(7" cover, front, back, vinyl inner label, front, back, insert, front, back)










The Microphones: The Moon/The Moon (Version) 7"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Strangely little info available on this. No recording info. Not where, not when. Though, based on the timeline and release date we would have to assume it was recorded sometime in 2000.

-Released on Instatone Brand Records (IBR003) (again, conflicting addresses here. The 7" claims 203 Prospect Ave. SF, CA 94100. An internet site claims 1724 Ash St. Portland, OR 97214. The 7" also lists a website (run by a fellow named Aaron Cohen) which is no longer in operation: www.instatonerecords.com,)

-Cover designed by Khaela Maricich. "Copying"? by Frank R. Paul.

-As usual I am guessing this was pressed in an edition of maybe 500 based on the size of the label.

-All copies on black vinyl, as far as I know.

-Record plays at 33 1/3 rpms, both sides.

-These songs would later be collected (same versions) on the "Song Islands" CD.

-Inner groove info is that combo of obvious label stuff and indecipherable other numbers (IBR-003A and B, and then U-53305 M-A and B)

-Other details of note on this record:

We have, once again, the classic Phil inner label design, fully realized.

The back cover is, again, without info, only a blurry photo, reminiscent of other Microphones releases from around this time (Moon, Moon 7", It Was Hot... LP)

Once again there is an absence of "The" both on the 7" and on the inner label. It is only on the insert that they are referred to as "The Microphones".

This is the first Microphones vinyl to feature and actual insert. The first of many, featuring Phil's hand-written lyrics. Though, curiously, no other info. The insert only has the lyrics and the full name of the song (The Moon or "Constand reminder of your size, worth, place, girth, span, point, avoidance, fearsome view, lack."). A theme we will see many time throughout Phil's career. A song title with many alternate titles or expansions of the original title, added parenthetically, somewhere, usually on a 7" or an insert.




....................





Dub music is characterized by a "version" or "double"[15] of an existing song, often instrumental, using B-sides of 45 RPM records and typically emphasizing the drums and bass for a sound popular in local sound systems. The instrumental tracks are typically drenched in sound effects such as echo, reverberation, with instruments and vocals dropping in and out of the mix. Another hallmark of the dub sound is the prominent use of bass guitar. The music sometimes features other noises, such as birds singing, thunder and lightning, water flowing, and producers shouting instructions at the musicians. It can be further augmented by live DJs. The many-layered sounds with varying echoes and volumes are often said to create soundscapes, or sound sculptures, drawing attention to the shape and depth of the space between sounds as well as to the sounds themselves. There is usually a distinctly organic feel to the music, even though the effects are electronically created.

(004/126)








Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

The Moon (or "Constant Reminder Of Your Size, Worth, Place, Girth, Span, Point, Avoidance, Fearsome View, Lack.")


Side B:

The Moon (Version)














xo

(7" cover, front, back, vinyl inner label, A, B)







The Microphones: Moon, Moon/I Lost My Wind 7"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded "mostly in August 1999 at Dub Narcotic by Phil Elvrum, Khaela Maricich & Dennis Driscoll"

-Released on K Records as part of their "International Pop Underground" series. (www.kpunk.com) (PO Box 7154 Olympia, Wash. 98057) This is the International Pop Underground vol. XCV (#95).

-No indication who designed the art or the cover though it is worth noting that the front cover is very reminiscent of the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP and the back cover seems to riff on the the first press of the "It Was Hot..." LP.*

Again, it is worth noting that according to the Japanese release of the "Song Islands" cd the artwork was designed by Phil. Although there are a number of discrepancies between the info on that cd and other sources.

-No idea about pressing numbers. This was on K so I might guess that it was as high as 1000 or even 1500.

-Record plays at 45 rpms on both sides.

-All copies on black vinyl, as far as I know. Though again, this is that very thin vinyl which, though black, if held up to a light appears to be translucent brown.

-Inner groove info is standard label stuff (IPU 95 A and B)

-These songs would later be collected (same versions) on the "Song Islands" CD.

-Other details of note on this record:

Side A is credited to "The Microphones featuring Khaela Maricich". Side B is credited to "The Microphones featuring Dennis Driscoll"

Side B has an unlisted, untitled track that's about a minute long and is just noise, cymbals and drums crashing. (Thank you to Ben for reminding me of this track and the description, cheers!)

As in past releases, they are again, on the cover of the 7" referred to only as "Microphones", no "The". Though on the vinyl inner label they are referred to as "The Microphones"

Here we have the first full-on appearance of Phil's trademark inner labels. The color is there, the design and fonts are there. It's all in place, at last.




...........................................




This was another lucky early purchase in my Microphones career. This was, I think, one of the records that turned my opinion around about The Microphones. Up until then (more on this as we go) I think I thought of them as a formless, shambling indie rock mess. It was here that I finally got a glimpse at the tiny, fragile, songs and sentiments at the core of the mess. The first inkling of the elementary school chorus aesthetics of Phil. I remember this record spinning on a turntable in the Harvard Square Newbury Comics, going into my ears and my brain. Probably right before or right after the copy of The Microphones "Blood" LP I had in my hands and then passed up on then. This record, I can say, absolutely, with total recall, was the moment that I started to understand and like the Microphones. I had tried on earlier occasions. My first interaction was in Seattle, working at Orpheum Records (RIP) on Broadway on Capitol Hill. The "Tests" CD showed up and I gave it a spin and was unimpressed (stupid Brian) and there were some attempts in Boston after Nicole suggested I might like them. To me they were already cemented as nothing great, man was I wrong. Thank goodness I kept trying, and I guess that, in and of itself, is a testament to Phil and his beautiful looking records.

These songs have the distinction of being early soldiers in the mix war but also, sort of unsung, in their way. "I Lost my Wind" ended up being the secondary title song for mix 5 (it's original, as we will see soon, was "Karl Blau") and "Moon, Moon" has the distinction of being one of the first Phil songs to be incorporated in the mixes as songs but not as the title/focus of a particular mix.
(...is on mix 6, but not used as a title/005 [secondary title track])




Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

Moon, Moon


Side B:

I Lost My Wind
Untitled, unlisted track









xo

(7" front, back, vinyl inner label side A, B, 7" pictured with insert)







The Microphones(' SINGERS): I Can't Believe You Actually Died/I'm A Pearl Diver 7"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded in November of 2000 at Dub Narcotic, Olympia, Wash. by Phil Elvrum, Bret Lunsford, Dennis Driscoll, Ariana Jacob, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, Forrest Martin, Chris Sand, Calvin Johnson, Jenn Kliese, Jason Wall, Nate Ashley, Khaela Maricich, Amber Bell, Mike May, and "Karl Blau"*

*One assumes these usual suspects are the "Singers" referred to in the cryptic title here. Also, if anyone can tell me why Karl's name appears here in quotation marks that would be just so great.

**Update on that "Karl" questions. Ben helpfully commented below that he read "Karl" is actually a reference to an ancient tape-loop drum machine used at Dub Narcotic named "Karl Blau" in honor of Karl Blau himself. Ben goes on to guess that that is the source of the distorted drums in "I'm A Pearl Diver" and at the beginning of "I Want Wind To Blow" etc... Thank you, Ben! Much appreciated!

-Released on Coming in Second (CIS 012) (I've got two conflicting addresses here. The one on the 7" itself is: 1807 Division Ave. Boise, Ida. 83701. Then I see one on Discogs.com which may be more up-too-date [http://www.discogs.com/label/Coming+In+Second]: 1823 Atlantic St. Boise, Ida. 83705. May the best address win.). They have a website that has, at some point, apparently been "hacked" (cominginsecond.com).

-As is par for the course there is a serious lack of info out there about this release. No one is credited with the design or art, which is a lovely block print, I think. It is really reminiscent of a couple of Nikki McClure 7"'s K Records put out years ago. I remember them also being block printed and having this little, weird, fold-over edge to them. I even sort of remember them having this same dragonfly insignia. I'll get back to you on this. Probably just a coincidence or trick of memory.*

Ok update on this. According to the Japanese release of the "Song Islands" cd Phil did the artwork for this. Although I have to say there some little discrepancies sometimes between the info given on that disc and its US counterpart or the 7"s themselves.

-No idea how many were pressed, I'm guessing, as usual, in the 500 or less range, based on the size of the label.

-Record plays and 45 rpms, both sides.

-These songs would later be collected (same versions) on the "Song Islands" CD.*

*As with some other songs, the title for "I'm a Pearl Diver" appears in variant forms. On the back of the 7" and the back of the "Song Islands" CD, as well as the liner notes it is referred to by it's full name. However, on the vinyl inner label it is referred to simply as "Pearl Diver"

-The inner groove info is pretty run-of-the-mill, i.e. a corresponding label number and then a longer set of numbers that I have no idea what they mean (CIS-012-A and B, and then U-53168-M-A and B,). Additionally, on both sides there is what appears to be a little initialization or signature. Am I naive, is this like, a "thing" with vinyl pressing that I am not aware of? My apologies if it is/I am. The signature appears to be, on side A, a tiny overlaid "OI" and on side B a tiny overlaid "OS".

-Vinyl is black on all copies so far as I know.

-The only insert that came with this is a small black and white label catalog for Coming In Second (Winter Catalog). As of this writing I actually do not have a copy of this 7" with the insert and, in fact, did not realize until recently that such an insert existed. If anyone has one and feels like parting with it I'd be grateful. I'll get back to you on any further specifics about it when I get my hands on one.

-Other details of note on this record:

Inner vinyl label is in Phil's trademark style, not quite there yet but getting closer to hitting it's stride.

This is the first appearance of the concept of "Singers". Which, I guess, Phil sort of considers a subset/band from his proper project. Something slightly more collective maybe. Though he utilizes all of these people and their choral presence all over many of his recordings. For some reason, I'm assuming it was the recording circumstances, they here get a special billing (as they would later get their own actual "SINGERS" LP).

"I Can't Believe You Actually Died" is about Phil's friend Brandon Shafer (Leica Piranha). I do not know the details of his life or death and I am not going to even attempt to go further with that, out of respect to the parties involved. All I know is that he was a young, creative individual amongst like-minded friends, taken, in some way, too soon. In Jimi Sharp's FIB zone (Issue Twelverum) they talk briefly about Leica and this 7". Phil just saying that he had made this record as a tribute and sent it to Brandon's mother but had lost touch with her.

Not sure if "I'm a Pearl Diver" is related to that or not. It does, however, feel like an early progenitor of Phil's later, far-flung, two part story featured in "A Log in the Waves" and "I Whale".




....................................




This was one of the first ones I got this past winter when I started this ridiculous collecting thing in earnest. My first priority of business being to track down all of the records of all of the songs collected on the "Song Islands" CD (some of which, alas, I think I will go to my grave never having seen, like, oh you know, the ones where Phil himself doesn't even know what their on or if the comps they were supposed to be on ever even got released).

Not sure what the explanation behind the "Microphones' Singers" attribution is, other than that these two songs seem to be recorded in sort of the same spirit as the much later released "Singers" LP, ie a bunch of people in a room sort of improvising to what Phil is doing, i.e. all Microphones recordings? haha.

This record has the distinction of being home to the song which is the namesake and standard bearer of our floating, "eternal last" mix --Figure 8 Plus......(I Can't Believe You Actually Died)
It was an accident of fate that that turned out to be the subject song of the 8th and last mix of the first wave. Prophetic really, performing the last rights and elegy before any of us even knew there was soon to be a death in the family. I know this song and that mix are sometimes particularly hard for some of us ex-Bmax-ers and current KINGS' (More on all of that over at THE SEANCE, coming soon.)

This is one of those records where you look at it and the cover gives you a feeling that is not very like the music therein. The front has that weird Halloween feel and the back looks like the Microphones version of a Sailor Jerry tattoo. No insert, all the info is on the back. But really what do you need? These two songs, esp. "Died" are, once again, really high-water marks for The Microphones, and us, as Microphones acolytes.
(Figure 8 Plus [originally 008]/032)



Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

I Can't Believe You Actually Died


Side B:

I'm A Pearl Diver









xo

(7" cover front, back, vinyl inner label A, B)








The Microphones: Bass Drum Dream/The Storm/Where It's Hotter Parts 1, 2 & 3 7"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-The 7" says that this was "Produced by Phil Elvrum" so we must assume he did all the recording here. "Bass Drum Dream" was recorded at Dub Narcotic. Where it's Hotter was recorded at The Business. And there is something of a vagary concerning where "The Storm" was recorded.

-Released on Up Records (UP064) (http://www.uprecords.com/ P.O. Box 21328 Seattle, WA 98111). In the "Song Islands" CD Phil writes that this was released in 1998, however, on the vinyl inner label the copyright information says 1999. In the FIB interview with Jimi Sharp (issue #8) Phil states that this 7" is in the works and is coming out in December of '98.

-Cover designed by Justyn Pogue, using elements we would see again on the nest 7" (Feedback) and on the first Microphones vinyl LP (Don't Wake Me Up).

-No idea how many were pressed. Up was a pretty well-established label by this time but I would still imagine that this 7" was in the 500 copies or less realm.

-Record plays at 45 rpms on both sides.

-Vinyl is black, as far as I know, on all copies.

-Inner groove features the generic label numbering (UP 064-A and B) as well as some other designation on both sides which I have no idea about (L-50999).

-These songs (same versions) would all later be collected, in order, on the "Song Islands" CD

-Other details of note:

This is the first Microphones release on vinyl.

As with the second 7" on the cover there is no "The" it is only referred to as "Microphones" however on the vinyl inner label there is a "The".

As with the second 7" the track list literally reads:
Bass Drum Dream then the Storm, Where it's Hotter Parts 1, 2, 3

"Where it's Hotter" sometimes picks up and loses the "&" symbol. On the back of the 7" it is absent, however on the vinyl inner label it appears. It is also present on the liner notes to the "Song Islands" CD but absent on the back cover. Also the "parts" in the name changes from time to time. On this 7" it is written out as "Parts" both on the back cover and on the vinyl inner label. It is, likewise, written out in the "Song Islands" liner notes, however it is abbreviated as "pts." on the back cover.

Phil's contact info is again, as on all early releases, listed as KNW-YR-OWN 1717 Commercial Ave Anacortes, WA 98221)

This is one of the only Phil releases that does not feature his distinctive hand-drawn inner labels (I need to look into this but we may go as far as the very recent "Black Wooden" EP released as part of the "Latitudes" Series on . Instead we have the generic Up Records template. Talk about coming full-circle...)

As with the second Microphone's 7", this one was discussed briefly with Jimi Sharp for his FIB zine (issue #8). In this interview Phil is talking about his plans for upcoming releases. He says that he is going to be putting out a 7" on Up Records, possible featuring the songs "Bass Drum Dream" and "In Sleep I Float Around" plus more. He says the second 7" in the works will possible feature the song "Where it's Hotter" and others. But, as we can see, that song would be bumped up the b-side of this first 7" for reasons none of us will ever know.






..............................





In a real coup for my cause this (the first ever Microphones 7") and "Feedback" (the second ever Microphones 7") were won from one single lovely seller on Ebay for a song. Getting these two were sort of an early Holy Grail (although there are since many, many more much holier grails in their place, sigh). The fact that these are the first 7"s by Phil is something but is actually made much less in light of the fact that there are copious amounts of earlier, more primitive, releases than these. In fact, in light of that, listening to these now, they seem far less rudimentary and primal than they once did to me. This was already Phil a few steps up the evolutionary ladder.

All of the early hallmarks are there, Phil singing about the actual, literal equipment involved in recording "a drum set in the sky...""bass drum making the sound wave...", the percussion heavy (lets not forget the fascinating fact that Phil kind of got started as a drummer) arrangements, weird samples and so on. But the seeds of where he's going are clearly visible, the beginning riffs of "Bass Drum Dream" sound like they are just dying to turn into "I Lost My Wind", "The Storm" is practically an excerpt from "The Sun" from the last Microphones album proper, "Where It's Hotter" sounds like it could be an early run-through of the ideas that would become "The Glow", et al.

It seems worth noting that "The Storm" is not actually credited as a song on the 7" itself and, even on the cover, it is sort of added as an afterthought to "Bass Drum Dream" ("...then the storm" maybe to declassify it as a song and make it more of an interlude, though later it would achieve "actual song" status on the "Song Islands" collection CD.)

No insert, any info here is either gleaned from the cryptic cover, the music itself or purely extrapolated.
(--029, --125, -123)



Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

Bass Drum Dream
The Storm


Side B:

Where It's Hotter Pts. 1, 2, & 3
















xo

(7" cover front, back, inside, record inner labels A and B)






The Microphones: Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)/Weird Storm/Heavy Eyes 7"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded in 1998 at the Business in Anacortes, Wash. and Dub Narcotic in Olympia, Wash. by Phil Elvrum.

-Released on The Bedtime Record (BED06) (P.O. Box 9142, Chatanooga, Tenn. 37412) sometime in 1998. In an interview in Jimi Sharp's FIB zine Phil mentions that this 7" was going to be coming out "December '98, maybe".

-Cover art by Phil and Justyn Pogue. The liner notes (which are printed on the inside of the sleeve, no other, loose, insert*) say "the cover: snow in Anacortes, 1900/the chair: Justyn Pogue. And, as such, the art appears to be a collage of Justyn's very distinctive drawing style (we'll see it again, all over the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP) and what appear to be heavily xeroxed and re-xeroxed pics, presumably by Phil.

*Ok, turns out there is an insert that came with some copies of this record. It was just a little two-sided label insert (The Bedtime Record) , black and white, photocopied. I do not at the moment have a copy of this insert and if anyone does I'd love you forever if you'd make me a copy and send it to me. But, barring that it is viewable here in some pics I grabbed from someone's ebay auction.


-Other details of note on the cover of this 7". I read over on a brothers-in-arms site (http://getofftheinternet.wetpaint.com/page/Microphones+Singles+and+EPs), that the covers were all printed in black and white but, at some point, some of the people at the label decided to "personalize" most of them by scribbling all over them in various colored crayon, as seen here:


however, this was all done without Phil's consent or knowledge. No idea how many were colored and how many left un-molested. I seem to have lucked out and ended up with an unblemished, uncolored one.

-No clue how many of these were pressed. I would guess 500 or less.

-Record plays at 33 1/3 rpms on both sides.

-These songs (same versions) would all later be collected, in order, on the "Song Islands" CD.*

*"Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)" appears in several permutations. On the back cover it appears as "Feedback (the Loop in Life and Love)" on the actual 7" inner label it loses the qualifiers and picks up a colon, "Feedback: (Life, Love, Loop)". On the inside of the cover it appears as "Feedback (Life, Love, Loop) (no colon this time). Later, on the"Song Islands" CD, it would appear as simply "Feedback" on the back cover and "Feedback (Life, Love Loop) (no second comma) in the liner notes.

-Other details of note on this record:

The vinyl on this is black, but it's that very light vinyl that, when held up to a light, appears to be a sort of translucent brown. As seen here:


This is the first time we see Phil's trademark vinyl inner label design, albeit in a somewhat earlier design and in lighter shade than the usual "old book" yellow.

We are again informed that we should contact the fine folks at the KNW-YR-OWN label for more information on "the microphones".

The cover and the song credits both have the band name as just "Microphones", no "The". But the masthead on the vinyl inner label does indeed have the "The" attached.

The track listing on the inner sleeve literally reads:
Feedback (life, love, loop) with Weird Storm and then Heavy Eyes
(This is the same format that the track list for the "Bass Drum Dream" 7" had followed as well.)

There are a couple pages in Jimi Sharp's lovely FIB zine, issue #8, where he "interviews" Phil about his upcoming life plans and record release schedule and at that time he talks about having this 7" coming up and that he and Justyn will be doing the cover art. he mentions that the possible tracks to be included were "Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)", "Where it's Hotter" plus more. This comes on the heels of him discussing the 7" which will precede it, the one on Up Records. At this time he says that the songs that might end up on that one are "Bass, Drum Dream" and "In Sleep I Float Around" plus more. It is definitely worth noting that, in the conceptual stages this 7" was originally going to feautre, among others, what would end up being the b-side the the first Microphones 7" and that this 7" was originally going to feature, the as yet unreleased track, "In Sleep I Float Around".


And lastly, the inner groove on this record, in addition to the usual info (KNW-YR-OWN BED06A and B), appears to have someone's signature engraved. It is illegible and very short. It kind of looks like a cursive "mes".




.........................................................




As previously mentioned, I won this from the same kid at the same time as the first Microphones 7", what a day. And, as also mentioned, this is early Phil, but not all that early. Early enough that he's still doing that thing where he literally sings about microphones and equipment. "Feedback..." feels like the little sister of the "Tests" CD. It starts out with that same "science-y guy talks about the physical properties of sound" thing before dissolving into a low-key whispery song about microphones loving speakers.

"Weird Storm" and "Heavy Eyes", on the other hand, sound a lot closer to where he must have already been headed, the first "proper" Microphones album "Don't Wake Me Up". There's more of that pretty melody in a cocoon of noise and percussion thing happening here that will become so much more prevalent on subsequent releases.

And that's that pretty much. The inside and cover art looks a lot like Justyn Pogue's stuff in the zine which accompanied the original release of the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP. It also riffs really heavily on the cover of the previous 7", "Bass Drum Dream"/"The Storm" (in fact, it uses the exact same drawing of the weird cloud). I guess, to that end, "Weird Storm" might even be some kind of follow up to "The Storm".

Like all these releases I wish I could be providing the exact numbers of how many were pressed and in what format and so on, but, alas, that info seems lost to the pages of time. I'm gonna try to look into it as best I can.

As an inexplicable side note I will add that, at some point, while downloading some of these things on Soulseek, back in the day, I loaded a version of this that had a fourth untitled track. It's clearly Phil. It's about 1:17 long and it's just noise, a passage of sound. When I got the 7", however, I was able to confirm that this track is not on it. Where it came from or what it is I have no idea. It seems very likely that it's from some other Phil release and just mistakenly tacked onto someones files for this 7". If I can ever figure this out I'll be sure to update. For the record, while the three real actual songs from this 7" have been used in mixology, the phantom fourth song has not.

And there it is. I imagine, then as now, these records must have seemed cryptic, confounding and inscrutable. They are certainly time capsules, un-crackable by those of us not inside Phil's head or at least his circle of friends and patriots.

No insert, but there is info printed on the inside of the cover. Also worth noting, on the vinyl labels, under the band name, on each side are two of Phil's little extraneous exclamation/alternate titles. Though, in this case, they are not attributed to the songs, but, seemingly to the actual name of the band. Side A's says "Something's in my head" and Side B's says "Cover me up". A song with the name "Cover Me Up" would later appear on the "Windows" CD.
(--056, --016, --049)



Tracklist
------------------------
Side A:

Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)


Side B:

Weird Storm
Heavy Eyes






















xo

(7" cover front, back, vinyl and inner label front, back)







VA-The Way Things Change (Volume 2) 7": You're Standing On The Ground
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(CD cover front, back, spine, part of the liner notes/insert pertaining to The Microphones, CD top, CD play-side)







VA-Projector, Another Studio Compilation CD: Wake Me Up
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded at various times and places by various artists*

*The Microphones track was recorded in April, 1999 at Yoyo studios with: Phil Elvrum, Jenn Kleise Erika Jacobs Dennis Driscoll, Khaela Maricich, Forrest Martin, Pat Maley, Alex Neerman, and Jason Powers

-Released October 26, 1999 on Yoyo Recordings (P.O. Box 2462, Olympia, WA 98507, www.yoyoagogo.com) (YOYO-CD12)

-As far as I know this was only available on CD.

-IFPI Number: Appears to have two, L533 on the silver, 9221 on the plastic inner groove. No idea what that could mean.

-Barcode info: 78956601226

-Number produced is anyone's guess. As usual, things like this I might be able to contact the label and find out, stay tuned. Yoyo was a pretty decently sized indie label at that time, in the scheme of Pacific Northwest labels, so I'd guess there were at last a thousand of these. Most likely more.

-It is worth noting that when you put this CD into iTunes some of the track labeling is a little wonky. Nothing important, just random capitol letters or missing spaces between words.

-Of random interest, in the liner notes it lists the Microphones contact info as KNW-YR-OWN 1717 Commercial Ave./Anacortes, WA 98221. The fine folks at that label were the ones responsible for putting out most of Phil's earliest (and, so far, unobtainable) cassette releases.

-This song would appear (same version) on the "Song Islands" CD

-There's a link to a zip of the entire comp. up in the downloads section.



...............




And still continuing with the "Song Islands" theme, here we have the "Projector: Another Studio Compilation" CD from Yoyo Recordings. This is the last, I believe, in a series of really killer comps from Yoyo that I had been following all through the late 90's golden age of indie rock (check 'em out for all kinds of great stuff by all kinds of great people "Throw", "Julep", "Periscope" and so on).

On this one we are treated to, among other gems, The Microphones doing "Wake Me Up", another in the confusing/confounding series of Phil songs revolving around slight variations in the same title, (ie: "Wake Me Up", "Don't Wake Me Up", "I'll Be In The Air", "You Were In The Air" etc...) It's a very pretty and very brooding and funereal song for Phil. There are some strings in the second half that really remind me, years earlier, of "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead (which I, alas, did not sequence this with on the original mix).

I am, again, shamefully unversed in the rest of this comp, but I am sure it is all really quite nice. I can at least attest to the appearance of the band Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano, and I really don't know anything about their history other than that there is a really nice Microphones song that gets its namesake from their name and also that that band apparently consists of only Kaelah Maricich also of (the twisting and confusing history of) The Blow and Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Wave. These are all, apparently, the same, or very close to the same band, and she also has some close ties to Yacht. All of which I am not going to try to go into here. For the sake of this blog the important part is that she was pretty much a Microphones member/fixture all through the early/middle/elementary school chorus era.
And there it is.
(--040)





Tracklist
----------------------------------
The KG-X The Calender
Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano-Bagfull Of Spiders
The Need-American Woman
C Average-The Weirding Way
IQU-Can't You Even Remember That? (Remix)
Mirah-Precious Little Rocket
Dennis Driscoll-I Like It
Lois Maffeo-Shame The Bells
Bluebirdsky-Lovely Loop (Instrumental)
Ashtray Boy-Koala Boy
Little Red Car Wreck-Rip Up The Carpet
Super Duo-Holiday
Rabbit Rabbit-Differential
The Microphones-Wake Me Up
The Drivers-Another Unknown
Eucalyptus-Barely Alive
Nova Scotia-Stop Motion
The Nervous System-This Planet's Mine
Lowdown, The-Saved By God
The Newlyweds-Stole
Loud Machine 0.5-Without You
Rebecca Pearcy-Pomegranate
Unknown Artist-Untitled














xo

(Cover front, back, inside, insert, CD top, CD play-side)







VA-The "Lullaby, Lullaby" Compilation CD: I Listen Close
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Recorded by various artists at various times and places*

*The Microphones track was "Recorded to Mirah for her birthday, Sept. 1999"

-Release date: Unknown*

*I swear, so little info is out there about this CD. You'd never know it existed at all were it not for the "Song Islands" comp, or the fact that I am holding it in my hand. Based solely on my memory of when I first saw it and purchased it I would place it's release somewhere around 2001.

-Released by 80 North/This Heart Plays Records, no catalog number*

*According to the insert, which was a nice print on vellum, 80 North was in the process of changing its name to "This Heart Plays Records" at the time of this release, due to "some different people running it and others quiting". They list a web page here (www.geocities.com/thisheartplaysrecords)but, in searching for info I found it to be no longer in use. The insert also list a couple "upcoming" releases, one by The Badger King and one by Dave Longstreth, presumably pre-Dirty Projectors or at least at the very earliest of it's incarnations. I am assuming, based on the only other mentions of this label I can find (which are here http://usefulchamber.com/dirty-projectors-discography/) that this upcoming release was, in fact, the first DP release "The Graceful Fallen Mango" which was, at the time, considered to be a Dave Longstreth solo disc. And that's about all I can scrape up about this label or release timetable at this point in time.

-Here's an update to that web search, I stumbled across a new page for 80 North that seems to be more current- http://eightynorth.blogspot.com/

and the little I could find online:

http://www.answers.com/topic/lullaby-lullaby

There is a brief mention of the comp. on Dennis Driscoll's iTunes Music page:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dennis-driscoll/id41379115

the google cache for this page shows some sort of info about the comp. but when you click on it, it's just some random guy's myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/bastardboymusic

However you will note in this picture what I'm talking about


-As far as I can tell this was only available on CD, no indication otherwise. Nor is there any indication how many were produced (I'd hazard to guess 500 or less) and there is no indication who designed to cover or packaging.*

And yes now that I'm updating this I've got a little back up on that. As you can see in the Google screencap above someone somewhere was claiming this thing had a print run of 500.

-IFPI number: 2F52

-It's worth noting that the track info is all mixed up when you put this CD into iTunes. For rhe most part the artist and track names were reversed.

-This song would appear in a slightly different form on the "Song Islands" CD

-There's a link to a zip of the entire comp. up in the downloads column.



................




And, ever onward with the "Song Islands" material. Here we have the "Lullaby, Lullaby" compilation CD from 80 North/This Heart Plays Records, circa 2000/1(?). This is another in a series of Microphones oddities I was fortunate enough to buy on a whim at the time that it came out. I remember, back in the day, at Newbury Comics, basically spending my entire paycheck on records as soon as I got it. I was the ideal employee in that way. But comps were always hard to pull the trigger on. The heartbreak of the completeist music fan, then as it is now. You know there's about a 90% chance that the songs by the couple artists you care about are not going to be anything great. But, there is the 10% of the time when you get a real lost gem (examples are escaping me at the moment) and that makes the gamble worth it. Still, it always comes down to that thing of spending ten to fifteen dollars for the sake of one song generally. Looking over the tracklist here, although it features a lot of good folks doing there steady best, it's hard for me to assume that I bought this for anything other than the Microphones track, which is strange since the time at which I would have got this was in my early, admittedly, trepid Microphones days (you know, like the time I had that copy of the "Blood" LP, limited to 300 copies, in my hand and said, eh, that's ok, I'll pass). But bought it I did, and thank God, because this seems to be one of the more impossible to find artifacts at this point in the Phil Elverum game.

To that end I am going to have to admit, once again, that I am not at all familiar with the rest of this comp, even though there are plenty of folks on it that I know to be plenty solid.

Anyway, here we have the original appearance of "I Listen Close", although, on the insert it is, in fact credited as "Listen Close", typo I guess. (Additional note on the insert, it is lovely and on vellum, which I am always a sucker for, and I have had a long history with this disc where I thought I had lost or misplaced the insert and thank God, for once, I have not. In coming to terms with my Phil thing it has become painfully clear that for me, in these cases, the artifact, the object is the thing. Usually I am only concerned about the music contained. But, for Phil, it is the whole actual recovered artifact, the entire anthropological piece.)

According to the liner notes for the "Song Islands" CD this song was recorded "to Mirah for her birthday, Sept. 1999" which makes it that much lovelier to me. And, speaking of "Song Islands", the version appearing on that CD is, though not credited, a different version than the one we get here. On "Song Islands" the track is 2:17 long and, around the :47 second mark, these pounding drums come in. The track continues on in this manner, ending in some ambient noise/wash and talking. As opposed to the version on this comp. which is only 1:28 long, features none of the pounding drums and simply comes to a close with some droning organ. I prefer this one. It's the one I came to know the song through I guess.
(--024)




Tracklist
----------------
I Am The World Trade Center-Istambul
A Boy Named Thor-Hello Hawaii
The Player Piano-Milwaukee Mile
Dear Nora-Round n' Round
The Love Letter Band-I Knew You Knew
Jen Turrell-Pink Edged Bright
Brett Stubbs-The Cliffs Are Red
Vehicle Flips-The Encouragable Optomis's Song Book
The Intima-Song For Drones
Mirah-Special Death
The Microphones-Listen Close
Dennis Driscoll-Saturday Morning
Audio Armada-Obertin
The Album Leaf-Inbetween Lines
Drawing Number One-After A While
The Plan B-After 5 Years
Park-Red Coat Charmer
Camden-Soliterror
Maya Shore-Restless Times
The Galactic Heroes-Dale
Wolf Colonel-Fashionably Left Behind
Denniss Driscoll-Lullaby, Lullaby













xo

(CD spine 1, spine 2, "bone" sticker, hype sticker, back in plastic with barcode sticker, front, back, CD itself, 5 pics of the play-side info, outside cover foldout, inside cover foldout)








Song Islands CD
----------------------------------------------------------------

-Recorded at various dates and places and featuring many different players. The complete info of persons involved and dates/info of recording is viewable on the pictures I've included if the liner notes. I am usually not lazy in this way but it feels redundant to type it all out here when it's right there, written by the man himself.*

*This is a collection of rare and out-of-print 7"s and compilation tracks

-Released August 20th, 2002 on K Records (http://www.kpunk.com/) (KLP125) and 7ep (7ep.net) (ep002) in Japan

-CD version is the only one available to date.*

*It always bummed me out, especially at the time, having not heard many of these tracks, that this was not released on vinyl, though I guess there is something of an idiosyncratic hang-up there, re-releasing out-of-print vinyl tracks on vinyl...Phil's take on this can be read in the PW site listing for this cd:


There was also a Japanese import version of this CD (not pictured above, BUT, pics coming soon) on the 7EP label (http://www.7ep.net/onlinestore/home.html) who, alas only ship within Japan (I found out after a long and arduous process of translating the text on the site, piece by piece). After a long night of scouring the internet I finally came up with a source, I think, fingers crossed, for this version, as well as the many other Japanese and other country imports (http://www.hmv.co.jp/en/music/). This version was actually called "Island Songs", which I find to be very charming. It somehow changes the entire tone of the CD or me. This version did not have "Lanterns" or "Antlers" on it and, in their place, featured the song "Buzz, Buzz" which was one of the two Microphones songs (the other was a version of "Pre Amp") inexplicably included (along with two Karl Blau songs as well) as extra tracks on the D+ "Dandelion Seeds" CD (on K Records, KLP084). (D+ is the band that Phil is in along with Karl Blau and Bret Lunsford.) The "Dandelion Seeds" LP (which, unlike the CD, is on Knw-Yr-Own Records, KYO032) featured only the original eight tracks.

UPDATE, HMV turned out to be a reliable source for Phil's overseas releases and thus I am proud to present pics and info for "Island Songs":


(Spine 1, spine 2, spine with obi strip, front and back in plastic with obi strip and barcode, obi strip alone, plastic and barcode alone)

Love, love, love obi strips. For those unfamiliar with the term, these are the paper wraparound ends that are on all Japanese media, DVDs, CDs, Books, etc... It's really just an extra bit of paper on the spine that gives all the relevant information about the product. As far as collectability they tend to be the types of things that up the value to collectors and dorks, such as myself. I consider them to be in the same vein as a record insert. It's part of what makes a particular release complete. A friend of mine from years ago, who bought many, many Japanese CDs, used to make a habit of "laminating" them in packing tape and then attaching them to the end of the CD. I myself became a fan of this, though I am refraining from it for the sake of trying to preserve these CDs in as close to as-they-came states as I can. If anyone out there was not already picking up what a loser I am about this blog I am certain it's coming through loud and clear now. Go me.

(Disc itself and play-side info)


Insert fold out, has a number of slight differences than the US version, they are as follows:

-Liner notes are oriented upside-down compared to the US cd. Which is to say that, for example, the panel with the front cover of the cd on the US version is on the flip side of the top of the liner notes, where they begin. On the Japanese version the front cover panel is on the opposite of the end of the liner notes.

-The liners notes have all obviously been re-written by Phil, some of the spacing and sizing of the words is slightly different.

-On the listing for "Where It's Hotter parts 1, 2, 3"... On the US version he uses the word "parts" on the Japanese he uses the abbreviation "pts." Alson on the US it lists it as "1, 2, & 3" the Japanese version has no "&".

-Release info for the "Bass Drum Dream" 7": On the US cd it simply lists the address of UP Records as Seatle, Wash., on the Japanese he goes on to list the PO BOX info (21382, Seattle, Wash. 98111). Also the year of release is listed next to the address on the US, on the Japanese is is on the same line as the artwork credit.

-Release info for the "Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)" 7": On the US version The Bedtime Record is in quotation marks, not so on the Japanese. The US version lists "art by Pogue and Elvrum", the Japanese reads "artwork by P. Elvrum".

-Release info for the "Moon, Moon" 7": The Japanese version includes an address for K Records (Box 7154, Olympia, Wash. 98507) as well as an artwork credit for P. Elvrum. These are not on the US version.

-Release info for the "I Can't Believe You Actually Died" 7": The US version has quotation marks around the record label, Coming In Second. Not so on the Japanese version. The Japanese CD includes an artwork credit to P. Elvrum which is absent on the US cd.

-Release info for "The Moon" 7": The US version says it was "released by", the Japanese says "released on". The US version lists an "art" credit. The Japanese lists an "artwork" credit instead.

-"Deeply Buried": This track has a different drawing on each version. The US version reads "was on a compilation in Italy supposedly". The Japanese reads "appeared on a compilation in Italy maybe. The US version says "recorded in early 1999". The Japanese only says "recorded early 1999".

-Wake Me Up": The US version says it "was on". The Japanese version says it "appeared on". The US version says it was "recorded in April 1999". The Japanese just says "recorded April 1999".

-"I Listen Close": US version says "was on". The Japanese version says "appeared on". The US version says "recorded to Mirah for her birthday, Sept. 1999". The Japanese says "recorded for happy-birthday-Mirah Sept. 1999".

-"The Glow pt. 4 (version)": The US version says "was on". The Japanese says "appeared on". The US version lists the label as "'LOVE TAPE LOVE' or 'WAXWING' or something". The Japanese only lists LOVE TAPE LOVE.

-"You're Standing On The Ground": The US version says "was on". The Japanese says "appeared on". The US version says "Red Square is the label" and gives no contact info. The Japanese simply says "RED SQUARE" and then lists contact info (jenturrell@hotmail.com).

-"Phil Elvrum's Will": The US version says "was on". The Japanese version says "appeared on". The US version says only "recorded June 2001". The Japanese says "recorded in June 2001".

-"There's No Invincible...": The US version says "was on a compilation in Scotland maybe". The Japanese version says "appeared on a compilation in Scotland"

-The credits for who appears on the CD differ quite a bit. The Japanese cd lists, in addition to those on the US cd: Chris Takino, Jake Cunningham, Jeremy Jensen, Aaron Cohen, Bernardo Saurtarelli, Pat Maley, Chris Adolf, Hugh Holden, Carrie Brown, Jen Turrell, Jef Logsdon, Alex Botten. On the US version Khaela's name appears as "Mikhaela". All those not listed on the US version appear after the last name on that CD on the Japanese version. Some of those people included on the Japanese version are no doubt due to the inclusion of the slightly different track list on the Japanese CD, the D+ song. Outside of that I have no idea about their omission.

-The artwork credit on the Japanese version simply says "PAINTINGS BY KYLE FIELD, 2001 used by permission". On the US cd it reads "COVER PAINTINGS: 'untitled' 2001, ink on record jackets by Kyle Field, from the collection of the artist."

(Please refer to the included pictures if you'd like to see visual coverage of all of the above discrepancies.)

-And, as usual, all Japanese CDs tend to come printed on much, much nicer paper, almost like card stock, thicker, heavier, more tactile, very nice.)


(All Japanese CDs come with these. An additional insert which folds out, giving the track info, lyrics in Japanese and English [just in case any of you wanted to know what "I Can't Believe You Actually Died" looks like in Japanese] and sometimes a brief statement from the artist.)


-Footnote to the saga of me trying to find a place to buy Phil's Japanese releases on 7ep: In an act of supreme frustration after spending quite awhile trying to find a source for these, finding them, and then realizing they only ship in Japan, not overseas, I decided to go right to the source, against my better judgment. I email Phil himself and explained the situation and apologized profusely for being so presumptuous as to email him with my trifling problem. Did not expect to hear back. It was the highlight of my month when I checked my mail one day and saw a reply. He kindly said he would email the folks at 7ep and ask them to tell me how to get ahold of their releases. Luckily for me I figured out the HMV thing shortly thereafter as I never heard from the 7ep folks. Oh well, it was worth it to go into my inbox from time to time and see this...




-IFPI number: 6000 (US), IC86 stamped into the plastic inner groove and L603 in the silver (both Japan)

-Barcode info: 78956112524 (US), 5000006030198 (Japan)

-Cover Paintings: "untitled" 2001, ink on paper by Kyle Field (Little Wings) from the colleciton of the artist.*

*The cover is a collection of typical drawings/paintings, very similar to the unique, hand-painted covers to some of his limited releases, the "Blood" LP, "Little Bird Flies Into a Big Black Cloud" LP etc... The liner notes are Phil's hand-drawn approximations of the originals and attendant liner note info. The CD itself is, as usual, a black and white drawing by Phil.

-Also of note, when this was first released it came with a "hype sticker" on the outer cellophane which simply said "Song Islands" By The Microphones.

-Decent review here from our friends at Pitchfork: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5266-song-islands/




..................................




And, at long last, rounding out the "Song Islands" section of this blog is "Song Islands" itself. Released on CD by K Records in 2002. This was to be the catchall collection for all the odds and ends of Phil's output throughout the late 90's and early 2000's, the very early ages of The Microphones.

In its way, this has long been my favorite Microphones "album" though it can really not be considered in that light, since it's just a collection of singles and whatnot. But, outside of that fact, it is a very compelling collection of material. It spans the earliest feelings of the Microphones, samples, people talking about the actual equipment they are recording on, passages of sound as song, noise, massive percussion for its own sake, heartfelt sentiments sometimes laid sparse, sometimes lost under thunder and fluorescent lights, all the way up to the Appalachian folky sing-alongs, the sad resignation, the hip-hop elements, the dub elements, the sea shantys and everything thing in-between.

The cover is really, perfectly executed, featuring some drawings by Phil, made to look just exactly like the hand-painted, ultra-limited records just narrowly preceding this ("Blood", "Little Bird Flies Into A Big Black Cloud"), and liner notes, hand-written, accompanied bydrawn approximations of the original source material.

I remember this one coming out in one of Phil's patented gluts of record releases. It was like, this one, the "Mount Eerie" LP, "The Drums From Mt. Eerie", "The Singing From Mt. Eerie" and I think a couple other more minor releases. I was just trying to keep up.

So, this post pretty much draws to a close this opening movement of the blog, the "Song Islands" movement. I picked this slew of stuff first since so many of the earliest mixes came from these singles/this CD (six of the original "Holy 8" come from this CD and its antecedents). I have gone to great lengths to put together a physical collection/representation of all the songs on this CD. Alas, there are a few outstanding that I fear I will never see the source material of. Two of which come from insanely obscure little compilations and, even more frustratingly, two that Phil himself doesn't even know if they ever came out or what releases they are on. Wonderful. I guess we should be thankful to have them at all. And, really, what would an endeavor like this be without a few holy grails.
(--029, --125, --123, --056, --016, --049, --006, --005, Figure 8 PLUS, --032, --004, --126, --001, --002, --033, --040, --260, --022, --014, --268, --269, --272)



Tracklist
---------------
Bass Drum Dream
The Storm
Where It's Hotter, Parts 1, 2, and 3
Feedback
Weird Storm
Heavy Eyes
Moon Moon
I Can't Believe You Actually Died
I'm a Pearl Diver
The Moon
(version)
Lanterns
Antlers
Deeply Buried
Wake Me Up
I Listen Close
The Glow, Part 4
You're on the Ground
Phil Elvrum's Will
There's No Invisible Disguise That Lasts All Day
(something)*

*Extra track, uncredited in the liner notes, which appears labeled this way when the CD is placed into the computer




Tracklist (Japanese Version)
---------------------------------
Bass Drum Dream
The Storm
Where It's Hotter, Parts 1, 2, and 3
Feedback
Weird Storm
Heavy Eyes
Moon Moon
I Can't Believe You Actually Died
I'm a Pearl Diver
The Moon
(version)
Buzz, Buzz
Deeply Buried
Wake Me Up
I Listen Close
The Glow, Part 4
You're on the Ground
Phil Elvrum's Will
There's No Invisible Disguise That Lasts All Day











xo

("hoestkveld", "pestaleaves", "pestaarrives", "stumpshape" and all four together on my living room floor, t-shirt tag info, a screencap from the PW Elverum site)







THEODORE KITTELSEN SHIRT SERIES
----------------------------------------------------

-Styles to date: 4

-Originally available in eight sizes: Mens small, med, large, X-large/Womens small, med, large, X-large

-Printed on black American Apparel T-shirts, 100% combined cotton.

-Number produced: no idea. Maybe I could ask Phil, but I'm also sort of guessing that these are being made to order to a certain extent since, shortly after they went on sale, most of the small and medium sizes were briefly unavailable and then returned.



To accompany today's post about July, July and all that...

Not sure if any, besides, the most supremely dorky among us was aware of this wonderfulness or that it had actually finally come about (some of us might kinda just check the PW Elverum and Sun site kinda like everyday...). And yes, ok, I got all four that there were, is that so wrong? They just looked so haunting and mysterious. And, I mean, let's not shit ourselves, what was I not gonna get all of them?

They arrived super fast. I was excited about them, but when they got here I got more excited. There was just something so perfect, so apropos of the "Wind's Poem" album about them, something so perfectly black metal. I mean, come on, it's four all black t-shirts with really inscrutable prints on them in black and white. No words, no explanation, can't even really tell what I'm looking at. Strange pastoral scenes of some kind, rendered haunting and dark. The images remind me a little of the beautiful background art in the Cerebus comics.

From the website:

INTRODUCING:


http://pwelverumandsun.com/shirtstore



They apparently have names:

though, having removed these from the shirts I know forget which was which. (Actually figured out a way to differentiate them finally, see above...)

Hoping for more in this series. Loving the new set up over at PW, now featuring a "Shirt Store" button. And, of course, one of the highlights of ordering directly from Phil is getting the package with your name written in Phil's handwriting. It's like getting an autograph or something.


and getting a post-mark from Anacortes always feels like receiving a transmission from Neverland or something,



























xo

Pin/Button (Set of Four)
------------------------------------------------------------


This was something I picked up early in my ebay career (earlier this year, I am a perpetual latecomer). I have no idea where these came from or who made them but I don't at all think they are an "official" release. They just showed up one day on the ebay auction and there were several sets available and (as we all kind of know) I am a fan of having twos of certain things, like pins and I am not sure I recall why I didn't order two of these sets. The next thing I knew they were gone and I just had to thank my lucky stars that I got one at all.

One is clearly based on the logo from the Microphones "Mount Eerie" LP, one features a detail from the LP version of that release (the face), one has the cover of the "Song Islands" CD and one has the logo which, apparently, was featured on some of the "Two New Songs By Mount Eerie" 12", the first release on Phil's PW Elverum and Sun label.

I am guessing that Phil did not have a hand in making these as they were available for a time (multiple sets) on ebay from some random person. Moreover they do not have any copywrite info around the edges, as pins tend to have.

They are your average 1" pins with removable pinback (as seen in the picture above).

I wear the "Mount Eerie" LP logo one on my major summertime cut-offs and am often in fear of losing it (as I have a long history of losing a lot of my favorite pins off of my clothing). I think I placed it there, below the right front pocket, not too long before I took my trip to Boston this summer. As seen here:


Not much more to say about these, though I wish there was. Iwish I knew who made them, where they came from and how many were produced so I could report the info here for posterity. But, as I am sure I will have to get used to, this information will often, about many of the various items we discuss herein, be lost forever to the tides of history.
I cherish them, regardless.
Thank you, whoever.






















xo

Bookcase
-----------------------------

This is my pride and joy, my alter (as I so often have them in my homes, more on this ummm, later in some story about my Porter Square bedroom, probably over on THE SEANCE). I pore over this thing like a child. And when I am feeling swirling and lost I stand in front of it and try to clear my mind and focus. It provides a kind of peace, looking at the spectacle of it and the organization and the solace in knowing that, at least this much of (my) life is in order and organized and listed and can be let go of. I am one of those "list" people. I always find relief in getting things written down and listed in front of me where I can see them and have that kind of power and control over them. A list allows me to release, knowing that the important details are logged and are not going to be lost. Lists allow me to sleep at night.

I have, for much of my life on this earth, been trying to have/achieve a bookcase that allows me this peace. One that chronicles and organizes and displays a set of ideas and colors. And now, thanks to Jennifer and this home that we have, I can finally have that. In the past my books have been consigned to boxes and closets and other homes and inaccessible piles in my rooms, they have been unseen and forgotten details of my life. But now, finally, here with you, they can spread out and be the parts of me and you that they are.

Sometimes I just stand and look at it and feel a deep sense of peace.

When we moved into this apartment the bookcase was one of the first things we agreed that we had to have and though it was such a bitch to actually buy and transport and build this case it was very, very worth it (it was Jenn's idea that we should organize the books not only chronologically but also in order of publishing dates). We actually debated, in the beginning, about getting the smaller version of this case, and I said eh, lets get the big one and we can use the extra space for DVDs and vinyl and what not, and, as it would turn out, it would really,barely, compensate our books, much less anything else.

It later became my opinion that another level could be added to it to expand upon our ideas and what not and so I put it on our registry. We did not get it, but after the wedding we used some of the wedding "gift money" to buy it (along with Jenn's lovely desk for sewing and all of her other projects) and we spent the day constructing and organizing. In this reorganizing, my dream was to create a "Phil" record and etc. section and a "Brian's writing" section. And it happened. The bookcase now features all our books, etc, as well as the Phil Elverum Section and a corresponding Xiu Xiu etc. section as well as a "Brian's writing" section, and, of course, pretty much all of our books.

And that is the story of our bookcase. We are booky people. It is a source of peace and solace for me. I look at it and I see so much of what is important to me in this life (as far as material possessions go). I look at the records and the books and feel a little more OK about everything.

(The top of the shelf is still the Stephen King section and you can also note some of Jenn's lovely charcoals of her, sadly, lost to others, cats.)

Our bookcase is the heart of our home, as it ought to be.














xo

(CD Version, spine 1, spine 2, front, back, booklet inside/outside, CD itself, play-side info, hidden under tray pic)


(LP inner labels, side A/B)


(1st Press LP, front, back, four views of the "pop-up" gatefold, poster, insert front/back)


(2nd Press LP, front, back, outside of gatefold, inside of garefold, spine)








It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water CD/LP
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Recorded September 24, 1999-March 6, 2000 at Dub Narcotic in Olympia, WA
by Phil Elvrum, Khaela Maricich, Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, Jenn Kliese, Anna Oxygen, Karl Blau, Jason Wall, and Calvin (Johnson)*

*This is the “Recorded by” list included in the CD release as well as the 2nd press of the vinyl (which have identical covers). On the first press of the LP (which has a completely different cover) Jeremy Bosworth is also listed in this section, right before Calvin Johnson

*The CD and 2nd press LP also attribute the cover design to Khaela Maricich. No attribute is made for the design of the first press LP

-Released September 26, 2000 on K Records (KLP116)*
-IFPI Number: L765

-Barcode info: 789856111626

-CDs apparently manufactured by some place called CD Forge (CDForge.com)

-1st press vinyl came in a gatefold cover with a picture of the ocean at sunset. The gatefold opens up into a “pop-up” collage of a beach and the ocean, similar to the covers of the 2nd press LP and the CD version. The 1st press also came packaged with an 8”x52” black and white poster of one of Phil’s paintings (presumably of “water”) which also has the name of the LP and The Microphones on it. There is K Records info on it as well which makes it look very much like it must have been the main promotional poster for the album. This LP also came with a black and white photocopied insert (6”x13”, one page folded over) which, on one side, has the usual song titles and lyrics written by Phil that often accompanies his releases. The other side has a poor copy of what appears to be people at the beach. It says, on one end “Sold Only By: American and International” and, on the other end “Stereoscopic View Co.” The inner label on the LP is the usual “Phil” style, hand-written. Identical on both the 1st and 2nd press.

-2nd press vinyl also came in a gatefold sleeve. This one, however, had no “pop-up”. Instead, the inner sleeve is covered in black and white line drawings, presumably of the people that recorded the album with Phil. The outside cover is a collage of cut-up pictures, forming an ocean at sunset. The gatefold opens up to make one continuous picture, back to front. Inner label on the LP is identical to the 1st press. No inserts.

-CD version has a cover identical to the 2nd press LP. The only difference being that addition of another photo on the back cover of some people (maybe Phil and friends) in the water. As is common on Phil’s releases there is a picture printed on the inside of the back cover which is hidden beneath the CD tray. It is a close-up of some of the sheet music for a song which appears to feature the lyrics “it was hot, we stayed in the water”, though I am not sure what song has those lyrics. In the CD (and only in the CD), in the liner notes, it claims that sheet music for the album is available through K Records (Box 7154 Olympia, WA 98507 www.kpunk.com) The CD itself has the usual design of Phil’s discs, all white with a black and white line drawing on it. In this case a pair of seashells made to look like headphones.

-The record plays at 33 1/3 rpms on both sides, both pressings. Inner grooves on both sides, both pressings are only marked with the usual label/numbering (KLP 116 A/B)

*No information at this time about numbers pressed of any format or what the exact release date refers to. Considering the drastic differences in the cover designs one would assume the first press of the vinyl was released by itself, a CD version only becoming available at the time of the 2nd vinyl press.

-All copies on black vinyl, as far as I know.

-A decent review here from our friends at Pitchfork:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5268-it-was-hot-we-stayed-in-the-water/


…………………………….




This was in the handful of Microphones records/releases that I was fortunate enough to pick up at the time, a million years ago, when I was first learning about Phil. I have to admit, if I haven’t already in these pages, that I was initially not into his thing. My first encounter with Phil was when I lived in Seattle, working at another in a chain of many record store jobs. One day the “Tests” CD arrived, and I think it’s safe to assume this would have had to have been when it was actually first released (more on this when we get to that CD), and I guess I was just not in a place in my life where I was ready for it.

Flash forward to Boston, another record store job, and a friend recommending The Microphones to me. I perused releases. I was continually baffled by Phil’s obsession with percussion and noise. Long tracks of drums and sound, occasionally interspersed with tiny perfect acoustic songs or, what sounded like, elementary school choruses. This LP being a good example of that format. This album for me has always had the feel of something like Unrest’s “Imperial ffrr” album. Something just really all over the map, songs, sounds, noise, sweetness, short pop songs, epics, all somehow united under a single banner and making a singular statement. I might also, more appropriately, compare it to Pink Floyd’s “A Saucerful of Secrets” which features a similar psychedelic murkiness, hard-to-decipher lyrics, inscrutable intentions occasionally interspersed with smaller “pop” songs, and a very long, somewhat noisy centerpiece song.

I have recently been introduced to the notion that each Phil record has dealt heavily with one of the “four elements” in this case “water” (the Mt. Eerie LP, “earth”, The Glow Pt.2 “fire”, and Wind’s Poem “wind” obviously).

This record was also my mysterious introduction to the mysterious Karl Blau, whose place in Microphones history is slowly coming into focus for me. I have always been a fan of naming a song in a very utilitarian way. Something terse and literal that describes it and Phil seems to love that too. On this album especially, “Drums” and all drum track, “Organs” and almost all organ drone track and of course “Karl Blau” a song, presumably, written by or featuring Karl.

Possibly the biggest single moments for me with this record so far have been:


1.


(laying with voice in headphones, next to the Charles River, a view, in the distance, of the BU bridge, watching the sky,

don't reach out, Phil...)





In my last days/weeks in Boston before moving to Atlanta I spent a lot of time walking around and riding aimlessly on my bike, just trying to get lost, end up in places in the city I had never seen. Often these would take place on beautiful sunny days off around the city or on grey not-quite drizzly, sleepy afternoons after work, out into far Cambridge, Sommerville, Alewife, Davis Square, etc… I took this time to listen straight through to many of Phil’s albums and really sort of hang out with them and get to know them, (we’ll visit these scenarios again on future releases).

On this particular day it was sunny and hot and beautiful and I was probably just hanging around all day until people got off work and what not. I rode down to the park that is next to the Charles, just before the BU Bridge, on the Cambridgeport side of the river. At that time, down there, it was sort of this lost wasteland, mostly inaccessible and no one cared. A jogging path went by it that people would frequent and I myself would use, on my bike, as access to the heart of the city or Comm. Ave. Alongside this path was park land that was underdeveloped and sometimes frequented by the homeless or quasi-homeless. There was a playground, benches, a baseball field and so on (it has since been sadly developed into something much more “official”).

At this time there was a huge soccer field of grass that opened up under the sky in an amazing way. I rode down there and laid my bike down and then laid down in the grass and listened to “It Was Hot…” from start to finish. It was very much a perfect setting to take it all in. One that I think Phil would approve of. I just laid there in the grass and looked up into the blue of the sky and the occasional clouds and felt far away and huge. I reached up to it. As the album was ending, I distinctly recall, while “Organs” was beginning its swell, I got up and started walking my bike back up to the path and whatever the rest of my day held. I walked beneath the canopy of a huge tree as the song grew and grew.


2.
On the morning I drove away from Allston, back to Atlanta, in a huge moving truck full of my entire life, all of me, my things and the entire last 10 years, I woke up in The Castle. I had planned my weekend/departure around this. At the beginning of the weekend I had rented the truck, loaded all my stuff in it and effectively moved-out of my apartment in Porter Square. I then drove the truck to Allston and parked it in Z and C’s driveway and spent my last epic weekend with all my friends, dancing and drinking (an epic story for some other time I suppose). The morning I was to leave it was what they call “moving day” in Boston. The day that all of the millions of students that flood into the city every fall for school show up, en masse, to move into their shitty apartments with the help and adulation of their confused families. Which is all well and good, but becomes a clusterfuck of Biblical proportions as everyone there is also trying to move in and out of their various homes all at the same time in the same space and moving vans are being waited on all over the city and the streets are literally covered and blocked and lined with trash from an entire year of debauchery as well as all of everyone’s possessions/entire lives. It is like trying to navigate a huge junkyard or the way they depict cities in post-apocalyptic movies (T4, Escape from NY/LA etc…) In retrospect, not the best morning to plan my departure for.

I awoke, hung over and very out of sorts from the night/weekend before, to find a living room full of people (most of which being my closest and most beloved friends in Boston, Coree, Zoe, Liz, Cabrie etc…) most of whom were in an also hung-over and very devastated state in regards to my departure/abandoning them. It was hot (and no water to stay in) as blazes and confusing and really too, too much to try to relate here and now (again, story for some other time and place).

Music needed to be put on to somehow alleviate the wretchedness, the crying, the zombie-like comings and goings. I think it was Coree that said “Bri Bri, what’s your favorite Phil album, or at least which one do you want me to put on right now?” In a strange moment for my brain this was the album that jumped out at me. I am really not sure why. I love it, but I would never have guessed that I’d ever present it as a “favorite” or a “last request” on my last day in town. And so it went on the stereo and we sat and we wallowed in the water, in the muddy murk, in the breeze and the crashing waves and it was extremely hard to leave.

At one point I went for a walk to say goodbye to Leslie and Karen up in Brookline which was painful, both because of the emotional gravity of it and because the streets were teeming with families and kids, lost in Allston, first timers with no idea, clogging the sidewalks and restaurants, dropping off their soon-to-not-be-innocent college-bound offspring. After awhile of that egress it was back to The Castle for the conclusion.

There was a lot of crying and hugging and I almost couldn’t get my truck out of their driveway and then when I did I was blocked into their street by the afore mentioned trash and moving trucks and much fretting happened and we tried to find the owners of the trucks and we all, as a team, went to the mouth of the street and, piece by piece, moved the trash and furniture to make an escape route. It was hard.
It was hot…
(--082, --021, --042, --011, was featured as the original title track for --005 but later replaced by “I Lost My Wind” [see the post for The Microphones: “Moon, Moon”/”I Lost My Wind” 7”] though this song remained on the mix itself], --059, --083, --096, --023, --254, [and one more track on this album yet to be used for a mix, stay tuned])





Tracklist (Vinyl)
--------------------------
Side A:

The Pull
Ice
Sand (Eric's Trip)
The Glow


Side B:

Karl Blau
Drums
The Gleam
The Breeze
(something)
Between Your Ear And The Other Ear
Organs





Tracklist (CD)
-----------------------
The Pull
Ice
Sand (Eric’s Trip)
The Glow
Karl Blau
Drums
The Gleam
The Breeze
(something)
Between Your Ear and the Other Ear
Organs







Furthermore...


(Kelp Monthly #11 [aka Karl Blau and Friends Perform "It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water" by The Microphones] front [with sleeve], back [with sleeve], front [no sleeve], back [no sleeve], full contents, CD front, back, inside of cover, insert)






It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water
(as performed by Karl Blau and friends) (KELP Monthly #11)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From Karl’s website:
http://www.theconnextion.com/karlblau/karlblau_index.cfm?CatID=122
and
http://www.kelplunacy.com/
and
kelpmonthly@fastmail.fm/P.O. Box 1307 Anacortes, WA 98221


Prompted by the acquisition of Phil Elverum's written out score of the Microphone's "It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water" this version doesn't try to steer back to the shore by any means. That said, an element of the poppiness of the original Microphones record decided to stay. Karl Blau does much of the music and singing and is joined by Eddy Blau, Nate Ashley, Alexa DiSalvo, plus Phil himself singing with the Boomstand Singers choir in the first track "the Pull." Featuring the freshest Adrian Orange of Thanksgiving singing the epic "The Glow."



This was released as part of Karl’s monthly CD subscription service, which serves as an outlet for his insane prolificacy (there appear to be upwards of twenty something of these CDs in addition to Karls copious amounts of otherwise released CDs, collaborations and compilation appearances). I ended up with it through eBay and then discovered Karl’s site which has many, many of these available to order, physically and even more than that to order as digital downloads.

No clue what any of the release info on this or any of it is. Times, dates, places, numbers, amounts, it’s all a mystery. Certainly a project for someone for whom Karl is their Phil. I can at least say that, through accruing some of these releases, I have come to understand Karl a lot more and be blown away by him as a person, as a song writer, by his output and so on. I was trepid at first but it has all been worth it.

This in a hand-made/printed/painted/sewn cover with a xeroxed insert on blue paper. The CD itself appears to be a burned CDR.

Now, to the point. It seemed a fitting addendum to this entry to include this recent acquisition. It is exactly what it claims to be, Karl and friends, recording their version of the “It Was Hot…” album (well most of it anyway). And it’s really good. Pretty interesting stuff here. Very well executed, lots of care and love, well played and produced. Not at all dashed-off or sloppy. Really meant to be a loving tribute.

They don’t quite make it to all the songs, which makes the ones they do choose and don’t choose all the more interesting:




Tracklist:
-------------------
The Pull
Ice
The Blow
Karl Blau
The Gleam
The Breeze
(something)
Between Your Ear and the Other Ear
Study in Kelp #1
Study in Kelp #2
Study in Kelp #3
Study in Kelp #4
Study in Kelp #5


(The last five songs are, seemingly, unrelated to the album. Just weird, short tracks of, what amounts to, something clicking.)

In the end, the real draw here is hearing Karl Blau actually singing and performing the Microphones song called “Karl Blau”


Can you say “mirror facing mirror” anyone?






I had originally had a link here to a download of Karl's album. It was, however, brought to my attention that Karl still has this in print and that I should be directing people to supporting him rather than illegally downloading it for free. So, I have taken that to heart and removed the link. Olease patronize the amazing Karl Blau at his KELP site for this album and many, many, many others. The site info is at the top of this portion of the post. Cheers.
















xo

(Spine 1, 2, CD cover, front, back, actual disc, insert front, back, picture hidden under the tray, play-side info)












The Microphones: "Window:" the Series, plus 6 others CD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Recorded March 1998 through May 1999 at Dub Narcotic, The Business, and Yoyo by Phil Elvrum, Khaela Maricich, Jenn Kliese, Mirah Yom Tove Zietlyn, Karl Blau, Bronwyn Holm, Aaron Hartman, Dennis Driscoll, Erica Jacobs, Calvin Johnson, Pate Maley, Space Echo, J. Pogue

-Release date (close as I can seem to find) 2000

-Released by Yoyo Recordings (YOYO-CD13)* (http://www.buyolympia.com/yoyo/sid=406631426/)

*Though it lists the KNW-YR-OWN address as the "for more information" contact. (1717 Commercial Ave. Anacortes, WA 98221) Furthermore, there is a note appended below that that reads: For more on the "Window": KLP99 from K (Records), which is, in fact, the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP. "Window" was apparently an EP meant to augment the release of that full length and, indeed, many of the "windows" are, in fact, bits of recordings used on that album.

-This has only ever been released on CD.

-IFPI Number: Again, appears to have two (saw this on the Projector Comp. as well, and interestingly enough, the second number on both of them is the same) L533 on the silver and 9216 stamped in the plastic inner groov

-Barcode Info: 789856601325

-No info seems to be available or included about the cover art and design. No idea who took those pictures of the house, or whose house it is. On the other hand, the back cover and the spines and actual CD art all look very much like our good friend J. Pogue. That cloud on the CD might even be the same cloud from the "Feedback" and "Bass Drum Dream" 7"s. Moreover, the inside of the CD foldout also looks exactly like his work. It even seems to include that red circle laid over top of the black and white photos (which we last saw on the "Bass Drum Dream" 7"). I guess that would make sense since this is supposed to be an accompaniment to the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP and he was so closely involved in the art for that.

-It's a CD so, lord knows how many were pressed. I'd guess at least 1000.

-Other details of note:

This CD features another chapter in the "moon" series ("The Moon" from the 7" of the same name, "Moon, Moon" from the 7" of the same name, etc...)

This also features one of (I think) the first and only appearances of a Microphones song sung entirely by someone besides Phil ("Ocean", I'm guessing that that's Khaela, which may or may not be, in some way, related to "Ocean 1, 2, 3" from "Don't Wake Me Up". It certainly has a similar feeling/lyric/vocal performance. It actually feels like this might be some kind of sequel/reply, a little reminiscent of the two versions of the song "Tests" from the "Tests" CD and cassette, one sung by Phil the other by a "young girl".)

As Phil was once prone to, this CD features a picture printed on the back of the back cover (i.e. on the paper under the plastic CD tray). In this case the picture seems to be random and not at all related to the proceedings (an Asian woman holding an old camera).

The "windows" as best I can tell are bits from these songs (bear with me, I'll be filling this in over time as I figure them out, and, to be fair, I think a good number of them are unused...):*
*Ok so Phil recently put up what he described as a "big dump of Microphones stuff on iTunes". Which is wonderful for the world. Making it even nicer, I noticed, the version of Windows that is in the store now has names attributed to each "Window" track ascribing it's origin. So I am updating this section now with Phil's descriptions/track names...

Track 07: Ocean 1, 2, 3
Track 08: Florida Beach
Track 09: Here With Summer
Track 10: Where It's Hotter pt. 3
Track 11: I'm Getting Cold
Track 12: I'll Be In The Air
Track 13: Tonight There'll Be Clouds
Track 14: It Wouldn't
Track 15: Sweetheart Sleep Tight
Track 16: Don't Wake Me Up
Track 17: I Felt You
Track 18: Drums and Bass
Track 19: Archipelago by Mirah
Track 20: Cranberry Road by Dennis Driscoll
Track 21: Pollen by Mirah
Track 22: Wake Me Up
Track 23: Feedback Love




...................................




Another lucky early purchase in my Phil Career. This was surely bought in the big Microphones excitement of the early 2000's. I can practically see myself standing in fucking Newbury Comics looking at Microphones CDs trying to decide which ones to buy. Holding this disc in my hands now (the same one I held, all those years ago, in shrinkwrap, in the store, probably on a shift) it is mildly surreal. Phil seems to have a thing, personally, about artifacts, and that is something, I guess, that draws me to him, as I have similar feelings/hang-ups. Case in point.

I wish I could recall what my take on this was, upon hearing it. I am guessing it was just another in many very similar episodes with me and my early days with Phil, i.e. opaque, a real thing for percussion tracks/passage of sound as song, fragmentation, many ideas being thrown out there and sometimes realized, sometimes abandoned, elementary school chorus's, and, of course, at least one tiny, beautiful, delicate gem dropped into the middle of the miasma. Like a reward, a tiny diamond hidden amidst all this rock and rubble and cloud.

I am grateful that I got this when I did and have been carrying it with me ever since. I am glad this was an early piece for me to digest. It seems very time-appropriate. If, for no other reason, the proximity of "Ocean" in the canon of Phil's songs and my life and the KINGS mixes.
(--030, --006, --127a, --017, --041 [three times, track 7, 17, 21], --264, --265, --266, --267, twelve tracks still unused on this album, stay tuned.)


Tracklist
-----------
Moon Moon Moon
(something)
Ocean
Cover Me Up
Heart Lake Rd.
Drums and Birds
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window
Window























xo.

(CD spine 1, spine 2, front, back, opened, inside of booklet, CD itself top, inner groove, play-side info)



(LP spine, cover front, back, LP inner label A, B)



(LP in shrink wrap, front, back, spine, UPC sticker)






The Microphones "Don't Wake Me Up" CD/LP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-Recorded between April 25, 1998 and March 1, 1999 at Dub Narcotic (Olympia) and The Business (Anacortes) By Phil Elrum. Also involved in the recording, Mirah Yom Tov Zietlyn, Khaela Maricich, Calvin Johnson ("all sang").

-Released in 1999 by K Records (kpunk.com) (KLP 99)

-IFPI Number: 6000*

*Actually just learned about this number. In my forever striving to chronicle down to the tiniest details for this page I recently decided I ought to be including the branding and coding on the play-side (silver side) of the disc. The inner grooves on CDs come with all manner of info, weird bar codes, label catalog info, strange symbols, info on the country where it was manufactured or the specific company that made it. (And seriously, if anyone out there knows how to decipher all that stuff please, PLEASE let me know, I'd love to be able to go through and list it all) For the most part, for this blog, I am going to suffice with just putting up pics of this info on the CD as best I can (it's hard as hell to take pictures of because it's generally very small and on a reflective surface), and not listing it in the album details. However, where I can, I am going to make one exception and that is for the IFPI number. This is the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It's sort of like the ISSN number on a book. It's basically a weird anti-piracy league of some kind with, apparently, a very colorful history. Not too up on much of it but if you'd like to learn more I'd start here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Federation_of_the_Phonographic_Industry
for the sake of this blog I'm going to suffice with just listing the number as a relevant piece of information and not dwell on the politics of the organization.

-Barcode number: 789856109913

-Apparently the CDs were "Made in Canada"

-Cover art by J. Pogue, who we've seen several times before on the first couple Microphones 7"s.* I guess he was one of the people that was in and out of the "band" around this era.

*Original vinyl releases also included a special edition of the "Litne" art zine created especially for this LP by Justyn Pogue as seen here:

(Front/back covers and all pages)*



*It is worth nothing that most of the images seem to be themed around the idea of "sleep" as per the title of the LP. Also, we see the image that the graphics from the actual CD were taken from as well as, what seems to be one of Phil's favorites, the drawing of the billowing clouds (which we will see/have seen on many other releases).

-It's on LP and CD and on K so no clue how many of these there might have been, thousands of the CD I'm guessing and at least a thousand of the LP.

-Other details of note:

The CD features different cover art (though represented in the same fashion) from the LP. The CD features a new, unique black and white image, whereas the LP features the same picture that was on the "Moon, Moon" 7". The back cover on the CD seems to be another in the same series of pics, whereas the back cover of the LP seems to be another J. Pogue collage (including the "clouds" drawing).

The CD foldout art features a large "in color" photo collage (much like he one that accompanies the reissues of "The Glow Pt. 2") which is not featured on the LP. The pics are of all kinds of random things and people (Bronwyn Holm, Kyle Field, Phil, and Khaela seem to be recognizable as well as the source pictures used for the CD cover art).

The inside of the CD cover also features the famous "cloud drawing"

As is usual with the early Phil CDs there is a picture "hidden" under the plastic tray, viewable in my pics because there is a transparent tray rather than the standard opaque black (though, it is worth noting, that I am sure this CD originally came with a black tray and someone along the line replaced the one I have with a transparent tray). The pic underneath is an overexposed pic of Phil's face with his eyes closed, next to him, half off-cell, there appears to be someone else's face as well. I wonder who that is.

On the back of the LP, again, label addresses are listed for both K Records (P.O. Box 7154 Olympia, Wash. 98507) and KNW-YR-OWN (1717 Commercial, Anacortes, Wash. 98221) .

There is not an information insert with the LP, all the info is listed on the back cover (and it is worth noting that the LP version is the only one with any info other than the song titles. The CD lists none of the other info, anywhere, which is on the back cover of the LP). There is, however, the afore mentioned J. Pogue zine as well as a huge poster (which, interestingly, appears to be in-line with the rest of the LP art but, additionally, is a picture of a WINDOW). Perhaps a subconscious or intentional allusion to the "Window" CD which would follow and "accompany" this release. Poster seen here:


Inner groover info is pretty normal, though they, for some reason, actually write out the sides on this one. It is also of particular note that the inner groove info differs from all other release info. All over all the rest of the LP and CD this is clearly marked as KLP-99, however, on the vinyl inner grrove markings this is listed as KLP-101 (KLP-101 Side A, Side B).

The vinyl labels are, unlike most of the releases from this era, taken from the cover art images. Usually, as we have seen, Phil has a specific, hand-drawn, label design which he usually uses for the inner labels.

There's an interesting little review here: http://web.archive.org/web/19990101000000-20030131235959/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/m/microphones/dont-wake-me-up.shtml
from our friends at Pitchfork.



...............................



This was another of the first Microphones CDs I bought, back in the day at Newbury. Cannot recall any of the original circumstances surrounding this one, alas. I am certain at the time I was frustrated and intrigued by the fact that the back of the CD does not feature any song titles or recording info.

I also believe this is a record I have gotten to know very slowly over a long period of time and still do not really feel "familiar" with (as evidenced by the fact that, besides the "easy song" [I Felt You] the first appearance of this album on the mixes isn't until --035, the next ones being ten mixes later, and then next after than being about twenty to thirty mixes later). This may be attributable to the "early"-ness of the music. This is sort of the first "real" Microphones album. There was a lot out before this and the "Tests" CD, for sure. But this was the first real actual LP. It feels right exactly where it is in Phil's timeline. There is plenty of the old school tape-recording flavor here and also a heavy dose of the aesthetics that would carry into "It Was Hot...".

Also, lots of Phil's ongoing, confusing, self-referential repetition of song title themes ("Wake Me Up"/"Don't Wake Me Up", "I'll Be In The Air"/"You Were In The Air"/"You'll Be In The Air", "Ocean...").
(--237, --045, --068, --072, --046, --069, --052, --035, --008* and counting [still 6/7 songs on this album not yet used on mixes, stay tuned.])

*Two notes here, first off, this mix, by all rights would be mix number 9. It was made 9th (and hence, in literal actuality, all the mixes should actually be one number higher than they are). But since mix --008 (I Can't Believe You Actually Died) was made the floating, perpetual "last mix" and given its own, special, numbering designation (FIGURE 8 PLUS) that cleared the way for this, the actual 9th mix made, to become, de facto, the 8th mix.

Secondly, the version of this track which appears herein is an edit made by me (to leave off all of the near silent space after the song ends). Thus, the actual mix name of this mix is "--008(I Felt You [Edit]). To be fair, the actual last, fifteenth, track of this release has never been used for a mix, though I am marking it off here, and have always considered it to be "used".





Tracklist (Vinyl)
--------------------------
Side A:

Ocean 1,2,3
Florida Beach
Here With Summer
Where It's Hotter Pt. 3
I'm Getting Cold
I'll Be In The Air
Tonight There'll Be Clouds


Side B:

You Were In The Air
What Happened To You?
It Wouldn't
I'm In Hell
Don't Wake Me Up
Sweetheart Sleep Tight
Instrumental
I Felt You





Tracklist (CD)
--------------------
Ocean 1,2,3
Florida Beach
Here With Summer
Where It's Hotter Pt. 3
I'm Getting Cold
I'll Be In The Air
Tonight There'll Be Clouds
You Were In The Air
What Happened To You?
It Wouldn't
I'm In Hell
Don't Wake Me Up
Sweetheart Sleep Tight
Instrumental
I Felt You





















xo.

Phil Elv(e)rum
(who are you, voice in headphones?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------



Green (redundant releases, album versions in different places, samplers etc…)
Blue (unknown release info, as in, no one is sure if this release ever happened or will)
Orange (random, unofficial, not exactly “discography” stuff, promos, etc. that I've come across)


*Redundant reissues and formats of releases may not be scattered chronologically, they are sometimes grouped with the first appearance of a release (i.e. the 1st and 2nd pressing of “It Was Hot…”, for example, are listed next to each other even though they clearly came out at different times in the actual chronological order). This is done for clarity’s sake and ease of seeing a release's particular history when I do not have a clear idea when a later release was put out. Most especially with the PW digital albums, which were all clearly put out at some later date than the actual releases of the albums, though I have no way of determining when.

*One should also note a new button in the top right hand corner of the blog, the "Discography" link, which will, theoretically, provide easy access to this page, which I will attempt to be constantly vigilant of updating. For some reason at the moment it insists on pulling up the entire front page of the blog rather than just the discography, a bug which I hope to fix soon. If anyone reading this sees that I have something wrong, erroneous, in the wrong place in the time-line or otherwise has any further info about any of these releases please let me know. It's a work-in-progress...

*Also, regarding the very first releases, ff anyone can confirm or deny how I have this set up let me know. Not sure if Tugboat or Mostly Clouds... came first. Not sure the years these were released. Not even sure if the band was called Tugboat or The Tugboat Fiasco.










---------------------------------------------------------------------



Mostly Clouds and Trees "Beautiful Face" Cassette (Knw-yr-Own)





--------------------------------



Tugboat Cassette (Knw-yr-Own)

Tugboat Fiasco "Booklet"/"Zine" Cassette (150 copies, album notes)





(The) Microphones
------------------------------------------------------------------




X-ray Means Woman Cassette (Knw-yr-Own)

Wires and Cords Cassette (Knw-yr-Own)

Microphone Cassette (Knw-yr-Own)

Tests Cassette (Knw-YR-Own)

VA-Blw -Yr-Knows Compilation Cassette ("March Through Hell"& "Wires & Cords") (Knw-yr-Own)

“Microphone Mix” Cassette (Elsinor)

Jimi Sharp: International Man of Mystery Cassette (1 copy only, 50 copies reproduced later by Jimi, with Phil’s blessing, and given away at What the Heck Fest) (No label)

VA-FIB Issue 5 ½ Cassette (Various songs with different collaborators) (No label)

VA-Olympia Talent Show CDR (“Eight Months in Olympia” as well as various other contributions to other people’s songs) (Talent Show Records)

VA-Know Your Own CS (“In Sleep I Float Around” & “Where It’s Hotter Pt.3”) (Knw-yr-Own)

Tests CD (Phil Version, big text) (Elsinor)

Tests CD (Phil Version, small text) (Elsinor)

Tests CD (Version w/ color photocopies, no cardboard digipak) (Elsinor)

Unreleased Split 7" w/ Olivia Tremor Control and Moviola (Unknown unreleased track, Joe from Elsinor mentioned that he thinks there is a DAT of this song somewhere, that the single never came out and that he thinks the track has been unreleased elsewhere) (Elsinor)

Tests Cassette Reissue (Released as part of Record Store Day 2011, 25 copies with new packaging) (Technically not on a label)



Bass Drum Dream 7” (Black vinyl) (Up)

Feedback (Life, Love, Loop) 7” (Black vinyl) (The Bedtime Record)

VA-Yoyo-a-go-go 1999 CD (“Ocean One Two Three”) (Yo-Yo)

VA- 4 Dots CD (“Bass Drum Dream” slightly different mix than 7” version)(Montesano Records)

VA-The New Year's Resolutions comp. CD (“Deeply Burried” different version than the one that ended up on Song Islands) (hup!-booking/perishable)




Don’t Wake Me Up LP (w/poster and zine) (Black vinyl) (K)

Don’t Wake Me Up CD (K)

Moon, Moon 7” (Black vinyl) (K)

Window CD (Yo-Yo)

VA-Projector CD (“Wake Me Up”) (Yo-Yo)

VA-Hootenholler Comp. Cassette (“The Glow pt.4 [version]) (Love Tape Love)

I Can’t Believe You Actually Died 7” (Billed as "The Microphones Singers") (Black vinyl) (Coming In Second)

VA-Asteroids Compilation Cassette (Where It's Hotter) (1999) (Limited to 200 copies) (Dead Turtle Recordings)




It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water LP (1st press w/“pop-up” cover, black vinyl) (K)

It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water CD (K)

The Moon/Version 7” (Black vinyl) (Instatone Brand)

VA-Lullaby, Lullaby CD (“I Listen Close” different version than the one on Song Islands) (80 North)

VA-Remote Wing CD (“instrumental” & “Felt My Size” (A 2001 know-yr-own comp, CD and later digital album)

It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water LP (2nd press, black vinyl) (K)




The Glow Pt.2 Promo CD

The Glow Pt.2 LP (1st press w/poster, black vinyl) (K)

The Glow Pt.2 LP (European import, black vinyl) (K)

The Glow Pt.2 CD (K)

VA-The Way Things Change 7” (Orange vinyl) (Red Square)

Blood LP (Black vinyl) (St. Ives)

Blood (Digital album) (PW)

“Little Bird Flies into a Big Black Cloud” Book (formerly published as “Souvenirs”???)

Little Bird Flies into Big Black Cloud LP (Black vinyl) (St. Ives)

Little Bird Flies in a Big Black Cloud (Digital album) (PW)




The Glow Pt.2 LP (2nd press w/insert and no poster, black vinyl) (K)

“What Wonder by The Microphones” Book (2002)

Lanterns/Antlers 7” (Black vinyl) (K)

VA-Shipwreck Day CD (“I Cut My Hands Off”) (Knw-YR-Own) (later available as a digital album (What-th-heck)

VA- End of Tunnel Vision CD (“Phil Elvrum’s Will”) (Whirling Cloud)

VA- “Scottish compilation” (may or may not have been released) (“There’s No Invincible
Disguise That Lasts All Day”) (??)

Song Islands Promo CD (K)

Song Islands CD (w/hype sticker) (K)

Island Songs CD (Japanese import on the 7ep label/diff tracks)

Mt. Eerie CD (K)

Mt. Eerie CD (Japanese import on the 7ep label w/9 "excerpts" tracks from drums/singing from mt. eerie)

Mt. Eerie LP (Original Press w/ insert and poster, black vinyl, various colors of string) (K)

The Singing from Mt. Eerie 10” (Black ink cover) (Black vinyl) (K)

The Singing from Mt. Eerie 10" (Gold?/or Red? ink cover) (Black vinyl) (K)

The Drums from Mt. Eerie 10” (Black ink cover) (Black vinyl) (K)

The Drums from Mt. Eerie 10” (Gold ink cover) (Black vinyl) (K)

“Headwaters” an attempted explanation of Mt. Eerie (Book+CDR) (No label)

VA-Invisible Shield CD (“Get the Hell Out of the Way of the Volcano”) (K)




Live in Japan CD (K)

Live in Japan LP (black vinyl with poster, hype sticker) (K)

Is This Music (UK Zine with CDR) (“Wooly Mammoth’s Mighty Absence”)




Live in Japan CD (Japanese import on the 7ep label, import w/2 extra songs)

Wise Old Little Boy DVD (FSR)




VA-FIB Issue 5 1/2 (10th Anniversary edition, Zine w/ CDR) (2007)

VA-Sidewalk Songs & City Stories: New Urban Folk (the track is listed as “Kanterns” is actually the usual version of “Lanterns”) (Trikont) (2007?)

Don’t Smoke/Get Off the Internet 7” (Clear Vinyl) (PW)

Don’t Smoke/Get Off the Internet 7” (White Vinyl) (PW)

Don’t Smoke/Get Off the Internet (Digital album) (PW)




The Glow Pt.2 2CD (Reissue, Japanese import on 7ep)

The Glow Pt.2 2CD (Reissue) (K)

The Glow Pt.2 3LP (Reissue, black vinyl) (K)

Mt. Eerie LP (Reissue, no insert, black vinyl, various colors of string. I'm guessing on the year here.) (K)




Mt. Eerie LP (Repress, no insert or poster, reverse colors on vinyl inner label, black vinyl. These were identical to the reissue, Phil apparently just happened to find some unsold copies laying around.) (K)




Microphones/Golden Boots/Bishop Allen/Paleo 4-way split 7" (PIATPK/Lost Sound Tapes)
(Came with three different covers, limited to 200 copies each. First, I think, twenty orders of all three also included coasters and other misc. freebies.)




"Big Dump" of Microphones stuff goes up in the iTunes store. I forget what stuff was in here before but I think what was added was: Tests, Blood, Window, Little Bird, The Glow pt.2 Disc 2. Not sure about Don't Wake Me Up, The Singing and The Drums From Mt. Eerie, It Was Hot..., Live In Japan etc... Anyone??


Microphones "I am not interested..." T-shirt (Hand screened, some with writing on both sides, the ones I've seen are both on burgundy shirts) (I think the person I got this from said it was from a Microphones tour, so I'm putting it here, no way to verify at this point.

Microphones "Mount Eerie" T-shirt (The one I've seen was white with a drawing of the mountain, K Records logo on back) (K)

Microphones "Mount Eerie" T-shirt 2 (The one I have is actually a girls baby tee, lime green. Features a different drawing of the mountain on the front

Microphones "Death" T-shirt (Yellow, screenprinted, K logo on back) (K)

"Microphones Souvenir Tarpaulin" ("from the 'I will sleep in your yard without you knowing' tour")







Mount Eerie
-----------------------------------------





VA-What Tha Heck Fest 2003 CD (and later digital album) (“Voice In Headphones”) (What tha Heck)

VA-Turning Tutu/Turning Leaves Comp. (Kelp Monthly #3) (“Two Blonde Braids”) (Fall, 2003)

VA-Re-remembering Comp. Cassette ("Cold Mountain [Black]") (Unnecessary Friction Records)



Live in Copenhagen 3LP+digital download code included (Burnt Toast, this was later reissued with the DL code. Not sure if the original had one, or if it differed in any other way, it doesn't seem to)

VA-Pet Series Vol.3 CD (“The Boom”) (Volkoren)

Seven New Songs From Mount Eerie CDR (PW) (196 copies)

Seven New Songs From Mount Eerie (Digital album) (PW)

Two New Songs By Mount Eerie 12” (White vinyl) (PW)

VA-Trust in Sirens Comp (Kelp Monthly #10) (“Surrender”) (July 2004)

Renunciation (Live, DL only) (this placement is a guess based on the songs played)




Eleven Old Songs From Mount Eerie LP (w/CD, booklet and zine) (PW)

Eleven Old Songs From Mount Eerie (Digital album) (PW)

I Whale 7" (Blue vinyl, one-sided + screen print) (Bluesanct)

I Whale 7" ("Cloudy Weather" version. Limited to 13 copies. Blue/black cloudy vinyl) (Bluesanct)

Nobody’s Perfect (Live, DL only) (April, 2005) (Originally meant for a physical release, as ELV006, which never happened)

VA-The Believer Magazine (June 2005 Music Issue+ CD) (“Waterfalls”) (The Believer Magazine)

Split 7” w/ The Love of Everything (“Do Not Be Afraid, You Will Be in the World”) (White vinyl, Record Label) (June 27, 2005)

20 Bees 7" (Limited to 20 copies) (July, 2005???) (Twenty Bees)

VA-Flotsam & Jetsam CD and digital album (What the Heck Fest Comp 2005/KELP 19) (“No Flashlight”)

“Special Edition Song Book” (tiny photocopied book of poems “included in orders from PW Elverum, August 1st 2005, Anacortes) (PW)

VA- The Marriage Records Comp: Is Orange Birds (“It’s Not The Hunting”) (Marriage Records)

VA-WUAG 103.1 FM and Gate City Noise Presents: Sub Rosa Radio CD (“The Boom”) (No Label)

Mount Eerie Dances With Wolves/Wolf Mountain Howls “Into the World” LP (White vinyl) (PW) (600 copies)

Mount Eerie Dances With Wolves/Wolf Mountain Howls “Into the World” (Digital album) (PW)

Singers/No Flashlight 2CD Promo/press release (came with a hand written note from Phil) (PW)

No Flashlight LP (White vinyl, w/CD) (PW) (Aug. 16th, 2005)

No Flashlight (Digital album) (PW)

No Flashlight CD (Japanese import on 7ep w/3 bonus tracks)

No Flashlight CD (Danish import on Play/Rec w/4 bonus tracks)

No Flashlight CD (Australian import on Art School Dropout w/4 bonus tracks)

“Little Songs” Book

Singers "Portland Version" LP (Rice paper sleeve, with insert, limited to 40 copies?)

Singers LP w/CD (White vinyl) (PW) (Sept. 6th, 2005)

Singers CD (Tour only, covers made from folded up LP covers)

Singers (Digital album) (PW)

The Drums from No Flashlight LP (White Vinyl) (PW)

The Drums from No Flashlight (Digital album) (PW)

VA-Play/Record Comp. CD (“Not Too Fancy”) (Play/Rec)

“Short Songs” Book

Egil’s Saga (7 CD Box Set) (PW)




Live from "The Business 1717 Commercial Avenue Anacortes" (Two tracks from a show with WHYSP and Finches that Karl Blau posted on his website) ("2 Lakes"& "Waterfalls") (KELP)

Four Band Split 7” (Black and white screened cover) (w/Thanksgiving etc…) (White vinyl) (“Let’s Get Out of the Romance [Black]”) (Stop Drop Records)

Four Band Split 7” (Yellow and red screened cover) (w/Thanksgiving etc…) (White vinyl) (“Let’s Get Out of the Romance [Black]”) (Stop Drop Records)

VA-Live at the Artistry CD (“In a Generous Way”) (Artistry Record Company) (June 10, 2006)

VA-Free the Bird Comp (Peace Sign) (What the Heck Fest 2006 Comp) (“Cooking”)

VA-Nervous Jerk E.S.P. CD (“Cooking” *Same version featured on the 2006 What the Heck Fest CD) (Nervous Jerk/Inertia)

Nikaidoh Kazumi US Tour DVD (Various tour footage of Phil, the moools, etc...)(2006) (mrrn film)





Mount Eerie Pt.6/7 + Book (Giant picture book w/ 10” picture disc) (July) (PW)

Mount Eerie Pt.6/7 (Digital album) (July) (PW)

VA-What Tha Heck Fest 2007 CD (and later digital album) (What tha Heck)

VA-The Second Marriage Records Comp. 2CD (“In Moonlight [Live]”) (Marriage Records) (Sept 4, 2007) (*This is the same version of the song that later ended up on the CD version of Black Wooden Ceiling Opening)




VA-David Shrigley’s Worried Noodles Snippet Album CD (Sampler of 1 minute excerpts from all tracks)

VA-David Shrigley's Worried Noodles Promo CD

VA-David Shrigley’s Worried Noodles 2CD+harcover book (Same as above)

VA-Yeti Zine (Issue 5) Zine+CD (“Blue Light [Instrumental]”) (March 7, 2008) (Yeti Publishing LLC)

Brussels After Midnight (Live) (DL only) (June 6, 2008)

VA-No Band is an Island (What the Heck Fest 2008 Comp) CD (and later digital album)
(“Wind Summons” *which is actually the acoustic version of the song featured on the import versions of the Wind’s Poem CD)

No Flashlight LP (White vinyl, w/CD, zine version) (limited to 114 copies) (Early Aug, 2008) (PW)

Black Wooden Ceiling Opening 10”/CD/Digital Album (Black vinyl) (PW)

Black Wooden Ceiling Opening (poster only) (PW)

Fog Movies DVD (PW)

Lost Wisdom CD (PW) (Oct 7 2008)

Lost Wisdom (Digital album) (PW)

Lost Wisdom LP (Clear vinyl) (PW)

Lost Wisdom LP (White vinyl) (PW)

Lost Wisdom LP (Light blue marble vinyl) (PW)

Lost Wisdom LP (Brown marble vinyl) (PW)

Dawn LP (White Vinyl) (PW) (Nov 1, 2008)

Dawn LP (w/promo poster?) (Seen a copy of Dawn for sale on ebay a few times with a little promo poster included. Not sure if some copies had this as an insert or if this is a random pairing) (White vinyl) (PW) (Nov 1, 2008)

Dawn (Digital album) (PW)

Dawn Book+CD (PW)

Dawn (Audio Book) (Digital book) (PW)

Split 7" w/ No Kids (White vinyl) ("Through the Trees" [Excerpt], Caff/Lick) (PW)

House on the Hill (Download only) (Nov. 5 ???)

VA-14 Tracks for the Dusty Veranda (MP3 Bundle, Boomkat) (“I Know No One” same version as the No Flashlight LP) (Dec 2008)





Black Wooden Ceiling Opening 10"/CD (2nd art version) (Black vinyl) (PW)

Black Wooden EP CD (Southern) (1000 copies)

Black Wooden LP (Black Vinyl) (Southern) (900 copies)

Black Wooden LP (Clear Vinyl) (Southern) (100 copies)

White Stag CDR (PW)

White Stag (Digital album) (PW)

VA-Tiny Mixtapes Vol. 1: Darfur CD ("Calf In Pasture") (April 2009) (Tiny Mix Tapes)

VA-Tiny Mixtapes Vol. 1: Darfur LP (Same as above)

Wind’s Poem Promo CD (PW)

Wind's Poem CD (PW) (July 14, 2009)

Wind’s Poem (Digital album) (PW)

Wind’s Poem 2LP (Black Vinyl, record store only?) (PW)

Wind’s Poem 2LP (Clear Vinyl) (PW)

Wind's Poem CD (German import on Tomlab w/3 extra tracks)

Wind's Poem CD (Japanese import on 7ep w/4 extra tracks)

Wind’s Poem 2LP (Black Vinyl) (German Import on Tomlab w/ 3 Bonus Tracks)

VA-Penny Ante 3 (Magazine w/ CD Comp) ("Mystery Language") (Sept. 2009) (Limited to 2500 copies, first 2000 came with the CD, magazine itself also featured a contribution from Phil.)

VA-Mind the Gap Vol. 81 (“Wind’s Dark Poem” LP version) (Nov 2009) (Gonzo)

VA-Moriyama Zoo No.1 Tribute to Daido Moriyama (book+CD+2LP etc…) ("In the Rain") (Nov. 30, 2009) (Powershovel Books) (I am unclear on whether there is some sort of hardcover/softcover limited/not limited versions of this going around out there, all the descriptions are rather vague)




Daytrotter Session 2/15/10 (Download only) (4 songs) (Daytrotter)

VA-Motal Mozaique 2010 Sampler ("Wild Speaks" *obviously a misspelling of “Wind Speaks, and the same version from the album Wind’s Poem) (Free sampler from the Motel Mozaique Festival in Rotterdam, April 2010)

VA-In Every Town: An All-ages Music Manualfesto (book+download) (Aug 23, 2010) (All-Ages Movement Project)

Song Islands 2 LP+download/Digital Album (Sept 17, 2010) (White vinyl) (PW)




VA-Rawanda Benefit LP/DL (Limited to 350 copies, 50 w/silk screened cover, 25 copies released with additional phto book) (“Uncertainty”) (Black vinyl) ("Funding" ended Sept. 15 2010, can't recall the exact date I got this in the mail. Early 2011) (NFJM, funded through Kickstarter)

Wind's Poem "Playbutton" (playbutton)

VA-Resume Compilation (Vol. 1) (MP3 only) (Part of a 3 volume charity release to benefit victims of the earthquake in Japan) ("To The Ground") (7ep)



2012

Split 7" w/ Dub Narcotic Sound System (Distorted Cymbals/Anglepoise Cymbal) (B-side is a remix by Dub Narcotic Sound System) (Black Vinyl) (K)

To The Ground/Mouth Of The Sky (M.I.D.I. strings) 7"/DL (Limited to 300 copies) (Spring 2012) (Black vinyl) (Atelier Ciseaux)

To The Ground/Mouth Of The Sky (M.I.D.I. strings) (Digital album) (April 10th 2012) (PW/Bandcamp)

Mount Eerie pts. 6 & 7 Book+10" Picture disc (Same as previous release of book but with different pictures on the vinyl and a new wraparound cover) (Spring 2012) (PW)

VA-"This Is The Time For It" Songs By Katy Davidson Benefit Compilation cassette ("When The Morning Comes") (Spring 2012) (Wizards Of The Ghost)

PW Bandcamp page went up somewhere around here, replacing the former PW digital DL page)

Alphabet SeriesÖ Digital album (The Place Lives b/w The Place I Live)  (April 10th 2012, actually available digitally several months before the physical release) (PW/Bandcamp)

Clear Moon LP/DL (Clear vinyl+DL card) (May 22nd 2012) (PW)

Clear Moon (Digital album) (PW/Bandcamp)

Alphabet SeriesÖ 7" (The Place Lives b/w The Place I Live) (Black vinyl) (Limited to 300 copies) (Tomlab)

VA-The Business Select Vol.1 Compilation CD (Questions In A World So Blue, Julee Cruise Cover) (July 2012) (The Business)

2012 Silkscreened NW Tour Poster (Limited to 50 copies) (Broken Press)

Clear Moon/Ocean Roar Double CD (July 2012) (7ep)

Ocean Roar LP/DL (Black vinyl+DL card) (Sept. 4th 2012) (PW)




“The Last Hit” Soundtrack/Score (all that’s out there right now is a short trailer for the movie which doesn’t feature his music)

VA- “privately released wedding CDR in Chicago which may or may not have happened” (“Where is My Tarp?”) (No label)

VA-Unnamed, unreleased tribute to Old Time Religion (“Mystery Language”) (No Label)

VA-Re-membering Vol.1 Compilation Cassette (Cold Mountain [Black]) (No Label)






Known live recordings
(most formerly downloadable at the, now defunct, Mt. Eerie Preservation Society website)--------------------


*Because of the sometimes confusing labeling accompanying these live downloads all recordings will be listed chronologically without attempting to differentiate between “Mount Eerie” shows and “Microphones shows”

**I will eventually, hopefully, be providing links to download ZIP files all of these recordings sometime in the near future.

***I would also love, eventually to add Youtube postings of live recordings etc... to this section. But. at the moment, the prospect of doing that feels overwhelming. Check back.





Live On KRUA In Anchorage, Alaska, 03-02-99 (6 Songs)

Live At Luna Lounge, CMJ Festival, NYC (2000) (13 Songs)

Live At Bottom Of The Hill 02-05-02 (14 Songs)

Live At The Babylon, Minneapolis, MN (08-29-02) (“Live At MPLS”) (10 Songs)

Live At Maxwell's 09-08-02 (10 Songs)

Live At Pete's Candy Store (09-09-02) (17 Songs)

Live On VPRO 747AM 'De Avonden' Session 10-09-02 (8 Songs)

Live In Chicago (08-12-02) (10 Songs)

Live At Bard College (2003) (15 Songs)

Live In Dundee (2003) (14 Songs)

Live In Walla Walla (2003) (16 Songs)

Live On KAOS (2003) (14 Songs)

Live On Phoning It In (2003) (15 Songs)

Live At AS220, Providence, RI (05-25-03) (17 Songs)

Live At The Zeitgeist Gallery, Cambridge, MA (05-27-03) (“Live In Boston”) (12 Songs)

Live At The Iron Horse, Northampton, MA (05-28-03) (18 Songs)

Live At Festival Do Porto, Club Mercedes, Portugal (06-26-03) (14 Songs)

Live At What The Heck Fest 2003, Shipwreck Day, Anacortes, WA (07-18-03) (7 Songs)

Live At Dionises, Chicago, IL (06-08-03) (“Cold Mountain 2003”) (19 Songs)

Live At Department Of Safety, Anacortes (06-20-03) (16 Songs)

Live At Jerisich Park (09-24-03) (10 Songs)

Live Before The Halloween Show (2003) (5 Songs)

Live In San Francisco (11-11-03) (16 Songs)

Live At The Y, 2004 (25 Songs)

Live At The Shop, Spokane, WA (05-06-04) (12 Songs)

Live At Rob Roy Hotel 07-01-04 (16 Songs)

Live At What The Heck Fest 2004, Anacortes, WA (2004) (8 Songs)

Live At The BLD, Ohio (08-29-04) (15 Songs)

Live At The Tokyo Rose, VA (09-23-04) (16 Songs)

Live At SS Marie Antionette (2005) (8 Songs)

Live At Copenhagen Huset, Denmark (06-03-05) (29 Songs)

Live At Seattle Center (06-25-05) (19 Songs)

Live At Anacortes City Hall Basement (07-15-05) (20 Songs)

Live Outside The Old Redmond Firehouse (07-20-05) (16 Songs)

Live At The Orange Room, Portland (07-22-05) (18 Songs)

Live At Catch That Beat (08-27-05) (9 Songs)

Live At The Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA (04-29-06) (15 Songs)

Live At The Luminaire, London, UK (05-23-06) (30 Songs)

Live At The LSE Shaw Library, London, UK (05-24-06) (16 Songs)

Live At The Anacortes City Hall Basement 07-14-06 (20 Songs)

Live At The Vera Project 02-25-07 (19 Songs)

Live At South Union Arts-Chicago, IL-06-01-07 (20 Songs)

Live At Anacortes City Hall Basement 07-21-07 (12 Songs)

Live At Helsing Junction Farm, Rochester, WA (Helsing Junction Sleepover) 8-19-07 (4 Songs)

Live At The Dept. Of Safety 10-01-07 (9 Songs)

Live 11-10-07 (2 Sets, 15 Songs and 27 Songs)

Live At The Helm Gallery 04-18-08 (18 Songs)

Live 05-29-08 (17 Songs)

Live On Warsaw Polish Radio 3 05-30-08 (Interview and 1 song)

Brussels Saint Lukas Hogeschool After Midnight 06-06-08 (33 Songs) (Also listed above in the Mount Eerie section as “Brussels After Midnight”)

Live At Anacortes City Hall Basement 07-18-08 (9 Songs)

Live At Good Records 09-09-08 (13 Songs)

Live At The Granada 09-09-08 (11 Songs)

Live 09-17-08 (16 Songs)

Live At The Old Redmond Firehouse 03-06-09 (10 Songs)

Live At The First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA 10-25-09 (16 Songs)

Live At Cafe Irie, Dublin, Ireland 05-03-12 (3 Songs for an online TV thing)

Live In Paris, France 05-15-12








Misc. (Production, P.W. Elverum releases, etc…)
--including other paraphernalia not covered in previous sections--



P.W. Elverum & Sun
------------------------------------------------

Water Activated Packing Tape #1 (Edition of 10)

Water Activated Packing Tape #2 (Wind) (Edition of 10)

(There appears to be a new packing tape that they're using, circa Winter 2010, but not selling, it is red and white with a little design on it and it says PW Elverum and Sun along the edge)

(There is a little series of silver stickers, used for shipping and whatnot. One is a tiny round picture of the moon, one is a sunburst of the PW label information, one is an earlier version of the PW info with what appears to be a similar flourish as the "Wind" packing tape, one is a sunburst which informs you that the LP you are holding includes a CD version of the same)

PW Elverum and Sun First Mail Catalog (Letter pressed) (Jan. 2006) (Sold for 1 cent)

"How To Buy Mount Eerie Pts. 6 and 7" (Instructional scrap of paper)

"How To Record On 8 Tracks" Pamphlet

“Mount Eerie” Shirt (Black only?) (PW)

Mount Eerie Tour t-shirt (Pink, Green) (Sizes? From the 2009 tour)

Mount Eerie Kitteleson Shirt Series (1-4) (Originally available in Mens S-XL and Womens S-XL) (PW)

Wind’s Poem Glow-in-the-Dark Pennant (2 versions, one with trees and says ''Wind's Poem", the other ...???)

What The Heck Fest 2011 Promo postcard

The Unknown (2011, new website/show space/organization launched to replace What The Heck Fest)

The Unknown Promo postcard

Price list of all PW items currently for sale on the tour, 2011 (Small card stock sign from the merch table)

Tour only pins (Square buttons with a new Wind's Poem logo being sold on the 2011 tour)

"Store only" tour pins (2 1" buttons that Phil said they "weren't selling, they're just for stores" I'm guessing as a promo item at stops along the 2011 tour)

2011 Wind's Poem Tour T-shirts "Mount Eerie Sigil" (Available in black or white, S-XL)

2012 House Shape T-shirt (Available in creme or pink, S-XL)

Peace: On Earth CDR/Digital album

The Spectacle: Rope or Guillotine LP/Digital Album

Key Losers: California Lite (LP/Download)

Nicholas Krgovich: It Was Never You (7"/Download)

Free Wind's Poem "poster thing" given away to the first fifty people that ordered the Key Losers and Nicholas Krgovich records together

Mount Eerie "Download Tour Poster 45mb" (A download only .tif file put up on the PW site as a promotion for the summer Mount Eerie tour of 2011)

ANDO-PR (Booklet)

ANDO-PR 2 One-sheet PDFPW Elverum & Sun Art Store (from the website: An edition of seventeen massive photographs, blown up to 62” x 43” and printed on archival quality inkjet photo paper.
Each image is in an edition of 10 prints, signed and numbered, shipped rolled in a tube.
Most of these untitled photographs are from the book Mount Eerie pts. 6 & 7, taken on film by Phil Elverum. Grainy and overwhelming, big atmospheres. Uncropped and blown up to the size of a small billboard they dominate the average sized room, more effectively allowing the viewer to get inside the distorted landscape. Cost is $450 plus shipping.)
Fancy People Adventures Webpage (Phil’s drawings & cartoons)
(http://www.fancypeopleadventures.com/)

Fancy People Adventures Day-to-Day Calender (2005)

Fancy People Adventures Comic strips (Hand drawn and sold at shows "from a few years back")

Flier from Phil's Art show "In Dreams"

"Escaped Wolf Still At Large" (A series of 4? prints? sold at an art show?)

Fancy People Adventures T-shirt (One design, American Apparel T-shirts available in Mens XL- Womens L, released mid-December 2010)

"Kurt Cobain Jr." T-shirt (Info same as FPA tees)

"Special People Day" T-shirt (Info same as FPA tees)

What The Heck Fest 2011 T-shirts (Available in Red, Blue and Black, women's and men's sizes)

Bret Lunsford “Anacortes” Book (Distributed by PW)

Bret Lunsford "Croation Fishing Families of Anacortes" Book (Cover designed by Phil, Distributed by PW)

O Paon: Courses (LP/CD/DL)



-------------------------

cLOUDDEAD 10 LP/CD (“Phil Everum’s drums” are sampled on “Son Of A Gun”) (Anticon)

Joshua Treble: Type Mix (MP3) (“I Love it so Much”) (Type) (Nov 15, 2009) (*Same version that appears on Eleven Old Songs)

Magical, Beautiful: Summers Are Better Than Others CDR comp/mix (“instrumental” by The Microphones is used) (*Same version from The Glow Pt.2) (July 19, 2007) (I Hear a New World)
Nero’s Day at Disneyland: Trickle Down Economixxx MP3 DL (“The Glow pt.2” by The Microphones is used) (*Same version from The Glow Pt.2) (Dec 2008) (Cock Rock Disco)

VA-Maximocast #6 Sounds From the Part Part 3:The Desert Drive Mix MP3 (“What?”) (No Label) (Dec 4, 2008) (*This is redundant with the version of “What” from No Flashlight)

VA-Ragazza Pop Comp. 2LP (Mixtape featuring “Don’t” by Mirah on which Phil does production) (S.H.A.D.O. Records, 2003)

Breakfast Exclusive Presents "The Original Free 60 Minute Mixtape" ("Wooly Mammoth's Might Absence-King Keyworth Bootleg") (Remix of the song included in a free digital download mixtape)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adrian Orange And Her Band LP (Drums, percussion , vocals, recording, engineering) (K, 2007)

Interdependence Dance 7” (Drums) (K, 2007)



Beat Happening
--------------------------------------------

Angel Gone/Zombie Limbo Time 7” (Recording, side A) (K, 2000)

Music To Climb The Apple Tree By CD/LP (Production, track 1) (K, 2003)



The Blow
----------------------------------

Don’t Do The Bomb Before My Moustache Comes CD (“Recorded by [Tape]” track 5, “Performer [bystander reports]” track 4) (K, 2002?)

Bonus Album (K, 2002) (Production on tracks 3, 8)




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Wonder Show Of The World CD/LP (many various domestic and import versions, some limited some featuring bonus 7”s etc…) (Choir, tracks 5, 10) (Drag City/Domino, 2010)




-----------------------------------------------

What Was Me CD/LP (Recording, track 4) (K, 2002)

Before The Dream Faded LP/CD (Various instruments on tracks 6, 9) (K, 2005)




-----------------------------
(Phil plays multiple instruments, mostly drums, and does vocals throughout the D+ releases)



D+ Book/Heatherwood 7" (K, 1996)

D+ LP/CD (K/Knw-Yr-Own, 1997)

VA- Knw-Yr-Own Cassette (See above) (“Cut It Out”) (1998, Knw-Yr-Own)

D+ Dandelion Seeds LP/CD (K/Knw-yr-Own, 1998)

VA-Remote Wing Comp. CD (See above) (“Up And Died”) (2001, Knw-Yr-Own)

D+ Mistake CD (Knw-Yr-Own, 2002)

VA-Shipwreck Day Comp. CD (See above) (“Take You For Granted”) (2002, Knw-Yr-Own)

D+ Deception Pass CD (Knw-Yr-Own, 2003)

VA-What The Heck Fest Comp. CD (See above) (“Why Oh Why Oh”) (2003, Knw-Yr-Own)

VA-Flotsam And Jetsam Comp. CD (See above) (“Red White And Blue Lite”) (2005, Kelp Monthly)

VA-Free The Bird Comp. CD (See above) (“Pandora Balks”) (2006, Kelp Monthly)

D+ No Mystery LP (includes CDR) (2006, PW Elverum)

D+ No Mystery Digital Album (PW)

D+ What Is Doubt For? CD (Knw-Yr-Own, 2008)

VA-Yeti Magazine Issue 5 Comp CD (See above) (“Clever Knot”) (2008)

D+ On Purpose CD (Limited to 700, rarities comp.) (Knw-Yr-Own, 2008)




---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sideways Soul: Dub Narcotic Sound System Meets Jon Spencer Blues Explosion In A Dancehall Style! CD/LP/Import (Engineering) (1999, K/Au Go Go [Australia])




----------------------------------

Human Like A House CD (Lyrics for track 10) (Dulc-I-Tone, 2007)




Fog
--------------------------

Ditherer CD (“Performed with…”) (Lex Records, 2007)



Get The Hell Out Of The Way Of The Volcano
------------------------------------------------------

Everyday Examples Of Humans Facing Straight Into The Blow Cassette (Production) (No Label, late 2000)




Hymie's Basement
------------------------------------------------------

"21st Century Pop Song (Mount Eerie Remix)” MP3 (Original version from the "Hymie's Basement" LP (Lex Records, 2003)



Jason Traeger
--------------------------------------

My Religion Is Love CD (???) (K, 1999)




Karl Blau
---------------------------------------

The Dark, Magic Sea CDR (and later as a digital DL) (Additional vocals) (Kelp, 2003)

Clothe Your Eyes CD (Engineering, vocals track 10) (Knw-Yr-Own)




--------------------------------------------------

Look For It In The Sky And It Will Always Be There CS/CD reissue (Recording) (???/Knw-Yr-Own, 1998/???)




---------------------------------

"Cloud Chaser" (Phil Elverum Remix) MP3 DL (Original version on the Kit LP "Invocation" on Upset The Rhythm)




Mirah
-------------------------------------

You Think It’s Like This But It’s Really Like This CD/LP (Recording, Chorus on track 7, “additional instruments”) (K, 2000)

Cold Cold Water 7"/CD Maxi (Recording on side A/tracks 1, 5-12) (K, 2002)

Advisory Committee LP/CD (Bass, tracks 1, 8, 12. Melodica, track 8. Guitar, tracks 1, 3. Organ, tracks 1,12. Percussion, track 4. Piano, track 3. “Other Machines”, track 4. Vocals, track 8. Recording, production, throughout.) (K, 2002)

We’re Both So Sorry 7" (Production, side A) (2004, Alice Records)

Share This Place-Stories & Observations (w/ Spectratone International) CD (Mixing/Production tracks 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12) (K, 2007)

Joyride (Remixes) 2CD/2LP (Track 12 “Don’t Die In Me” Version By Mount Eerie) (K, 2006)




------------------------------------------

Dub Narcotic Session CD/DVD (“Steel drums, vocals, recorded, produced, mastered by“) (Mools Entertainment, 2005)




NO KIDS
---------------------------------------------------

Cherry Trees/An Afternoon At The Pendleton's 7" Picturedisc (B-side recorded and mixed by Phil, he also performs on it in some uncredited fashion) (Aagoo Records, 2010)




------------------------------------------------

Songbook Vol.1 CD (Drums) (Pine Cone Alley, 1997)

Jail 7” (Drums) (K, 1998)

Uterus And Fire CD/LP (Drums) (K, 1999)

La Sirena De Pecera CD/LP (Drums) (K, 2000)

Witchcraft Rebellion CD/LP (Drums) (K, 2000)



----------------------------------------

Not sure about this one. I know he's played with them and they've played on his records maybe. But I don't have any specific release info either way. Help me out folks...

----------------------------------------------------------------

L’Amiral Suisse EP (Recording and “noisy guitar”) (Burnout Records, 2001)




--------------------------------------------

The Ghost And The Eyes With Trees In The Ground Outside The Window CD (Production, mixing) (2005, States Rights Records/Slender Means Society)

Welcome Nowhere LP+CDR/Book (Original release) (Misc?) (PW, 2004)

Thanksgiving 3LP/CDR (Misc?) (Marriage Records/PW, 2005)

Welcome Nowhere 2LP/Digital Album (Reissue) (Misc?) (PW, 2007)




-----------------------------------------

Future Fusion Vision Wave CD/LP (Trumpet, track 5, percussion) (K, 2003)




-----------------

Self-titled LP (first release, produced by Phil)



Woelv
-------------------------------------

Pamplemoussi LP/Book (Track 2 recorded/mixed) (L’Oie De Cravan, 2004)

Tout Seul Dans La Foret En Plein Jour, Ave-Vous Peur? CD/LP (Recorded by) (K, 2007)

The Watery Graves Of Portland And Genevieve LP (“Voice/mixed by…”) (Marriage Records, 2007)

Gris 10”/CD/Digital Album (Percussion, track 3) (PW, 2006)


































xo

(CD spine 1, 2, front cover, back cover, inside of case, various pics of the insert foldout, CD top, various pics of CD play-side)









Mount Eerie CD/LP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded at Dub Narcotic in Olympia, WA. between Nov. 21st 2001 and June 10th 2002. Except (According to the US CD) for the Karl Blau song (which I believe is the middle part of track IV "Mt. Eerie") which was recorded on his 4-track in Anacortes.

-In the Japanese CD and on the vinyl the recording is listed as above and then also: "Big Black Death" by Kyle Field & "Wind/Vultures" by Karl Blau recorded at Quatro-Syncho, Trafton Lake, WA. (these two "tracks" being the 2nd and 3rd "movements" of track IV "Mt. Eerie")

When we get to the "Wise Old Little Boy" DVD post there will be a lot more discussion of that song and its movements. The tour that Kyle and Phil were on in that DVD must have coincided with the release or recording of this album because it is full of footage of them performing songs from this album. The highlights of which being the performances of "Mt. Eerie" with Phil starting the song and then Kyle busting in with his "Big Black Death" parts and Phil getting on the drums. It's seriously intense.

-Personnel:
Phil Elvrum-vocals, guitars, bass, organ, piano, Swiss alpenhorn, drums, additional percussion
Adam Forkner-Cowbell and Trumpet on "The Sun,"
Anna Oxygen-Additional vocals on "The Sun,""Mt. Eerie"
Mirah-Additional vocals on "Solar System"
Khaela Maricich-Additional vocals on "Universe" (part 1), "Mt. Eerie"
Calvin Johnson-Additional vocals on "Universe" (part 1)
Jenn Kliese-Additional vocals on "Universe" (part 1), "Mt. Eerie," and "Universe" (part 2)
Kyle Field - Additional vocals and instruments on "Mt. Eerie"
Karl Blau-Additional vocals and instruments on "Mt. Eerie"

as well as the "Precipice Carolers": Kyle Field, Phil Elvrum, Khaela Maricich, Phan Nguyen, Amber Bell, Bethany Hays Parke, Shawn Parke, Hollis Parke, Dennis Driscoll, Zach Alarcon, and Adam Forkner

There is no proper personnel list. The above seems to have been accrued from the liner notes to the US CD. The insert for said CD being a large (and delicate) vellum fold out with a large picture of the Mt. Eerie and an ascending series of song lyrics/explanations/stories and descriptions of who does what. The Japanese disc and the vinyl release do not have this type of insert and lack all of that information. They instead feature 3 different paintings as the outside covers and one large illustration as the inner cover, wherein is listed a slightly different version of the "players":
"Phil"-Phil Elvrum
"Chorus"-Jenn Kliese, Anna Oxygen & Mirah Y.T. Zeitlyn
"Scary Trumpets"-Adam Forkner
"Close Dark Voice"-Mikhaela Maricich
"Universe"-Calvin Johnson
"Precipice Carolers"- Kyle Field, Phil Elvrum, Mikhaela Maricich, Phan Nguyen, Amber Bell, Bethany Haysparke, Shawn Parke, Hollis Parke, Dennis Driscoll, Zach Alarcon, Adam Forkner
"King Dark Death"-Kyle Field
"Wind/Vultures"-Karl Blau

-I believe all the cover art is by Phil, though if there is accreditation I cannot find it so far.

-Released in 2003 on K Records (kpunk.com) (KLP140) and in Japan on 7ep (7ep.net) (ep007)
Not sure about the release date for the Japanese disc or for the vinyl release and re-release.

-IFPI number: L483 (on the silver) and 81C5 (stamped in the plastic inner groove)(US), LB80 (Japan)

-Barcode info: (lacking this or a pic of the bone sticker for the US release, though on the vinyl reissue there is a barcode number: 78985611406, no idea if this is the same as the barcode info for the first press of the vinyl or the US CD), 5000002919060 (Japan)

-The Japanese discs were pressed in Taiwan and mastered by INFODISC, no information about the US pressing.

-Other details of note:

The US and Japanese CDs differ greatly in appearance. The Japanese disc being almost an exact replica of the vinyl release. And, as is typical, the paper used on the Japanese CD is of a higher quality than US discs, thicker, more tactile.

The Japanese CD comes with an extremely shiny, opaque black CD tray (unlike the more common matte black/gray trays you see on most US CDs).

The Japanese disc has ten bonus tracks, "Universe Conclusion" which I am certain I read somewhere in an interview with Phil was sort of the unsaid denouement to the whole story, not included on the album for reasons I cannot now recall. I'll try to find this and update you.

UPDATE: I read that in the "Headwaters" Book/CDR. At the end of the explanation of the story of Mt. Eerie Phil says that there was an alternate ending that didn't end up being used, and that's "Universe Conclusion". He says he left if off the album because the way the last song ends "got the same idea across".

Here is a point of interest, however. Phil says that this song was included on the "Singing From..." album (and as we will see in the next post, it was), but it was not labeled with this title. In fact (again, in the next post), there is no track listing on the "Singing From..." 10" or CD. When you place the CD in your computer and the track names come up this song is called "Black Night". So, this is, in fact, the only official studio release of "Universe Conclusion" baring the correct title.

One final note on this mysterious song. Pretty much the definitive version of this seems to have been performed at the "Live In Japan" concert. It's over eleven minutes long and sounds like everyone on the album shows up for guest vocals. It's pretty colossal.

So the "Excerpts" section of this disc is, in fact, two tracks ("Samba"& "The Big Black Cloud") from the "Drums From Mt. Eerie" and eight tracks ("Black Night", "The Sun", "Solar System", "Do You Really Think There's Anybody Out There?", "What Do You Want?", "I Watched You From Above", "Big Black Cloud", & "Universe") from "The Singing From Mt. Eerie". But where "Universe Conclusion"/"Black Night" is the first excerpt here, it would have been the last song on the actual "Singing From..." album.


(Japanese version spine 1, 2, front cover in plastic w/ obi strip, back cover in plastic with barcode and obi strip, front and back covers out of plastic and w/out obi strip, spine w/ obi strip, obi strip by itself, insert cover front, back, CD top details, CD play-side details, CD jewel case, various pics of extra Japanese insert)



(First press LP "back cover", stitching detail, front cover in plastic w/ Microphones sticker, close-up of sticker, inside cover, inside fold-out pics, vinyl A and B sides, insert, promo poster)



-Other details of note continued...

The first press of the LP included an insert which explained the process by which the covers were printed and then sewn together by Phil and his friends and family. It tells, in detail, who did what, where they got the thread, what sewing machines were used and so on. I am going to be a little lazy here, but I am going to call it being non-redundant, by not typing out all that info since it is all plainly visible on the picture of the insert I've included.

For a minute I thought there might be some correlation between the pressing and the color of thread used to sew the covers, however, upon further inspection it seems that there are various colors of thread used on both pressings, and I definitely do not have enough examples at this stage to say, without a doubt, that certain colors correspond to certain pressings. My first press is sewn with white thread, my second press with black thread (see pics) but I have seen several copies of different presses go by on ebay with differing colors (see below, a first press with red thread). More on this if I can gather more info.

The first press also seems to have come with (?) A promo poster from K (pictured above). Though, to be fair, I am not certain that this was actually included with the LPs or if it was a stand-alone promo sent to record stores and whatnot, anyone know?

First press vinyl was released in an open plastic record sleeve which had a clear w/ black writing sticker attached to it that says "The Microphones" (pictured above).

There seems to have been no barcode info on the first press of the vinyl.

First press inner inner labels were black with silver writing, whereas the second press labels were silver with black writing. This is the easiest way to differentiate between pressings, especially considering that the inner groove info is identical on both pressings, the usual KLP and number+A or B and this other number which I don't know the significance of, 8105 (2) on both sides.

The inner labels look like the typical Phil drawing and handwriting, though there is no credit given for them.

On the B-side label there is a little note which suggests "Try headphones!"

The second press of the vinyl had no insert, no poster, no sticker on the plastic. It was, however, released in one of those "sealed" plastic sleeves. The kind that have a small perforated strip at the top that you can tear off.

Additionally they had a barcode sticker attached to the back (pictured below)


(LP second press "back cover", barcode on plastic, stitching detail, pic from ebay showing different color stitching, LP side A and B)

There was also a sort of informal 3rd pressing of this record so to speak. Though I am sadly lacking in the details. I wish I had been taking screencaps from the the PW Elverum site. He had some copies of the LP to sell on tour and through the site for part of 2010. I can't now recall if it was one of those deals (which actually seem to happen a lot with Phil, as a matter of fact as of this writing, 9-20-11, he's doing the same thing with "The Drums From No Flashlight" LP) where Phil "found" a box of these LPs sitting around somewhere and so they decided to print up covers and sell them. Or it was the other way around, found the covers and pressed some records. But I really think I remember it being the former. Anyway, below is a pic of some of said covers from that time, along with a stack of What Tha Heck Fest 3 day passes which was posted over on MEPS by scotchpenicillin which I am using totally without permission, sorry. It comes from this thread: http://meps.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mounteerie&action=display&thread=189




A nice little review here: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5267-mount-eerie/

Also, as of this update (Sept. 2011) Phil is distributing the cd version through the PW site. Here's what he has to say about it:


and that link goes to the Wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Eerie_%28album%29


...


Some of the Phil "themes" that we know and love come up herein (I mean aside from death and rebirth and all that), such as wind and lanterns, in "Solar System" (which we have seen in "Lanterns" and later in the Wind's Poem" LP, respectively) moreover, on "Solar System" the main body of the song has the same feel and cadence as most of the "2" songs on "No Flashlight".
We get another reprisal of the "in the air" theme on "II. Universe""...and I know you'll be in the air...". I'll touch on this again when I get to the post about the Jimi Sharp cassette, but it was a real revelation to me when I heard the end of side two of that tape. There are a few tracks at the end, credited to Karl Blau and also The Piranhas which feature someone singing over top of the main vocals in this tremendously creepy slowed-down voice very much like the "Wind/Vultures" portion of "IV. Mt. Eerie". In particular "Sunglassez". It was a big moment for me hearing those tracks, it helped me to understand that portion of the Mt. Eerie LP that much more, in a historical sense. Oh, this is where that comes from...

This record was, at the time, and still is, easily my favorite thing Phil has ever done. This came out just a little bit after the the time that I was finally "getting" his stuff and it just really perfectly encapsulated all of it in one seriously epic package. The beautiful a cappella work, the huge elementary school choruses, the gentle vocals, the obsession with percussion and long percussive tracks breaking up the more song-oriented material, the tiny moments of pop perfection and hooks set into the vast rocky crags of noise and cacophony, the mysterious guest vocals, the obsession wit death and rebirth, the inscrutable high-concepts. One of the interesting things about this record is that it manages to be really so epic but clocks in at just over forty minutes.

This record is house to, what I, and I think some of my closest friends would argue is the best hook Phil ever wrote, and abandoned, in "III. Universe". Amidst one of, also, the catchiest drum cadences he's ever employed Mikhaela, ghostly intoning "...do you. really. think. there's anybody out there...?" It's one of those perfect moments in a song that you feel, deep inside, the reverberation of, that you feel, in your deepest universal sense of symmetry, ought to be come back to, repeated, anything. Not just sung once and echoed away from, as it is here.

This was a huge record for the KINGS, hence it's mix-positioning at the number 3 and 100 and 101 positions in the chart. "Universe" still ranks as almost my favorite Phil song ever, and, thusly, mix 3 is correspondingly huge for all of us. We had a seriously revelatory moment when we got to mix 100 (Mt. Eerie) which I will not bore you (the general public who have come to this site for Phil info, not personal rants) with here.

This record came along at what would, in retrospect, prove to be a pivotal point in my life. I can recall distinctly, listening to this album and that song in particular, on the night that, really, everything changed for me. This record, that song, was playing at a moment when I can honestly say I made a weird, maybe bad choice and my life went in a very, very different direction as a result. This record was playing at one of those moments in your life when you feel like maybe you made the wrong choice. Maybe you did the wrong thing and went off down a different path than you should have. There aren't many I guess. I, like many, try to have faith that I am being guided along to where I should be and when by well, appropriately enough, THE UNIVERSE. But sometimes things just get so fucked up that you have to trace it back and wonder, man, did I do the wrong thing? Was I supposed to do something different than I did? That song played and ended and I left my apartment, out into the black night and into the rest of my life. In the end, however, all this time later, I look back on the chain of events and they make a sort of sense, leading to where I am now and what's happening in my life now. And for that I am grateful, because things are really quite wonderful now.

I guess it is apropos really. This record was a turning point for Phil as well. This record feels like the culmination of the entire Microphones part of his life and output. Yeah, yeah, everyone is going to tell you that The Glow Pt.2 is the best Phil album, and I can accept that it's the most universally digestible and understandable and it does have more of a Sgt. Pepper scope than this album. But I will never sway in my conviction that this is his apex. This is the most important thing that he had done up to that point, and maybe since.

It is worth noting that this is the last actual "album" released as The Microphones. It was shortly after this that Phil decided, for various personal reasons/traumas, that he was going to move north of the arctic circle indefinitely. The results of which we will be discussing at length sometime in the future on the first "Mount Eerie" releases. There would still be one more proper Microphones release from this time period (and man do I remember that coming out. Not long after all of these events in my life, "Live in Japan" showed up. I'd guess it was probably, for Phil, what the corresponding [in their career arcs] Nirvana release [MTV Unplugged] was: a weird, dashed-off, live footnote left as a final note. The major difference being, well, Phil is not a drug addict and is not a negative suicidal person, like Kurt was, [Phil's wife is also way, way, way, more awesome than Courtney] and is very much alive, unlike Mr. Cobain) There would also, later be another sort of unrelated return/lark release under the Microphones moniker. But, for all intents and purposes we will present this, here, as the final Microphones album.

There will, undoubtedly, be a lot more to say about this album as we go, there is still, after all, the drums and singing from Mt. Eerie to be posted about, as well as, even more importantly, the Headwaters of Mt. Eerie release. I will try to get to these asap so that we can continue this perusal/consideration of this moment in Phil's career.

(--101, --031, --003, --100, --103)






Tracklist (Vinyl)
-------------------------
Side A:

I. The Sun
II. Solar System

Side B:

III. Universe
IV. Mt. Eerie
V. Universe




Tracklist (CD)
----------------------
I. The Sun
II. Solar System
III. Universe
IV. Mt. Eerie
V. Universe




Tracklist (Japanese edition CD)
--------------------------------------------
The Sun
Solar System
Universe
Mt. Eerie
Universe
Universe Conclusion (Which is actually "Black Night" from Singing)
Excerpt: Samba (Drums)
Excerpt: The Sun (Singing)
Excerpt: Solar System (Singing)
Excerpt: Do You Really Think There's Anybody Out There? (Singing)
Excerpt: What Do You Want? (Singing)
Excerpt: I Watched You From Above (Singing)
Excerpt: Bog Black Cloud (Singing)
Excerpt: The Big Black Cloud (Drums)



(It is worth noting that both on the Japanese CD and insert and also on the track info when you put the disc in the computer, the bonus tracks, aside from "Universe Conclusion" are simply listed as "Excerpt" and a corresponding number. I have gone ahead and filled in what "Drums" or "Songs" the excerpts correspond to, but on the disc itself and in the computer they are all just named "Excerpt". It is also worth noting that the track times on the Japanese release and the US release are ever-so-slightly different. Usually give or take a second or two from song to song.)

















































xo

(CD spine, cover, fold-out, CD top, CD play-side images, 10" cover front/back, cover opening, vinyl inner label A/B)





The Drums From Mount Eerie CD/10"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded by "Phil Elvrum with some cowbell & tambourine playing by Adam Forkner"*

*No recording info other than that is listed, (and this is only on the inner label of the vinyl version, the CD merely lists their two names and nothing else) but, considering that these are merely the drum tracks from the "Mount Eerie" LP I am assuming the info corresponds to that of the LP: Recorded at Dub Narcotic in Olympia, WA. between Nov. 21st 2001 and June 10th 2002.

-The CD and 10" both have unique cover art. It appears to be a painting or a line drawing, but with no credit for who executed it. The 10" art, front and back, is a block print, but, again, no credit for who did it. Same story with the art on the CD itself and the vinyl inner labels. Though the vinyl labels look like the usual Phil handwriting to me.

(I have just been informed [thank you edfuller at MEPS] that there is an alternate version of the 10" cover, one that is printed in gold ink instead of black. The black version has the front in black ink and the back in gold ink [see pics above] I am assuming that this is the same gold that is used on the back of the black ink version. The only pictures I've been able to locate of this alternate pressing are here, sent to me by the amazing Evan. It's hard to really tell the color of the ink. It just looks like faded black. But apparently this is the gold ink cover. You can tell a little better in the second picture where he's got it right next to the original black ink cover.)


-Released in 2003* (sometime after the "Mount Eerie" LP) on K Records (kpunk.com) (KLP142)

*It is worth noting that on the vinyl inner labels, under the K Records logo and number it says "2001/2002", not sure what to make of that. On the test pressing the date 8/28/02 is listed. I am assuming this is a recording date. On the one-sheet that accompanies this test press it lists the release date as January 23rd, 2002. It looks like there's a lot of other interesting info on the one sheet but the pic that's up on eBay isn't that great and it's hard to read.

-IFPI number: 6000 (stamped in the plastic of the CD)

-The CDs were "Made in Canada" as it proclaims both stamped in the plastic and in the silver play-side info.

-No barcode info on the CD or vinyl. (There may have been a barcode sticker on the plastic for the CD, have to try to find out about that. But the vinyl I have for this is in the plastic, and no barcode.) (Also, the play-side of the CD has a barcode printed on it.)

-The vinyl plays at 33 1/3 rpms, both sides.

-There is no insert with the vinyl, all info is given either on the cover or the inner labels.

-The vinyl inner groove info is the standard label stuff (KLP 142 A/B) and then some numbers that I don't know the meaning of (side A: 8107 1 L2, side B: 8107 2 L21)

-Other details of note:

The track titles are listed on the vinyl, but not on the CD.

There is one more track listed on the CD than the vinyl ("The Sun Conclusion") though this track does, in fact, appear on the vinyl as well.

As usual there is a lot of info/numbering on the silver play-side CD info, most of which I have no idea about.

Side A of the vinyl claims that the album is "intended for use as a re-mixing tool by DJ's & home recording enthusiasts". (I'd really like to hear the products of that if anyone too him literally.)

Side B of the vinyl says "version for dancing". (Again, I'd love to experience someone using this as intended.)

The vinyl sleeve opens on top, rather than on the side.

The CDs are in plastic "slim cases", not the normal sized jewel case.

On the vinyl (one supposes, to further the idea of this being some sort of DJ tool) the B.P.M.s of the tracks are listed.

I've seen many times on eBay (as have at least a few of my fellow MEPS members) a white label test pressing for this vinyl (with hand-written labels) for sale for a hefty (850$ I think). It appears to include the original one-sheet that went along with it as well. I have recently been schooled on this (thank you Pantingfish!) This (as well as "The Singing...") is being auctioned for charity by K Records themselves. Ok, ok, I get it now. I am glad this turns out to be a noble endeavor and not some flipper trying to make a buck on Phil's dime.




...


I can't really say if I think Phil really intended people to dance to this and use it to DJ with. Part of me sees him saying that as a joke and part of me sees him really meaning it. It is certainly the kind of thing I would dream of. I think that my own life has been full of similar ideas and assertions/wishes that were never followed through on by any one.

Considering that one gets used to Phil's percussion obsession, his need to place tiny, lovely songs next to long, unexplained, drums tracks, this album actually makes a decent listen. The songs do kind of stand up on their own as little percussion experiments, especially, the first track.

(--255)






Tracklist (Vinyl)
----------------------
Side A

Samba (120 b.p.m.)
the Sun (80 b.p.m.)
Universe (89 b.p.m.)
Universe (90 b.p.m.)

Side B

the Big Black Cloud (100 b.p.m.)
UNIVERSE (27 b.p.m.)





Tracklist (CD)
----------------------

Samba
The Sun
(The Sun Conclusion)
Universe
Universe
The Big Black Cloud
Universe
































xo

(CD spine, front cover, back of case, CD itself, play-side info, cover fold-out, 10" front/back, opening, vinyl A/B side)






The Singing From Mount Eerie CD/10"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-Recorded by "Phil Elvrum, Jenn Kliese, Kyle Field, Mikhaela Marickh, Anna Oxygen, Mirah Y.T. Zeitlyn, Calvin Johnson, Adam Forkner, Bethany Hays Parke, Shawn Parke, Hollis Parke, Phan Nguyen, Dennis Driscoll, Zach Alarcon, Amber Bell, & with an in-audible presence of Karl Blau & The Mountain."

-The CD and 10" both have unique cover art. It appears to be a painting or a line drawing, but with no credit for who executed it. The 10" art, front and back, is a block print, but, again, no credit for who did it. Same story with the art on the CD itself and the vinyl inner labels. Though the vinyl labels look like the usual Phil handwriting to me.*

*I am unaware but wondering if an alternate color version of the 10" cover exists for this. The "Drums" 10" was also produced with a gold printed cover apparently (and the back cover of that is printed in gold so it naturally follows). The back cover of my "Singing" 10" is printed in red so I am wondering if there is a corresponding red version of this cover or if there is also a gold version. I'll update as info comes in.

-Released in 2003* (sometime after the "Mount Eerie" LP) on K Records (kpunk.com) (KLP141)

*It is worth noting that on the vinyl inner labels, under the K Records logo and number it says "2001/2002", not sure what to make of that. On the test pressing the date 8/28/02 is listed. I am assuming this is a recording date. On the one-sheet that accompanies this test press it lists the release date as January 23rd, 2002. It looks like there's a lot of other interesting info on the one sheet but the pic that's up on eBay isn't that great and it's hard to read.

-IFPI number: 6000 (stamped in the plastic of the CD)

-The CDs were "Made in Canada" as it proclaims, stamped in the plastic however, unlike the "Drums" CD it is not printed on the silver play-side info.

-No barcode info on the CD or vinyl. (There may have been a barcode sticker on the plastic for the CD, have to try to find out about that. But the vinyl I have for this is in the plastic, and no barcode.) (Also, the play-side of the CD has a barcode printed on it.)

-The vinyl plays at 33 1/3 rpms, both sides.

-There is no insert with the vinyl, all info is given either on the cover or the inner labels.

-The vinyl inner groove info is the standard label stuff (KLP 141 A/B) and then some numbers that I don't know the meaning of (side A: 8106.1 [z], side B: 8106.2 [z]).

-Other details of note:

No track list is given on either the CD or the vinyl. The only track info available for this release is gathered by putting the CD into a computer. It reads and gives the track list which I have included below.

As usual there is a lot of info/numbering on the silver play-side CD info, most of which I have no idea about.

The vinyl inner label refers to the tracks as "a cappella" and "singing-only".

It goes on to state that they are taken from a "5 part sequence of songs and sound effects" and then lists the tracks from the "Mount Eerie" album and appends "and here we add a sixth part 'Universe Conclusion'". As mentioned in the "Drums" post "Universe Conclusion", as explained in "The Headwaters Of Mount Eerie" book, was the original alternate ending of that album which Phil decided to leave off. It is included here, though, as previously mentioned, no track list is given with any version of this release. When the CD is placed in a computer it reads the "Universe Conclusion" track as "Black Night". This same version appears again on the "Mount Eerie" Japanese import CD under its intended title. It is also performed, in a much more protracted version, on the "Live In Japan" album.

The vinyl sleeve opens on top, rather than on the side.

The CDs are in plastic "slim cases", not the normal sized jewel case.

There have been floating around, for quite some time now, on eBay, test pressings of the vinyl for both this release and the "Drums" 10", apparently being auctioned by K Records themselves for charity. Which is awesome, though the price tag is a little hefty for all of us mere mortals.




...


Not totally sure what the intention is with the release of this. I can sort of see where he was coming from with the "Drums" album. But the vocal-only thing is lost a little on me. I mean, I guess I can see the argument that these songs can stand up as just vocal tracks, or snippets. And some do, to an extent. It's interesting, in that vocals and huge sing alongs are so integral to Phil's aesthetic much of the time, that this album is a little harder to get through. Now don't get me wrong, it is all still very beautiful and unearthly. It's just so damn jarring and fragmented feeling divorced from the music.

I am, sadly, unsure what else to say about this EP. I recall both of these coming out close on the heels of the proper "Mount Eerie" album, as well as "Song Islands". Living in Boston at the time and paying exorbitant rent (as one often does in Boston), I was looking at this embarrassment of riches and thinking, ok, well some of this is going to have to wait. And, at that time, it was the two EPs. Listening to them all this time later, yes I made the right call, but I hate to take away from any of Phil's efforts. These are both solid releases. It is a situation where the idea of them is somewhat more engaging than the product. It was very interesting to me, especially at the time, to see Phil sort of intentionally polarize his music, in that it was already so naturally polarized. To me, as a fan, it was sort of validating. It was like Phil saying "ok yes, I am obsessed with percussion and vocal choruses, and so here is a version of my new album that highlights one or the other."

(--238)








Tracklist (CD)
----------------------------

The Sun
Solar System
Do You Really Think There's Anybody Out There?
What Do You Want?
Universe/Mt. Eerie
I Watched You From Above
Big Black Cloud
Big Black Death
Universe
Black Night (Universe Conclusion)




*(There is no tracklist listed on the vinyl, but by counting the grooves it appears that is should be as follows:)

Tracklist (Vinyl)*
--------------------------------------------

Side A

The Sun
Solar System
Do You Really Think There's Anybody Out There?
What Do You Want?
Universe/Mt. Eerie


Side B

I Watched You From Above
Big Black Cloud
Big Black Death
Universe
Black Night (Universe Conclusion)























xo

(Headwaters book cover, all the pages, the CD envelope stuck in the middle, fold out, CD top, CD play-side info)










"Headwaters: An Attempted Explanation Of 'Mount Eerie' By The Microphones" Book + CDR
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




-I clearly have no release info or ANYTHING about this. Info is in extremely short order here. It was obviously distributed/"put out" sometime after the "Mt. Eerie" album. There is no label and I have no insight about how many were made or what type of distribution they had. Considering that it is, in some part, a hand-made affair I would guess a smaller number, less than a thousand. Maybe 500.

-Obviously the mix was collated by Phil and the booklet was drawn and lettered by him.

-I'm also going to assume that he burned these CDs and wrote the labeling on them.

-The "Mount Eerie" album came out in early 2003 so I am guessing this appeared sometime in mid-2003. (The date that he is "writing this" from on the inner cover liner notes says that it is July 15th, 2003, so I would assume it came out not too long after that.)

-The CD is just a regular old burned CDR so the play-side info (shown in the pics above) is pretty generic.

-Other details of note:

The front cover is painted in watercolor, red on the sail of the ship. I've seen several copies of this floating around and they all have red watercolor on the sail so I am going to assume they were all made that way.

The booklet records, in painfully copious detail, the lyrics and moment by moment song structure of every song, along with a ton of other very interesting stuff.

There are numerous self-referential explanations about the songs and Phil's past in the "FOOTNOTES" section which I will not catalog here since they are all readily viewable in the pictures I have provided. Maybe that's lazy of me, but really it just seems redundant to reiterate what Phil already expresses so eloquently (and to this end I've provided a readable picture of every sing page, well, except maybe for the fold out, which is innately hard to read in pics since it spans a very long piece of paper). The one thing I will go to pains to point out is that the "foghorn" sound which closes "The Glow Pt. 2" album is the same as the one that opens the "Mt. Eerie" album, intentionally. Meant to bridge the two albums, if listened back to back, as one continuous sound. This, as Phil mentions, is inspired by Twin Peaks, and, to that end, I watched "Blue Velvet" just tonight and noted, along with a million other David Lynch self-references and themes, that the foghorn sound is quite prevalent in that movie as well and "Twin Peaks" and if I recall correctly "Eraserhead" was also populated by similar far-away sounds (but, as this is not a David Lynch blog I will neglect to go further into this line of research. Just thought is was an interesting correlation of the same motif being used by both artists spanning several projects.)

The "Headwaters Of Mount Eerie" CD and liner notes likewise contain all manner of involved explanation of the song structure and reference which I will, again, neglect to type out here as both are available for first-hand perusing via the pics I am posting and the download of the CD I am linking as well.



...



This release was something I stumbled across on Soulseek, back in the day (and little says "back-in-the-day" like Soulseek, maybe JNCO Jeans? AIM?) Something I downloaded and then later happened upon someone's scans of the booklet. It was what it is, an inundation of music and insight into an already many-layered undertaking. I remembered being excited when I found it but not really processing all of the information until later.

If nothing else, this release serves to show, even the casual listener, that Phil is a man with large, far-reaching ideas. His music is shambling and unrefined in some ways, certainly, but is, in no way, tossed-off or reckless. This booklet and CD portray a man that is particular and exact in his methods and influences. A songwriter who is meticulous and thoughtful. Someone really, really, thinking through exactly what they're saying and how it is being said. This is the product of a mapmaker, not a hack-and-slasher.

If you thought these ideas were being loosely improvised, as Phil's work sometimes seems to gesture towards, here is the evidence that these excursions are well-planned and graphed before the hike begins. These are not just throw-away ideas, these and planned out journeys.

--242 (The Antonio Carolos Jobim track is featured but not used/eligible as the namesake song)










Tracklist (CD)
---------------------------------

Peter And Josie Dialog-Twin Peaks
Generique/A Felicidade/Frevo/O Nosso Amor (From The Soundtrack To "Black Orpheus")-Antonio Carlos Jobim
Sade-Slave Song
Neil Young-Powderfinger (Live)
Bjork-Hidden Place (A capella)
Julie Doiron-Don't Ask
Little Wings-Fall Flood
Dinosaur Jr.-Out There
Bubba Sparxxx (Ft. Missy Elliott & Timbaland)-Ugly (Portion)
Dialog, John Goodman As "Walter"-The Big Lebowski
Karl Blau-Vultures
Elevator Through-Sleep Experiment No.3
Popol Vuh-Wehe Khorazin
Open Wide (Ft. Sebastian)-Bubba Sparxxx



























xo