Optical Atlas

The Ladybug Transistor is playing a show in New York at the end of the month, and then it’s off to Spain again for a series of dates:

29 NOV 2009 Cake Shop New York, NY, USA w/with Marky Monnone (Lucksmiths) El May and Darren Hanlon
05 DEC 2009 Easy Pop Weekend Festival Andorra, Spain
07 DEC 2009 Teatre Lloseta Mallorca, Spain
09 DEC 2009 Primavera Club Festival Madrid, Spain
10 DEC 2009 Primavera Club Festival Madrid, Spain
11 DEC 2009 Primavera Club Festival Barcelona , Spain
12 DEC 2009 Primavera Club Festival Barcelona, Spain

Babelgum has posted a number of videos from XX Merge, including some delicious footage of The Ladybug Transistor.  View all the videos here.

Autographed of Montreal and Olivia Tremor Control merchandise is for sale in a charity auction from this eBay seller.  Thanks to James Brown for the link.

Merge Records continues celebrating their 20th anniversary with The Merge Records Companion, a 350-page book collecting cover art and images from every one of their releases.  Includes essays by Merge founders Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, and celebrity hand models!  All proceeds go to charities selected by the SCORE! box set curators.  You can pre-order here, with copies shipping on November 3rd.

Gary Olson of the Ladybug Transistor will be playing some solo dates in support of old friends The Lucksmiths, for their farewell tour.  (As you may have heard, the Lucksmiths are unfortunately calling it quits.)  In addition to performing a solo set of material, Gary will also be supplying trumpet for the Lucksmiths.  And if you’re of the musical temperament to get excited by these names (and you are), you’ll also want to know that the full Ladybug Transistor will be playing with soulmates The Clientele on July 19th at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in NY.  Finally, the Merge XX Festival would be incomplete if they did not appear (as they will, along with The Essex Green, The Clientele, The Music Tapes, and many, many more); that’s being held July 22-26 in Chapel Hill, NC.

Oh, and I almost forgot – the recording of the new Ladybug Transistor album begins this summer!  Thanks to Gary for the info.

Gary Olson Solo
06.28.09 Varberg, Sweden @ Majas Cafe w/The Lucksmiths
06.29.09 Oslo, Norway @ The Garage
07.05.09 Villa Nova, Spain @ Faraday Festival
07.07.09 London, England @ The Luminaire w/The Lucksmiths
07.10.09 Hamburg, Germany @ Prinzenbar w/The Lucksmiths
07.11.09 Berlin, Germany @ Bang Bang Club w/The Lucksmiths

Ladybug Transistor
07.19.09 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg w/The Clientele
07.26.09 Washington, DC @ Black Cat w/Crystal Stilts
07.27.09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s w/Crystal Stilts

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.

 

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is included in the Onion AV Club’s “Turn Off the Shuffle” list, described as “25 great albums that work best when listened to from start to finish.”  You can read the article here.  I’m a fan of the site, but it must be said that with their obsession with creating unnecessary pop culture lists, the AV Club is quickly becoming the late-90’s-era VH1 of the internet.  Still, it’s a good read.  Note that most Elephant 6 albums probably work best following the same “turn off the shuffle” rule, in particular those by Olivia Tremor Control and of Montreal; it’s merely a keen awareness of making the album work as a whole (although there are certainly an abundance of E6 “concept albums” too, and the collective is at least partially responsible for the resurrection of the once-loathed genre).

Note that I updated last week’s post about Marc Maron giving a shout-out to the Gerbils on Break Room Live, the Air America podcast.  On Friday’s show (the one featuring Sarah Vowell), he made a correction during the post-show chat indicating he meant to say The Thermals.  Such is life.

And apropos of nothing, a big thanks to anyone reading this blog who turned out for The Ladybug Transistor’s appearance in my city of Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday night.  Despite the rather startling manifestation of a SPRINGTIME BLIZZARD, there was a large, appreciative, enthusiastic crowd (dancing!).  The band responded in kind with a sprawling but tightly-played setlist, including an unplanned performance of “Choking on Air” which was simply phenomenal.  This band has matured splendidly over the last decade; when they come to your town, don’t turn down a chance to see them.   

According to a Merge Records press release, The Ladybug Transistor will kick off a tour in late March, from the East Coast through the Midwest.  Some more dates might be in the works, but here’s what’s lined up for now:

03.25.09 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
03.26.09 Columbus, OH @ Treehouse
03.27.09 Bloomington, IN @ Bear’s Place
03.28.09 Madison, WI @ Der Rathskellar (UW-Madison Memorial Union)
03.29.09 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s

nyctaper has provided for download a recording of the 12/16/08 performance by of Montreal at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg.  You can download it here.

Speaking of that very venue, the Ladybug Transistor will be playing there tomorrow night, 12/18/08, with +/- (plus/minus) and Pattern is Movement.  You can buy tickets at the Music Hall’s website.

Speaking of tomorrow night, and then also that band we were speaking of before, of Montreal will be playing the Late Show with David Letterman Thursday – check your local listings for the time.