Originally I wanted Optical Atlas to be less of a website and more of a place, in the same way that many of the E6 albums seem to summon a space that one can visit or occupy. I wanted it to BE Cubist Castle. I wanted you to see the paintings that hung on the walls there, and click on them and listen to them. But that was just one of the many aborted ideas for Optical Atlas; I always had a bit more ambition than website-design talent, or the time to do all of it. For example, my idea of creating a gallery that would feature the artwork of every single E6-related release was hurt by the reality that, you know, the ongoing output of these folks is so high that it’s a challenge just to keep up. But for a long while Optical Atlas was a fun hobby that I found endlessly rewarding: new friends, new experiences, and a celebration, shared with other fans, of great and often overlooked music. I don’t know how much I thought about the website’s inevitable end, but at a certain point the idea weighed upon me more and more. There are so many bands related to the E6 collective that it’s always been easy to find something to post about; what became more difficult was finding the time and inclination to work on the site when there are so many other duties and obligations in my non-hobby-oriented life. Last December, finding that my work on Optical Atlas was becoming–less than 100%? Somewhat listless?–I thought I’d refocus myself in putting together a decade-end E6 retrospective. It took almost a month to create, and the reaction was wonderful.  (I’m surprised so many of you read through it all.  It was big!) But I’d been thinking about that being the last post on the website ever, and that didn’t exactly happen. How could I end it when there was a new Apples in Stereo album coming out, and Miles Kurosky was returning to the music scene, and Jeff Mangum seemed to be steadily resurfacing? Late winter and spring were a pretty exciting time to be an Elephant 6 fan. Still, by sticking around I’d missed my chance to go out with a bang, and as you may have noticed, since then each gap between an Optical Atlas update seems to have been longer than the last. So I am here to tell you that this is it. The End. 

I still greatly love the music produced by the E6 collective and their friends. The glowing review I just posted of Folklore’s upcoming Home Church Road comes from the bottom of my heart. I get excited listening to this music. At the same time, my creative energies have been focused elsewhere for the last year-and-a-half, which means, on a practical level, that when I get free time–often on a Saturday morning, with a cup of coffee and two dogs competing for my lap–I spend my time working on something else. Optical Atlas does not get considered. So it’s probably time to set it loose as a–whatever it is. As this nebulous entity that never quite was in the first place.

That means absolutely nothing for Elephant 6. This hasn’t a thing to do with the state of the collective or what they’re going to do next. I don’t have a red phone on my desk that connects me immediately to Robert or Jeff or Will (although, now that I’ve imagined that, it’s a shame that such a thing doesn’t exist, don’t you think?). This means a fansite ended, that’s all.

What it means for you–if you managed to stick around with me this long, you diehard–is you will need to check in directly with Elephant6.com, the E6 Townhall, and the bands’ various websites and Facebook and MySpace pages, rather than expecting me to link to it. If you send me a CD, I won’t review it. (Although, hey, presents are nice!) If you ask me to post this or that, I won’t, but it’s no hard feelings.

It’s just that I can kind of see where I need to go next, and it’s in that next room over, and I have to go in there now. That’s the best way I can explain it. At a certain point, a voice in your head will say, “Get moving.” So I am.

But I can only give universal love and heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped out with this enterprise called Optical Atlas, and to everyone who checked in to read it.

Thanks, guys.

What was, remains the same…

After World War Three, and a great geological upheaval on the Earth, mankind becomes extinct, and the animals take over once more: the birds, the deer, the cows, the ants, and a creature named Loki, who rises among them, and proceeds to manipulate them with his “magic.” It’s not the stuff of a lost 1970’s Ralph Bakshi animated film, but the tale which supports the third album by Folklore, the psych/folk/rock band fronted by Elf Power guitarist Jimmy Hughes. An exceptionally gifted songwriter, Hughes writes concept albums that are reminiscent of the approach taken by the Kinks (think Arthur and Lola Versus Powerman), which shouldn’t be too big of a surprise since Folklore once performed the entirety of The Village Green Preservation Society live. The band’s latest album, in both its story and pop inclinations, also recalls Masters of the Hemisphere’s cult hit I Am Not a Freemdoom (Hughes released a MOTH live album, Last Show Ever, on his homegrown label BumbleBEAR Records many years back). This one’s quite a bit darker, though: Home Church Road follows the cyclical nature of civilizations; animals replace the human race, but quickly start upon their own path to destruction.

To discuss only the album’s story, however, would be doing a disservice to what really distinguishes Folklore’s music: killer hooks buffeted by a plethora of talented musicians (the lineup here includes 12 band members, as well as additional guest musicians), corralled into the Folklore fold – in this case, drawing from Athens and Philadelphia – and delivering upon a variety of styles, from the laid-back country of “Empty Houses,” to the mesmerizing, sitar-driven psychedelia of “The Ants,” to the raucous rock-and-roll of “The Party.”  The culmination is an album which lives up to the band’s very strong debut The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman; that one drew heavily from Hughes’ friends in the Elephant 6 collective, but the latest finds him setting upon his own path and defining Folklore’s voice with greater confidence.  Home Church Road is distinctive, but for me it’s also something of a nostalgic listen: in the late 90’s and early years of the last decade, it wouldn’t be quite so unusual to get an indie album this effortlessly ambitious from Athens, but recently these kind of records seem a little more rare and valuable. 

Have a listen to “The Party” below.  The album is completed but release details will follow, hopefully soon.

Folklore – The Party

Over the last couple of years, perhaps the only E6 parlor game more popular than “when will that second Circulatory System album come out?” (followed rapidly by “when will that Circulatory System bonus LP come out?”) is “when will the Major Organ and the Adding Machine DVD/Expanded CD come out?”  But, honestly, the great thing about Elephant 6 is that they usually make it worth the long wait (and those gaps are filled with so many of Montreal and Robert Schneider-related releases that the wait doesn’t really matter all that much).  Anyway, at long last the Major Organ and the Adding Machine re-release has been announced, but first a history: the 2001 album was one of the flagship releases of the Athens-based Orange Twin Records label, draped in the E6 logo and featuring an all-star cast from the E6-East universe, though none of them were named on the album.  (Nonetheless, it was pretty easy to recognize that prominent members of Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Music Tapes, of Montreal, and Elf Power were contributing.)  The CD drifted out of print, though the LP remained generally available.  Although initial reviews of the concept album – a harrowing mix of avant-garde sound collages and psych-rock – were mixed, with some being very harsh, over the past nine years it has deservedly developed wider admiration and the requisite cult following.  For the 2008 Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour, Eric Harris  (OTC, Elf Power)  would begin each evening’s program with a screening of the Major Organ and the Adding Machine short film, which he co-directed with Joey Foreman: a years-in-the-works cross between music video and experimental children’s fantasy, telling the story of Madam Truffle, a bunch of people with beards, a giant lobster, and, um, other things that happen.  (It’s all great fun.)  A DVD was announced and then postponed, and postponed, and postponed again.

Now Pitchfork has announced the real deal: on September 14, Orange Twin Records will release the deluxe Major Organ and the Adding Machine reissue, which will feature the complete album plus seven bonus tracks, bundled with a DVD of the film and bonus features such as music videos, live footage, and other E6-related projects, perhaps some of which were featured in the Eric Harris-curated E6 film program which screened last year in Athens.

Conclusion: Viva Francisco! (Thanks to Kathy with a K for the head’s-up.)

Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox at Amazon.com

Supercluster, the Athens supergroup fronted by Pylon’s Vanessa Hay (and including members of Circulatory System, of Montreal, Sound Houses, and Casper & the Cookies), is playing outside of Georgia for the first time as they tour alongside none other than the B-52’s.  Here are the upcoming Supercluster dates (a few more dates will be added for this summer, yet to be announced):

Supercluster Dates [updated 6/16]
06.26.10 Athens, GA @ AthFest – Pulaski St. Main Stage
07.06.10 New York City, NY @ Highline Ballroom w/B-52’s
07.08.10 Decatur, GA @ Kavarna  w/Shalini Chatterjee
07.09.10 Athens, GA @ Little Kings w/Shalini Chatterjee
07.13.10 Lancaster, PA @ American Music Theater w/B-52’s
07.14.10 Vienna, VA @ The Filene Center w/B-52’s
07.15.10 Jim Thorpe, PA @ Penn’s Peak w/B-52’s
07.24.10 Peachtree City, GA @ Fred Brown Amphitheater w/B-52’s
08.13.10 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt – Athens PopFest
08.20.10 Lowell, MA @ Boarding House Park w/B-52’s