Optical Atlas

Elf Power has announced their upcoming touring-related intentions for the year in a blog post at MySpace. In addition to playing a number of summer festivals (listed below), they will be hitting the East Coast and Midwest in July with Ham1. Their upcoming collaboration with Vic Chesnutt now has a name–Dark Developments–and they will be touring with Chesnutt through Europe and the U.S., as well. So expect more to be added to the list of confirmed dates below.

Elf Power – Upcoming Dates

06.20.08 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre (Athfest)
07.08.08 Wilmington, NC @ Soapbox
07.09.08 Richmond, VA @ Alley Katz
07.10.08 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
07.11.08 New York, NY @ Cake Shop
07.12.08 Camden, CT @ Space
07.15.08 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
07.16.08 Lexington, KY @ Al’s Bar
07.17.08 Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio
07.19.08 Chicago, IL @ Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)
07.26.08 Macon, GA @ Braggjam Festival
07.31.08 Emmaboda, Sweden @ Emmaboda Festival
08.02.08 Manchester, England @ New Century House (A Day at the Races Festival)
08.30.08 Ashevilla, NC @ Grey Eagle

Finally, our friends at Cable & Tweed have posted a number of 2007 Athens Popfest recordings, including sets by Marbles, The New Sound of Numbers, and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t. You can download them here.

Tonight at the Georgia Theatre in Athens is a Fat Man Touring special lineup, with headliner Venice is Sinking, plus Casper & the Cookies, Fairmount Fair, The Buddy System, Deaf Judges, and Matias. A steal at $5 per head – doors at 9.

Monday, The New Sound of Numbers (recently renamed Sound Houses) will be playing the Caledonia Lounge with Paper Tanks and Ketman. Admission is $6, doors open at 10.

Hannah Jones has changed the name of her project The New Sound of Numbers to Sound Houses, to mark a new direction for the band. From TNSON’s MySpace blog:

We, The New Sound of Numbers are officially changing our name to Sound Houses. This change is coming about because our next recording project will sound quite a bit different from The New Sound of Numbers’ Liberty Seeds album – which was recorded for the most part by Hannah Jones in her home studio. Liberty Seeds was recorded a track at a time, each track building on the next. The New Sound of Numbers feels as though it started as a solo project that expanded and evolved into a band whose members each contribute to the song-forming process.

You can find Sound Houses‘ new MySpace page here. Hopefully some music will be added to it soon.

I am utterly indifferent to the name change–or, at least, much more enthusiastic about the fact that there’s new Hannah Jones music in the pipeline.

The New Sound of Numbers has two shows lined up in Athens for the next month: they’ll be playing at the 40 Watt on April 3rd (this Thursday) with Supercluster and A. Che Why at 9pm, and at the Go Bar on April 19. Supercluster, by the way, is Pylon’s Vanessa Hay, backed on the project’s first release (the Special 5 EP) by a band that includes TNSON’s Hannah Jones, Casper & the Cookies‘ Jason NeSmith and Kay Stanton, and Circulatory System’s W. Cullen Hart and John Fernandes. A track was posted in last week’s update to the Optical Atlas jukebox, and you can order the EP from AthensMusic.

Speaking of AthensMusic, the site is now selling the eighth annual AthFest compilation, which includes Madeline, Ham1, Titans of Filth, The Inflatable Orchestra, and more. For a full track listing and ordering info, go here. Preorders ship April 29.

AUX is an Athens-based collective of experimental audio and visual artists whose curators include Heather McIntosh (The Instruments). A couple of years ago they put together a festival in Athens which featured performers such as Lorkakar (The New Sound of Numbers‘ Hannah Jones), and Vortex of Withering (Circulatory System’s W. Cullen Hart and Elf Power’s Andrew Rieger); they also released a limited-edition compilation CD featuring Korena Pang (Jeff Mangum), W. Cullen Hart, Heather McIntosh, Paul Thomas, Hannah Jones, and more. Next month will be AUX 2, a second live event with video, artwork, and performance. The event will be held on Saturday, February 23rd, across three venues: Cine, Little Kings, and Flicker. Heather has released the initial lineup, which is as follows (more artists to be added):

Musicians:
A Horse is a Sphere (Leslie Grove and friends)
Black Swan Network (members of Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System)
Lorkakar (Hannah Jones)
Dark Meat/ Pterodactyl Wingspan
Dream Circle (members of Quiet Hooves)
Howling Jelly (Andrew Rieger from Elf Power and Mark Tissenbaum)
Auk Theatre (Dr. Irene Moon)
Paul Thomas
Kid Pork
Eyes and Arms of Smoke (members of Von Hemmling, Ulysses, and Hair Police)

Dancers:
Kate Schoenke
Julie Rothschild
Laura Glenn
Maryn Vance
Andrea Trombetta

Video Artists:
Jonathan Railey
Dickie Cox
Dixie Blood Mustache
Kevin Hoth
Jorge Torres
Mark Callahan

Visual artists:
Kristen Bach
Matt Blanks
Lou Kregel
Hannah Jones
Jocelyn Negron
Winston Parker

Here’s the official AUX website, where you can still purchase the first CD compilation.

Supercluster, a group featuring members of Pylon, The New Sound of Numbers, Casper & the Cookies, and Circulatory System, has a self-released CD-R EP available for sale at Athensmusic.net. The band recently performed at the 40 Watt in Athens on a bill with Pylon, Gang of One (Hugo Burnham from Gang of Four), and NSON. The 5-song disc was engineered, recorded, and mixed by Jason NeSmith (C&TC) and features, according to Athensmusic, “Vanessa Briscoe Hay (vocals, keyboard, bells); Bob Hay (acoustic guitar); Randy Bewley (electric guitar); Kay Stanton (bass, backing vocals); Hannah Jones (drums, backing vocals); John Fernandes (violin, bass Clarinet, clarinet); Bill David (mandolin, backing vocals); Hana Hay and Sarah Cabaniss (cello on track 1); Will Cullen Hart (additional guitar and percussion); Will Cullen Hart, Bob Hay, Bill David & John Fernandes (Oohhs); Jason Nesmith (Sounds, additional keyboard on track 3).”  Thanks very much to Chris for the head’s-up.

I hadn’t checked in on Sloan Simpson’s excellent Southern Shelter site for about a week and a half, and what do I miss?  A rare live recording from The New Sound of Numbers, recorded 11/1 at the EARL.  You can download the full set as MP3s or lossless FLAC files here.

Hannah Jones is taking The New Sound of Numbers on a short East Coast jaunt over the next couple of weeks, following a Halloween show at the Go Bar in Athens. Here are the dates:

10.31.07 Athens, GA @ Go Bar
11.01.07 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11.05.07 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11.07.07 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
11.10.07 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live Upstairs