Optical Atlas

Paige Dearman has updated her Midget and Hairs MySpace blog with the following note:

So I have recently had a CD come out on Royal Rhino Flying Records and thanks to MySpace networking I have an upcoming show on 5/18 at Red 7! I will give more details about cost and time when I get them. I haven’t played live since I opened up for Elliott Smith so I’m a little nervous but gonna swing it. I also recorded 4 new songs this weekend and need to mix them down and will post them on my page.

Thanks also to Adam for the note.

Occasional Optical Atlas contributor Adam Schragin has written a review of the new Midget and Hairs compilation for the Austinist, and you can read that – as well as download an MP3 from the album - right here.  Expect my review to materialize at this site within the next week or so.  In fact, we’re playing review catch-up over here: in addition to my Elf Power review posted last night, you can expect to shortly see reviews of the new Apples in Stereo album (from me) as well as the various artists comp Build Your Army with Potatoes (from Austinist scribe Adam). By the way, Build Your Army with Potatoes is an amazing record, featuring new and rare tracks by The Instruments, Great Lakes, Folklore, The Sixth Great Lake, Von Hemmling, The Diminisher, Calvin, Don’t Jump!, The Mendoza Line, The Lilys, Jack Logan, Geoff Reacher, Fabulous Bird, El Goodo, Volcano the Bear, and more, including my unqualified favorite new band, Laminated Cat, who have a record coming out that I hope gets all the attention it deserves.  But the Potatoes comp, as well as the Midget and Hairs album, is available right now from Royal Rhino Flying Records.

Paige Dearman writes in to note that her new CD, an anthology of Midget and Hairs music, is now available from Royal Rhino Flying Records.  $7 domestic, $9 international.  Purchase it here.  My review is forthcoming.

And I regret that my recent post on various upcoming tour dates was woefully incomplete; I forgot to mention that Andy from Denver, formerly Marshmallow Coast, will be playing some Flicker Theater shows in Athens in upcoming months.  If you’re in the area, be sure to head over to Flicker on February 9th and March 7th to hear the latest incarnation of Andy Gonzales (all right, that made it sound like he’ll be appearing as Shiva).  You can hear some of his new music at his MySpace site.

Midget and Hairs, the erstwhile recording project of Paige Dearman, will finally be releasing a CD collection of singles and rarities on Royal Rhino Flying Records. (OA correspondent Adam Schragin interviewed Paige about M&H last June; you can read the interview here.) The band’s output has always been rather limited and hard to find (and exclusively on vinyl), but the Midget and Hairs album will collect all the material under one banner, including many tracks that have never been released before. Guest players include Jeff Mangum, Robert Schneider, Hilarie Sidney, Will Cullen Hart, Andy Gonzales, and Nivek Holtman. You can expect this to drop late 2007/early 2008.  Thanks to Adam and Dwight for the info.

Midget and Hairs
1. Back in the Heart/It’s the Summer Again/Godecia
2. Sleep for a While/Cool Fireman Hat/Daddy’s Switchblade
3. Stardaisy
4. The Pause/Little Girl/Attach Your Enclosed Feet
5. Plaid Eyes
6. Fosterbaby in the Cave
7. Pennywhistle
8. A Time for Us
9. Goodbye Ethel Malloy
10. Engaged to Fear
11. Breaking Apart
12. Disassociation
13. Blue Algea Forum
14. Pea on Cigs, Kids in the Attic
15. Accordion Moment