Optical Atlas

Folklore has been astoundingly productive since their debut a few years back. Their third album, Home Church Road, is already complete (expect more details soon), close on the heels of Carpenter’s Falls…and they’ve debuted a new video from Carpenter’s Falls, which you can watch below. Some live dates follow.

Folklore – Upcoming Dates
08.15.09 Philadelphia, PA @ The Green Line Café w/My Teenage Stride
08.22.09 Brooklyn, NY @ Bruar Falls w/My Teenage Stride
09.27.09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/Still Flyin’

The Apples in Stereo will be playing a free concert at SUNY-Geneseo this Saturday, May 2nd, in front of the college union as part of Springfest.  Festivities begin at 1; the Apples should be on around 2-2:30. 

Folklore will also be playing SUNY-Geneseo’s Springfest, at the afterparty at Farteen (14 Avon Rd, round 7pm Saturday night).  Tonight (May 1) Folklore will be playing an “experimental set” at 230 Fellows Ave in Syracuse, NY.

The upcoming Merge XX Festival has announced more of its lineup, with potential surprise guests as yet unannounced.  We do know that E6 acts The Music Tapes, The Ladybug Transistor, and The Essex Green will be playing.  Individual tickets–in very limited quantities–will be made available on May 13.  More info here.

Still Flyin’ and the brand new Folklore will be joining up on the East Coast next month for some shows.  (Still Flyin’ will also be hitting up a number of shows at SXSW.) Here are the dates:

Still Flyin’ & Folklore East Coast Tour Dates

04/03/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall
04/04/09 Boston, MA @ PA’s Lounge
04/05/09 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
04/06/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

Just a reminder that later this month Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power head out together for a tour that begins in the U.S., and then expands through Europe.  They’re supporting their collaborative album, Dark Developments, which is available now through Orange Twin (and a sample track is in the mix at our newly-updated streaming Jukebox).

Squeezed into their schedule is a stop at Carnegie Hall on March 11 to particpate in a gala tribute to the music of R.E.M. The Apples in Stereo will also be appearing (as well as many others).

Finally, it should be noted that the Elf Power/Vic Chesnutt stop in Philadelphia on January 25th will feature opening band Folklore, fronted by Elf Power’s Jimmy Hughes.  This is Folklore’s first show since moving from Athens to Philly, and features a brand new lineup, including Chad Arnett (guitar), Nick Bronson (trumpet), Charlie Biando (bass), Scott Churchman (upright bass), Avalon Clare (clarinet), Jason Henn (drums), Andrew Keller(viola), Yianni Kourmadas (bass clarinet), and Cheryl Nguyen (violin). If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out.

Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power – 2009 Dark Developments Tour

01/21/09 Chapel Hil, NC @ Local 506
01/22/09 Washington, DC @ Black Cat Backstage
01/23/09 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
01/24/09 Boston, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/25/09 Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
01/26/09 State College, PA @ Chronic Town
01/27/09 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
01/28/09 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room at Crofoot
01/29/09 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
01/30/09 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
01/31/09 Minneapolis, MN @ 400 Bar
02/01/09 Rock Island, IL @ Huckleberry’s
02/02/09 Indianapolis, IN @ Locals Only
02/03/09 Nashville, TN @ Exit/IN
02/04/09 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
02/05/09 Columbia, SC @ Art Bar
02/06/09 Charleston, SC @ Pourhouse
02/07/09 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt
03/14/09 Den Haag, Netherlands @ Dag In De Branding Festival
03/15/09 Antwerp, Belgium @ Arenbergschouwburg Club
03/16/09 Paris, France @ Cafe De La Danse
03/17/09 Belfort, France @ La Poudriere
03/18/09 Nancy, France @ L’Autre Canal
03/19/09 Fribourg, Switzerland @ Fri-Son
03/20/09 Turin, Italy @ Spazio
03/21/09 Ravena, Italy @ Bronson
03/22/09 Rome, Italy @ Circolo Degli Artisti
03/23/09 Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
03/24/09 St. Gallen, Switzerland @ Grabenhalle
03/25/09 Kortrijk, Belgium @ De Kreun
03/27/09 Newcastle, UK @ The Cluny
03/28/09 London, UK @ Arts Depot
03/29/09 Bristol, UK @ Cube
03/30/09 Helsinki, Finland @ Tavastia
03/31/09 Tampere, Finland @ Klubi

The lack of an update yesterday was due to the fact that I spent most of the day sick, semi-conscious on medication in front of a TV watching pirate and horror movies all day.  (If you must know: The Devil-Ship Pirates, The Burning, and The Evil Dead.  The highlight of my fever dream day was being suddenly woken by a half-dozen summer camp kids getting messily massacred by a crazed maniac with garden shears.)  I’m still sick and medicated today, but I made it to the computer this time.  Here is part of what I missed: a Folklore session taped last spring has been posted at Daytrotter.  Lead singer Jimmy Hughes is here joined by Derek Almstead, Ian Rickert, and Aaron Jollay.  The whole set is available here.  (This was actually taped the day after the quieter late-night set for The Optical Atlas Show.)

The band has also released this surveillance-camera-themed video for “Bingo Beats,” off their forthcoming Carpenter’s Falls.

Casper & the Cookies have announced that in anticipation of their upcoming album, Modern Silence, they will be offering exclusive previews via three participating music blogs, including this one.  While the release date/label have yet to be announced, we do know that the album will consist of 16 brand new CATC tracks, recorded with help from Bill Doss, and will be supported with an extensive tour in early 2009.  You can begin hearing the new songs beginning a week from today, and the next two Fridays following.

10.10.08 Three Imaginary Girls
10.17.08 Optical Atlas
10.24.08 You Ain’t No Picasso

So yeah, in two weeks I’ll have a new Casper & the Cookies song for you to download.  And it’s a great one, as you’d expect.  Also, check out their brand new website, recently redesigned by Kay Stanton.

In other news, Folklore has placed two new songs on their MySpace page which you can hear right now.  These come from a limited-release single, The Birds (hey, I just watched that movie the other night).  The single was recently sold at some of their live shows, and the two tracks are samplers from their upcoming third album, Home Church Road.  Their second album, Carpenter’s Falls, gets a formal release on October 21st from BumbleBEAR Records.

Southern Shelter has been posting the audio from the occasional Athens Face/Off live series, which teams two random members from two random Athens bands to form impromptu rock duos.  Included in batch #4, taped at the 40 Watt on September 4th, are members of Elf Power, Folklore, We Versus the Shark, Titans of Filth, The Buddy System, and more.  You can download it here in MP3 or FLAC, or check out the Athens Face/Off MySpace.

You may have already heard Folklore’s second album, Carpenter’s Falls.  The band has been selling it themselves at their shows for the past year or so.  And prior to that, there was a short EP called Carpenter’s Falls, which is significantly different, consisting mainly of demos from what would eventually become a full-length complement-album to their debut, The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman.  Carpenter’s Falls continues the Beaverman mythos, but telling the ghost-story-that-wasn’t from different points of view–though with one solitary voice this time, as Jimmy Hughes (also of Elf Power) now handles all the vocals (after dividing those duties with a number of well-known, Athens-based singers on H.W. Beaverman).  Now BumbleBEAR Records is finally set to give the album its official release on October 21st.

On Carpenter’s Falls, Hughes is once again joined by Folklorists Jon Croxton (Wee Turtles), Aaron Jollay (Dark Meat), Ian Rickert (Nana Grizol), Raoul De La Cruz (The French Toasts), Che-Na Stephens, and David Specht, with guest appearances by Will Quinnell, Chris Bracco, Adam Spiegler, Linnea Weiss, Margaret Child, and Cousin Steve.  The band is already hard at work on their third album, Home Church Road, with a concept that sounds a bit like George Orwell’s Animal Farm.  You can read my review of both of Folklore’s albums here, and download Folklore MP3’s at their website.