Olivia Tremor Control (Update July 2012 -- Bill Doss RIP)

i don't think they were underrated but at the same time i don't know why there was such an OTC backlash. certainly some of my fave critics shat on them ... maybe they're not such big byrds fans?? (the critics, that is - i always thought the beach boys comparisons were a red herring)

yes, but WHYYYYYY????

It's hard to overstate how single-handedly Olivia changed Athens from a sleepy legacy town to a kinetic dreamscape, at least for a little while. It always pains me when their stock slides cuz of the glut that followed.

yeah those are pretty hard ones to defend. i guess for the first i'd say the human voice grates by its very nature. for the second ... well you've got me. i can remember how most of their songs go but i can't remember how a single one ends!! (don't they all end in an abrupt cymbal crash or what sounds like everyone just getting bored or tired and spontaneously stopping??)

-already heard the album and didn't like it
-was told not to buy album
-didn't have $2
-didn't actually have opportunity to purchase album (was just being cheeky)
-actually bought album for $1, or $3 or whatever
-?

nah, it just sounded to me like you were making a value judgement and saying it wasn't even worth $2, but i would be pretty surprised if someone who liked black foliage wouldn't find age of the sun worth the price of a subway ride. i mean it's kinda short since the last track is a 20 min wank, but still

I like Olivia Trmoer Control I don't know why there is so much hate for them and so much love for Disco Inferno. Besides them being not as good and being not British and having many 60s melodies and stuff.

x-post to chris: i got Up On The Sun ($3!) and if i go back, i'll probably get In A Car, cuz that one's $2... used CD sales are the best.

don't think noodley wank, think massive reverberating, decaying chord wank. like, it's a cool sound, but i rarely need 20 minutes of it.

...oh, just have a listen to Dukes Of Stratosphear's 'Shiny Cage' and you'll see.

Shameless or completely accidental?

The only disappointment I've encountered was the Opera House double 7" EP, with 2 different songs (Black Swan Radar and Black Swan Network) designed to be played simultaneously. It was ok for what it was, seemingly random bloops, bleeps, and backwards, sped up and slowed down tapes, but I was hoping for something like Zaireeka but 10000 times better.

Is the early OTC singles collection worth searching for? Presents: Singles and Beyond?

after being a massive OTC/E6 fan back in the day, my general perception of the whole thing now is that it was largely pretty lame. bits and pieces of the first OTC album still sound great though.

dusk at cubist castle is one of those records you put on and just slip into.
'holiday surprise 1,2,3' is just...wow

<3 that album

I have been floated to this thought this hour on a series of events I cannot explain.

"Love Athena" is so hot. I always liked the idea of this band more than I did listening to the albums (they were great live though), but this song realizes the hype. I liked the E6 more as rock bands than anything else (can't stand the "dreamscapes"). Re. the OTC: these guys had weak voices, but the phasing effects on "Love Athena" make them sound almost menacing; the fuzz on all the instruments helps too. And I guess that's the intention: "I would never...fall for someone like you". They repeat the verses! at least the words, but they sing them differently---& it works well here.

love these dudes, Dusk at Cubist Castle is <3 for all time. need to revisit Black Foliage.

how much longer can i wait? DA da da du dum

^ love that bit

haha yeah me too. the part that comes right after that was the music bed for my lolcollege radio show promo

Is there anything good E6-related that is *not* OTC and/or the first Neutral Milk Hotel album?? Everything else blows...

Hissing Fauna

the second Neutral Milk Hotel album

Re. the OTC: these guys had weak voices

i don't know man, Doss' voice is pretty great

check out "Wings Away" from the new Apples In Stereo to here some good Doss vocals. great song.

Is there anything good E6-related that is *not* OTC and/or the first Neutral Milk Hotel album?? Everything else blows...

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Saturday, September 18, 2010 12:20 AM (1 hour ago)

Yeah there are some great Minders albums.

'i hope your heartstrings break' by beulah

Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't

second the love for Doss as a vocalist, and for "Wings Away"!

also, there are several great Apples in Stereo albums. Her Wallpaper Reverie is particularly recommended for the OTC-inclined.

A Hawk and a Handsaw

rong

elioT SmitH

http://pitchfork.com/news/40141-listen-olivia-tremor-control-return/

liking this new track, although having not read that 'no pop here' bit before listening I was a wee bit disappointed on that front. But still good to hear something new. And only five and a half years after John Fernandes told me they'd probably be getting back into the studio together.

The first Gerbils album still holds up I think.

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched to have new OTC material of any description! These guys have been informally recording for a while now I think. Hope there's more to come soon.

Saw Bablicon open for OTC right after Black Foliage came out, great show.
I remember The Frosted Ambassador cd at the college station was good.
Think it was the drummer from OTC.

*Completely* missed this! Was browsing last.fm and saw they are performing again... o_O

Is there a new album in the works? Or just that one track? God I'd love to even anticipate a new album of these guys.

going to see them in september. cannot wait.

saw the e6 showcase a few months ago, and all the otc songs they played were great

Is there a new album in the works?

supposedly

they're good live huh? never saw them in the '90s. trying to decide if I should go to Le Poisson Rouge next month.

I saw three different gigs back in the day, they ranged from good to great.
Will Hart was diagnosed with MS.

I saw a first 'farewell' show back in 2001 or 1999 or something, at the 40 Watt in Athens. It was pretty incredible how they accurately re-created such a bizarre catalog of songs and sounds. Plus they projected some really nice psychedelic analog film stuff that seemed from the same world as the album artwork. They even had the strange in-between sound collage bits play while they switched instruments and got ready for the next song.

"I Have Been Floated" was always my favorite track.

all right that's good to hear. I didn't consciously avoid seeing em live but wondered if they were more of a studio thing. I'll probably go I think

Some US tour dates for Mangum and for OTC:

Jeff Mangum
Aug. 8 - Burlington, VT - First Unitarian Church *
Aug.10 - Montreal, PQ - Cabaret du Mile-End *
Aug. 12 - Toronto, ON - Trinity St. Paul *
Aug. 13 - Toronto, ON - Trinity St. Paul *
Sept. 7 - Northampton, MA - Academy of Music Theatre
Sept. 9 - Cambridge, MA - Sanders Theatre at Harvard *
Sept. 10 - Boston, MA - New England Conservatory *
Sept. 26 - Baltimore, MD - 2640 Space at St. John's *
Sept. 27 - Baltimore, MD - 2640 Space at St. John's *
Sept. 30 - Oct. 3 - Asbury Park, NJ - ATP Festival *
Oct. 29 - New York, NY - Town Hall *
Nov. 6 - Jersey City, NJ - Loew's Jersey Theatre *
Nov. 30 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's *
Dec. 2-4 - Butlins, Minehead, UK - ATP Festival
Dec. 8 - London, UK - Union Chapel *
Dec. 9 - London, UK - Union Chapel *
* = Sold Out!

The Olivia Tremor Control
Aug. 29 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
Aug. 31 - Austin, TX - Mohawk *
Sept. 3 - Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest
Sept. 5 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall *
Sept. 8 - Seattle, WA - Vera Project *
Sept. 9 - Portland, OR- (MFNW) Someday Lounge *
Sept. 12 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
Sept. 13 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge *
Sept. 14 - Columbus, OH - Wexner Center *
Sept. 15 - Pittsburgh, PA - The Warhol at New Hazlett Theatre *
Sept. 16 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace *
Sept. 17 - Montreal, PQ - Il Motore *
Sept. 19 - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall *
Sept. 21 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge *
Sept. 23 - Philadelphia, PA - UPENN Rotunda *
Sept. 24 - Durham, NC - The Casbah *
Oct. 11-15 - Athens, GA - Athens PopFest
Nov. 25 - Madrid, Spain - Primavera Club
Nov. 26 - Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Club
Nov. 28 - Toulouse, France - La Dynamo
Dec. 2-4 - Butlins, Minehead, UK - ATP Festival
* = with The Music Tapes

saw the e6 holiday surprise tour a few months ago and it was fantastic! looking forward to the OTC show here that's at the same venue

Anyone seen OTC on the first few dates of this tour? Or any recent tour, really.

Considering going to the Portland show and wondering what the ratio of sweet Beatles-esque jams vs. ambient/collage/etc will be...

new single is underwhelming

seeing them at the columbus/wexner center show. i think they're playing about 2/3rds older stuff, from reading interviews. looking forward to it.

saw them. was worth the 3 hour drive each way...they only played 2 new songs, to my knowledge. one was the one posted online, which worked well live as a minimalist, almost kraut-y jam. the other definitely had more of a jangly, Black Foliage-sound.

encore was by request: opera house, grass cannons, and nyc - 25. great ending.

other than that, the set was great. can't think of anything i wanted to hear that they didn't play. and the sound was great---the people at the Wex always seem to be top-notch on that point. 6 vocal mics...vocals sounded so, so good.

they also have the 2xLP re-issues that aren't officially out for another couple months for $20 each, which come with digital download of the re-masters, and a discs worth of b-sides and live material. really nice screen-printed tour poster, too, though i didn't spring for that.

I'm going next Weds in New York. That description sounds encouraging. Should be a cool show.

listened to Black Foliage this morning in anticipation

really good show. Green Typewriter Suite frickin ruled. and Opera House killed as the show closer.

another great one was that song I can't remember the name of from Black Foliage that goes into a cappella harmonies "so long, sailor ... goodbye ..."

can't think of anything i wanted to hear that they didn't play

OTM

oh yeah and they recorded it for NPR:
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/19/140533815/live-wednesday-the-olivia-tremor-control-in-concert

yeah, the Green Typewriter Suite did rule. and the "so long" is "Hideaway." gonna stream that set in a minute...

the Black Foliage re-issue sounds ggggggrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaatttttt. A reminder that this band should be way more renowned than they are.

Played Marking Time on my radio show last week. Still chokes me up. Really gorgeous harmony singing and just perfect accompaniment with the slightly out of tune piano.

Having a HUGE "what the fuck" moment here, following Trip Maker's post. I have *always*, since the album came out, thought the song was called "Mourning Time". Played it about a million times, thought the cover said "Mourning Time" too... jeez. My mind must have been playing tricks on me, because there isn't a "Mourning Time" from OTC. One of those moments where you feel like the whole world had you fooled and was in on the joke... o_O

Not good:

https://twitter.com/FlagpoleMusic/status/230338230636126208

Very sad news: Hearing that Olivia Tremor Control's Bill Doss has passed away. No other details available yet.

Oh fuck.

:( that's awful i listened to the hell out of these records and i think they opened up a part of my brain to the psychedelic music i would come to love later on.

Confirmed.

https://twitter.com/chunklet/status/230345273556205569

https://twitter.com/andregallant/status/230344703508369408

Holy shit.

saw them play just over two weeks ago

This is horrible.

:(

fuck fuck fuck.

what the hell

RIP

Terrible.

WTF

RIP

don't know what else to say, OTC meant so much to me

RIP

that first album and a bunch of the EPs are really good. stunned ... dude was so young!

Second album is also brilliant...lots of good songs on those Sunshine Fix records, too. Fuck.

this is very sad / RIP. they played live in portugal 2 months ago or something and i couldn't make it :/

^^ even though i don't listen to them nowadays, 'dusk at...' and 'black foliage' were on constant rotation when i was 18 or something...

aw what the fuck. that's awful. just saw them in New York last fall. one of my favorite bands when I was in college radio. RIP.

I saw them last Thursday ... they did a great set, no breaks between songs, somehow keeping everything going while swapping instruments all over the stage ... he looked and sounded fine that night.

^They played at KCOU my freshman year, I was standing with them in the listening room while they played. This really sucks.
xpost to DMR

RIP. Been listening to Black Foliage loads again recently, that record means so much to me.

RIP.

I loved this band for so long. Big time RIP. So sad.

oh my god. horrible. RIP.

ah fuck

way too young

damn, dude was standing in front of me during dirty projectors set. this is crazy.

was P4K the last show they played?

Brad C. just said he saw them last Thursday.
This had to have been an accident or something, right?
Fuck this.

:( rip. Loved OTC.

:(

This really is awful news. Black Foliage was a revelation and a really influential album for me back in my lolcollege days. RIP

I saw OTC a few times and love them, but I think one thing that'll really stick with me is the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise doing an epic wandering 'Enlightenment' to close their ATP set, starting on the stage, visiting the middle of the crowd for a while, then leading everyone Panned Piper style through the venue to finish off outside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOXttJuEtS4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--1bJ9ILVFY

x-post - Same. I saw them play at South Street Seaport in the late 90s and they were amazing. Very sad.

Poor guy. Spoke to him two years ago and he was so energised and upbeat about the future. RIP.

Loved this dude and the band for 10 years now RIP

this band changed music for me and my friends, and to feel so close to such people you dont know personally is incredible. some of my friends even had the pleasure of meeting bill and seeing him perform. gone way too young. rest peacefully.

a little more information:
http://onlineathens.com/breaking-news/2012-07-31/olivia-tremor-controls-bill-doss-dead-43

People will be listening to those OTC records for decades to come. Timeless.
RIP

Henry Owings's eulogy

http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=731

ugh what a bummer. RIP.

Jumping Fences, a great George Harrison song

yeah OTC actually did a final secret jam in reds on that last night of the Mangum ATP, and had members of Sun Ra on stage with them doing the same track again - so a lovely way to cap off the event.

very sad news indeed.

love this song he wrote and performed on the last apples in stereo album:

http://youtu.be/4nT4ZZhQWdI

bill was the best, olivia tremor control was the best

RIP

long live 1996

http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/11/13/42/2406535/7/628x471.jpg

Very, very sad to hear about this

This is awful! Just saw them play in Williamsburg not too long ago. They're one of my favorites.

Memorial details announced:

--

Saturday, August 4
2PM-4PM
The Fabulous 40 Watt Club
285 West Washington St.
Athens, GA

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make donations to Nuci's Space, a local musician support & resource center.

http://www.nuci.org/

rip :(

dacd is a classic.

via reddit:

[–]KingOfWickerPeople 19 points 1 day ago
I am one of the EMTs who responded to this 911 call. I had never heard of Bill Doss at the time. I almost swallowed my gum when I saw his name on Reddit. I guess I'll have to check out his music now. Sorry for your loss, guys.

[–]deutschschafer 3 points 1 day ago
woah holy shit really? do you know anything about what happened to him to lead to his death?

[–]KingOfWickerPeople 21 points 1 day ago
Because of the ongoing investigation and privacy laws, I can't disclose details. He appeared to have gone peacefully. He died with his guitar in his hands. I thought you guys would appreciate knowing that.

jesus. that's not cool.

find that guy and strip him of his license imo

beginning to wonder if that's just some douche on the internet being a dick now, tbh

Yeah that strikes me as straight trolling.

I think there's a greater chance of that than some EMT all being like, fuck hipaa, these rock fans deserve to know.

unfortunately yeah i have known a lot of professionals who didn't take confidentiality seriously at all

OTOH, reddit

Yeah I was skeptical as well, but who knows.

just ban reddit, imho, its the only safe response

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuyTE8HijgU&feature=player_embedded

Thanks, this was touching.

Okay, The OTC's second album has this song called 'California Demise' on it which has received glowing reports on most of the album's reviews. Trouble is...
...oh, just have a listen to Dukes Of Stratosphear's 'Shiny Cage' and you'll see.

Shameless or completely accidental?

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Sunday, January 7, 2007 11:27 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this comparison occurred to me just now when I decided 'A Peculiar Noise Called Train Director' might be better than any Dukes Of Stratosphear song

those 2 songs aren't the same any more so than 'shiny cage' is the same as the beatles 'i'm only sleeping'

so discovering Dusk At Cubist Castle has been one of the biggest musical moments of 2014 for me; for whatever reason I'd never listened to it until a few months ago (probably because I just can't find a way to like Neutral Milk Hotel and kept seeing their name come up in conversations about the OTC for obvious reasons), but it absolutely flattened me from beginning to end (ESPECIALLY the very end - "NYC-25" is just one of the best songs ever). Black Foliage is good too, but it didn't kick my ass nearly as hard; Dusk makes me smile just thinking about it. it's like the precise midpoint between Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle and Todd Rundgren's A Wizard/A True Star.

my question, obviously, is what should I check out next if I'm looking for something like Dusk? the most satisfying records I've uncovered while chasing this particular dragon so far have been the Soft Bulletin, Funtrick Noisemaker, Screamadelica, Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna and Satanic Panic, Arnold's Hillside (this album is SO good), and the Cleaners from Venus' Living With Victoria Grey, if that's helpful. a bunch of old favorites like Since I Left You and Mellon Collie and ESPECIALLY Beulah's The Coast Is Never Clear took on new resonance in the wake/context of Dusk, too.

The Music Tapes "First Imaginary Symphony for Nomad"

Model portrait heads of Gertrude Stein

i hate to say it - because their name is so stupid - but salvia plath's "the bardo story" scratches this itch for me

Obvious suggestion but the s/t Circulatory System is pretty great—like a bad-trip version of OTC. I can't speak to the quality of their newer material, which I've yet to hear.

legit LOL at "Salvia Plath," that may be the worst band name I've heard since Cerebral Ballzy

Also was going to suggest Dukes of Stratosphear, & maybe some Soft Boys or Robyn Hitchcock solo... not sure how widely you're casting the psychedelic-revival net here.

Xpost Omg how did I miss that pun

salvia plath used to be called run dmt, no joke

I'm casting the net pretty wide - basically anything that just nails Beach Boys revivalism to within, like, seventeen decimal places

well salvia plath sound exactly like OTC to my ears

i guess for different people that's a plus or a minus

I'm actually listening to Pour Pauwels by Guy Skornik for the first time - had some extra store credit at Amoeba a few weeks ago and the reissue had an intriguing employee-picks card so I bought it on faith - as I write this, and it's a pretty great example of the general steez I'm looking for here (and which I think Dusk captures so exquisitely):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLkWgNfsUSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBcT92xlfqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cambb-euIC4

maybe Screen Prints? not as far out as OTC but they did great big hook filled lofi 60s inspired stuff
http://youtu.be/Me7SsSb1dcw

this is a great one: http://youtu.be/naoG-ZEdVYw

Bring on the sunshine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MO01zKDvHg

strapping fieldhands hit on the same ramshackle psych vibe

http://www.last.fm/music/Strapping+Fieldhands/Gobs+on+the+Midway:+Singles+1991-1995

"looking into the sun" is

perfect

the new circulatory system is really lovely in spots

I've only listened to it once but I agree, there are some really awesome moments. I was a little sad when I loaded the cd into my computer and played it through VLC media player and thought "man, these song titles all look like what you would name the files on your computer the day you wrote the song, how lazy and sad!" then I looked in the cd booklet and saw that every one of the titles that fit this description had been changed to "Mosaic #1", "Mosaic #2", etc. Weird.

Pour Pauwels is awesome! Thanks for posting that.

Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't never get enough love.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vP9knmux8I

Dusk at Cubist Castle is a personal fave, will definitely check out the recs here

someone ripped the entirity of Pour Pauwels to Soundcloud, here it is: https://soundcloud.com/guy-skornik-albums/sets/pour-pauwels

The Steppes. They made a ton of albums in the late 80s through mid 90s. The best is the debut, Drop Of The Creature. This song is from the 2nd album, Stewdio (get it?) Awful album title, even worse cover, but great song which fits the bill 100%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvQ1Kuf3z8w

Nice one! Sounds quite a bit like it could be a well produced Guided By Voices outtake from '94 or so, with a better drummer and an organ, complete with English accent and harmonies.

The Steppes were an Irish/US combo, so like GBV, I'm not sure where an English accent would've come from. There's been a 2CD compendium of stuff just recently that should be easy to find (probably need to go through my Steppes stuff to see if I need to pick that up myself).

Just bought the 2cd comp. I have all the albums but I feel like I owe them. They were fantastic.

the secret square album is my favorite lost e6 gem - it's hilarie from the apples and a friend of hers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKErAZFJHtI

for whatever reason I'd never listened to it until a few months ago (probably because I just can't find a way to like Neutral Milk Hotel and kept seeing their name come up in conversations about the OTC for obvious reasons)

Agreed on the vox. Can't stand Jeff's voice (or john's either)

Secret Square really is terrific. Way more lo-fi than a lot of the other Elephant Six stuff.

The Essex Green and Ladybug Transistor rate highly among my E6 lush throwback pop favorites. High Llamas (Hawaii in particular) are an obvious go-to for Beach Boys-esque stuff, specifically.

Essex Green definitely have some really awesome stuff

The Moles Untune the Sky hits some similar spots.
I haven't listened to Secret Square in forever, I am pretty sure I don't have that cd anymore. Amazing cover of Candy Says.

I've had 2.5 Circulatory System albums laying around for a while but never listened to them; thank you to the thread for giving me the impetus to finally check them out. Signal Morning is quite good - it's like seven-tenths of a Cubist Castle.

The first NMH is great and gnarly and very much "this guy is a weirdo". The second album is some of the worst music i've ever heard. Hifi indie is the worst shit.

I wish the Circulatory System albums were a bit more pop

I need to spend more time listening to the new Circulatory System, but so far it sounds like scraps from the Signal Morning. I don't know how much new recording Will Cullen Hart does anymore (he has MS) so they just might be raiding his tape archive at this point. There's supposedly a new Olivia album in the can, but Will found it too difficult to work on after Bill's death.

that Salvia Plath album is fucking GREAT, excellent recommendation

glad you think so, i like it a lot too

damn I'm gonna hafta check out Salvia Plath now... video for "House of Leaves" was strangely compelling

damn that Steppes track is pretty groovy too... bingeing on youtube embeds at the cafe since I don't have internet at home currently

Forgot to mention, purely on the poppy side, I'm a huge fan of those first three Dressy Bessy albums (another E6 labelmate).

Especially Sound Go Round and the California EP

don't sleep on Bressy Dessy either

This is my favorite Steppes song, Make Us Bleed. It could be a Moby Grape outtake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf5M_UVr6g4

Saw/played a show w/ Circulatory System on Friday...they sounded so great, played great...and were great. I think the new album rules...it is up there with the first one. A little less dense, but still full of sneakily-catchy melodies and moments you swear you've heard this song before...

I am also indebted to this thread for turning me onto the Sunshine Fix LP, holy cow what a good album

"Age of the Sun" is such a good song.

there's so much great stuff on that album, I like it as much as Black Foliage, the singles comp, the Peel session, and WAY more than the Circulatory System album (which I do like but it's easily my least favorite OTC mainline release that define the band's story

although the LP version spares the 20-minute thing at the end so it may be a mater of being optimal in one format.

I don't know if this was mentioned up thread anywhere, but prior to Bill Doss's death they recorded a brand new LP. Will Cullen Hart is in no hurry to finish it up because of all of the emotions it will stir up, but I'm sure one day in the next few years we'll get to hear it.

i think i recall reading somewhere it is near enough done. i guess nmh are still touring and circulatory have been busy playing a few shows. hopefully it will see the light of day sometime very soon. it will be weird hearing posthumous bill. still no news on his death, really. i was with my ex-gf at the time we found out through some pitchfork article, she cried her eyes out - it was really the first time we had lost a musician of our generation we really felt close to. she'd just met him a few months before and we had just bought the peel sessions CD and had it on in the car.

the new album is called 'the same place'.

I think I met Bill Doss? I went to a Circulatory System show and talked to some guy in the band who was super out of his mind on hash and I think adderall and god knows what else. I know Doss wasn't really a part of Circulatory System but I'm 99% certain the face in my memory matches the face in photos of him so maybe he subbed in that show.

That was probably Will Cullen Hart. He's always got plenty of energy, to say the least.

Bill was the redhead with long sideburns.

https://open.spotify.com/album/5Qf6w24SILSOPz85wzsPpB

Just found this peel session. Probably the best production the band ever had.. They sound tight, too.

My local watering hole played "jumping fences" yesterday and my head exploded

gawd i love that song

classic album

https://open.spotify.com/track/4ZfeuBsnsdiXAemBFF0AmB

#ModelPortraitheadsofGertrudestein

New collaboration between W. Cullen Hart and Apples in Stereo's Rob Schneider - The Patient

https://soundcloud.com/chunklet-world-industries/the-patient-extension-9/s-ME2Zq

"Chunklet’s A&R staff challenged Robert to finish but ONE SONG and 'Extension Nine' is the finished product. Recorded in Athens inside a geodisic dome, 'Extension Nine' is more Talking Heads than Syd Barrett, accidental more than deliberate. Hart is on guitar and sound effects, Robert on vocals, Ben Mize on drums and multi-instrumentalist/luthier/wizard Scott Baxendale on guitar, Mellotron and all sorts of whirring noises."

This is good! Really psychedelic yet somehow more tethered to the earth than OTC/Circulatory System's stuff. I like it.

I heard about this a couple days ago and really wanted to like it but

Since we don’t have a Circulatory System thread

https://www.stereogum.com/2158387/circulatory-system-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/

bloody hell this revive got me excited for upcoming forever delayed OTC album!!!

will hart is a force of nature <3

this revive just makes me miss Bill

Nice piece Ray! I love this album

Thanks!

They’re playing the sunshine fix at the bar

“Feel the atmosphere breathe with life /
Model portrait heads of Gertrude stein/
Define a transparent dream”

https://elephant6.com/2024/10/02/elephant-6-documentary-soundtrack-announced/

thanks for bumping this because it made me check what's happening with the third olivia tremor control album and it turns out they're releasing two songs from it this month as part of the e6 documentary soundtrack.

they're going to put the new otc songs on bandcamp too

extremely exciting, maybe we'll finally get the album next year

Excellent!

Does it include any of Bill’s material?

Hadn't seen this thread before, very informative. My maiden voyage into Olivia Tremor Control and most other Elephant Six is via the xpost doc soundtrack (digital promo, with this vinyl ed. due Nov. 29 )(the only track I really don't like is by Apples In Stereo, but it's at end, so easily skipped) press sheet:

Various Artists: The Elephant 6 Recording Co. - OST (LP)

The Elephant 6 Recording Co. is the official soundtrack for the acclaimed documentary of the same name. The film highlights the legacy of one of the most storied DIY scenes in all of indie rock, birthing such bands as Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, and The Apples in Stereo. This soundtrack follows its 2023 wide release and contains music from the film, as well as a pair of brand new tracks from The Olivia Tremor Control’s forthcoming third and final record. The release is a carefully curated sampling of what has made this beautifully inscrutable scene so enduring and inspiring to musicians all over the world. The record comes housed in a custom die-cut gatefold jacket, and is available exclusively for RSD Black Friday.

A1 The Olivia Tremor Control – Garden of Light

A2 Neutral Milk Hotel – Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone

A3 Marbles – Telescope

A4 The Gerbils - Glue (Live)

A5 W. Cullen Hart – All Day Owl

A6 Elf Power - The Arrow Flies Close (Live)

B1 The Olivia Tremor Control - The Same Place

B2 Dixie Blood Moustache – Oh Hi

B3 The Always Red Society - Minute By Minute (Instrumental)

B4 The Wedding Band & Friends – The World is Waiting For the Sunrise

B5 The Apples in Stereo – Ruby (Live)

at least one of the new songs ("garden of light") is bill's and you can hear a preview of it at the link

they recorded most of the album before bill died (including vocals for all his songs), and have been very slowly finishing it since then. they've said that bill was the driving force behind getting things completed so his absence has heavily slowed things down, and robert schneider is producing it (just like the first two) but his availability has been limited due to his academic career

xp you've gotta hear dusk at cubist castle if you've never heard it before!

Will do, thanks! So far they're my favorites on the soundtrack.

it's probably my favourite psych pop album of all time, it's a real journey

https://oliviatremorcontrol.bandcamp.com/track/garden-of-light
https://oliviatremorcontrol.bandcamp.com/track/the-same-place

wonderful!

Tragic news

https://www.stereogum.com/2289129/elephant-6-olivia-tremor-control-co-founder-will-cullen-hart-dead-at-53/news/

whaaat

how terribly sad

unbelievable

both these guys ... gone. :((((

this is so terribly tragic and untimely. i was just so buzzing to hear this work after so many years. this band blew my mind apart as a teenager and radically changed sound and music for me forever. a true great, a real punk, a beautiful artist with unparalelled enthuasism, a visionary. such a heartfelt tribute from robert in that article.

devastating news, to happen just now is really an absurd tragedy

RIP.

MS is a bastard; my ex-wife has it and it’s rough stuff.

ugh very sad! listened to dusk at cubist castle a couple of weeks ago, it remains an absolute psych classic.

awful condition yet he virtually defyed it and continued creating so prolifcally. all three circulatory system albums are solid gold. what an inspiration.

Do you still believe in joy?
and blast away at confusion and pain?
No matter what you look like or feel like,
it's no secret we have this little blue world inside
We're only made of water, sand and stone,
we're made of joy and make believe
we're only made of sky, and it's true

RIP Will Cullen Hart

https://i.imgur.com/gTpRHlD.jpeg

God. I'm five years older than Doss was when he died. Five years younger than Cullen Hart was when he died.

Maybe not the best time to ask, but what is with the band's description on their Bandcamp page?

I guess mostly it's that I want to share the new songs with friends because OTC meant a lot to me, but I don't want to send anybody a link where it they click on it it'll ask them "Are you shrouded by curtains of beef?"

I wrote this a few years ago about the first Circulatory System album, which would be part of a Top Twenty Albums list if I had to make one.

https://www.stereogum.com/2158387/circulatory-system-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/?fbclid=IwY2xjawG3ae9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbaEFxpGx7V5cpBbZTsP_VHSnr8GAa3tHbpU9efr0orlK-jIxqMzIzwOJw_aem_oBJfwhx8aRunjtn6ams1xg

+1

I'm really sad to hear the new about Will Cullen Hart. It's so tragic how young both he and Bill Doss were when they passed.

This band is foundational for me. It's kind of shaking my world up tonight to hear two new songs from them after 13 years while processing this news. Both songs are wonderful. Garden of Light, especially. It's so intense to hear a new song sung by Bill Doss after so long.

In ‘99 I had a Sony discman and I took it and the Cubist Castle cd to Spain

I have some wonderful uploads from Dime back in the day, back in the peak Dime era, of some fantastic shows. I guess there's an official live record recorded in 2004 as well? I haven't heard it. Just lots of tapes from the 40 Watt. I forgot about that 2020 cover of "Ten Years Gone/Vitamin C" as well. Anyway, fantastic long jams, the kinda stuff I'm into, often with Bill Doss... IDK when Doss joined the Circulatory System, 2006? 2007?

I also remember hearing that Will Cullen Hart did his own fanmix of Smile... I'd love to hear what that would have sounded like. Kind of, you know, remix culture, right? Like Patrick Cowley doing Donna Summer or something.

wow, those 2 new songs are so great. :(

always be thankful to have seen them play live right before bill passed, and play with/see circulatory system on an off night during one of the NMH reunion tours. fantastic shows from my heroes.

Saw them in ny on the black foliage tour

I saw Circulatory System open for NMH in… 2014? Glad I got to have that experience. (Which was more the point of going than NMH frankly)

As I said upthread, promo for Nov. 29 vinyl reissue of Elephant Six doc soundtrack is my gateway to OTC, and it also incl. Hart solo track---looking fwd to their swan song---

A Celebration of Elephant 6 Visionary Will Cullen Hart

🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘

Thanks for posting that, Brad

that's really nice! i should get around to watching that doc

Brad thx, that’s a really good cumulative tribute, just beautiful.

Schneider on WCH: “We met in sixth grade at a Cheap Trick concert in Ruston, through our mutual friends (and future E6 collaborators) Joey Foreman and Jeff Mangum”

I’m always like “how is this kind of shit reality?” and then I wonder if there’s some kind or weird woo mystical energy force that puts them together. Or if there’s some kind of woo interaction after random contact that catalyzes creative forces in the people. It’s very remarkable.

Listened to ‘Dusk at Cubist Castle’ again recently and it’s fair to say that, reflecting back, it changed my life as an 18-19 year old. incredible record.

I don’t know if I ever told this story, but here goes:
it was spring of my freshman year, I was really coming into myself as someone who writes and makes art and such, and I had had just an awful week— a guy I was seeing cut it off, and this woman I was seeing was always getting shithouse drunk and calling me late at night. (She is now a big dyke, of course, in the same way I am a big fag). Because of some scheduling stuff, I was poised to cook two meals for 80+ people on the first Saturday of May, when I was also scheduled to do my weekly radio show at 7a. But I hadn’t been sleeping well. So, at 6:30, I woke up, made sure all the food I had prepped the night before was still good in the industrial fridges, and then ate two tabs of pretty decent acid.

I got to the station and was immediately tripping pretty hard, so after playing a few psych gems, I decided I needed to just lie down— and I put on ‘Dusk at Cubist Castle’ because I figured it sounded varied enough that I wouldn’t get called out for it.

Possibly one of the better psychedelic experiences I ever had, prone on the cheap carpeted floor of this grungy college radio station, letting OTC just alter my consciousness.

After the radio show, I made my way back to the coop where I was cooking, still tripping hard, and put on ‘Dusk at Cubist Castle’ again. I cut tomatoes and salad greens for two hours, watching my hands morph with the tomatoes and thinking about how strange it was that I was also just a carbon based life form.

The lunch was a resounding success— like, it got a standing ovation from all the hippies in the vegan coop where I was living/cooking.

Then, since I was tasked with buying the alcohol for the next meal because I was the only one who had a fake ID, my friends whisked me around to various stores to buy booze and supplies, while I insisted we listen to ‘Dusk at Cubist Castle,’ of course. I ended up standing in line behind my creative writing professor, buying beer and sangria, while tripping face in a mid-range grocery store in rural Ohio.

Later that night my friend did a screening of Painlevé films as I was coming down.

Perhaps one of the best days of my life, if I am being honest— and OTC were a big part of it.

Defiiiine / a transparent

dream

That's a lovely memory to have!

Nice writeup. I'm currently listening to DACC independently of having seen this threadbump. It works just as well as a good morning album as a night of trip, although from recent experiences I'd say it's, for me, best suited as a 'hazy hot afternoon' zone-out. Wherever or whenever you listen, it's an incredible piece of work, and I'm kicking myself it's taken until the last few weeks to hear it

Easily in my top 10 albums that flow so awesome from start to finish. I'm sure I've listened to a couple hundred times, but still could not name any of the songs.

Thank you for sharing that, table! Sounds like a fantastic day.

https://oliviatremorcontrol.bandcamp.com/album/explanation-ii-instrumental-themes-and-dream-sequences

“New” thing
Ambient stuff by Will

This was released as the second disc on a 2 CD version of Dusk at Cubist Castle
https://www.discogs.com/release/442182-The-Olivia-Tremor-Control-Music-From-The-Unrealized-Film-Script-Dusk-At-Cubist-Castle