Crib Notes

BACK TO THE WEB: Released in 2006

For a band, consistency is one thing; being consistently dull, however, is quite another. The main reason a group like Radiohead is so universally revered seems to be their impeccable consistency. The band, in essence, becomes a brand — for the most part, we as listeners know what to expect, even if the formula is slightly tweaked from album to album. But you and I both know that Sam’s Choice Cola ain’t no Coke, and there of course exists a whole host of bands who spend the entirety of their middling careers bathed in mediocrity. Consistent, yes; exciting, nah.

I mention all this certainly not to equate Elf Power with store-brand soda pop. But the chief complaint lobbied against the Athens-based Elephant 6 stalwarts throughout their decade-plus career has been their neglect to push the ol’ proverbial envelope, their incredible averageness. I will admit this criticism isn’t entirely unfounded: take a listen to any one of their three or four albums of the early aughts and you could be forgiven for cursorily mistaking one for the other. But around 2004, some kind of rejuvenating lightning struck. That year’s Walking With the Beggar Boys displayed a band eager to rock and roll, and with its tightly-wound guitar licks it veered closer to Thin Lizzy than to any of the ’60s psychers to which Elf Power were initially so often (and rightfully) compared. (more…)

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This week NPR’s “All Songs Considered” posted a stream of last week’s Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise tour stop at The Bottom Lounge in Chicago on Oct. 21. The stream of the concert features the large ensemble’s two-and-a-half hour performance plus an interview with Julian Koster of Olivia Tremor Control, the Music Tapes.

To listen to the concert click here.

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The pairing of Athens stalwarts Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power yields lingering, autumnal melodies and songs that elude expectation. Dark Developments sways with a natural and stylistic drift toward the melancholy side of Chesnutt’s allegorical songwriting. But the buoyant pop rhythms and mellow psychedelic textures of each number tussle with nihilism, culminating in a gray and wintry body of songs. “We Are Mean” is the album’s Rosetta Stone, laying out the tensions that arise when these vibrant songs are brought to a point by such a dreary narrator. “The Mad Passion of the Stoic” and “Phil the Fiddler” unfold at the lumbering and difficult pace of the greatest Southern authors. As such, Dark Developments is as spectral and haunting as William Faulkner when he was on point, or Flannery O’Connor when just skirting the dark side.

Dark Developments is an album where indeed the sum is greater than its parts, and the album’s cover art bestows just as much meaning on the release as the music itself. The cover features a painting, titled Through the Garden, by sometimes Athens resident Terry Rowlett.

Rowlett’s images are lush and allegorical scenes that depict both strange and all-too-familiar characters traversing all sorts of scenarios that exist in their own time and place.

Chad Radford: How Did your painting end up on the cover of Dark Developments?

Terry Rowlett: Andrew Rieger wanted to use it for the front cover of it and I eagerly jumped at the chance to be on the cover of one of Vic’s album’s. I have always liked his music. Andrew had been thinking about the image and the music for a while and everyone agreed. The painting is seven or eight years old.

Did you go to college in Athens?

Yeah, I got a Masters in 1995. I showed up here in ‘92 and have been around town since then. I’ve spent some time in New York. I was living in Woodstock until January 1st. Right now I’m living on Orange Twin, on this little farm compound.

Who are the character in the painting?

Metaphorically speaking I think the guy in the red robe is us, you and me at the end of our lives … People going through life and then all of the sudden you’re dead. He’s everybody, generic people. I tried to put a real tranquil spin on it. It looks to me like he’s in a Purgatory moment, that kind of quasi real world moment, but not really in the real world.

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Athens’ psych-damaged melody makers Ham1 are preparing to release their third full-length, The Underground Stream, due out  this fall, with an LP slated for an early 2009 release on Infinity Cat Records.

The entire album is available as a free download here.

Several of the group’s members (which include principle songwriter Jim Willingham, Christopher Sugiuchi, Eric Harris of Olivia Tremor Control, and Jacob Morris) spent the summer touring with Vic Chesnutt throughout Europe, later spent time on the road with Elf Power, and appeared as Liz Durrett’s backing band on her latest release, Outside Our Gates.

Through it all the group found time to go into the studio with engineer Jason Nesmith of Casper & the Cookies to record The Underground Stream.

Each song on the album hangs in a balance of instrumental melancholy, lazy/nasally crooning and acid-drenched textures that take shape in a cerebral, psychedelic pastiche.

“Toothless Frontlines” and “Thylacine” portray an element of concrete songwriting that’s bound by a greater sense of chemistry than any of the group’s previous offerings, but it is not at the expense of their more experimental leanings. “Potato Gun” is a short and seemingly insignificant piano/grumbling-noise interlude, but is perhaps the most haunting 30 seconds on the record. The Underground Stream is filled with these obscure little enclaves, but not all of them exist outside the more refined songs.

“Will You Ever See Me Again” opens the recording with a soft burst of vocal harmonies that carry a warm, autumnal tone that expands throughout the record. “Mel Bay” is a grainy dose of distorted easy listening that offers a counterbalance to the introspective pace of “Begonia.”

“I Wave Back” changes the tone with a Lou Reed swagger-and-strum that embodies an unmistakable reverence for straight-forward collegetown rock and roll.

It is precisely this balance comfortable atmospheric fugues, lingering melodies and a noisy take on traditional songwriting that give the record so much character. 5 Stars

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Jeff Mangum (left) with Neutral Milk Hotel

The Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour is well under way, featuring members of Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, Circulatory System, the Music Tapes, and others performing a medley of songs from Athens’ twee pop heydays.

One of E6’s most elusive characters, Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum appeared on stage for the tour’s stop at The Knitting Factory in New York City on Sat., Oct. 11th. Brian from The Daily Cross Hatch recorded some videos of the performance, including Mangum performing during Olivia Tremor Control songs, “The Opera House,” “I Have Been Floated,” and he even joins in for Elf Power’s song, “The Arrow Flies Close.”

The videos from the performance can be viewed over at Pitchfork.

(Photo by Will Westbrook)

Tour dates after the jump.

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In celebration of Music Tapes‘ For Clouds and Tornadoes, and the release of the long-awaited film, Major Organ and the Adding Machine, many members of the famed Elephant 6 collective will converge for a variety show tour in October. Julian Koster, William Cullen Hart, Scott Spillane, Laura Carter, Eric Harris, Nesey Gallons along with The Singing Saw, the 7 Foot Tall Metronome, Static the Television and many others will host what Julian Koster describes as “a big orchestra, variety show, silly happy thing.” The large gathering of E-6 members will be playing numbers from the catalogues of the Music Tapes, the Circulatory System, Scott Spillane, Gerbils, Elf Power, Olivia Tremor Control, Nana Grizol, Nesey Gallons and more.

In addition, Orange Twin Records has announced the imminent release of Major Organ and the Adding Machine, a short film by Joey Foreman and Eric Harris. The film is nearing completion and will premiere during the E-6 “Holiday Surprise” shows in October. The film is currently being submitted to film festivals and will be coming out as a CD/DVD set in the fall of 2009. Accompanying the Orange Twin DVD edition will be the expanded version of the film’s soundtrack, originally released in early 2000, that includes several unreleased bonus tracks and new liner notes by co-director Harris. The film and album feature musical and theatrical contributions from Jeff Mangum, Kevin Barnes, William Cullen Hart, Julian Koster, Andrew Rieger, Dixie Blood Moustache and other participants from Athens music scene of the late-90’s.

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AT SXSW: Michael Stipe of R.E.M. (All photos by Perry Julien.)

Music conference vs. music festival.

Badges vs. wristbands vs. free shows.

Official showcases vs. un-official showcases.

Regardless of your opinions, there is something about 1,700 bands getting together for 24 hours of music.

I was able to see and photograph 49 bands over five days. Fucking rock excess.

Below are photos from: REM, Dark Meat, Ocha La Rocha, Elf Power, Dead Confederate, The Whigs, Von Bondies, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Raveonettes, Vampire Weekend, and X.

R.E.M.

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Elf Power’s new album smells like spring’s impending arrival: soaring vocal harmonies, blooming melodies and an enveloping warmth clouded by a loose-limbed gait.

Continue reading CD release.

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