Optical Atlas

Happy Happy Birthday to Me has announced the latest album by the once-thought-defunct Marshmallow Coast: Phreak Phantasy. Andy Gonzales, the mastermind of the Coast, began the project out of Denver, Colorado, in the mid-90’s with Timesquare. The band moved to Athens and to Kindercore Records, and then to Misra Records, while Andy continued to play with his other band, of Montreal (he receives a shout-out in “The Hopeless Opus” on Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies, and the band also covers his old Timesquare song “In the Army Kid” on The Horse and Elephant Eatery).  Andy was also briefly a member of The Music Tapes, and played with Olivia Tremor Control and other Elephant 6 outfits, but his fruitful tenure with of Montreal stretched from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower through Aldhils Arboretum, essentially covering the band’s entire Sgt. Pepper-styled period.  Eventually Andy left of Montreal, and Marshmallow Coast (briefly) morphed into M Coast, with singing and songwriting duties shared with Derek Almstead (also ex-of Montreal) and Emily Growden; Sara Kirkpatrick and Carlton Owens filled out the lineup. This configuration released just one album, Say it in Slang, before Andy and Derek went amicably into separate projects: Andy from Denver and Faster Circuits, respectively. Now Marshmallow Coast is back for Andy’s first album under that fully-spelled-out name since 2003’s Antistar. 

“My legend is too small to start all over again, ” says Andy to Optical Atlas, indicating that originally Phreak Phantasy was going to be released under his new solo moniker, before he changed his mind and went back to the old and more familiar name.  “I did release two split seven-inches as Andy from Denver.  Stupidly confusing, I know.”  Once more, Sara Kirkpatrick provides flute, but Will Cullen Hart (Circulatory System) also provides support with “tape manipulations and noises.”

In addition to the new album, Andy “from Denver” (he’s not retiring that name completely) has some other projects lined up: he plays guitar on an upcoming album by The Goons (Joe Rowe, formerly of The Glands), and has been recording with The Lolligags and rap/pop project Simple Teek. 

Phreak Phantasy will be released on May 26th, but a pre-order deal (limited to 50 orders) will bag you the album (in either CD or vinyl) as well as an original Andy Gonzales painting. Note that the vinyl, which will be a limited pressing of 100, has a silkscreen sleeve. You can place your order now at the HHBTM website.

Andy from Denver, the new solo recording project that used to be called Marshmallow Coast (aka Andy Gonzales), will be marching up and down the U.S. sort of vertically-by-diagonally with Happy Happy Birthday to Me artist Keith John Adams. If you haven’t heard of KJA, you must only check in periodically with the blogosphere, as many have been writing about the British rocker’s “personalized song” stunt done as the coolest HHBTM pre-order ever: the gimmick was that if you were one of the first to pre-order his new album Unclever (now available at HHBTM.com), Keith would write a song based on a story from your life. You’d also receive a free CD featuring all of the comissioned songs. The result was actually a two-disc collection of all 43 personalized songs (including mine, “Blue Cupids”), the quality rivaling even the main attraction, Unclever (an album that features members of Casper & the Cookies, and rocks as hard – highly recommended). If the promotional concept sounds familiar, that’s because Marshmallow Coast for a short time – just before the release of Ride the Lightning – also wrote songs on commission, a few of which have leaked online over the years. So now, you see, these two amazingly prolific songwriters are coming to your town (or nearby, or not). Andy promises “me with backing tracks and a little performance art.” KJA is known to climb over furniture.

Andy from Denver/Keith John Adams Tour

03.20.08 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo’s
03.21.08 Panama City, FL @ The Gallery Above
03.22.08 Gainesville, FL @ Manor House (house show)
03.24.08 Charleston, SC @ The Map Room
03.25.08 Greenville, NC @ 21:11 (art gallery)
03.26.08 New York, NY @ The Cake Shop
03.27.08 Chapel Hill, NC @ The Night Light
03.28.08 Murfreesboro, TN @ The Boro
03.29.08 Nashville, TN @ Grimey’s (in-store)
03.31.08 Indianapolis, IN @ Locals Only
04.01.08 St. Louis, MO @ CBGB
04.02.08 Chicago, IL @ Silvie’s
04.04.08 Toledo, OH @ Frankie’s
04.05.08 Cleveland, OH @ Bela Dubby
04.06.08 Lexington, KY @ The Icehouse
04.08.08 Athens, GA @ Flicker Bar

Favorite Media has posted an interview with Marshmallow Coast’s Andy Gonzales. I should say, Andy from Denver’s Andy Gonzales, except that it still sounds very odd to me. I’m getting used to it. He talks a little bit about the recent M Coast breakup, but mainly waxes philosophical with Jason Devin in this piece called “Confused Clarity.” You can listen to the new Andy from Denver demos at the band’s MySpace page.

Faster Circuits, the new Derek Almstead-led M Coast offshoot, has posted its first song, “Mystical Shit,” on their MySpace page. Check it out here. It wouldn’t be out of place on Say it in Slang, actually.

Well, that was an unfortunately short run. M Coast, a band just launched in spring 2006, has this month announced they’re splitting up. The information was leaked in a post by Happy Happy Birthday to Me’s Mike Turner at the E6 Townhall: “M Coast has parted ways and it seems Andy [Gonzales] will either be going by Andy from Denver or
Marshmallow Coast again, while Derek [Almstead], Emily [Growden], and Carlton [Owens] are working on a new band…” Marshmallow Coast was the original recording project of Andy’s, having produced five albums on labels such as Kindercore and Misra, but when he decided to integrate Derek, Emily, and Carlton (as well as Andy’s wife Sara Kirkpatrick, who had previously played on Antistar), the result was a more chimera-like band with Derek and Emily sharing vocal duties. Derek also contributed many songs which he’d been sitting on for years without an outlet (both Derek and Andy were formerly members of of Montreal). The resulting album, Say it in Slang, was released last year by HHBTM to positive reviews, and most recently M Coast played to a very appreciative audience at the 2007 Athens PopFest.

While the reasons for the split are unknown at this time, the end result is that there will be two bands. Derek writes Optical Atlas, “Carlton Owens, Emily Growden and I are going to continue as a band doing my songs under the moniker Faster Circuits. I already had six new songs for a new M Coast record and now have about ten. We will be spending the winter working on the record. I’m working on getting the MySpace page finished; it’s lucky to find a band name that no one has taken already!” I’ll provide more info on Faster Circuits as it comes; and hopefully soon we’ll learn if another Marshmallow Coast record, with Andy and Sara, is on the horizon.

UPDATE: More from Derek, from the Faster Circuits MySpace blog:

So I guess unless some statement is made there will always be conjecture…

M Coast’s split was totally amicable. Andy called me up and expressed that he’d like to do more stripped-down electro-pop, which something he’d been hinting at recently. I had been wrestling with how to combine our new tunes as his are more in that direction while mine are heading into darker psyche territory. It’s sad that it didn’t work out, but bands rarely do! I look at it as an opportunity to do things i’ve never been able to do before. We are all still great friends, and in fact Andy and Sara were both at our Thanksgiving potluck.

That’s good to hear.

UPDATE II: Andy has written in to assure us that a new album of his own is on the way, although he’s still unsure about what name it will go under (see above). But you can hear two new songs at the Andy from Denver MySpace!

MP3: M Coast – Sail Around the World