Optical Atlas

Courtesy Merge Records:

The Paragon Carousel is a beautiful machine that has been my dear neighbor for many moons. Now 81 years old, it is in need of a little love and attention in order for it to survive.
It is my sincere wish for the Paragon Carousel to be a part of the magic of long seaside summer afternoons for many years to come. But it might not get to.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the great whirling contraptions of mechanical music and light are not as profitable to operate as other things, and carousels are worth much more taken apart and sold in pieces to museums, where one must pay to look at them behind glass, rather than having them simply existing in the world that we now all share.

I spoke with Jeff and Scott and Jeremy about this and they agreed that I should, on behalf of Neutral Milk Hotel, make an appeal to the good people who might have enjoyed the music made over the years, because we think you’d understand especially, and want to help. We humbly ask you to vote!

The Paragon Carousel is competing with 24 other historic Massachussettes buildings for a grant of $100,000. The historic site with the most votes wins, and anyone anywhere can vote. We would love it if by our collective effort we could ensure the continuation of this grand place. It only takes a moment and you can do so here.

You are allowed to vote once a day until May 17th . Your vote means a great deal to all of us at Elephant Six. Places like this are so special. They deserve to exist in the same world that we do. So we can visit them with our bodies, not just our memories and dreams. We’d like to thank you for your help and for spreading the word.

 ~Julian Koster with Jeff Mangum on behalf of Neutral Milk Hotel

The official Elephant 6 website is back up with a redesign courtesy Kelly Ruberto, with more content to be added.  Check it out.

Now here’s an unexpected thing to wake up to.

American Idol and Ford have put together this commercial, featuring a cover of The Apples in Stereo’s “Energy” as performed by “The American Idols” (that is, the finalists from the U.S. American Idol).  You watch the video and answer basic trivia questions about it for a chance to win a limited edition American Idol Ford Fusion Hybrid.  Thanks to Dan for the link.

So after you’ve watched that, head over to our E6 Radio archive and download the latest podcast of The Elephant 6 Show.

BP has posted a “Day in the Life” cover (sort of) by Kevin Barnes, over at ofmontreal.net.  Consider it the expanded remix outtake version, improvised backstage at Brown University on April 18th.  “Brand new Beatles song…it’s called ‘Like a Revolution’!”

Since I’ve already blogged about Still Flyin’ today, it makes sense to post about their motherland, Je Suis France, the legendary group from which Still Flyin’ was born.  Since 2003, the France have released twenty-two EPs, mostly CD-Rs passed around after live shows, which have stretched their eclectic sounds into all kinds of musical genres.  Now their website, which transformed into a blog last year, is working on making available for download each one of those EPs, at about one per week.  The most recent is Horsehunters, which, at sixteen tracks, can hardly be called an EP…but who cares when you’ve got track titles such as “Megahorse,” “Metaphorses,” “This Stampede is Fun,” “Prancer,” and “Mane Man”?  Head on over and have a look.  Thanks to Ryan for the link.

Here’s their excellent video to “That Don’t Work That Well For Us,” from their full-length Afrikan Majik, on Antenna Farm Records.

Still Flyin’, who have released one of my favorite albums of the year with Never Gonna Touch the Ground, have announced more dates, including five with Love is All.  Observe:

5.08.09 Sacramento, CA @ Blue Lamp
5.09.09 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
6.08.09 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s w/Love is All
6.09.09 Portland, OR @ Holocene w/Love is All
6.11.09 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of The Hill w/Love is All
6.12.09 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex w/Love is All
6.13.09 San Diego, CA @ Casbah w/Love is All

The Leaf Label has released a 10″ single from the upcoming A Hawk and a Hacksaw album, Délivrance. Foni Tu Argile is described by Insound as “a strictly limited edition of 500 hand-numbered 10-inch singles, cut at 78rpm, with packaging that replicates the shellac records of old.” You can order the album for $10.99 here, and have a listen to the track in the Optical Atlas Jukebox, updated earlier this week.  The full-length comes out on Leaf on May 18th.

Thanks to ggrisamore for the link.

Big Fresh will be playing two sets at Lexington’s The Dame on Saturday night, celebrating the national release of their CD Big Fresh Forever.  Tickets are $5, and the show begins at 8pm.  Last year we interviewed Big Fresh’s John Ferguson (who is also in The Apples in Stereo), and you can listen to the podcast here.