I just posted a fluff piece I wrote on the recent R.E.M. benefit concert in Athens, and the performance by An Observatory, a supergroup consisting of members of Elephant 6 (and other Athens bands). You can read it by clicking on the graphic above.

Two of the participants in An Observatory, Peter Alvanos and Trey McManus, play in a band called King of Prussia that you really must check out. They've just completed an album, Save the Scene, which should be coming out, I'm guessing, sometime in early 2007. I'm very impressed with it: an extremely polished pop sound with ridiculously clever lyrics. Have a listen to songs like "Spain in the Summer" and "Campaign Kids" on their My Space page. It's exactly the kind of pop music I love: clear as an open skyline, but restlessly creative. It calls to mind other Athens pop acts like Casper & the Cookies and Masters of the Hemisphere. I shill because I love it. Lend an ear and see what you think.

This week on Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive: Elf Power at the Subterranean in Chicago, 2004. The band covers Bob Dylan and Brian Eno, and performs a set that draws heavily from the albums Walking with the Beggar Boys, A Dream in Sound, and The Winter is Coming. We also still have two Of Montreal concerts in the vault for you to download and enjoy.

Elf Power at the Subterranean, Chicago, IL 11-19-2004

Heather McIntosh (The Instruments, Circulatory System) this year helped organize the release of AUX, a CD compilation of experimental music from Athens, and the AUX Event at Athica, a one-day festival featuring live experimental performances by artists such as Black Swan Network, Vortex of Withering, and Lorkakar.

Now Heather has announced that she is organizing a second CD compilation and another AUX event, and she's accepting submissions. Please note that she is accepting submissions for all media, not just audio recordings. According to her MySpace blog, Heather is looking for "sounds, video, dance, book arts, puppetry arts, installation, straight up visual arts, what have you." Send your submissions to hmcinstrument@gmail.com.

UPDATE: Heather has confirmed to Optical Atlas that they are accepting submissions for the AUX 2 CD from non-Athens residents. They are also accepting submissions from non-residents for the live event, but with the caution that the budget for the event is "shoestring"--in other words, don't expect to be flown in if your work gets accepted. Finally, they are looking for volunteers for the AUX event; contact Heather at the email above if you are interested.

The second album (album "proper") by The Music Tapes, Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, is now on the verge of being sent off to Merge Records, according to a friend of Julian Koster's. The artwork by Robbie Cucchario has been completed, and the mastering is done. There's now a very good chance that we will all see a brand new Music Tapes album in 2007, which promises to be one of the best years ever for Elephant 6 fans (what with new Circulatory System, Apples in Stereo, Cranberry Lifecycle, etc.).

As for the Music Tapes "storybook" album, The 2nd Imaginary Symphony for Cloudmaking--which was released in an early, rough form to fans as homemade CD-Rs in 2002, personalized by Julian himself--there is no word, and according to the source it "is still in limbo."

Sunday night Justin Laird conducted an interview with Derek Almstead (currently on tour with Elf Power) on a variety of different topics, many of them of particular interest for Elephant 6 fans. He's passed along a recording of the almost hour-long interview to Optical Atlas. I've just finished transcribing what I think are the relevant passages, and you can read them below. Almstead talks candidly about his reasons for his and Andy Gonzales' leaving Of Montreal, the process of recording the new Circulatory System record, writing music for M Coast, and even a little about the Major Organ and the Adding Machine movie (portions of which I've omitted in hopes of avoiding angering those involved in the production, who want to keep an air of mystery about the film; I have removed the names of the directors, for example). One thing he mentions in the interview that I didn't transcribe below is that he hopes to begin working with Heather McIntosh on the new Instruments album in November.

This recording was done for a college radio station. A very big thanks go out to the awesome Justin for passing us a copy of the interview!

JL: This is Derek, from every band in Athens ever...Now, you have a recording studio. I know you were recently remastering a bunch of old cassettes with Will Hart.

DA: Yeah, he had already transferred it from cassette I guess a long time ago; he had a CD compiled of all the tracks, and I just kind of went in and did the EQ'ing and level adjusting and compression and stuff, to make it all gel, and I gave them a CD--I finished it a long time ago and handed it to them, and I think it's being filtered through the ranks to make sure that everybody is happy with it, and then it's gonna be released.

JL: ...It was Synthetic Flying Machine and Always Red Society?

DA: Cranberry Lifecycle is the name of the primary group, because that was the name of Jeff and Will's band that they did, that's what they were recording under. And I think there might be some really early Synthetic Flying Machine stuff on it or right as they were about to change they were going to play as Synthetic Flying Machine, I can't remember. He told me a whole bunch of stuff about it but I can't remember...

JL: It does seem like at that point in Elephant 6 nothing was that defined.

DA: Well, I wasn't around for that.

JL: Now you came in with Of Montreal, right?

DA: Right.

JL: You came in with Kevin...

DA: Yeah, exactly. I moved to Athens in '95, and from the suburb of D.C., and had money to spend on moving somewhere, and I had friends who were moving down to Athens, so I moved down to Athens with these friends, and we tried to form a band with my buddy Zach, and it never happened. And eventually I met Kevin at a party, I was playing with--there were these girls in this band from Virginia who were living in Athens briefly in this band called Spackle, and they were kind of like a trio/punk/riotgrrl-ish kind of band, and I was friends with them, and they wanted me to play with them, and then do Minor Threat covers...so we were at this party, and playing this show, and I jumped up and played bass on these two songs, and Kevin was at the party and that's how we met. We were talking afterwards and he was trying to put together a band. And so over the next six months we kind of ran into each other a few times. I got together with him once and played bass, and he joined Elf Power, and so we didn't get together, and then after the Elf Power thing--he was playing his songs in Elf Power--he wanted to break away and do his own thing, and he asked me if I played drums, and I sort of--sort of--played drums, and I said "Hell yeah, I play drums!" [laughs] And so we got together and in the very beginning it was me and Kevin and Bryan Poole who was playing in Elf Power at the time, and he was playing guitar, and there was this guy named Joel Evans who was playing bass originally, and we were all rehearsing as a band. Joel Evans used to play briefly with Great Lakes, and then with Apples in Stereo a long time ago. We had our first show opening with Elf Power at the 40 Watt in like late '96, and a week before the show Joel quit the band, so Bryan moved to bass to fill that gap, because Bryan was playing guitar, so that's how that started. And through those guys, going to the parties, and slowly gelling into it, that's how I met everybody. But I was going to see, even before Kevin and I began playing together, I was going to see Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel. Neutral Milk Hotel wasn't living there yet. They came through and played shows at this place called the Landfill. They'd have house party shows, and they played maybe two shows there, and they were both incredible. So I was a huge fan, I was into it, I was aware of it, and then I met all those guys and got involved in the scene, and it just happened naturally.

JL: I read online that you had left Of Montreal because it became such a production, like the theatrics of it.

DA: Well, no, not necessarily that--it wasn't that specifically. It was more like--that was always an element of the band; it was always an element that I was uncomfortable with.

JL: That it wasn't just straight rock?

DA: Yeah, well I mean it's not that I just want to play straight rock, you know, I really don't enjoy getting up there and putting on an act, I kind of like to play and be into it. And I'm not saying that one way is better than the other, it's just what I'm comfortable with. So it was always this deal where he really wanted to do that and a couple other members were hyped about that stuff, and I wasn't, and Andy wasn't, and we'd always kind of naysay that whenever it would come up. And there was this obvious division. And it even got to the point where when the skits would happen onstage, like me and Andy would be off-stage, and they would be doing it, you know what I mean?

JL: And they did a tour that was just skits.

DA: Oh yeah, totally. That was a whole separate thing.

JL: But did that grow out of...

DA: By the time we did Aldhil we had kind of pounded that attitude into it so much, you know what I mean? We didn't want to do that. So we didn't do it. We did pretty much a straight rock tour and I think at the end of that, that's when Kevin did that tour, and it was an unloading of all that stuff he wanted to do, and that's a side of his creative output that he's really into and he's great at and he wants to do. But it just wasn't for me. And it kind of got to this point where I thought, hey, this is silly. Why have this artistic division and it's not even my band? I'm in the band, you know, but it's not my songs, my vision, why fight somebody else's vision? And that was a big thing. And, obviously, look how it worked for them. It's great. What they do now, it's awesome and it's full-on, it's way more full-on, and there's nobody naysaying it; it's more of a pure deal now. Which is great.

JL: What do you think of the new album, Hissing Fauna?

DA: I haven't heard it...I was under the impression that he's really exploring the Princey side of himself. Me and Kevin have always talked and loved Prince, even in the early days. I was a huge Prince fan when I was younger and into my teenage years. I think that's really cool. I'm excited to hear it.

JL: Now that you're writing songs--have you been writing songs since you got into music--

DA: Yes.

JL: M Coast, is that your first...?

DA: Well, when I was younger I'd write songs with lyrics but then I got in this big phase where I hated writing lyrics and I was mostly just writing instrumental music all the time. But I didn't want to be an instrumental musician. I like it, and I want to have a side of it that's that, but I was like, in theory I'd like to write some lyrics. So for the longest time I just never got around to it. I was doing other stuff, I didn't really put the energy into it.

JL: Well, you're in 382 different bands.

DA: Well. Not that many. I try to keep a healthy six bands at all times. Anything more than six is too much.

JL: Bryan Poole said you want to have three bands. You say six.

DA: Well, Bryan obviously only has the energy for three bands. [laughs] I'm just kidding. ... Well, I've got tons of tons of bits and pieces and things that are sort of songs without lyrics or with lyrics that I just built up for years and years and years. I just went through and sifted them out, picked the ones that I was most excited about, and started forcing myself to write lyrics to them. And that's what happened. That's how they got finished. [laughs]

JL: Now, do you have your own recording studio?

DA: I do.

JL: How many recording studios does that make in Athens?

DA: Oh man, I don't know. My studio is an advanced bedroom studio. I have a lot of microphones, stuff like that, but I don't have--I don't run a studio for the public, you know what I mean? I flirted with that idea, but I decided that it wasn't going to work for me...I basically stay busy all year round working on different bands that I'm in, and occasionally I'll work with an outside person, or a person I don't play with. I've been working on this record for the past year with this guy Mikey Dwyer, he writes these really awesome loose rock tunes, and he's been recording it in his house on his 8-track and then he moves it over to my house and I mix it on my computer and archive it so he can have separate tracks...But mostly I just work on the bands that I'm in. Because when I first started doing it I realized I was going to have strangers coming into my house. And I have a wife, and there's going to be people calling me that I've never met before, coming into the house. It just seemed like it wasn't really for me. If I had a separate place maybe I'd do that, but also there's the whole thing of getting burnout on stuff that you really don't care about...

JL: I know you've been working on the Circulatory System album. How's that been coming along?

DA: We have something like 34-35 mixes of tunes, probably a little over 75 minutes, 78 minutes of music, and to varying degrees of perfection, basically. A lot of it is really great and done. Some of it has some holes in it that we need to go over. And it also needs one more pass-through, aesthetic mix decision: are these drums crispy enough, things like that. I think it would take another good week-long push to finish it.

JL: So you think definitely by spring?

DA: Yeah, I hate to say definitely at this point. The history of predictions about this record. [laughs]

JL: Any Elephant 6 record, I suppose.

DA: Well, some bands are better at turning things out on a schedule and going with it.

JL: The thing about Will, though; I can just imagine him waking up one day and hearing a car drive by, and thinking everything on the record has to be changed.

DA: That is kind of the deal. That's probably a very good summation of the way it is. Which yields frustration, but also yields some cool things. That's the thing about Circulatory System, and the last record, and his Olivia stuff and everything that has always appealed to me as a fan is the incredible amount of different lenses [through which] the music is being looked at by the band. Do you know what I mean? It has all these different focuses and layers and things like that, and within songs, and changes and movements, and I think it is because of that process of saying "Okay, no, the whole thing's wrong, we've got to come at it at this totally different direction" or whatever. That's a frustrating way to work, and could ruin a lot of recordings, but it doesn't seem to do it for us.

JL: Is there going to be an Inside Views released with this?

DA: I would imagine. I joined Circulatory System in 2002, and when I joined the band Will was like "Okay, we gotta start working on this new record," and he wanted me to help getting it going. He's like, "I've got all these pieces and songs and things and I need help sifting through it. Can I give you some CDs to listen to?" I go over to his house one day and he hands me one half of a manila envelope that he's painted and collaged--it's a manila envelope cut in half, and there's collages and paintings and little messages and thoughts, production ideas, all over this whole thing, and inside it there's 20 CD-Rs. Each CD-R with art, collages, full of music on every single disc. I mean, there were a few things with like one song on a CD. And I'm just blown away, there's so much stuff to listen to. I'm like, "Uh, I can't--you want me to sift through this and pick out the best of this?" That's a hard process. And a week later he's like, "Oh, here's 15 more discs." So I have a stack of Inside Views. Inside Views is not the problem. [laughs]

JL: What can you tell us about Major Organ and the Adding Machine [the movie]?

DA: Well, man, I think it's going to be pretty awesome...[portions omitted to preserve the identity of the creators]...I've done a couple scenes; I think it's going to be a silent movie with music, the Major Organ record as the soundtrack. I've shot a few scenes and the ones that I've been in are the ones with tons of people in the scene, I don't think they're all going to be like that. They're doing tons of stuff with green screening. The last time I talked with [the co-director] about it, he was at the stage where he was doing the green screen stuff, and sometimes they'd miss something, so they have to go through and closely edit that stuff. So that's a process. Most of the people who are around Athens are in it. I don't know if many of the Of Montreal people are in any of it; I don't think they were around for any of it.

JL: Not even B.P.?

DA: Maybe B.P. is, but I didn't see him. David Barnes is in it. I did a couple scenes with him. Andrew from Elf Power is definitely in it, he's got a bigger role. And there's also some people who aren't involved in the E6 music stuff who are in it too, to fill certain roles. I might not even supposed to be saying this, for all I know it's going to be the same deal, where it's totally and mysteriously created!

Yep Roc Records, which is releasing the new Apples in Stereo album, New Magnetic Wonder, in conjunction with Elijah Wood's Simian label, is sponsoring a competition for the new Apples in Stereo logo design.

Your design may be the next Apples in Stereo logo!

UPDATE: There was an error in contest rules; this contest is in fact open WORLDWIDE and is not confined to the U.S.

Grand Prize: One (1) signed poster of the Artist, one (1) copy of the Artist's new CD OR double LP, and Two (2) tickets to show of your choice (ticket availability permitting). The winning logo will also be The Apples in Stereo used on appropriate merchandise by The Apples In Stereo and/or on their upcoming album, New Magnetic Wonder. Credit for logo design will be included on the band's website and anywhere else credit is generally received.

For complete rules and guidelines, visit this page at the Apples' site.

Of Montreal doesn't like to call them rarities or B-sides. They like to call them "singles and songles." The justification came with their first "singles and songles" release, A Horse and Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed), issued on Bar None in 2000: "Calling this a compilation of singles...would be stretching the truth since only a few of the songs have actually been released as such. We've invented a new word to describe a song that isn't on an album but has been previously released in some other form. Dottie came up with the word songle, and we all thought that was pretty clever..." A Horse and Elephant Eatery contained songles from Cherry Peel through The Gay Parade, but Of Montreal was (and is) so prolific that a second compilation became necessary, issued as a tour-only CD, If He is Protecting Our Nation Then Who Will Protect Big Oil, Our Children? On that tour they even performed one of these cast-to-the-haze songles, "My, What a Strange Day with a Swede" (as well as a number of songs that would soon be issued as Aldhils Arboretum). Track & Field Organization, the U.K. label given to releasing Elephant 6 albums on the other side of the ocean, gave the "Big Oil" compilation an official release a year later, but changed the song lineup, adding some new songles ("There is Nothing Wrong with Hating Rock Critics," to which Pitchfork took exception in their review, and "Barely Asian at the Beefcake Horizon"), and subtracting others. Those subtractions are today's MP3s. Yes, they're tracks that weren't good enough for the somewhat-derided Big Oil's official release.

The first is actually wonderful: a cover of the Velvet Underground's "She's My Best Friend," and it seems like Lou Reed wrote the song for Kevin Barnes, as it makes a lot more sense in Of Montreal's hands. This song appeared on the excellent Japanese compilation Rabid Chords 002: VU Tribute, which also featured The Ladybug Transistor, The Music Tapes, and The Olivia Tremor Control.

The second is far more obscure and inessential, although fascinating. Remember when the Beatles actually sung two of their singles in German for the German market? Hear Kevin court the Japanese market (as though he needed to) by delivering "An Ode to the Nocturnal Muse" as "Neru no daisuki." Amazingly, the song sounds almost exactly the same as the completed English-language version, although most fans in America heard this version first.

The last songle is "Nickee Coco Chorus," an outtake of the recording of "Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree" from The Gay Parade. Featuring the "Elephant 6 choral ensemble," as the credits call it, the cast singing includes most if not all of Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, Of Montreal, The Music Tapes, The Gerbils, and Fablefactory.

Since Big Oil's release there have been enough songles for a double-album. I doubt it will be that length, but Kevin Barnes told Optical Atlas earlier this year that a third singles & songles collection is in the works (probably after the January 2007 release of Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?).

She's My Best Friend
Neru no daisuki
Nickee Coco Chorus

Lou2ser at the Townhall took some videos of performances at the 2006 Athens PopFest, and has been encoding them and posting them online.

He's just completed posting the Apples in Stereo performance, and you can find the torrent link, setlist, and all other information in this thread.

The Circulatory System performance is being torrented; you can view the information in this thread.

He also has uploaded the Instruments performance as a Divx file here.

Some Google Video links:

The Apples in Stereo
Circulatory System
The New Sound of Numbers
M Coast
Ideal Free Distribution
Oh Ok

Sloan's Southern Shelter music blog today is hosting a Minders set from back in August, when they were touring with Of Montreal. In fine form, they perform a cover of "Lucifer Sam" as well as a number of new songs from It's a Bright Guilty World.

The Minders at Southern Shelter

And You Ain't No Picasso has posted a live review of that American Revolution concert in Lexington. It's always nice to see TAR get a mention.

You Ain't No Picasso today has a video up of Os Mutantes' classic "Bat Macumba" as covered by the Mutantes acolytes Of Montreal. (I will say this about "Bat Macumba"--easy to learn.) And Robert Schneider, who opened for the band with Thee American Revolution, is onstage singing next to BP Helium.

Of Montreal - "Bat Macumba" Video

I just added a number of new shows to our calendar, including some new dates for The Apples in Stereo (a bigger tour is in the works later, I imagine), The New Sound of Numbers, The Instruments, Summer Hymns, etc. Note that Elf Power is playing the Chunklet Blowout in late October at the 40 Watt with the comedians of comedy known as Patton Oswalt and Zach ("thank ye, thank ye") Galifianakis. (I want to move to Athens. Now.) Keep watching the dates for TNSON and The Instruments, as the tour dates are still being nailed down.

UPDATE: Just added a large number of shows for A Hawk and a Hacksaw, many of them with Beirut.

Upcoming Elephant 6 Shows

Folklore is fronted by Jimmy Hughes of Elf Power, but on the band's recently completed debut full-length, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman, it is "the cast" that is put front and center, providing guest vocals: Jon Croxton (Wee Turtles) as The Kid, Andrew Rieger (Elf Power) as The Father, Amy Dykes (I am the World Trade Center) as The Bartender, Bren Mead (Masters of the Hemisphere) as The Vet, Ian Rickert (Bugs Eat Books) as Bill & James, Heather McIntosh (The Instruments) as the Ghost, and Scott Spillane (Gerbils) as H.W. Beaverman (Jimmy Hughes is listed as The Pharmacist). In addition, the album features Che-Na Stephens, Aaron Jollay, Raoul De La Cruz (Red Pony Clock), Nick Canada, Pete Erchick (Olivia Tremor Control), and John Fernandes (OTC). All are enlisted to tell Folklore's first legend, about the mysterious death of H.W. Beaverman and the sighting of his apparition by various traumatized people. It's a concept album, but with the solid, sometimes moving storytelling skills of Hughes at the helm*, and being the most overtly collaborative Athens project since Major Organ and the Adding Machine (minus the experimental collages), The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman is amazing to hear. Folklore hasn't announced a label or release date yet, having just completed the project, but I'm guessing it will be released in early 2007. If so, you can place it on your list of essential Elephant 6 listens beside the new Apples in Stereo and Circulatory System. I was floored, and I hope the band has more legends to tell. Below are some sample MP3s provided by the band's website; you can hear more at their MySpace page. (Not all of these are the final versions--"H.W. Beaverman" doesn't feature the Scott Spillane vocals--however, the streaming MP3s on the MySpace page certainly are the finished products.)

*(Apart from guitar, bass, drums, analog synth, melodica, and bells, Hughes is credited for "songs and stories.")

The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman,
by Folklore

1. Enter the Ghost
2. The Kid
3. The Father
4. The Drowning at Lake Bonaparte
5. The Bartender
6. The Vet
7. Bill & James
8. The Pharmacist
9. The Ghost
10. H.W. Beaverman
11. Going Home

MP3s from Folklore's website (not the final album versions):

The Father
The Vet
H.W. Beaverman

Hoping to put the Outback Steakhouse commercial controversy to bed, here's the NON-altered version of the little Of Montreal song that could (sell steaks).

Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games

The Essex Green announced a while ago that they'd be touring Europe for a second time in 2006, but only just recently did they update their MySpace page with some dates. The Greens are headed to Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden (of course), Finland, Norway, and the U.K. You can see the complete list of dates right here. The fall tour kicks off September 30 in Munich.

Speaking of international tours, Of Montreal has announced they'll be playing Mexico City on November 11 at "Corona Fest" at Azteca Stadium (!). A complete list of dates for their fall tour is here...and remember that this Friday the band is playing with Thee American Revolution (featuring Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo) in Lexington, KY.

Elephant 6 Tour Dates at Optical Atlas

Hooray for Tuesday indeed...Simian Records, the label founded by actor Elijah Wood, has announced that it has signed The Apples in Stereo and will be releasing the band's latest full-length, New Magnetic Wonder, on February 7. Wood says in the press release, "I've been a fan of the Apples for years. I'm truly honored and excited that New Magnetic Wonder will be Simian Records' first release."

The album, which is based around frontman Robert Schneider's new "Non-Pythagorean Scale" of music (the scale, which Schneider pioneered, will be included in the enhanced portion of the CD with "digital files for MIDI usage and an in-depth description by Schneider...in both document and video form," according to the release), is 53 minutes long with 24 tracks, and was recorded in Lexington, KY, Athens, GA, Denver, CO, and Brooklyn, NY. It's also something of an Elephant 6 family reunion:

Apart from Schneider, John Hill, Eric Allen, and Hilarie Sidney, additional players on the album include Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel), Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart, and John Fernandes (Olivia Tremor Control), and members of High Water Marks and Ideal Free Distribution. Engineer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Sebadoh, Phish, Sean Lennon) teams with Schneider to pull it all together.

An excerpt from the extended press release:

New Magnetic Wonder is an ambitious LP clocking in at 53 minutes containing 14 songs and 12 additional musical segue-ways (or 'link tracks' as Schneider refers to them). In fact, at several points during the making of the album, Goggin had trouble keeping his Pro-tools recording system functioning. Schneider's use of 96 tracks of instrumentation on some songs, including the pop hit "Same Old Drag," was not only a record number of tracks for Goggin and his studio, but was also so densely layered with overdubs, that it caused his computer processor to crash repeatedly. And, this was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of technical challenges for the album. Another major challenge was New Magnetic Wonder's magnum opus "Beautiful Machine" which uniquely marries four distinct sounding songs. Schneider, in a lengthy and incredibly subtle process of production and mixing, was able to turn these tracks into an almost eight minute suite-- the indie rock equivalent of a grand classical concerto. "Beautiful Machine" was such a difficult song to complete, that it not only threatened Schneider's tenuous sanity but it also threatened the album's very completion.

"Finishing this record took every joule of energy I had," quips Schneider in his typical effervescent and rapid-fire manner. "There were so many different sounds and ideas bouncing around in my head, and such strong feelings to get across. With Velocity of Sound, I returned to the rawness of our live shows and the fuzzy vibe of our early four-track recordings. This time I wanted to make a record that really meant something, that felt life affirming and real, yet ultra hi-fi and unreal at the same time. Apparently that kind of record is not technically feasible."

Read the full piece here.

New Magnetic Wonder,
by The Apples in Stereo

Track Listing:

SIDE 1

1. Can You Feel It?
2. Skyway
3. Mellotron 1
4. Energy
5. Same Old Drag
6. Joanie Don't U Worry
7. Sunndal Song**
8. Droplet
9. Play Tough
10. Sun is Out
11. Non-Pythagorean Composition 1

SIDE 2

12. Hello Lola
13. 7 Stars
14. Mellotron 2
15. Sunday Sounds**
16. Open Eyes
17. Crimson
18. Pre-Crimson
19. Vocoder Ba Ba
20. Radiation
21. Beautiful Machine Parts 1-2
22. Beautiful Machine Parts 3-4
23. My Pretend
24. Non-Pythagorean Composition 3
**Featuring Hilarie Sidney

Beulah didn't quite put out enough B-sides for a separate album: there just aren't a lot of Beulah rarities out there (although they did release a tour-only CD of Yoko demos, which is worth seeking out, if only for the instrumental version of "Hovering"). But it's been a few months since we've put any Beulah MP3s on this site, so it seems time again. "All Points North" comes from the Score from Augusta CD single (which also contained "Maroon Bible," from their first album), released by Shifty Disco in the U.K. in 1999. If you haven't already, you ought to read the interview Brian Heater conducted with Miles Kurosky on the day of Beulah's last performance, which we have archived at Optical Atlas.

Beulah - All Points North

This week at Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive we bring a second set by Of Montreal in Chicago, this one two years later (2004), and notable for being one in the middle of a transition between Aldhils Arboretum and Satanic Panic in the Attic--on the cusp of something new, with an eclectic setlist to show for it. You can hear Kevin Barnes singing "Tulip Baroo" and "The Miniature Philosopher" alongside "My British Tour Diary" and "Spike the Senses." It's all in FLAC format, and you can find it at Captain23's page, which also links to last week's Of Montreal concert and a set by Neutral Milk Hotel at the Knitting Factory.

Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive: Of Montreal at Schubas, 9-27-04

In a Pitchfork interview, Kevin mentions that he hopes the cash cow that is the notorious Outback Steakhouse commercial will help fund a spectacular and elaborate stage show when the band tours in early 2007. This, plus an MP3 of the commercial, can be found here. Choice quote: "And you have to be misrepresented in this atrocious way, and it sucks, and it sucks for everybody who loves the song, but hopefully it'll be worth it on...our January tour. We might be able to put on this crazy production like we really want to do. I think that will be interesting to see if people are like, 'Well, okay, it was worth it,' or people are like, 'Well, no, it still wasn't worth it because, you know, they sucked.'" (I hope he's right and it pays off, and I look forward to the tour, but I've been avoiding the song like the plague. I like Wraith Pinned to the Mist and I don't really want it ruined for me...but it was a close call yesterday, as my wife saw the TV commercial while I was doing the laundry downstairs...whew, the bullet zinged right by me!) Barnes also discusses the upcoming Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? and the elaborate packaging which brother David has planned for the release, which is in January. Good stuff.

Pitchfork Interview Kevin Barnes

Here's a nice way to start your week--take a listen to the new song from Swedish singer Marit Bergman which features a duet with Gary Olson of The Ladybug Transistor. Olson plays trumpet as well, and Kyle Forester (of Ladybug and Great Lakes) plays piano. The song has just been released on Bergman's album I Think It's a Rainbow on Sony/BMG in Sweden, but you can listen to it now at Bergman's MySpace page. It's definitely worth hearing.

Of Montreal fans probably have You Ain't No Picasso bookmarked by now, as Matt has been devoting every other day to the (very worthy) band. Today he's got up a live cover of Supergrass' "Alright." Check it out here.

We'll have more live Of Montreal in Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive...I'm a little slow in getting the new concert up, since I spent most of yesterday working on the Popfest Scrapbook. So come back later tonight and the Captain will have something for you.

The 2006 Athens PopFest scrapbook is a diary of the festival that ran from August 8-12 in Athens, sponsored by Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. A big thank-you with love goes out to everyone who helped contribute material toward this little project. You can click on the picture below to enter the scrapbook.

The Observatory is a hastily-assembled band consisting of members of Elephant 6, thrown together for the purpose of playing with other bands at this week's R.E.M. tribute concert at the 40 Watt in Athens. Bill Doss sang lead vocals, B.P. Helium harmonies, and members of Olivia Tremor Control, Fabulous Bird, and The Sunshine Fix handled the instruments. I'm working on a more in-depth article about The Observatory, but in the meantime check out these YouTube videos shot from the crowd: one of The Observatory playing "Begin the Begin," the other of the finale to the evening, "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)," in which all the bands crowded the stage with R.E.M. (You can glimpse B.P. standing near the center of the stage and singing back-up.)

More photos of Elf Power's "Pancake Mountain" taping have surfaced at the website of the children's show, although there's still no word as to when the episode will air. You can see the pics here. Thanks to Scott P. for letting us know.

The third album by Great Lakes, Diamond Times, was released yesterday from Empyrean Records. We reviewed it last week, and you can read that review here. A few other reviews are coming in...(updated 9/17/06)

A&A
AllMusic Guide
Babysue/LMNOP
Delusions of Adequacy
Exclaim Magazine
Funtime OK
San Diego CityBeat
Stomp and Stammer
Urban Pollution

I hate the Adequacy review, not because it disses the album (everyone's entitled to their opinion), but because it's a complete mess. You can read a live review of a London show at Soundsxp.

Great Lakes has wrapped up its tour with The Clientele (it was marvellous), but you can relive the glory days at Great Lakes member Kyle Forester's amusing tour blog at Gridskipper.

They have a show scheduled for Saturday, September 30 at the Union Hall in Brooklyn, New York. It's of particular interest because it will be an Elephant 6-themed evening, with Great Lakes joining Elf Power and M Coast. If you live in the area, you should not pass it up.

On a non-Great Lakes note, Samantha of the Ideal Free Distribution has written in with the album's release date: December 12 on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. So yeah, our fall preview thing that we put up last week is, like, really inaccurate. But I don't want to take it off the fall preview because you should really listen to the MP3 we have there. She also hints that the band might be touring with The Apples in Stereo come early winter '07.

Now everyone's favorite live music blog has posted Of Montreal's August set at the 40 Watt, and it's a very good representation of last tour's setlist. Lots of new music, lots of the last two records, etc. And it's in FLAC and MP3 format following Sloan's typically pristine recording techniques!

Southern Shelter: Of Montreal at the 40 Watt

As promised, here's some more rare Von Hemmling for you. These tracks don't appear anywhere else, although an earlier version of "White Housing" appears on the Wild Hemmling compilation. (Speaking of which, Jim McIntyre has mentioned that he does plan on putting copies of his CD up for sale again, but not just yet...presumably he needs to have the box of CDs handy.) A very big thanks goes out to Jim for sharing these exclusive tracks with us.

Sunday [1997]
1865 [1999]
You (Being My Body Whole) [2004]
White Housing [2004]

Remember that we have an interview with Jim, along with more MP3s, right over here.

Robert Schneider has passed along some notes he made for his younger brother David, who's just starting to record on computer with his band Baji. These notes offer tips that might be helpful to anyone who's just starting to record and mix their music. Mark well the first suggestion: "Write good songs!"

I added the pages to our posters and promotional art gallery. (There isn't a "miscellaneous" section yet, so it's the best I could do.) Click on the thumbnails for hi-res images.

Recording Tips by Robert Schneider

This week on Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive we bring you Of Montreal, performing in Chicago's Abbey Pub in September 2002. The band performs a number of songs off Aldhils Arboretum, but also reach back in their discography quite a bit, and even cover Blondie and The Cars. All of it is here in lossless FLAC format.

Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive: Of Montreal in Chicago 9-27-02

The experimental Elephant 6 recording project Von Hemmling (Jim McIntyre of The Apples in Stereo) has had only sporadic output over the years, culminating with the release of the Wild Hemmling CD a couple years ago. McIntyre has dropped hints about an extended work called La Guerre Est Meurtre, and even put an excerpt on the band's MySpace page. Now, at last, the whole work has been made available for download in lossless .WAV format at Von Hemmling's website. Completed in 2002, the records that make up La Guerre date all the way back to 1984. McIntyre writes, "It took me well over a year to put together and another year to perfect. Some might call it a collage but I don't, although there is a collage portion of the last section. It features versions of my songs by the Apples (in Stereo) and the Lilys. It's a huge file, 700 MB in 6 pieces, but I'd ask anyone interested in downloading to please download the entire thing. There's a pace to it that doesn't work unless the whole thing is listened to. It's also made to be cyclical, it can be played on repeat."

Having just listened to it, I think Von Hemmling fans will be pleased and I really dig it myself, although those with an aversion toward the experimental may not have a taste for this sort of thing. But at 70 minutes, it's a pretty mammoth expedition into VH history.

Also, those of you who've installed and use GoogleEarth may be curious to see what the original Pet Sounds studio looks like from a satellite photo. McIntyre has passed along this direct link to the GoogleEarth bookmark for Pet Sounds Denver. Yep, it's a dirt lot!

Tomorrow we'll have a little bit more Von Hemmling music. Of Montreal fans will want to check back later today for an update to our Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive.

Von Hemmling: La Guerre Est Meurtre Download Page

Lorkakar is the solo, experimental recording project of Hannah Jones (The New Sound of Numbers, Circulatory System). She's released two CD-Rs as Lorkakar through Cloud Recordings, one of which is out of print, although she's indicated to Optical Atlas that she wants to give both an official CD release at some point. Hannah recently performed as Lorkakar at the AUX Experimental Music Festival at Athica, and now Sloan Simpson at Southern Shelter has posted the performance as the last part of his AUX series. (Check the archives of his site for additional AUX performances by Black Swan Network and Vortex of Withering.) This makes a great compliment to the interview with Hannah that we posted yesterday, in which she addresses this performance. As usual, Sloan has provided MP3 and FLAC downloads.

Lorkakar at Souther Shelter

Our new interview this week is with Hannah Jones of The New Sound of Numbers and Circulatory System. It's the first in a new series of interviews, "In the Courtyard," that's a bit more open than the usual 6-question format. Hannah's new album, Liberty Seeds, will be released on October 10. You can sample a track in our fall preview feature, and listen to more at the band's MySpace page.

In the Courtyard with Hannah Jones of The New Sound of Numbers

Some scattered Elephant 6 news for you today:

You Ain't No Picasso's daily MP3 highlights Of Montreal's upcoming (January 2007) album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? with the MP3 "She's a Rejector." The album itself has actually leaked on the web, although B.P. Helium has stated that the band is considering releasing a bonus 12" disc with additional songs when the vinyl is released alongside the CD, so there's lots of Of Montreal to come. Download "She's a Rejector" from YANP here.

Samantha Herald has written a concert review at Loose Record of a recent Minders and Marbles concert in Lexington that's well worth reading. Robert Schneider decided to open for Martyn Leaper's band at the last minute, and then played with Martyn on a couple of Minders songs, as well. You can read it here.

Tammy Ealom of Dressy Bessy has posted on MySpace that recording is well underway for the next DB album, to be released (tentatively) in summer 2007. They're also lining up some tour dates for Texas and the West Coast in November.

Speaking of tour dates, earlier this week I updated the dates for A Hawk and a Hacksaw's U.S. tour with Beirut. You can see them here.

Townhaller jlaird emailed Cloud Records with a few questions that I'd been wondering about too, and the answers he received back are great. I'm copying them here in case some of you folks didn't see the thread.

Q: Hey, are there ever going to be more Will books available, I would desperately love one!!!!

A: Hopefully we'll have some more made soon. The materials we've been using have been discontinued by our local store so it has become harder to find them. Maybe check back later this fall.

Q: Also, how are the Cranberry [Life Cycle] and possible Synthetic [Flying Machine] tapes coming along?

A: We recently found some "lost" songs. Derek Almstead and Will Hart are mastering the tracks. Artwork still has to be done. Probably be released in the spring.

Q: Can anyone give any comment on the reported Elephant 6ers [The Observatory] at the REM tribute show??

A: I think it's Bill Doss, John Fernandes, Pete Erchick, Will Hart and Peter Alavanos (from Athens band Fabulous Bird). Should be good.

Q: Also, any comment and news on the Major Organ film?

A: They've still got some filming to do although they've begun editing. They're hoping to wrap it up soon since some of the kids in the film have already noticably aged since the beginning of filming.

Thanks so much to jlaird for rounding up some answers...sorry to have included Cranberry Life Cycle in our fall preview, but I did say "tentative," after all. It should be worth the wait.

Will Cullen Hart, under the guise of the Black Swan Network, recently performed at the AUX Experimental Music Festival by playing back four CDs of sound collages simultaneously, creating a quadrophonic effect. Sloan at Southern Shelter taped the performance, which you can now download at his site.

Black Swan Network at Southern Shelter

Pitchfork today broke the news of Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?'s tracklisting and credits. Nothing too surprising here: tongue-twisting song titles, art by David Barnes, and contributions by Jamey Huggins, B.P. Helium, and (yay) Heather McIntosh. Oh, and Barnes' glam alter ego, Georgie Fruit, is name-dropped. The party begins crashing you on January 23, 2007.

Pitchfork: Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?

Thanks to our buddy Stian for kicking us awake to write this story. Now, back to sleep...

Okay, we're doing something a little different for today's Mp3. We're providing one from each of the different Elephant 6-related albums we're highlighting in the Optical Atlas/Elephant 6 Fall 2006 Preview (or something...I failed to provide a catchy title). We provide a little checklist of upcoming albums that you really ought to grab. They're all great, quite frankly. And we give you a sample MP3 of each, so you can see for yourself. Start here.

UPDATE: Added Neutral Milk Hotel and Cranberry Lifecycle to the "tentative fall release" section. No MP3s for those, sorry! Word of encouragement: I noticed Cloud publicity folks Team Clermont added Cranberry Lifecycle to the list of artists they represent.

The Visitations (aka ex-Fablefactory singer/songwriter Davey Wrathgabar) will be playing this Saturday, September 9, at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art. And he invites you to burn a flag for freedom (after a song from his politically-minded sophomore album, Propaganda), with the following motivation, as taken from his MySpace blog:

Why Burn A Flag? In these troubled times, political dissent is on the rise. Sadly, most dissenters have something negative to say. Many in America and abroad disagree with U.S. foreign policy. Many believe that all people are entitled to a living wage in exchange for an honest days work. Some believe that a democratically elected government should be the product of a fair, transparent election process. Although it is noble work against the status quo, to call for a change, The Visitations would like to invite all patriotic Americans (Dissenters and Consenters alike) to celebrate the rights symbolized by the flag of United States of America. Let's celebrate proposition that, according to the founding document of our nation, all people are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights. Please join us as we burn a flag for freedom at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Arts at 7pm on Saturday, September 9, 2006.

I will be a little late with our weekly MP3. Any requests? I'm open to them...

The Happy Happy Birthday to Me Athens PopFest Scrapbook is being assembled now, and since submissions seem to have dried up, I'm setting a deadline of this Friday, September 8. So if you attended PopFest and haven't written me yet, this Friday is the last day you can send me your submission. All you need to do is jot down on an email any memories that stick out about PopFest. Funny anecdotes, items of interest, whatever. Please send them to opticaljeff76@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Yeah, it's Labor Day, so we're working of course. Today we have a review of the brand new album by Great Lakes, Diamond Times, which is released by Empyrean Records on September 12, although you can buy it now at Empyrean's website. You can read our review here.

A couple weeks ago, in Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive, we posted a Neutral Milk Hotel concert at New York City's Knitting Factory in July 1996. This week we're posting the band's follow-up visit to the Knitting Factory on August 1, 1996. The setlist is different, the performance as spectacular as ever, and it's all in lossless FLAC format, and better-sounding than that dusty MP3 you have sitting in the back of your computer.

Because Robert Schneider wrote in with a funny reminiscence on Neutral Milk Hotel's performance at the Lounge Ax in Chicago, we're leaving up that concert a little bit longer. You can grab it here.

And, of course, last week's Captain23 concert, Elf Power at the Abbey Pub, will be up for another week at the website as well, stored right here. Grab all three while you can.

Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive: Neutral Milk Hotel at the Knitting Factory 8-01-96

Happy Labor Day weekend, everybody.

A couple weeks ago, at Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive, we posted a Neutral Milk Hotel concert from Chicago's (late, lamented) Lounge Ax on April 25, 1998. You can still download the concert in FLAC format here. Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo has written in with an amusing memory of that evening, which you can read below. Robert claims the Apples were playing the Empty Bottle, Schubas, or the Metro that night, but, as defgav has written in, it was actually the House of Blues the Apples played on 4/25/98. Thanks to defgav for the discovery!

The Apples were playing in Chicago on the same night as Neutral Milk Hotel at a different club (probably at the Empty Bottle, but maybe at Schuba's or the Metro) and after our show we rushed over to Lounge Ax to see our friends--

When I came into the club Laura Carter (on tour with NMH at the time doing sound) ran up to me with a desperate look in her eyes and said she just could not get the PA under control, everything was feeding back and in chaos, and she asked me if I could please try to help with the sound.

So for the first time ever (and the last I hope) I stepped up to the mixer and attempted to do live sound-- now I had never done live sound and it is a completely different art from mixing records, as the actual blend of instruments, EQ, panning, and other finer points of mixing take second place (if not like thousandth place) to the holy grail of live sound: reducing feedback so that the lead vocal is at least audible.

Okay so Jeremy Barnes is one crazy and loud drummer and the room was filled with cymbals crashing, Jeff's electrified acoustic guitar was feeding back through a big muff, and Julian [Koster] and Scott [Spillane] were alternating between guitars, basses, bowed banjos, singing saws, horns, the entire gamut of crazy-ass instruments--

Of course Jeff's vocal projection skills are excellent so keeping his voice on top of the mix wasn't so much the problem, but they had not had a soundcheck, there were only like three mics total in operation on the stage, and in the course of one song a single mic could be used for trumpet (extremely loud), vocal (not so loud), and singing saw (almost inaudible over the cymbals and feedback)--

Right away I barely had time to EQ the trumpet to sound sweet when suddenly there was a singing saw coming through the microphone, before I could get the gain on the mic sufficient for the saw there was a now-distorted trumpet blasting back into the mic which was feeding back at a level competing with Jeremy's drums-- I looked frantically around for Laura hoping to somehow get out of this wretched role I had taken on but she was nowhere in sight and I realized I was in for the long haul--

Now I do not know a lot about live sound, but I am pretty sure the job is not supposed to involve your hands flying across the console, panning and EQing and actively mixing every second of the entire show, like a concert pianist playing Rach 3--

In my head I was still trying to get a good blend as if I were mixing a record, but in reality I was getting farther from any sort of blend with every drumbeat! I felt like I was on some insanely badly assembled roller coaster at a county fair, the whole structure propped up on cinder blocks and you can see the load bearing parts have been replaced with paper clips!! You want to jump off but are afraid the motion will collapse the architecture!

So I stayed on the ride trying not to puke for the duration of the set (which was mindblowing despite my failures). I did not see the sign warning of possible health risks, and I'm surprised I survived with no major injuries or nervous breakdowns! I did manage to get a decent vocal EQ as I remember, and since then I have had a great respect for the sound engineers at my own shows.

That is my tale.

I am not 100% sure that this is the night but I'm fairly certain, it was right around this time-- I'm sure it can be corroborated by checking to see if we played a show this same night in Chicago.

Love
Robert Schneider

First it happened to Elf Power and The Instruments on their spring tour. Now the Great Lakes, currently wrapping up a tour with the Clientele, have had their van broken into while performing at a club. I'm going to just repost what Kyle Forrester wrote on the band's MySpace blog, to spread the word and see if anyone heading out to see them can lend a hand:


Well, while we were playing at the Magic Stick in Detroit, the Great Lakes touring machine was violated (with a rock!). And while it could be much much worse (all our equipment was in the club, the ukulele was in the trunk, and Mike's glasses were found on the sidewalk), this does mean that you will never again see Ben and Kyle in some of their COOLEST clothes (see PICS, especially the one where we're standing on the grass squinting in the sun)! And the award-winning olives Mike bought in northern California are hopefully being enjoyed, but definitely not by someone who paid for them!

So, we are NOT asking for your charity, BUT...if you would like to have a hand in the making of Ben and Kyle's new wardrobes (men's medium shirts, pants 32 x 32, F.Y.I.), or if you have a replacement souvenir gift for Mike's girlfriend, please bring these items to an upcoming show in exchange for a very sincere song dedication.

Love,
Kyle

Click here to see the remaining Great Lakes/Clientele dates. Having just seen them in Chicago, I can tell you they put on a fantastic show (not to mention that they're selling copies of the new album, which doesn't officially go on sale until September 12).

Southern Shelter has just posted a possibly historic set by The Apples in Stereo at last month's Athens PopFest: it was announced to be the last show to feature Hilarie Sidney as drummer. So go over there, download it in MP3 or FLAC, and blubber like a baby...

Southern Shelter: The Apples in Stereo at PopFest

From the album "Destination Girl" by Finishing School (Sasha Bell of The Essex Green and The Ladybug Transistor).