This is Part II of my Going To XX Merge series, you can read the rest of the series here.

One of the most enchanting bands I have seen in recent years is The Music Tapes, and it is no surprise that they are coming out of the Elephant Six collective.

My first experience was at the Elephant Six Surprise Tour, which was a magical event that Julian Koster put together. It’s not that Elephant Six was dormant but it does appear The Music Tapes’ release of Music Tapes for  Clouds & Tornadoes brought a lively hood back to the Athens scene. Now we are getting an emergence of energy coming from them again, and this really excites me.

Jeff Mangum even played Neutral Milk Hotel songs at a handful of dates (very sad that this didn’t happen in NYC, but if it can happen anywhere else I assume it will be at XX Merge):

Neutral Milk Hotel- “The Fool” & “Engine” Live in Lexington, KT on October 23rd, 2008 at the Holiday Surprise Tour:

The Circulatory System is back, releasing an album in September titled Signal Morning. And the mp3s that have been floating around are wonderful:

[mp3] Circulatory System- “Overjoyed” (via Pitchfork)
[mp3] Circulatory System- “Rocks and Stones” (via No Conclusion)
[mp3] Circulatory System- “Signal Morning” (via No Conclusion)

All of these tracks are from Signal Morning. It will be available at Cloud Recordings on September 8th, 2009 ( many other E6 related releases are already available there). It’s rumored that Circulatory System has more than one album ready, and Will Cullen Hart has said that Olivia Tremor Control has been recording again! They are unsure what will come of this, but that’s ok…I’ll take what I can get.

Elephant Six will release their movie, Major Organ and the Adding Machine as a deluxe DVD/CD package as well. This film premiered at the Holiday Surprise Tour, and while Pitchfork doesn’t seem to be a fan…I am eagerly awaiting it’s release. It has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait to hear the expanded soundtrack (it’s hard to imagine that it can get better than it already is).

Here is the trailer:

Last but not least… I’m loving on some Nana Grizol the newest band to come out of E6. The play indie pop, and in the style that I liked in high school and college, but with lyrics that aren’t cheesy and trite.  It’s really nice to enjoy this style of music again with out cringing when you hear the words.  These are people that I would like to be friends with.  I think their Pink Couch session is a nice introduction.

The Music Tapes will be preforming two times at XX Merge…one at the Cat’s Cradle, and an outdoor show at the Orange County Social Club on the Saturday of the festival. Needless to say they will be one of the highlights of the festival for me (which is less than two weeks away).  With that, I will leave you with this:

The Music Tapes- “Majesty”

The Music Tapes-”Minister of Longitude”

Support the Artists:

• Buy Music Tapes releases here.
• Buy OTC releases here or here.
• Buy Circulatory System releases here or here.
• Buy Neutral Milk Hotel releases here.
• Buy Nana Grizol releases here.

I would like to apologize to my long time readers for re-posting some of these videos, but I truly love them.

Additional Info About this post:

• Photo Credit: Music Tapes tattoo via Daniella Maria Khomuz’s flickr
  • I do not know this person, but they have a rad tattoo.

• More one Elephant Six related musing (including Music Tapes and Dark Meat pictures) here.

• This post is basically a Thank you Julian, for re-lighting this fire in Athens!