Ah hell.
― your fretless ways (Eazy), Monday, 18 March 2013 15:57 (eleven years ago) link
this is sad because he was talented and also sad because he was so human RIP
― and that sounds like a gong-concert (La Lechera), Monday, 18 March 2013 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
Devastating. This guy wrote some of my favorite music
― Heez, Monday, 18 March 2013 15:58 (eleven years ago) link
Damnit. He came through Charlottesville a lot during some formative years for me, and he was always really gracious and genuine. Played some damn great shows too. RIP.
― grandavis, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:04 (eleven years ago) link
A lovely song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2nyOLVwg8
― grandavis, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
sad. glad i got to see him play once.
― bnw, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
The detail about his not having health insurance and his family having to ask for donations towards medical bills really gets to me.
― Deafening silence (DL), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
this is just too much for me. i was just listening to the magnolia electric co. demos on a drive in the rain last night. devastating news :/
― illegalblues, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:05 (eleven years ago) link
Reposted: http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=743
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:08 (eleven years ago) link
Knowing alcoholism was the cause is just so heavy.
― Evan, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:10 (eleven years ago) link
Just...fuck. RIP.
― Simon H., Monday, 18 March 2013 16:10 (eleven years ago) link
This, from a little over a year ago, is some sad reading: http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?ID=707§ion=blogs
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?ID=707
looks like he took the post down to add a live performance link
― call all destroyer, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:15 (eleven years ago) link
fuck, i knew when this thread had 23 new answers something bad had happened. Had no idea about his issues, seemed like a guy who could be prolific forever. RIP, will spin a couple of his records tonight
― Ludo, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:17 (eleven years ago) link
I know this is a somewhat petty request in light of the circumstances, but can the title of this thread be changed? Answer is and will always be yes.
― grandavis, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:20 (eleven years ago) link
Fuck. Thought about him just the other day, hoping it wouldn't end like this. RIP, good man. You fought.
― Mule, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:22 (eleven years ago) link
"No Limits on the Words" hitting so hard right now.
― Mule, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:27 (eleven years ago) link
Damn... This is so sad...
― Le Bateau Ivre, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:33 (eleven years ago) link
"We get no second chance in this life."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paIV1hPihtE
― a monolithic testament to shiftlessness and lost productivity (dan m), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:34 (eleven years ago) link
Jason Molina wrote some of my all time favorite songs, and "Goodnight Lover," which would be one of my favorite songs if I could listen to it without crying. So so sad. Such a terrible way to die.
― carl agatha, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:43 (eleven years ago) link
oh my god, this is terrible. I had no idea. does his family still need money?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:49 (eleven years ago) link
heartbreaking. rest in peace jason
― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=malJUMz2A9Y
This song is one of my all time favorites. It's so dark and beautiful, but sounds even darker now.
― carl agatha, Monday, 18 March 2013 16:58 (eleven years ago) link
oh fuck, this is really sad. rip jason, you seemed like a good guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c9lHmvbsdQ
― acid in the style of tenpole tudor (NickB), Monday, 18 March 2013 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
I knew Jason a little in college -- my band and him played on the same bill. He didn't go to Oberlin, but was from nearby Lorain -- there's just something about that area, so many talented people are from there. Jason's success struck me funny -- his songs seemed so...little when I knew him, and I always felt like he had a little chip on his shoulder, which in retrospect makes a lot of sense. But I clearly was missing something -- bc he obviously meant a lot to a great many people.
Terribly sad.
― Naive Teen Idol, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:00 (eleven years ago) link
little songs mean a lot
― ums (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:11 (eleven years ago) link
I posted about this on facebook and mentioned collaborating with Jason on a Songs:Ohia show poster. That was for that show you played on, the bill was Nozzle, Tel Aviv (Andy Comer has a new record out on Teen Beat) and Songs:Ohia.
Looking at the people responding to that facebook post and thinking about Jason has me thinking about Oberlin. How much I hated the classes mostly, and mostly hated everything else, and yet the collection of people I met there and through there, and there was a whole society of people who didn't go to Oberlin officially but were part of the community, like Jason, or WFMU's Dan Bodah who I think followed his girlfriend there. So many interesting and talented people. I was at MOMA yesterday and saw a piece by Cory Archangel printed by Kayrock. I hated Oberlin but it made me who I was and I certainly continue to benefit from the connections made there.
Anyway, I was pretty close with Jason junior year and a bit less senior year. At the very end of the year a good friend of mine kissed his ex-girlfriend and I remember freaking out and thinking Jason was going to be mad at me by proxy. That was the very end of the year and I saw him once or twice after that.
He used to play George Jones records all the time and we'd drive around lorrain county going to the record exchanges. I think he lived in our attic rent free, while another student friend lived in the basement rent free, and that didn't seem to bother those of us who actually paid rent, because it was a shitty party house and the attic and basement were especially not great. The guy in the basement had a tent, but Jason had a mattress and a lamp and an old suitcase up in the attic.
We had one of those old timey sideboards with an old record player in it, the kind that let you play 16rpm records because those existed in the 50s or whatever. We had some sludgy indie-rock 7", I can't remember the band. Something with "Dog" in the title. Jason would put that 7" on and play it at 16rpm and scream "SLOW DOG". Over and over again. Really, we listened to that a lot.
― dan selzer, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:14 (eleven years ago) link
damn
― you're going home in a crispy ambulance (cajunsunday), Monday, 18 March 2013 17:34 (eleven years ago) link
One of the very best of the '00s.
RIP
― MV, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:38 (eleven years ago) link
http://content.magnoliaelectricco.com/
final bit of "i was there" nostalgia. I was with Jason when the guys from Secretly Canadian came to Ohio to meet with him and offer to put out his records. I just vaguely remember these two nice dudes, then a few years later being blown away by the empire they built.
― dan selzer, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:50 (eleven years ago) link
saw them a few times, but only time i met jason was at Primavera where we had a great chat about similarities between the shitty industrial parts of the respective cities we're from, and the next day they played a glorious set in the sunshine. he seemed like a really good guy. it's a lovely memory i'll never lose and i'll never stop listening to those records. awful awful news.
― Jamie_ATP, Monday, 18 March 2013 17:58 (eleven years ago) link
i saw MEC play in los angeles 7-8 yrs ago. great show. rip jason.
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:00 (eleven years ago) link
Only 39 years old.
― Jeff, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:02 (eleven years ago) link
The first time I saw MEC was at the first Pitchfork festival (then Intonation) in 2005. They had a kinda shitty set early in the day on Saturday, but they really sounded great. I got to the grounds early specifically to see them and was one of the first people lined up along the fence when they started their set. Afterwards he came down and thanked some of us for getting up so early to see them, he was really friendly.
― i kant believe it's not buffon (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
The impromptu second set at lunchtime on the foyer stage the Dirty Three's Minehead weekend was one of my favourite ATP things ever.
― Troughton-masked Replicant (aldo), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:09 (eleven years ago) link
apparently his family does still need money from medical things. donate here:
http://secretlycanadian.com/blog/2013/03/jason-molina-of-songs-ohia-and-magnolia-electric-co-passed-away-saturday/
― sean gramophone, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:14 (eleven years ago) link
can't stand this news.
Jason's music was such a companion to me in hard times. I wish I could have somehow been a companion to him.
― sean gramophone, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:16 (eleven years ago) link
fwiw, seeing some articles saying he did graduate from Oberlin. I didn't remember either way.
― dan selzer, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
Once drove from Toronto to Boston area to see him play in a shitty dive bar. Worth every minute of the drive.Magnolia Electric Co. (self titled record) is a stone cold classic. Very sad news. Very sad.
― scubasteve, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:23 (eleven years ago) link
I am absolutely shocked by this news and immensely just sad as hell. His work meant a ton to me during a very difficult period of my life and I'm not sure I'd be entirely the same had a couple of his records not held my hands through those periods.
Sorry it got so hard for you, Jason. Farewell, transmission.
― Clay, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
Gutted... though I hoped he would pull through and beat his addiction, there was a small part of me that thought this might happen sooner or later. Used to check his webpage every month or so to see if there was any update..
RIP Jason - your music meant so much to me...
― Stop the tape I got spittle all over my moustache. (Talcum Mucker), Monday, 18 March 2013 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
for a guy who could really own a lyrical cliche (and i say that with nothing but love), he also wrote some amazingly weird and wonderful and striking lines. the first big chunk of "farewell transmission" is just a tour de force, every image just kills:
The whole place is darkEvery light on this side of the townSuddenly it all went downNow we’ll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sunNow we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moonSomeone must have set us upNow they’ll be working in the cold grey rock, in the hot mill steam… in the concreteIn the sirens and the silences now all the great set up hearts - all at once start to beatAfter tonight if you don’t want us to be a secret out of the pastI will resurrect it, I’ll have a good go at itI’ll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashesI can feel his ghost breathing down my back
After tonight if you don’t want us to be a secret out of the pastI will resurrect it, I’ll have a good go at itI’ll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashesI can feel his ghost breathing down my back
― call all destroyer, Monday, 18 March 2013 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
100% otmfm. The first time I heard that song I was just like "wait, what? blood across my beak? dead moon in its jaw? hold up this is amazing."
― carl agatha, Monday, 18 March 2013 19:06 (eleven years ago) link
I listened to his records a lot. RIP
― badg, Monday, 18 March 2013 19:16 (eleven years ago) link
saw him in 2009 with magnolia electric company, in a small kind of shitty bar in reno. it was a time when i was listening to nashville moon a lot, getting really attached to that central vibe of desolation and swing, played it often while driving from reno to vegas, which is mostly two-lane highways and variations of desert. it was a great show, and i was feeling good enough that i decided to shake his hand and tell him "thank you, your music has really helped me." he smiled, looked down for a second and said, "me too."
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 18 March 2013 19:56 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks to everybody who's sharing their more private stories. I'm a little shell-shocked and it's super appreciated
― ♫ don't you have your own computer? ♫ (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 18 March 2013 19:57 (eleven years ago) link
I spoke with Jason once outside Holocene after a show in 2006, the only time I saw him play. I bummed him a smoke and asked him what they'd been playing in the tour can which led to us getting nostalgic about 90's trance of all things and briefly lending me a window into the inner-goofball he's consistently described as.
I remember his band was really vamping on some extended solos that night. Between songs he leaned into the mic and said "thanks, classic rock," with the timing of a master.
― Clay, Monday, 18 March 2013 20:03 (eleven years ago) link
We are deeply saddened to announce that Jason Andrew Molina passed away in his home in Indianapolis this past Saturday, March 16th of natural causes at age 39.
No one dies at 39 of natural causes. :(
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 21:05 (eleven years ago) link
What is the medical fund they're soliciting for?
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 18 March 2013 21:06 (eleven years ago) link
The Lioness expanded reissue
― Duke, Thursday, 11 October 2018 22:45 (five years ago) link
Excited for this, but not sure whether to jump on the pre-order from the US or hold off for UK - with shipping and likely taxes it’s going to end up around the £50 mark.
― michaellambert, Friday, 12 October 2018 10:31 (five years ago) link
I may just get the digital version
― Duke, Friday, 12 October 2018 15:46 (five years ago) link
Reading some great reviews of this. A pity it's not available on CD
― Duke, Saturday, 24 November 2018 18:17 (five years ago) link
Seven years already. This was a tough loss.
If the blues are you hunterThen you will come face to faceWith that darkness and desolationAnd the endless depressionBut you are not helplessAnd you are not helplessTry to beat it
― Mule, Sunday, 22 March 2020 18:38 (four years ago) link
I mourn the loss regularly.
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Monday, 23 March 2020 03:11 (four years ago) link
Posthumous album of solo songs recorded in 2008 due in August, Eight Gates. Sounds like mostly solo acoustic songs mixed with field recordings from his time in London. Torn between really wanting to hear anything new from Molina and wondering if he wanted this stuff released...
https://secretlycanadian.com/record/eight-gates/
Eight Gates:
01 Whisper Away02 Shadow Answers the Wall03 The Mission’s End04 Old Worry05 She Says06 Fire on the Rail07 Be Told the Truth08 Thistle Blue09 The Crossroad + The Emptiness
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 20 May 2020 14:06 (four years ago) link
The track thus far released is really doing it for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLrnk0h8nE
― Soundslike, Wednesday, 20 May 2020 22:21 (four years ago) link
Torn between really wanting to hear anything new from Molina and wondering if he wanted this stuff released...
I'm very ambivalent about this as well but this track is really nice.
― Dinsdale, Saturday, 23 May 2020 21:51 (four years ago) link
I'm on a Molina binge rn and was thinking about whether I should get this.
― Duke, Friday, 3 July 2020 22:36 (three years ago) link
I'd say that if you've got any interest at all in JM then you should definitely get it.
― neilasimpson, Saturday, 4 July 2020 14:38 (three years ago) link
"New Arriver album, awesome metal band featuring three members of the Mag. Elec. Co. band:
https://arriver.bandcamp.com
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 10 May 2017 16:34 (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink"
Josh (or anyone) - this record is amazing. How did you find out that some of the ME Co. folk were involved? I've done some cursory searching but can't find anything.
― neilasimpson, Saturday, 4 July 2020 14:39 (three years ago) link
Better searching reveals " Rob and Dan Sullivan on bass and guitar/vocals paid their dues in the late Jason Molina’s indie/alt. country outfit Songs: Ohia, even playing on the now-classic Magnolia Electric Co., which also featured McAdam."
https://ninecircles.co/2016/11/29/album-review-arriver-emeritus/
― neilasimpson, Saturday, 4 July 2020 14:46 (three years ago) link
Rob and Dan Macadam both went to Oberlin with us. Dan runs the amazing Crosshair silkscreen company.
― dan selzer, Saturday, 4 July 2020 16:47 (three years ago) link
Dan M. is an old friend and neighbor (two blocks away) married to another old friend of mine from college. Coincidentally, Rob and Dan Sullivan are old friends of *another* really old college friend of mine, who also knew them from Maine (!). Dan S. btw is an incredible woodworker: http://www.navilluswoodworks.com Adding to the mix, Jeff, who played drums in the The Magnolia Electric Co. band, is married to a *different* old friend of mine.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 July 2020 16:55 (three years ago) link
This Arriver album is great, thanks
― Dinsdale, Saturday, 4 July 2020 22:16 (three years ago) link
I am super curious to hear Eight Gates, but I can't bring myself to do it just yet. As I mentioned earlier, I really struggle with the thought of him not wanting this stuff out there in this form.
― soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 14 August 2020 20:34 (three years ago) link
I bought Eight Gates, on my third trip to the record shop. I had to, somehow. But I've yet to play it...
― Duke, Friday, 14 August 2020 21:29 (three years ago) link
Just discovered Eight Gates and was unnerved by that snippit at the start of "She Says" where they have Molina on tape saying "the perfect take is--just as long as the person singing is still alive..."
― Indexed, Thursday, 17 December 2020 15:44 (three years ago) link
10 years gone.
― Mule, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 23:09 (one year ago) link
actually can't believe i'd written the man off as a palace copycat years ago. i listened hard this year and he's a completely different kind of writer. knowing so many of the songs were knocked out with one take is just phenomenal. as my mate put it: "never has someone made so much meaning out of such a minimal vocabulary". reading his biography rn...
― maelin, Sunday, 19 March 2023 12:47 (one year ago) link
so Fall Out Boy stole the "why put a new address on the same old loneliness" line? that's fucked up
― Heez, Monday, 24 April 2023 14:40 (one year ago) link
interestingly enough:
We have a picture of @petewentz in the Magnolia van to celebrate this fact. It was placed there by Jason Molina himself. I'll try to get a picture while we listen to the record today. #TimsTwitterListeningParty— Jason P. Evans Groth (@groakus) July 2, 2020
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 24 April 2023 15:58 (one year ago) link