Optical Atlas

We were already psyched when we learned via Heather McIntosh’s Instruments MySpace back in January that she was scoring Astra Taylor’s documentary Examined Life.  Hypecity has posted that the film’s score also features Korena Pang (aka Jeff Mangum), collaborating with McIntosh and Eric Harris (Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, etc.).  It’s already screened in a few select cities, and is/will be playing in many more: check this site for details.  (It’s in Madison this weekend.)

In other news – Spectrum Culture has an interview up with Julian of The Music Tapes.  Thanks to nerosneptune for the link.

This week has gotten away from me, so I apologize for the lack of posts. I’ll be back in just a little bit with a brand new installment of The Elephant 6 Show. But in the meantime, here’s the full lineup for this weekend’s AUX 3 experimental music and art festival, to be held in Athens, GA, courtesy curator Heather McIntosh.

AUX 3 – Saturday, Feb. 21st, @ Little Kings and Ciné

3:00 Little Kings Dark Meat
3:30 Ciné Youth Movement Workshop
4:00 Little Kings GLASSPACKS
4:30 Ciné Killick
5:00 Little Kings A Horse is a Sphere
5:30 Ciné The Rectanglers
6:00 Little Kings Howling Jelly
6:00 Cine Video Program I
6:30 Ciné Our New Silence
7:00 Little Kings Dream Scene
7:30 Ciné Some Meat Out of the Eater
8:00 Little Kings Mercer Street
8:30 Ciné Lisa Yaconelli
Denise Posnak and Page Campbell
Julie Rothschild and Shawn Copeland
9:00 Ciné Video Program II
9:30 Ciné Maps and Transit
10:00 Little Kings Bill Doss presents the Flashcard Orchestra
10:30 Little Kings Brave New Citizen
11:00 Little Kings Spirit of the Falcon-XL
11:30 Ciné Medaglia d’Oro
12:30 Little Kings Icy Demons

Video

Ash Sechler
Daniel Osborne
Eddie Whelan
Javier Morales
John Michael Boling
John Crowe
Micki Davis
Robert Peterson
Seth Stephens
Winston Parker

Artist Market

Gypsies Tramps & Thieves
Laurel Hill
Rhys May
IPullPrints
Gilannie Jewelry Studios
Cherry Matador Jewelry & Soaps
CAP MAN (if he can bring his truck)
Melin Pieces Hats
Christy Wooke
Daisycakes Soaps
Genevieve Swinford
The Orchard Jewelry
Kenneth Kase
Matt Blanks
Hannah Jones
Kristen Bach
Organic Twist

If you missed of Montreal’s appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, it is rerunning tonight, January 22nd, on CBS.  And if you also missed yesterday’s live performance from Amsterdam, webcast on Fabchannel.com, it will be available shortly for viewing right over here.

The New Yorker recently profiled of Montreal in a flattering article, which you can read here.

Heather McIntosh of The Instruments is one of the principal curators of AUX, the organization devoted to Athens’ experimental music scene.  So far they’ve released a compilation CD, as well as organized an AUX music festival a couple years back.  Now a second [correction: third!--thanks to Chris Yetter] festival is lined up in Athens, Georgia, for Saturday, February 21st, at Cine and Little Kings.  Expect a lineup to be announced soon; I’ll post it when I get it.

Heather McIntosh has been busy touring with Lil Wayne, but took the time to mention on her MySpace blog that her music as The Instruments is featured in the new documentary Examined Life, which will be playing in exclusive engagements starting this month.  In her blog post she has posted some dates and cities where the film will be airing.

Earlier this week Southern Shelter posted the 40 Watt Olivia Tremor Control reunion performance from April 15th, 2005 – their first show in five years, and the kickoff to what was a fantastic tour.  You can get the MP3s and FLAC here.  Thanks to lou2ser for the link.

Casper & the Cookies have posted some tour dates, listed below (thanks to quixoticgoat for noticing!):

Casper & the Cookies on Tour

01.16.09 Asheville, NC @ Stella Blue – POPAsheville Festival
01.30.09 Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
03.07.09 Augusta, GA @ Sky City
03.10.09 Savannah, GA @ The Wormhole
03.11.09 Jacksonville, FL @ Club TSI
03.12.09 Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
03.13.09 Gainesville, FL @ TBA
03.14.09 Tallahassee, FL @ The Engine Room
03.15.09 Panama City, FL @ Gallery Above
03.16.09 New Orleans, LA @ Dragon’s Den
03.17.09 Mobile, AL @ Alabama Music Box
03.18.09 Lafeyette, LA @ TBA
03.19-21.09 Austin, TX @ SXSW

Kevin Barnes and Bryan Poole of of Montreal recently stopped by WNYC’s Soundcheck for an interview and acoustic performance, and here’s the audio (you can watch some video from the appearance here):

Nina Barnes sells and distributes her art under the name Geminitactics, and now she is selling some Skeletal Lamping-themed prints at her Etsy store, with more to come.

In non-of Montreal news, Merge Records will continue celebrating its 20-year anniversary, not just through a massive subscription-series box set, but also through a 5-day music festival, “XX Merge”, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, July 22-26. No acts have been announced yet, but The Music Tapes might be a safe bet.

Oh, and I don’t think I ever mentioned that Orange Twin now has a digital store, where you can download albums by Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power, The Visitations, Nana Grizol, The Instruments, Ham1, Madeline, and Geoff Reacher. Very nice.

 

The Instruments are featured on the new holiday compilation CD Last Winter We Didn’t Sing, with the song “Last Holiday.”  More info, including track listing and pre-order information, are at Thor’s Rubber Hammer.  You can stream the Instruments track now at the label’s MySpace; it’s perfect winter listening, with Heather McIntosh’s trademark gorgeous cello work.  The release date is December 8.

Thanks to I Rule the School for linking to this interview from June with Heather McIntosh of The Instruments. She explains the title of their new album, Dark Småland, the reasoning behind the band’s name, and how she came to join Gnarls Barkley’s touring ensemble:

Danger Mouse used to live downstairs from me in this old big house in Athens, GA. We have stayed in touch ever since then. He came and saw Great Lakes play when we came through London right when he first got over there. I visited with him for a bit right after the Grey Album blew up and I was considering moving to Los Angeles to give a go at making film music. He came out and saw Elf Power a few times on my last tour with them. Finally, he visited me when I was tour managing the Clientele (doing merch and driving the crew around) and he asked if I wanted to join his band. Needless to say, I was super stoked — hopping around the back of the Knitting Factory like a joyous freak!

Dark Småland is available now from Orange Twin Records.

Named after a province in Sweden, Dark Småland, the third full-length album from The Instruments, follows on the heels of the band’s covers of Joy Division (on a limited edition 7″) and Brigitte Fontaine (on the recent comp Build Your Army with Potatoes), and seems to absorb their influences into their most moody work yet. But it’s also a shimmering album, starkly setting Heather McIntosh’s impeccably lovely orchestration against her deliberately droning, repetitive vocals, which increasingly, it seems, sound like a retreating echo in some distant, dark cavern. Assisting McIntosh this time around are friends from Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control, and Neutral Milk Hotel: Derek Almstead, Eric Harris, Peter Erchick, Will Cullen Hart, John Fernandes, and Jeff Mangum. Dark Småland is being released May 13th by Orange Twin Records, and you can listen to a sample MP3 below.

1. Ode to the Sea
2. Ode Pt. 2
3. Sounds Electric
4. Arabesque
5. Mountain Sons
6. Pastorale
7. First Signs
8. Paths of Low Flying Birds
9. Cello Ballad
10. Early Lights
11. Northern Skies
12. Papillon