Optical Atlas

Casper & the Cookies have made available the fourth and final MP3 in a series previewing their upcoming album Modern Silence.  You can listen to the last free track, “You Love Me,” at the estimable Athens blog Cable & Tweed.  (Previous tracks can be found at Three Imaginary Girls, Optical Atlas, and You Ain’t No Picasso.)  It’s shaping up to be a fantastic album.

Kelly Ruberto–she of elephant6.com and Orange Twin Records–has published a photo diary of the Holiday Surprise tour in Flagpole, the Athens weekly.  (Maybe you met her: she was the friendly one at the merch table.)  You can see all the pictures here.  Will gets attacked by a bear!  Will gets attacked by a bear!  And more.

I will confess readily that Halloween is my favorite holiday: it will be a nonstop horror movie marathon tonight while the trick or treaters arrive and long after.  But for you I have just two treats: the Marbles‘ perennial holiday favorite “Dracula” (from the Happy Happy Birthday to Me singles club split with Casper & the Cookies), and a new track from The Visitations, “Bony Maurine,” off their new album The Conundrum Tree (Orange Twin Records).

MP3: Marbles – Dracula

MP3: The Visitations – Bony Maurine

The Orbiting Human Circus was updated a few days ago with more details about the upcoming singing saw caroling tour, led by Julian of The Music Tapes and a few of his friends.  Note that the deadline for house-caroling requests is November 10th! 

Becky Lovell has sent along the latest installment of WGSU’s The Elephant 6 Show.  You can download the latest podcast in our E6 Radio page.

Pitchfork has revealed the track listing from the upcoming Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine album, the children’s record by Robert Schneider.  As we previously reported, the art is by Seamonster’s Todd Webb, and as quixoticgoat diligently discovered, there will apparently be a comic book of Todd’s artwork included with the album, which drops January 20th on Little Monster Records.  You can also see Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine live at New York City’s 92Y Tribeca on November 16 (at 11am, I believe).  Remember to bring your kids.

Stream music here, or download a track below.

Robbert Bobbert and the Bubble Machine
01 I Am a Clock
02 We R Super Heroes
03 Hey Little Puppy
04 Fee Fi Fo, Fee Fi Fum
05 Gravity
06 The Little Duck
07 Boom Boom
08 The Mighty, Mighty Elephant
09 Laughing
10 I Love the Animals
11 A Tiny Sheep
12 Ukulele for Davy [bonus track]

It seems like The Essex Green have dropped off the radar for a while, so it’s great to hear they’re back in New York to play a show tomorrow night–Wednesday, October 29th–for a Halloween-themed show at Brooklyn’s Bell House, with the High Places.  The show starts at 7:30, and it’s 18+ at $10/person.  Thanks to Ben Crum for the head’s-up.

Dressy Bessy is currently on tour supporting HOLLERandSTOMP, their fifth full-length, and if you get a chance to see them, be sure to check out their Tammy Ealom-designed Barack Obama buttons (free).  I grabbed this one because of the nifty Pac-Man design; on the margins (invisible in the picture) is “www.dressybessy.com.”  They also have plenty of non-Obama buttons, also free. 

And their infatuation with Obama has extended to the “Obama rap,” part of a live performance from Denver’s Bluebird Theater on October 18th which you can download at the Flat Response. (This is a big set!)

Here are the remaining dates on their tour:

10/28/08 Fargo, North Dakota @ The Aquarium
10/29/08 St. Paul, Minnesota @ The Turf Club
10/30/08 Menomonie, Wisconsin @ Blue Devil Lounge (University of Wisconsin-Stout)
10/31/08 St. Louis, Missouri @ The Duck Room
11/01/08 Kirksville, Missouri @ Wrongdaddy’s
11/02/08 Chicago, Illinois @ Abbey Pub
11/03/08 Mt. Vernon, Iowa @ Cornell College
11/04/08 Newport, Kentucky @ Southgate House
11/05/08 Toledo, Ohio @ Frankies Inner-City
11/06/08 Columbus, Ohio @ Bernies
11/07/08 Hamtramck, Michigan @ The Belmont
11/08/08 Lexington, Kentucky @ Al’s Bar
11/14/08 Vail, Colorado @ Sandbar
11/15/08 Ft. Collins, Colorado @ Road 34
12/03/08 Albuquerque, New Mexico @ The Launchpad
12/04/08 Phoenix, Arizona @ Modified Arts
12/05/08 Tucson, Arizona @ Plush
12/07/08 Los Angeles, California @ Spaceland
12/08/08 Visalia, California @ The Cellar Door
12/09/08 San Francisco, California @ Rickshaw Stop
12/11/08 Portland, Oregon @ White Eagle
12/12/08 Seattle, Washington @ Sunset Tavern
12/13/08 Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux

As promised, NPR has posted the (almost, but not quite) complete performance from last Tuesday’s Holiday Surprise stop at Chicago’s Bottom Lounge.  Omitted, at the request of the artists, are the Neutral Milk Hotel track “Engine” and some of the Music Tapes songs, which is unfortunate, but you can stream the concert now as well as listen to an interview with Julian Koster right here.  Later it will be available as part of the All Songs Considered podcast.  (Also check out You Ain’t No Picasso’s coverage of the Lexington show, the last stop in the tour.)

Speaking of podcasts, here’s some more for you to listen to: the Athcast has been updated with two more episodes, including songs by Elf Power, Ham1, Madeline, and more.  And Just Off the Radar spotlighted Elephant 6 in their October 25th show, with a shout-out to Optical Atlas.  You can listen here when it’s been updated with the latest installment.

Finally, Casper & the Cookies have posted their third brand new song from their upcoming album Modern Silence, this being the first C&TC song to feature lead vocals by Jim Hix (who also wrote the song).  You Ain’t No Picasso has the track, “Song Across the Sea.”  Next week Cable & Tweed will have the final song in the blog-exclusive series.  (Previous tracks were hosted by Optical Atlas as well as Three Imaginary Girls.)