Optical Atlas

A new documentary on of Montreal, called Family Nouveau, will premiere at Chicago’s CIMM Fest (Chicago International Movies and Music Festival) on March 5th. This 45 minute documentary, directed by Spenser Simrill Jr., chronicles of Montreal’s 2009 European tour. Tickets are available at the CIMM website now. Here’s the trailer:

of Montreal European Tour 2009: Family Nouveau Trailer from Spenser Simrill, Jr. on Vimeo.

Tour dates below!

April 6 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric – 18+
April 7 – Tallahassee, FL – The Moon – 18+
April 8 – Tampa, FL – The Ritz – AA
April 9 – Miami Beach, FL – The Fillmore – AA
April 10 – Orlando, FL – Firestone Live – AA
May 22 – New Orleans, LA – Howlin Wolf – 18+ **
May 23 – Austin, TX – The Mohawk – AA **
May 24 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater – 14+ **
May 25 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom – AA **
May 26 – Columbia, MO – 9th Street Summerfest – AA ** FREE
May 27 – Lexington, KY – Buster’s – 18+ **
May 28 – TBA
May 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts – AA **
May 30 – Waterford, CT – B.O.M.B Fest – AA
May 31 – Charlottesville, VA – The Jefferson – AA **
June 1 – Richmond, VA – The National – AA **
June 2 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle – AA **

** w/ James Husband & Noot d’Noot

Today Orange Twin artist Madeline kicks off a tour which will guide her throughout the South and Southwest, in conjunction with the vinyl and digital release of the Madeline Tour EP, to be released by Orange Twin Records on March 4th. The EP, previously a tour-only release (as you probably figured out for yourself), features appearances by members of Architecture in Helsinki and Mt. Eerie. A sampling, as well as tour dates, follow:

Madeline – I Waited All Day

Madeline Tour Dates

2/26 – Gainesville, Fl. @ The Atlantic
2/27 – Tallahassee, Fl. @ Fresh Face Fest
3/4 – Athens, Ga. @ Little Kings
3/5 – Birmingham, Al. @ Spring Street Fire House (7 p.m. All ages)
3/7 – Pensacola, Fl. @ Sluggo’s
3/8 – Baton Rouge, La. @ All Ages outdoor Party
(email andytgibbs@gmail.com for more info)
3/9 – Denton, Texas @ Rubber Gloves
3/10 – Dallas, Texas @ The Amsterdam Bar w/ Little Birds
3/11 – Austin, Texas @ Momo’s w/ Geoff Reacher (All Ages)
3/12 – Lafayette, La. @ Artmosphere
3/13 – New Orleans, La. @ AllWays Lounge

Stereogum has offered a preview of “Dance Floor,” one of the tracks from the upcoming Apples in Stereo album, Travellers in Space and Time, which is released by Yep Roc/Simian/Elephant 6 on April 20th.  Check it out here.  Thanks to Dan for the link.

Stroke, the tribute & benefit album for Chris Knox of the Tall Dwarfs , is officially released today in the U.S. by Merge Records. (It was previously available as a digital release, and before that was issued–minus the Jeff Mangum track–in New Zealand.) Apart from Jeff Mangum, Red&Zeke (featuring Bill Doss and Neil Cleary), Portastic, Bill Callahan, Yo La Tengo, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Jay Reatard, and many others appear on the two-disc set, all covering the music of Knox.

Celebrating the release of Stroke, and also to benefit Chris Knox, Cloud Recordings is now offering their two Tall Dwarfs reissues (Weeville and Fork Songs) at a discounted price for a limited time.

Courtesy Shout Factory/Majordomo, here’s the new video from Miles Kurosky, “Dog in the Burning Building.” The former Beulah frontman’s debut solo album, The Desert of Shallow Effects, is available now (early!) from the label’s website.

Folks, this sounds like vintage Beulah to me. It’s very, very good.

Dressy Bessy continue to offer a complete video accompaniment to their album HOLLERandSTOMP – here’s their latest, just unveiled, for “Roundabout”. You can watch the other videos here. Attention anyone in the Denver area: they’ll be playing City Hall at 1144 Broadway this Saturday.

A few years back Fred Schneider of Athens legends The B-52’s launched The Superions with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. Following the release of digital singles in 2008 and in 2009, the band will be releasing their first EP on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records on February 23rd in CD and 12″ formats. The Superions EP will feature the hit dance-inducing tracks “Totally Nude Island,” “Those Sexy Saucer Gals,” and “Who Threw That Ham at Me,” including remixes by Casper & the Cookies, Marshmallow Coast, The Lolligags, and Ursula 1000. Pre-order now at HHBTM’s website and you can elect to get the LP, CD, a keychain, button, autographed sleeve, and answering machine message (for those who still have answering machines), in various combinations – but hurry as the pre-order is only good until Monday at midnight. Here’s the video for “Who Threw That Ham at Me”:

Check out The Superions on MySpace for more videos and streaming music!

The Apples in Stereo have posted a page at their website detailing the Non-Pythagorean musical scale invented by Robert Schneider for New Magnetic Wonder, with a downloadable scale (and a highly detailed explanation) so you can compose your own Non-Pythagorean-based song.  Head over to the Apples‘ site for more.

P.S. – In case you’re wondering, this website is going from being updated daily to about once a week, sometimes more if big news breaks. We’re not dead yet, just mellowing.