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

 

Elf Power has been one of the most prolific members of the Elephant 6 collective, but after sixteen years of existence and umpteen releases, they are about to complete a new rite of passage: their first eponymous album.  Elf Power, by Elf Power, will be released September 14, 2010, on Orange Twin Records, with contributions from band members Andrew Rieger, Jimmy Hughes, Derek Almstead, Eric Harris, and Laura Carter, along with guests Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and John Fernandes  (The Olivia Tremor Control), as well as Heather McIntosh (Circulatory System).  The album will be dedicated to the memory of the late and great Vic Chesnutt, with whom Elf Power toured and completed a collaborative album called Dark Developments.  You can read the full press release here.

Elf Power’s guitarist Jimmy Hughes fronts Folklore, and the band is hitting the road beginning this Saturday.  Their third album, Home Church Road, is due out soon after a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise funds.  If you live in one of these towns, come out and support them!

Folklore Tour Dates

6/12/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Cranky’s w/ The Bears Of Blue River, Afternoon Naps
6/13/10 – Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s w/ The Bears Of Blue River, Poison Control Center
6/14/10 – Madison, WI @ The Project Lodge w/ The Bears Of Blue River
6/15/10 – Kalamazoo, MI @ No Fun House w/ The Bears Of Blue River
6/16/10 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop w/ The Bears Of Blue River, The Calumet Reel
6/17/10 – State College, PA @ Chronic Town
6/18/10 – New York, NY @ Pianos w/ Poison Control Center, Great Lakes
6/19/10 – Philadelphia, PA @ The M Room w/ Poison Control Center, Music For Headphones

The latest album from The Apples in Stereo, Travellers in Space and Time, is released next Tuesday (April 20th), but you can purchase it at participating retailers on Record Store Day this Saturday, April 17th.  Do so, and you’ll receive a free copy of the 12″ Future Vintage: Covers of The Apples in Stereo, featuring Ted Leo, Bad Veins, Throw Me the Statue, The Generationals, Maps and Atlases, and Elf Power.  (Check here for a list of all participating stores.)  The Travellers in Space and Time tour kicks off this Friday in Lexington…

The Apples in Stereo – Dance Floor

The Apples in Stereo Travellers in Space and Time Tour (with The Generationals and Laminated Cat)

Apr 16 – Cosmic Charlies – Lexington, KY
Apr 17 – 123 Pleasant Street – Morgantown, WV
Apr 18 – Rock and Roll Hotel – Washington DC
Apr 20 – Johnny Brenda’s – Philadelphia, PA
Apr 21 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY
Apr 23 – Middle East Underground – Cambridge, MA
Apr 24 – Castaways – Ithaca, NY
Apr 25 – Bug Jar – Rochester, NY
Apr 27 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
Apr 28 – The Pike Room – Pontiac, MD
Apr 30 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
May 1 – Turf Club – St. Paul, MN
May 3 – Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI
May 4 – Billiken Club – St. Louis, MO

Tomorrow AUX, the Athens Experimental Arts Festival, will hold its fourth gathering featuring live performance, multi-media performance, visual art, and more.  Guests include Michael Columbia, Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone, John Fernandes (Circulatory System), The Visitations, Hannah Jones (Sound Houses), and the legendary Flash Card Orchestra, among many other performers.  A full list is below.  Little Kings and the Athens Ciné will be hosting the event, and $5 tickets are available at the door.

Special guests:
Michael Columbia (Chicago/Cincinnati)
and
Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone (NYC)

Performances:
3:00 Jeff Fallis (Little Kings)
3:30 Nutritional Peace (Cine)
4:00 Rah as Tempel (Little Kings)
4:30 The Visitors/Pocket Full of Claptonite (Cine)
5:00 Magic Tape Research (Little Kings)
5:15 John Fernandes (Little Kings)
5:30 Denise Posnak, Laura Hoffman, Amanda Martin (Cine)
6:00 The Visitations (Little Kings)
6:30 Steven Trimmer (Cine)
6:45 Hannah Jones (Cine)
7:00 MANS TRASH (Little Kings)
7:30 Aman Amun (Cine)
8:00 Dream Scene (Little Kings)
8:30 Case Quarter (Cine)
9:00 Geisterkatzen (Little Kings)
9:30 The Untanglers (Cine)
10:00 Flash Card Orchestra! (Little Kings)
10:30 The Odd Trio (Little Kings)
11:00 Video Program (Cine)
11:30 Brave New Citizen (Little Kings)
12:00 Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone (Cine)
1:00 Michael Columbia (Little Kings)

Installations:

Eye Gate
Dan Hole Pond
Justin Roberts

Video screenings:

25 minute program repeating at
3, 4:30, 9:30, and 11 in Ciné 2

Elliott Earls
Ashley Ohman
Joleen Toner
Chris Cogan
Eddie Whelan
Ash Sechler
Carlos Casas
Ries Straver
John Crowe
Seth Nicholas Stephens

Artist’s Market:

Gypsies Tramps & Thieves
Old Cat Died
Cathy Dailey
Cameoko
Christy Wooke
Beca Designs
Bacon Neckwear
Laurel Hill

Sponsors:

Little Kings
Ciné
Nuçi’s Space
Flagpole
Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE)

04/20 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicorn
04/21 – Auburn, AL – The Independent
04/22 – New Orleans, LA – The Circle Bar
04/23 – Hot Springs, AR – Maxines
04/24 – Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves
04/26 – Scottsdale, AZ – The Rouge Bar
04/27 – Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland
04/29 – San Francisco, CA – The Rickshaw Stop
05/02 – Seattle, WA – The Comet Tavern
05/06 – Saint Paul, MN – The Turf Club
05/07 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
05/08 – Chicago, IL – Reggies Music Room
05/09 – Nashville, TN – The Basement

Pitchfork has announced that Jeff Mangum will perform a “very short acoustic set” at the Chris Knox benefit concert scheduled for May 6th at NYC’s Le Poisson Rouge. Also performing at the concert: Yo La Tengo, Kyp Malone, Portastic, The Clean, Claudia Gonson of Magnetic Fields, Sharon Van Etten, John Mulaney, Robert Scott, David Kilgour and Dimmer. Tickets go on sale at Kickstarter tomorrow, March 30. (This concert follows the release of Stroke, the benefit album for the Tall Dwarfs‘ Chris Knox, which also featured a track by Jeff Mangum.) This would mark the first live performance by the Neutral Milk Hotel frontman since the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour of two years back, for which he performed “Engine” at the encore of multiple shows. This is very, very exciting news – although the focus should remain on the only reason this is happening in the first place: raising money for Mr. Knox’s medical bills, a good cause indeed.

Since I’ve left a gap between posts here, a bit longer than intended, let me catch you up on some other Elephant 6 news:

The long-awaited deluxe edition of Circulatory System’s Signal Morning vinyl LP is finally being shipped to those who pre-ordered back in the summer of last year. It’s worth the wait (mine arrived on Saturday): the exclusive Sides 3 and 4 of the album contain alternate remixes, with a hand-painted sleeve. If you didn’t preorder, there will likely be a few more copies available for sale after all extant orders have shipped: more info is at Cloud Recordings.

Folklore, led by Elf Power’s Jimmy Hughes, is finishing up work on their third album, Home Church Road. If you’d like to see the album get released on vinyl, a Kickstarter fund was started by Jimmy, to which you can contribute. Tour dates are below.

Folklore on Tour

03.30.10 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
04.02.10 State College, PA @ Chronic Town w/ The Spinto Band
04.03.10 – New York, NY @ The Cake Shop w/ Blood Warrior
04.15.10 – Geneseo, NY @ SUNY Geneseo (Knight Spot)

The AV Club Decider D.C. just interviewed Beulah’s Miles Kurosky on his (really quite wonderful) new solo album The Desert of Shallow Effects.

Seamonster, the band by Robbert Bobbert artist Todd Webb, has just released a 7″ called Two Birds on Royal Rhino Flying Records/Gold Robot Records/Martyrs of Pop. You can order it here. A video for “Oh Appalachia,” one of the six tracks on the EP, can be viewed here.

Casper & the Cookies also have a new video, for “Sharp!”, a track from last year’s Modern Silence. You can watch it here.