Optical Atlas

Stroke, the tribute & benefit album for Chris Knox of the Tall Dwarfs , is officially released today in the U.S. by Merge Records. (It was previously available as a digital release, and before that was issued–minus the Jeff Mangum track–in New Zealand.) Apart from Jeff Mangum, Red&Zeke (featuring Bill Doss and Neil Cleary), Portastic, Bill Callahan, Yo La Tengo, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Jay Reatard, and many others appear on the two-disc set, all covering the music of Knox.

Celebrating the release of Stroke, and also to benefit Chris Knox, Cloud Recordings is now offering their two Tall Dwarfs reissues (Weeville and Fork Songs) at a discounted price for a limited time.

Since it’s Jeff Mangum week, why not?  Here’s Jeff playing “Sailing Through/Two-Headed Boy Part 2″ live at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, CA, on 4/12/98.  Thanks to defgav for posting it.

It has now been officially announced (via Wilson at Merge Records) that Jeff Mangum has contributed a track to the U.S. version of the Chris Knox tribute album Stroke.  The song, “Sign the Dotted Line,” is a cover of the Tall Dwarfs track.   In addition, Bill Doss & Neil Cleary form Red & Zeke for the cover of the Tall Dwarfs‘  ”Bodies.”  You can read Bill Doss’ thoughts on the Tall Dwarfs here.

You can preorder the double-CD set which will ship on or around February 23 by visiting this page at Merge Records.  Preorders receive an immediate digital download of the album.  You can also purchase the MP3s a la carte or as a bundle.  The New Zealand version of the album, which is available now at Chris Knox’s website, does not feature the Jeff Mangum track.

In June, Chris Knox of the Tall Dwarfs suffered a stroke in Grey Lynn, New Zealand.  The Tall Dwarfs have had a tremendous influence on Elephant 6, and it was Chris Knox who invited Jeff Mangum to give a performance in 2001 in New Zealand.  The Tall Dwarfs also toured with Olivia Tremor Control on the 2005 reunion tour. The Stroke benefit album also features contributions from Yo La Tengo, Jay Reatard, Stephin Merritt, Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, and many more.

Yes, I’ve been slow to add these – I apologize. The Townhall and Pitchfork have been linking to new (to us) Neutral Milk Hotel live videos from the Knitting Factory in 1998, posted on YouTube by goldenpuppy1.

Merge Records has just reissued both of Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic albums, On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, on 180-gram vinyl. Each order also comes with a free digital download of the album (which implies, improbably, that you don’t have these already). You can order them here.

In other NMH news, according to Merge, Julian Koster of The Music Tapes (and Neutral Milk Hotel) will be undertaking another Christmas carol tour this year.  More details will be announced soon!

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.

Sorry I didn’t link to this earlier, but it escaped my attention entirely: the charity Children of the Blue Sky has put up for auction a number of signed items by Jeff Mangum, Robert Schneider, and of Montreal.  There’s still some time left if you want to bid on a signed copy of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, New Magnetic Wonder, and some posters signed by Robert Schneider and of Montreal.  Check out all the items here.

Merge Records celebrated their 20th anniversary this year with the most talked-about music festival of the summer (XX Merge), as well as a subscription-series box set of celebrity-curated compilation CDs collectively entitled SCORE!  Subscriptions to that series are sold out, but Merge is giving away the box set for free to one lucky winner.  All you need to do is pre-order one of their September releases to be entered to get your name in the hat.  Those releases include new records by The Clean and Polvo, as well as the book chronicling the first 20 years of Merge Records, Our Noise (which features plenty of anecdotes on Neutral Milk Hotel, if that helps any).  You can pre-order any of these releases now at Merge’s website.  The contest closes September 8th.