the Night”
25 Blind Willie Johnson: “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground”

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