Optical Atlas

Since it’s Jeff Mangum week, why not?  Here’s Jeff playing “Sailing Through/Two-Headed Boy Part 2″ live at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, CA, on 4/12/98.  Thanks to defgav for posting it.

Bumblebear Records, the indie label run by Jimmy Hughes of Folklore and Elf Power, has made available for free download a Christmas compilation they put out in 2001 with Planting Seeds Records called Christmas Underground.  The comp features the Wee Turtles, Bugs Eat Books, The Boys Star Library, Ashley Park, Dipstick and Eggnog, Echo Orbiter, Christmas Ape, and many more.  You can grab the MP3s here (as well as a lot of other great free music).

Speaking of Christmas music, Casper & the Cookies have posted their holiday classic “Kiss Me Beneath the Christmas Tree” on their MySpace page once more.

It has now been officially announced (via Wilson at Merge Records) that Jeff Mangum has contributed a track to the U.S. version of the Chris Knox tribute album Stroke.  The song, “Sign the Dotted Line,” is a cover of the Tall Dwarfs track.   In addition, Bill Doss & Neil Cleary form Red & Zeke for the cover of the Tall Dwarfs‘  ”Bodies.”  You can read Bill Doss’ thoughts on the Tall Dwarfs here.

You can preorder the double-CD set which will ship on or around February 23 by visiting this page at Merge Records.  Preorders receive an immediate digital download of the album.  You can also purchase the MP3s a la carte or as a bundle.  The New Zealand version of the album, which is available now at Chris Knox’s website, does not feature the Jeff Mangum track.

In June, Chris Knox of the Tall Dwarfs suffered a stroke in Grey Lynn, New Zealand.  The Tall Dwarfs have had a tremendous influence on Elephant 6, and it was Chris Knox who invited Jeff Mangum to give a performance in 2001 in New Zealand.  The Tall Dwarfs also toured with Olivia Tremor Control on the 2005 reunion tour. The Stroke benefit album also features contributions from Yo La Tengo, Jay Reatard, Stephin Merritt, Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, and many more.

Under the Radar’s next issue features their favorite artists of the decade, and they’re revealing one artist each day in the lead-up to the issue’s release.  The first is of Montreal.

And it looks like that’s Che Guevara standing next to him?  Congratulations Che!

Yes, I’ve been slow to add these – I apologize. The Townhall and Pitchfork have been linking to new (to us) Neutral Milk Hotel live videos from the Knitting Factory in 1998, posted on YouTube by goldenpuppy1.

Here is the fifth installment:

Here is the fourth installment of the video chronicles of Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power, touring Europe last spring to promote their collaborative album Dark Developments.  Edited by Vic Chesnutt and Jimmy Hughes.  Featuring a visit to Dante’s tomb! (UPDATE: Glitches in the video rendering have been fixed by Jimmy…)

Stereogum has offered up a Progress Report on The Apples in Stereo as they work on their new album, Travellers in Space and Time. An interview and video footage can be found here.  In other Robert Schneider-related news, Pitchfork ran a news item on Thee American Revolution yesterday, which is nice, although it contained an error when I read it but a few hours ago (claiming the album was the first to bear the E6 logo in many years, when in fact there have been a number of releases since 2007’s New Magnetic Wonder to contain the logo).  That error is now gone!  Way to get on the case, E6 supergeeks…