Of Montreal's B.P. Helium (aka Bryan Poole) had released various recordings under the name The Late B.P. Helium for a couple of years before his first release proper, a collection of songs known as the Kumquat Mae EP. And that EP went through two incarnations, first as a tour-only CD-R release, then as a shorter CD release on Hype City and Orange Twin Records. The "official" version of Kumquat Mae served as a solid introduction to the band before their first album, Amok, but the first draft of Kumquat Mae is interesting as a peek at B.P.'s creative process. "The Ballad of Johnny Rad (Preamble)" is "more straight up rockin'" than Amok's version, according to B.P. (in his Optical Atlas interview), and I agree--in some ways, I prefer it to the final version. "So You'll Be True," also exclusive to the tour CD-R, is a brief, moody instrumental. "Alright Yeah" is a Robyn Hitchcock cover originally featured on a split 7" with Of Montreal on Jonathan Whiskey Records (Of Montreal's contribution was "Inside a Room Full of Treasures a Black Pygmy Horse's Head Pops Up Like a Periscope," which is included on their Big Oil CD). But the official, shorter Kumquat Mae did feature one track not on the tour CD--a cover of George Harrison's "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" that is simply splendid. Regardless, today's focus is on what was lost in transition to the official EP. Below you can download those three tracks. If you're curious about the Harrison cover, you can hear that, as well as many other Late B.P. Helium cuts and rarities, in our interview with him here. B.P. is currently on the road with Of Montreal--dates here.

The Late B.P. Helium - The Ballad of Johnny Rad (Preamble)
The Late B.P. Helium - So You'll Be True
The Late B.P. Helium - Alright Yeah

I know, I'm late getting my weekly MP3 rarity up...hopefully tonight I'll get to that. In the meantime, over at "Dave's Live Music Blog" there's an entire Apples in Stereo and Casper and the Cookies live set up for download--go check it out:

Dave's Live Music Blog: The Apples in Stereo/Casper & the Cookies in Toronto 2-20-07

UPDATE: Another recording is here--thanks to Stewart Russell for letting me know:

Casper & the Cookies
The Apples in Stereo

Jimmy Hughes of Folklore has announced that the band's wonderful debut album, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman, is now available for sale at AthensMusic.net. You can also order it through Paypal here, or contact Jimmy directly through his website or MySpace to pay by check or money orders.

He's also posted a link to a very illuminating Flagpole interview that escaped my notice--check it out here to learn all about H.W. Beaverman.

Those of you in the Chicago area might know the name Thax Douglas; he's Chicago's "music poet laureate" who frequents Chicago-area clubs, reading a short poem--based loosely on a band's music--before that band plays. He recently read an Olivia Tremor Control poem at their 2005 Chicago show, and also read an Of Montreal poem before the band's Lollapalooza appearance (in addition to introducing a number of other Lollapalooza acts). And just last week he composed a poem for The Apples in Stereo and read it at their Subterranean gig. When Robert Schneider brought the band to Madison last night, he asked that I share the poem with you folks, so here it is--click the image for a larger view.

I know I usually don't mention fan-made E6 tribute albums here, but somebody nudged me and I'm snowed in today (there was a blizzard last night) so what the hell. There's a cool-sounding tribute to The Apples in Stereo that's coming together quickly, with a deadline of March 2nd for submissions (this coming Friday). If you've got some recording talent, and you'd like to record an Apples cover, you'd better get moving. Please be sure to check this thread not just for rules and guidelines, but to make sure your song choice hasn't already been taken. I can't wait to hear it! And I hope the Apples make it to Madison tomorrow through all this snow...

Apples in Stereo Fan Tribute 2007

New this week at Captain23's Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive is a vintage Olivia Tremor Control performance from the 40 Watt, October 29, 1997. The band performs a mix of tracks from both Dusk at Cubist Castle and their in-the-works follow-up, Black Foliage. All of these tracks are in lossless FLAC format.

Captain23's Lossless & Live: Olivia Tremor Control at the 40 Watt 10/29/97

Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes gave an interview with college radio station WITR in Rochester in which he explains why he decided to perform part of his Las Vegas set nude. It was first posted at the band's messageboard, then at Pitchfork. I've avoided posting links to Pitchfork's article featuring the nude photos (although you might be curious if you'd like to see Pitchfork flush its last embers of journalistic integrity down the toilet), but at least this is an interview in which Kevin gets to explain himself. Personally, I wish he hadn't done it. It would be nicer if people were talking about the music.

Whether it pleases you or not, Kevin assures you that there will be no more full frontals for the rest of the tour, for a good reason...

MP3 Interview Excerpt: Kevin Barnes on WITR

Comments by other members of the band from around the E6 Townhall...

B.P. Helium: "Nude is natural, ain't it."

Dottie Alexander: "Whatever happened to 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?!'"

The Chicago Sun-Times has an interview with Robert up here.

Choice quote about the rebirth of Elephant 6:

"The people who played on the record are all my friends, and in recent years, we've really been coming closer together," Schneider says. "There was a period with everybody being busy and Elephant 6 being a big centerpiece in the press where our faith in Elephant 6 as an entity kind of dissolved. You create your own pigeonhole, and at first, people are like, 'There's a hole there? For pigeons?' But then, it's like, 'We're stuck in this pigeonhole!' Since then, though, that the faith has come back more and more, because everybody has been working and doing interesting stuff, and a lot of the people are under the radar now."

Hannah Jones is best known as the percussionist for Circulatory System and the lead singer/songwriter of the post-punk outfit The New Sound of Numbers, but her first solo recordings were experimental pieces released under the name Lorkakar.

Lorkakar: The First of the Lost Signals was recorded on two four-track cassette recorders, and featured a stirring ambient landscape of dense forests and buzzing circuitry. It was released on a beautifully decorated CD-R as part of Cloud Recordings' series of "Homemade Releases," alongside W. Cullen Hart's field recordings and Circulatory System remixes, and Eric Harris' needle drops and sine wave drones. Lorkakar released a follow-up, The Second of the Lost Signals, which is now...lost (i.e. out of print). When Optical Atlas spoke to Hannah Jones about The New Sound of Numbers last summer, she mentioned that she hoped to give both CDs an official release someday. In the meantime, with no fanfare whatsoever, another underground release from Lorkakar has surfaced at Cloud Recordings' website, as we mentioned last week. Called Bell Notations, it's the first Lorkakar release in about five years.

It's not dissimilar to her live Lorkakar set from the AUX event of experimental music in Athens last year. As with that set, it relies heavily on bells, but also drones, guitar, and layered vocals. It's a dense and complex recording, atmospheric and oddly haunting. If you're on the fence and wary of Cloud's homemade releases (some of them are more interesting in concept than execution), I recommend it. You can grab it now at Cloud Recordings, but be quick, as it's limited to 100 copies.

Jimmy Hughes' band Folklore is in the spotlight at the live music blog Southern Shelter today, with a February 7 performance at the 40 Watt. You can download it now here:

Folklore at the 40 Watt 2/7/07

Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo stoped by WNYC's Soundcheck program this week. You can listen to the program here.

Some pipes you see/

Some pipes you don't.

And the solo recording project of Pete Erchick from The Olivia Tremor Control has gone largely unheard, which is a shame. Pete joined the Olivias between that band's two albums, and sang lead vocals on the track "I Have Been Floated" (with Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum taking one verse) on Black Foliage. In 2001, with the band on hiatus, Pete--already a member of the new Olivia off-shoot Circulatory System--began releasing his own private recordings under the moniker Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. He appeared on the compilations Naked in the Afternoon and U.S. Pop Life Vol. 5: Athens, and self-released the CD Individualized Shirts. Not entirely a solo project, the album also featured friends from Olivia Tremor Control (John Fernandes, Eric Harris, and W. Cullen Hart), along with Scott Spillane of the Gerbils, Heather McIntosh of The Instruments, J. Kirk Pleasant of Calvin, Don't Jump!, Andy Gonzales of Marshmallow Coast, and Jeff Mangum, among others. Although the initial run was limited, it was later picked up and released by Orange Twin.

To accompany a tour, in 2002 Pete released a follow-up album, Special Fanfare for Anything, on CD-R in a limited run of 100 copies. The personnel consists mostly of Pete on this one, although the Gerbils' John d'Azzo contributes accordion to "Ash Got Locked in the Sallyport." Some who ordered the album received a mysterious bonus CD-R of recordings edited from a random selection of radio stations. Although Pete has kept busy in the years since, and sometimes talks about an official release of Special Fanfare, he's kept busy playing in Circulatory System and The Instruments, and with Olivia Tremor Control on their recent reunion tour.

As for Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't, it's some pretty dreamy psychedelic pop, as hazy as a half-remembered tune thought up in a dream. The lyrics range from the totally surreal to the overtly satirical--a good example of the latter being "North Carolina," one of the first PYSPYD recordings, which offers a new, bracing state slogan: "There's no turning back/North Carolina." Appropriately, the song finishes off Special Fanfare, which is the more cheerily unhinged of the two albums. (The bonus track on the album is a random cover of Nelly's "Hot in Here.") The album also features more of the PYSPYD mascot, a rep from "J&H Productions" who links tracks with run-on sentences that threaten to plummet off the side of the CD. But at his best, Pete provides some lovely pieces of pop music, particularly on Individualized Shirts, and the standouts "Ten Thousand Years Old" and "Karaoke Free." The fuzz-rock instrumental "Big Giant," for which Hart and Mangum provide drums, is another highlight. Stalwart Elephant 6 fans have been patiently awaiting another album for the past five years, but no definite plans have yet materialized. Below are two tracks to introduce you to the Pipes sound, one from each album.

Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't - Karaoke Free
Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't - Ash Got Locked in the Sallyport

The live music blog Lullabyes.net has an Of Montreal acoustic performance up from Dallas' Good Records last Sunday. Of particular note is that the band covers Olivia Tremor Control's "Green Typewriters!" Download the full set here:

Lullabyes.net: Of Montreal at Good Records

Oh, and the Apples in Stereo have climbed slightly in the (subjective) Metacritic ratings, gaining on Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? New Magnetic Wonder is now ranked at 79%, and Hissing Fauna is at 80%. Check it out, along with links to and excerpts from the reviews, at Metacritic.

Today freelance music critic Adam Schragin stops in at Optical Atlas with a review of the new album by The 63 Crayons, Spoils for Survivors. The official release date for the album is tomorrow, February 20. (You will be able to order it straight from the band at their website.)

The CD release party for the album will be held at the Caledonia on February 28, and the band will be joined by The New Sound of Numbers and The Young Sinclairs. The first 15 people to arrive get a free CD!

Finally Neil Young's website "Living with War Today" has a "Songs of the Times" list, and "Forget About the War, Let's Go Shopping!", one of the new 63 Crayons songs, is ranked at #399! Check it out here.

Okay, now go read Adam's review to see what the album's like.

We've got a brief interview today with Laura Carter of Elf Power. She talks mainly about the history of Orange Twin as a conservation community and a record label, and brings us up to date with the Elves.

6 Questions with Laura Carter

Buchanan at the E6 Townhall mentioned that there's a brief interview with Kevin Barnes in the new issue of Tango, in which he explains the song "We Were Born the Mutants Again with Leafling." You can see a photo of the article here.

Under the radar, Hannah Jones of The New Sound of Numbers and Circulatory System has released a third CD-R of her experimental side project, Lorkakar. Entitled Bell Notations, you can get it for ten bucks at the Cloud Recordings website.

Thanks very much to Chris Yetter for posting this video taken from the Apples in Stereo Conan O'Brien appearance. My thoughts: I think they sound amazingly good. (Much better than when they appeared on Carson Daly to play "Please" when Velocity of Sound was released.) I also appreciate that Conan holds up the vinyl copy of the album--how often do you see that? (Seriously, I don't know. Conan's on past my bedtime...)

Just a reminder that the Apples in Stereo will make a Valentine's Day appearance on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien tonight. Or "The Apples in the Stereo." Get them apples out of my stereo!

Will somebody please YouTube it?

Hey, look--it's an interview with Robert Schneider at the Onion's AV Club.

With sincerest apologies to Ben Crum, who hates his vocals on this track, today's MP3 is the Great Lakes' cover of Donovan's "Teen Angel," as presented on A Gift from a Garden to a Flower: A Tribute to Donovan, a compilation released in 2002. I happen to like this track a lot, but apparently Ben wishes he'd had another go at it. You can judge for yourself.

The compilation is still in print (yes, I broke my rule), and you can get it at Darla Records' website. It features My Morning Jacket, Ashley Park, Screen Prints, and numerous others, and is, I think, a notch or two above most tribute albums.

Great Lakes are hard at work on their latest album, hoping to put it out as a quick follow-up to last year's excellent Diamond Times, which earned a mention in the Onion AV Club's top albums for 2006. It's out on Empyrean Records.

Great Lakes - Teen Angel

P.S. You can read a review of their recent London show at Water Rats here.

MVWire.com, the music video website which is now featuring Of Montreal's (hilarious) video to "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse," will host an online chat with the band this Thursday, February 15, from 8-9PM EST. Joining the band will be the video's co-directors, Matt and Mike Chapman. More information here:

MVWire.com to Host Of Montreal Chat

In case anyone's interested (I would call it "morbidly curious"), I will be interviewed briefly (really briefly!) on Madison's 92.1 FM "The Lake" tomorrow at noon CST. This will be followed by five songs chosen from my "perfect playlist" (I gave them ten, so I don't know what they picked). Since this is a classic rock station that specializes in music from the late 60's and early 70's, there will be no Elephant 6, alas, but if I get a chance I might give a shout-out (hint: that won't happen either). You can stream it online here.

Sloan Simpson has delivered on his promise and posted last week's Circulatory System set from the Folklore CD release party at the 40 Watt. Dubbed "Phase Two," the set was more loose and improvisatory than usual. It's divided into several "movements." You can download it now at Sloan's Southern Shelter site:

Folklore recently wrapped up their winter tour with the Summer Hymns, and Captain23, who recorded their Chicago performance, has now posted it for download at Optical Atlas as part of his Lossless & Live Elephant 6 Archive. It's in lossless FLAC format--8 tracks taken from the band's new album, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman, and their EP, Carpenter's Falls. For more info on these albums, check out their official site. A big thanks to the captain for getting this up so quickly.

Folklore at the Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL 01-26-07

Video from this performance, and a brief interview with Jimmy Hughes conducted by Justin Laird, can be found in this blog post from last week.

Back in September, at the R.E.M. tribute concert at the 40 Watt, a hastily-assembled Elephant 6 supergroup dubbed "An Observatory" performed a set of R.E.M. covers--you can hear an MP3 here. The band was led by Bill Doss on vocals, with members of Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, Dark Meat, Pylon, Fabulous Bird, and Beijing filling out the band. Those last two bands have merged to form King of Prussia, whose debut album, Save the Scene, has just been released. (You can order it directly from the band at their MySpace page.) I highly recommend it to fans of Masters of the Hemisphere and the poppier leanings of E6 in general.

But wait, you say--they're not really an Elephant 6 band, so why are you talking about them at Optical Atlas? Well, (a) I thought they'd be of interest, given the aforementioned "Observatory" connection and the fact that they're amazing, and (b) it gives me an excuse to cross-plug a new non-E6 music blog I started last week called Electric Sailor. The conundrum is that a lot of bands give me CDs and MP3s and ask me politely to review them, and I can't, because this blog would lose its focus. But if I like them, I want to enthuse somewhere. So if you're looking for MP3 downloads and music recommendations in the "somewhat similar to Elephant 6" category, you can check out my new site here. It has a broader focus on psychedelic music in general, so you'll also find, in the months to come, scattered essays on bands of the past as well as new ones influenced by them. If it's poppy and/or psychedelic, chances are it's something I'll want to write about there. (Also similar to Masters of the Hemisphere, with touches of The Essex Green, is a Brooklyn-based band called The Shot Heard 'Round the World--I have a review of their new album, and an MP3, at Electric Sailor, so check it out.) Chances are that I'll update that blog a bit less regularly than I do this one (I have a film blog too, so I keep busy)--but, hey, it's an outlet. Now back to the E6 stuff. Expect a Captain23 installment shortly.

Electric Sailor
Electric Sailor on MySpace

SXSW has announced most of its lineup ("subject to change"), and now it's official that The Apples in Stereo and The Ladybug Transistor (pictured) will be performing. You can take a look at the long, long....very long list right here. The music festival is March 14-18.

In other news...Southern Shelter has just posted a great Casper and the Cookies set from the Caledonia in Athens. Here's hoping they post last night's Circulatory System concert soon.

The Apples in Stereo, about to launch the first leg of their tour with Casper & the Cookies, have just finalized and refined their dates, adding plenty for the west coast. (It's assumed they'll also play SXSW, but that hasn't been announced yet.) Note to my local Madison friends--they just changed the venue and the date for their Wisconsin appearance. You can click the link below to see the current list of dates (note that it's two pages long and you have to go to the second page to see the west coast dates).

The Apples in Stereo - Upcoming Shows

I might do a review roundup on New Magnetic Wonder later, but suffice it to say that it's been getting some of the best reviews of the band's career, justifiably. Here's one from NPR's Day to Day program. (Thanks to adamantlyfree for the link!)

It's been a while since I've posted an interview at this site, so here, finally, is a talk with Tony Miller and Craig Morris of Ideal Free Distribution. Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo helped mix their new album, and it was mastered by Jason NeSmith of Casper and the Cookies. Morris also plays in Schneider's band Thee American Revolution. We reviewed the IFD's debut album back in December, and you can read that review here, but click the link above or below to go straight to the interview.

In the Courtyard with Ideal Free Distribution

There's a nice interview/article with Robert Schneider up today at You Ain't No Picasso, discussing the creation of New Magnetic Wonder, why "Skyway" counts as dream plagiarism, meeting Elijah Wood, and writing a theme song for Stephen Colbert. You can read it here.

Mike Turner of Happy Happy Birthday to Me has written into the Townhall with more information on the upcoming Instruments 7" single, which will feature covers of Joy Division songs. This is up for pre-order now at the label's website.

hey kids,
here is the scoop. there will be only 2 songs on the vinyl for quality reasons. the songs are rather long, and so we'd rather have just two songs on the actual vinyl. but when you buy the vinyl, you'll get a cdr with all 4 covers on it. And what you have all been waiting for...the track listing. Here are the four songs. Passover, Decades, New Dawn Fades, Love Will Tear Us Apart. Heather is putting the songs in the mail to be mastered tomorrow, and I'm working on the sleeve this weekend. We should have a song to put up online to sample in about 2 weeks. We have sold about a 1/4 of the singles, and lots of people are ordering 2-3 copies, so you might want to get your copy preordered real soon.
Mike

This Wednesday at the 40 Watt there will be a CD release party in honor of Folklore's debut full-length, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman. Scheduled to perform are Folklore, Summer Hymns, The New Sound of Numbers, and Circulatory System: Phase 2. What does Phase 2 refer to? I've no idea--write to me and explain! But hopefully it's a sign that the new album by CS is on its way to completion. I encourage all to attend and to buy themselves a copy of the Folklore record, which I listen to addictively...

It all starts at 9:30 this Wednesday, February 7, at the 40 Watt.

Justin Laird recently interviewed Jimmy Hughes of Folklore (currently on tour with Summer Hymns) for his local radio station. I've taken the time to transcribe highlights, which you can read below. The band's newest album is The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman, which tells the legend of a ghost, those who see it, and the truth behind it, and features guest vocals from members of Elf Power, Gerbils, Masters of the Hemisphere, I am the World Trade Center, and more. They also have an EP, Carpenter's Falls, which they're selling on tour. I've also included a video from a recent Chicago performance by Jimmy and Folklore, shot by Chris Yetter (thanks Chris!).



JL: How long have these songs been kicking around? How long has this album been in the making?

JH: People just started playing with me about two years ago, but the songs, some of them have been kicking around as long as 4 or 5 years, and most of them got completed in the writing process about 2 years ago, and at that point, whatever friends were interested I said 'Hey, do you want to try playing these?' and we started practicing as a band. So 2 years becoming a band and probably another 2 or 3 before that. A slow writing process. I had writer's block for a while.

JL: Do you have any new songs ready?

JH: Yeah, I have about 4 songs that are written for the next album.

JL: Is it going to be another concept album?

JH: The concept is sort of similar--I've been kind of inspired lately by that movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," which I just saw for the first time recently. If you haven't seen it, it's totally awesome. And it has kind of an "Animal Farm" [element] to it too. So it'll be a little more fantastical--not fantastical; it's supposed to be sort of like a different prediction of when the world ends, what happens, and it's this concept of, if the world ended and the humans died, but the animals lived on, and how they progressed without the human element--

JL: Have you demoed any of those yet?

JH: No, I haven't. I'll put them up on the website when they get demoed, and we'll try to record them. But we're going to do a lot of experimental recordings too; we'll hopefully, as a band, get together and record sessions, and then those sessions will kind of become songs too, so, you know, do the writing that way, which we did a little bit on this album, but I'd like to do more of that, and then mix that in with songs that are written and recorded in the studio.

JL: So you think you're going to get to that by summer?

JH: We'll see. We home record, so we pretty much start as soon as we can, and just keep going at it 'till it's done.

The Idolator today is highlighting Neutral Milk Hotel, with a live MP3 taken from the compilation Yo Yo A Go Go. The track is "Love You on a Tues.," which is otherwise known as "Tuesday Moon," but it's a live version from the 1994 Yo Yo a Go Go festival in Olympia, WA. You can grab it here. Thanks to Adam S. for the link.

My review of the new Apples in Stereo, which is released tomorrow from Yep Roc/Simian Records, is now up here.

Sounds like a really cool textbook I should have been assigned in school (then maybe I would have performed better...math is my enemy). Here's an awesome article on Robert Schneider's attraction to mathematic theory and how he constructed the "Non-Pythagorean Scale" which dominates so much of New Magnetic Wonder.

Robert Schneider: Here's the Proof

I've mentioned it here (briefly) before, but here's a reminder that the Apples in Stereo rework one of Yoko Ono's songs ("No One Can See Me Like You Do") on the new album Yes, I'm a Witch, being released tomorrow (February 6). The album also feels drastic remixes by Cat Power, The Flaming Lips, Peaches, and more. It's out on Astralwerks, and you can read more about it here.

Apparently the Apples will also be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Valentine's Day, February 14.

Good news for fans of Jeremy Barnes' hyperkenetic Hungarian-styled folk music. He posted in the Hawk and a Hacksaw MySpace blog that this February they'll be moving to Budapest to play with the Hun Hangar Ensemble. They'll be touring with the group in early May through England, Spain, and Portugal, as well as other European festivals. They'll also be playing as A Hawk and a Hacksaw. An EP with the Ensemble is also planned to be released for the tour. Dates announced so far are posted below, and will be updated here.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw - Upcoming Shows

02.09.07 Santa Fe, NM @ College of Santa Fe
05.05.07 Oxford, UK @ Zodiac w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.06.07 Norwich, UK @ Norwich Arts Center w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.07.07 Leeds, UK @ Holy Trinity Church w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.08.07 Glasgow, UK @ The Arches w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.09.07 Newcastle, UK @ University of Northumbria w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.10.07 Cardiff, UK @ The Point w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.11.07 London, UK @ Bush Hall w/Hun Hangar Ensemble
05.12.07 Brighton, UK @ Dome (Brighton Festival) w/Hun Hangar Ensemble

A Hawk and a Hacksaw on MySpace
Optical Atlas review of The Way the Wind Blows

The Alpharuin blog has just put up a massive post on Olivia Tremor Control rarities, which you can download. Check it out here.

Back in September I wrote a little article about the R.E.M. tribute concert at the 40 Watt, which featured a number of bands covering Athens' finest, including An Observatory, a supergroup fronted by Bill Doss (The Sunshine Fix, Olivia Tremor Control) and featuring OTC's Will Hart, Peter Erchick, and John Fernandes, with Kevin Evans, Fabulous Bird’s Peter Alvanos and Trey McManus, Sunshine Fix’s Kevin Sweeney, Jacob Morris, Dark Meat’s Charlie Estes, Pylon’s Vanessa Hay, Of Montreal’s B.P. Helium, and Beijing’s Andrew Hawthorne and Taylor Coggin. R.E.M.’s Peter Buck also played guitar with the band. Then a couple weeks ago I announced that Athens Music is planning on releasing a CD featuring excerpts from the concert (which should be up for pre-order at their site soon).

Now Trey of said band mentioned that on the 2006 R.E.M. fan club Christmas single, a bonus track featured the Observatory's cover of "These Days" from that concert. You can hear it below.

Of this track, B.P. Helium (backing vocals) wrote Optical Atlas, "After our show, Bill or somebody comes up to me and says that Mike Mills was going crazy over my vocals on 'These Days.' He said he was going to change his vocal part to mine. Then the man himself found me and ecstatically told me the same thing. He said Michael Stipe came up with the original harmony, but that he never liked it. Stipe also said he loved it. He said we sounded like Jefferson Airplane, and that I sounded like Grace Slick. Which I guess is a compliment!"

Here it is...a big thanks to Trey for sending this our way. Keep checking the Athens Music site for pre-order information, which should be coming soon!

An Observatory: These Days (Live) [R.E.M. cover]

"The Game of Of Montreal" has begun at the Funeral Pudding blog. The prize: the chance to download part 1 of their recent 1/21/07 San Antonio concert in MP3 as well as lossless FLAC format. It's pretty easy to figure out...have fun with it.

Of Montreal at Funeral Pudding

And Part 2 of the Robert Schneider/Apples in Stereo interview is up now at Harmonium Music.

The Apples in Stereo at Harmonium Music

Sorry for all the mini-posts lately, but there's a lot of stuff to link to, and I'm sure I'm missing half of it even as I struggle to keep up. I should have a new Captain23 post for you shortly. But here's something greatly of interest.

Dressy Bessy have a session up at Daytrotter, taped shortly after they opened for Chuck Berry last year. Four songs, free for download. A great site worth browsing through, if you haven't been there before. No, I don't know who that is in the picture. John Hill? Paul Bunyan?

Dressy Bessy at Daytrotter

There's a great Of Montreal interview up at Aversion.com. Very revealing and intriguing.

Of Montreal at Aversion

And the second part of the Apples in Stereo interview should hopefully be up at Harmonium Music today.