Optical Atlas

James Huggins’ solo recording project James Husband has been known mainly to Elephant 6 and of Montreal obsessives who may have heard some tracks on his MySpace, or via CD-Rs passed around at shows.  Earlier this year Huggins dropped word that Polyvinyl was showing interest in releasing his music officially, and a short while later they created a space for him on the label’s website as one of their signed artists.  Now, at long last, comes the album announcement.

A Parallax I will be released October 27th, a 12-track sampling of James Husband’s decade-plus collection of recordings.  According to the press release, “the first third of the album was recorded on cassette, the next third on strictly analog and the last third in a straight digital format,” which implies a kind of chronology, or at least progression, represented in the track sequencing (below).  The influences run the gamut, from 60’s psych to the witty, playful pop he’s currently playing as a member of of Montreal–so don’t judge the album by its cover, which seems strictly early-80’s Lionel Richie. (God, my childhood spent in department stores waiting for my mother and sister to come out of the dressing room!)  Incidentally, those who find themselves newfound James Husband fans can (and should) also seek out Great Lakes, in particular their first, Zombies-esque album; Huggins sings vocals on the terrific “Virgil.”

Anyway, pre-order now to get a limited edition deluxe CD, which comes with a James Husband EP featuring 6 covers.  You can also get a double-gatefold LP with the album on 180-gram pink vinyl (with digital download code).  (Pitchfork mentions the of Montreal/James Husband split 7″ on the Happy Happy Birthday to Me Singles club as though it’s forthcoming, but it’s already been released, and the singles club is almost entirely sold out–perhaps, by the time I finish writing this sentence, completely sold out.)  Here’s the track listing with a sample MP3:

A Parallax I,
by James Husband
1 Little Thrills
2 A Grave in the Gravel
3 Greyscale
4 Elephant Alibi
5 Take the Train
6 No No Baby
7 While the Boys Went Down Under
8 Window
9 Waiting on Rayne
10 Driving Around
11 The Darkestness
12 The Great Grand Ghosts of Buena Vista GA

Polyvinyl is simultaneously repressing some classic of Montreal albums on 180-gram vinyl.  Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies!  Aldhils Arboretum!  The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower!  The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy!  The Early Four Track Recordings!  Expect those to be released on October 27th as well, but if you want everything, you can pre-order the whole lot right now.

Still Flyin’ recently dropped by Daytrotter, and the session was posted yesterday, framed by Daytrotter’s Sean Moeller as the ideal summer band (appropriately). Thanks to Joe for the link.

You can download the session here.

Their debut album, Never Gonna Touch the Ground, is out now from the Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Pitchfork has posted the latest video from The Music Tapes, a brand new song entitled “For the Planet Pluto 3.” This flat-out made my summer. I submit:

P.S. Leave comments if you approve…

Edit: Thanks to Matt for dropping a line about the video too.

Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power recently wrapped up a worldwide tour to promote their joint release, Dark Developments.  Vic chronicled the European leg of their trip with his camera, and Jimmy Hughes has edited the footage together into a multi-part series.  Here’s part one:

Merge Records celebrated their 20th anniversary this year with the most talked-about music festival of the summer (XX Merge), as well as a subscription-series box set of celebrity-curated compilation CDs collectively entitled SCORE!  Subscriptions to that series are sold out, but Merge is giving away the box set for free to one lucky winner.  All you need to do is pre-order one of their September releases to be entered to get your name in the hat.  Those releases include new records by The Clean and Polvo, as well as the book chronicling the first 20 years of Merge Records, Our Noise (which features plenty of anecdotes on Neutral Milk Hotel, if that helps any).  You can pre-order any of these releases now at Merge’s website.  The contest closes September 8th.

In case you’re wondering what happened to the Optical Atlas Jukebox, it’s now been relocated to the sidebar as part of our redesign.  And now it’s been updated with 10 more tracks, including The Apples in Stereo, Japancakes featuring Moon (Miss Stocking), an early rarity from The Olivia Tremor Control, and more.  Although the playlist has been shortened (for now), I’ve kept a few in rotation, in case you haven’t yet listened to “Overjoyed” by Circulatory System, of Montreal’s Prince cover, or rare tracks from Always Red Society and The Sunshine Fix.

The very kind DoctorSchwindel at the E6 Townhall has made available for download a rare Olivia Tremor Control cassette which he recently purchased off eBay.  (According to the eBay description, this was a one-sided demo tape sent off to U.S. clubs in advance of an early-90’s tour.)  The tracks include:

1. “Athena” 2:34
2. “The One” 1:22
3. “Fireplace” 3:11
4. “Marking Time” 4:13
5. “Black Foliage” 2:59
Total time – 14:19

You can download the tracks in MP3 or FLAC through the links in this Townhall thread, presumably for a limited time.

Calvin, Don’t Jump! is the solo recording project of J. Kirk Pleasant, who has played with The Olivia Tremor Control and The Gerbils, an Athens expatriate who now lives in Vancouver.  After the blissfully acoustic, self-released Conscious of Conscience from a few years back, he’s finally put a proper band together, with the necessary alterations and expansions to his sound.  The band’s latest recordings are being assembled under the tentative title Under Bridges, and Royal Rhino Flying Records has just announced they’ll be releasing the finished product come fall or winter of this year, if all goes well.  As soon as more details emerge, I’ll post them here.