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

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

🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘🐘

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