Optical Atlas

Kelly from Cloud Recordings posted the following on the E6 Townhall regarding the upcoming Circulatory System album:

…Hopefully we’ll be able to make an official announcement soon.

The gang is very close to completing it. It’s almost completely sequenced and mixed. They’re just working out some finals edits and overdubs. It will get mastered in November and then hopefully a spring 2009 release. There will also be a companion homemade release (title also yet to be determined) with alternate versions, etc. like “Inside Views” coming out at the same time.

This album has been 7 years in the making, recorded in 7 studios and worked on by at least 7 engineers. I think it was worth the wait! (but my opinion is a little biased)
-kelly

So I’m beginning to believe that this thing might finally really be happening. I can’t wait.

I’m late to this, but Becky from The Elephant 6 Show has linked to an Orange Twin page on the Major Organ and the Adding Machine movie, with an extensive description on the filmmaking process by co-director Eric Harris (also of Olivia Tremor Control).  Here’s a little bit (read the full text here):

I’m glad I didn’t get my way and start filming on Super8. Instead we started with Betamax. Then moved on to 8mm, then to High-8, then… some obsolete digital format, who can remember? We had bad luck with moisture, some of the tapes drowned or were lost in the format battles. “Instructions” would arrive sporadically via postcard from The Major. We had lots of ideas, interpretations if you will, and back in those days it seemed perfectly reasonable to film them all and make sense of it later. Of course not all of the Major’s ideas were plausible, in fact most of them were unrelated to any sane conception of reality, and a few were downright illegal. This was before CGI was available to the working classes you know, so you had to actually do shit. I remember the pirate ship set was a little pathetic. Tape got moist anyway, so forget it. Same with the rented furniture in the public toilets. Didn’t really look like a spaceship like The Major said it would. That tape got especially moist.

Courtesy Orange Twin, here is Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power, & the Amorphous Strums performing at Spain’s Festival Sinsal on September 19, promoting their new collaborative album Dark Developments (out October 14).

Vic Chesnutt, Elf Power & the Amorphous Strums – Tour Dates
Oct 29 2008 Proud Larry’s, Oxford, Mississippi
Oct 30 2008 One Eyed Jack’s, New Orleans, Louisiana
Oct 31 2008 Spanish Moon, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Nov 1 2008 Club Dada, Dallas, Texas
Nov 2 2008 Rubber Gloves, Denton, Texas
Nov 3 2008 The Parish, Austin, Texas
Nov 5 2008 Santa Fe Brewing Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Nov 7 2008 Club Congress, Tucson, Arizona
Nov 8 2008 Modified, Phoenix, Arizona
Nov 9 2008 Casbah, San Diego, California
Nov 10 2008 Echoplex, Los Angeles, California
Nov 11 2008 Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, California
Nov 12 2008 Blue Lamp, Sacramento, California
Nov 13 2008 Sam Bond’s Garage, Eugene, Oregon
Nov 15 2008 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, Oregon
Nov 16 2008 Chop Suey, Seattle, Washington
Nov 17 2008 Neurolux, Boise, Idaho
Nov 18 2008 Kilby Court, Salt Lake City, Utah
Nov 19 2008 Hi Dive, Denver, Colorado
Nov 21 2008 Jackpot, Lawrence, Kansas

of Montreal has released a manifesto to accompany the “Skeletal Lamping Collection 08,” the myriad creative packages that accompany Polyvinyl’s release of Skeletal Lamping on October 21st.  (The album can be purchased not just in CD and vinyl, but in tee-shirt, tote bag, wall decals, paper lantern, and more.)  Kevin Barnes writes:

The concept behind the Skeletal Lamping Collection is this: ideally, every object that you bring into your home, should feel exceptional to you. Otherwise, it just adds to the clutter and chaos of your life. We feel that there’s no reason to produce another object that just sits on a shelf. We only want to produce objects that have a function and that can be treasured for their singularness. Objects that can transform a room, bend the mind and inform your dreams. A CD has little value, as an object, and the conventional, right angle plagued CD packaging, we’ve been forced to endure forever, has nothing new to offer us either.

You can read the full manifesto here, or preorder the collection at Polyvinyl Records.

I have updated the Optical Atlas streaming jukebox today to include new tracks from Ideal Free Distribution, Ham1, of Montreal, The Music Tapes, and some oldies. Enjoy.

Well, why not finish off the week with this? Of Montreal posted this on their MySpace blog, from “Catch.com,” a rather intimate look at drummer Jamey Huggins’ private life.

The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour has added a date in Athens–much to the relief of E6 hometown fans–and that will be October 7th at the Ciné.  As with the other dates in their tour, the performance will be preceded by a screening of the Major Organ and the Adding Machine short film (the world premiere).

In addition, the Music Tapes have updated the Orbiting Human Circus site!

The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour
10/07 Athens, GA @ Ciné
10/09 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
10/11 NYC, NY @ Knitting Factory
10/12 Boston, MA @ The Church
10/14 Portland, ME @ Space Gallery
10/15 New Haven, CT @ The Space
10/16 Purchase, NY @ SUNY Purchase
10/17 Rochester, NY @ The Bug Jar
10/18 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
10/19 Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
10/20 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room – Crofoot
10/21 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
10/22 Bloomington, IN @ Cinemat
10/23 Lexington, KY @ University of Kentucky
10/25 NYC, NY @ Mercury Lounge (The Music Tapes only)

Athens’ Ham1, fronted by Jim Willingham, is following up this summer’s Athens Popfest appearance by releasing the band’s third album, The Underground Stream, via Chamber of Commerce this fall.  This is almost exactly a year after their last release, the lo-fi, eclectic and winning The Captain’s Table (on Orange Twin).  Like its predecessor, The Underground Stream is a blend of surf rock instrumentals, sleepy vocals, and surrealist lyrics, as Willingham is joined by the usual Ham1 suspects: Eric Harris (Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control), Jacob Morris, and Chris Sugiuchi, with additional contributions from Lucas Jensen (Venice is Sinking) and Jason NeSmith (Casper & the Cookies), who helped engineer the album.  Best of all, for a limited time you can download the entire album for free right now at Ham1’s website.  Although collectors should note that Infinity Cat Records will issue the album on vinyl in early 2009.  

The Underground Stream,
by Ham1
1. Will You Ever See Me Again ?
2. Mel Bay
3. Toothless Frontlines
4. This Is Your Life
5. Begonia
6. Thylacine
7. Potato Gun
8. Fallen Trees
9. I Wave Back
10. Adirondack Chair
11. The Underground Stream

The September 23rd edition of WGSU’s The Elephant 6 Show is now available for download in our E6 Radio archive.