Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Company...any good? [EDIT: RIP Jason Molina -- March 2013]

i only own 'the lioness', which i think is brilliant. i want to get more s:o/molina stuff, but given his volume of releases and my lack of cash (can't find much via downloading and i'm happy to buy them), could someone please recommend where i should go next out of:

-Songs: Ohia
-Impala
-Axxess & Ace
-Ghost Tropic
-Didn't It Rain
-The Magnolia Electric Co

alhtough from what i gather from ben, maybe i already own his 'swansong'... and i know there's a pile of other EPs, split singles, etc - if one of those is absolutley essential, let me know too (i fear the answers to this are going to hurt my paycheque)

I got to see them again recently at VCU's annual free show for the students thing. Rock.

the new magnolia electric co. album josephine will be released by secretly canadian on july 21st, 2009. you can nab a free mp3 of the title track over in the media section. to support the record they’ll head out july 10th on a month long tour crossing the u.s followed by a few weeks of full-band touring in europe. see tour dates for all the details.

so Josephine has leaked, love Songs: Ohia stuff so looking forward to this!

At first listen the new one didn't do a lot for me. Subsequent listens have caused to start growing on me.

This is my #2 or #3 record so far this year, because I am boring.

i thought of 2Pac's Changes in that first song.

pretty good album, anyway.

i'm digging it as well but I, too, am boring.

any news on Jason Molina? The last news was well over a year ago when he cancelled a tour due to ill health.

Since then, nothing. Hope he's doing ok..

Anyone know what's up with him? After years of prolific writing and releasing, there's been nothing for nearly 18 months.

Probably should have revived this joint thread instead -- per the last post: sadly, Jason Molina has passed on

http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=742

oh man

bummer, didn't really know the extent of his alcohol issues. RIP.

Yeah I heard he was ill but didn't know much about the details, RIP

omg :( so sad about this

yeah, really sad. became a big, big fan of his work in the mid to late 2000s and he felt like a huge part of my life at that time.

really super bummed about this. i was always hoping he'd come through his troubles in a better place and release lots more fantastic music. this is really sad.

no no no no no no
chunklet post has disappeared.
please let this not be true.

Henry had written that he died on Saturday from organ failure and that by the time the news reached him it had already been spreading slowly through their network of friends and associates. Pretty sure it's true, but he may be writing his eulogy a little differently.

Ah hell.

this is sad because he was talented and also sad because he was so human
RIP

Devastating. This guy wrote some of my favorite music

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.

A lovely song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2nyOLVwg8

sad. glad i got to see him play once.

The detail about his not having health insurance and his family having to ask for donations towards medical bills really gets to me.

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 :/

Reposted: http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?section=blogs&ID=743

Knowing alcoholism was the cause is just so heavy.

Just...fuck. RIP.

This, from a little over a year ago, is some sad reading: http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?ID=707§ion=blogs

http://www.chunklet.com/index.cfm?ID=707

looks like he took the post down to add a live performance 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

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.

Fuck. Thought about him just the other day, hoping it wouldn't end like this. RIP, good man. You fought.

"No Limits on the Words" hitting so hard right now.

Damn... This is so sad...

"We get no second chance in this life."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paIV1hPihtE

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.

oh my god, this is terrible. I had no idea. does his family still need money?

heartbreaking. rest in peace jason

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.

oh fuck, this is really sad. rip jason, you seemed like a good guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c9lHmvbsdQ

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.

little songs mean a lot

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.

damn

One of the very best of the '00s.

RIP

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.

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.

i saw MEC play in los angeles 7-8 yrs ago. great show. rip jason.

Only 39 years old.

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.

The impromptu second set at lunchtime on the foyer stage the Dirty Three's Minehead weekend was one of my favourite ATP things ever.

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/

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.

fwiw, seeing some articles saying he did graduate from Oberlin. I didn't remember either way.

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.

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.

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...

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 dark
Every light on this side of the town
Suddenly it all went down
Now we’ll all be brothers of the fossil fire of the sun
Now we will all be sisters of the fossil blood of the moon
Someone must have set us up
Now they’ll be working in the cold grey rock, in the hot mill steam… in the concrete
In the sirens and the silences now all the great set up hearts - all at once start to beat

After tonight if you don’t want us to be a secret out of the past
I will resurrect it, I’ll have a good go at it
I’ll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes
I can feel his ghost breathing down my back

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."

I listened to his records a lot. RIP

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."

Thanks to everybody who's sharing their more private stories. I'm a little shell-shocked and it's super appreciated

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.

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. :(

What is the medical fund they're soliciting for?

He was a brilliant musician who will likely never get the accolades he deserves; pity, yet a bit of a secret garden at the same time. The Magnolia Elec Co website has a particular apt perspective on his passing.

The medical fund is presumably for past bills -- the above site was asking for donations over a year-and-a-half ago.

Molina's lyrics on the hidden Amalgamated Sons of Rest album...

if i am bad it's in the modern way
i might have said too much, i might have
done too much
i been looking at the stars in the sky tonight
and it looks like there's room for mine
so i will be good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQsL8GxdvUw

just dug out The Magnolia Electric Co, this is going to be hard to listen to.

RIP

"honey, watch your ass" off pyramid was one of my favorites for a long time. kinda scared to dig that out anytime soon but i really have should. xp

He did this for me maybe 10 years ago before a Magnolia show, when I asked for an autograph:
http://s10.postimage.org/nfw7nrluh/lioness.jpg

i'm really really crushed by this - had been listening to his records a lot recently

the black ram record (2nd disc of the sojourner box) is one of the most gorgeous & haunting records i've ever heard, not sure why it never got a 'proper' release but it's the one i go back to the most

I've never cried before when artists important to me have passed, no matter how hard it's felt, but last night, playing "Hold on Magnolia" brought the tears. It's a real loss, this one.

Hammer down
Heaven bound
I saw the light
On the old grey town
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Sometimes I forget how I've always been sick
And I don't have the will to keep fighting it
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Hammer down
Heaven bound
When it's been my ghost on the empty road
I think the stars are just the neon lights
Shining through the dance floor (x2)
Of heaven on a Saturday night
I saw the light (x2)
Hammer down
Heaven bound
Hammer down
Heaven bound

so much waxing back on magnolia elec co when songs: ohia was where it was really at

Ghost Tropic
Lioness
motherfucking Axxxess and Ace
oh man :(

Didn't It Rain!!!

"Farewell Transmission" is his masterpiece.

Sometimes I forget how I've always been sick
And I don't have the will to keep fighting it

this was the first line i thought of when i heard the news yesterday.

when i played in a classic rock cover band i snuck "hammer down" into the setlist, gdamn what a perfect song.

"Farewell Transmission" is his masterpiece.

That's my favorite, too.

As good as "farewell transmission" is, didn't it rain is otherworldly. In their statement, secretly canadian described it as "agnostic's gospel" music, which is otm imo.

"I loved hearing Jason Molina sing. He was a genius at turning a phrase and making it into something more than the words in it. Jason was almost supernaturally prolific, and several times I watched him write an album's worth of songs in a weekend, recording them on the spot. Much of his recorded output with Magnolia Electric Co is the evidence of him and the band playing his songs for the very first time. It's amazing, really, that it was any good at all, much less so touching and fully realized. Jason was a unique talent and I will miss him. My heart goes out to all his friends and family, all of you I've met have been good people who did well by Jason."
-- Steve Albini, who worked on Molina's Songs: Ohia record Magnolia Electric Co. and several albums under the Magnolia Electric Co. moniker, has posted a tribute to the late singer-songwriter, who passed away Saturday, March 16 at 39, on the Electrical Audio message board.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBn0-dGxnsA

one of my favorite lyrics

man the end of north star is rough to hear now:

I didn't know how blue I'd get
I didn't know how I'd get blamed for it
I didn't choose to go down this road
No one chooses to be sick

I'm saying everything is fine
By the look in my eye
But you know darling
Half of what a man says is a lie

It's your last chance to forget me now
That it's done for good
You always said I'd make it out
Somehow darling I knew I never would

tone of prospective self eulogy seems to run throughout his body of work

Definitely.

Seriously? There is no way I could listen to any of this stuff right now. NO WAY. It's just too much to think of a person, much less a person who lived where I lived and grew up when and where I grew up, dying in this way. Listening to him self-eulogize is way too much. I should unbookmark this.

yeah i get that, but i've been listening to him a lot for the past two days. it's a little rough but the best way i can think of to remember him.

yeah i find it empowering hearing someone make beautiful songs out of that pain. his way of owning it i guess.

His entire back catalog is up for streaming for a short time

http://live.magnoliaelectricco.com/

tim midgett from silkworm/bottomless pit from EA boards:

We were at Electrical with Greg on Sunday when the call came in that Jason was dead.

He felt things deeply.

Bottomless Pit's first trips out east/west were due 100% to Mags taking us along for the ride. They wanted someone to do about a month of shows all told, as I recall.

We were, like, uh, how about if we cherry-pick the best three or four shows on each coast and you pay us like we're bringing an extra 100 people in, instead of the 30 we really know we're doing? And they went for it.

Our collective wounds were still fresh in the wake of Michael's death. We were still finding our sea legs, to say the least. It hurt to play.

We took to all of those guys instantly. They made us feel so completely welcome and at home. It was a very soft landing and a great way to get moving. I would have loved to have done more shows with them.

JMo was a hugely enthusiastic, lovable man. He was an unreconstructed weirdo. He was hilarious. Even when he was being a cranky bitch he was pretty funny. I saw him too drunk a couple of times. It was uncomfortable, and I know I didn't see him at his worst.

If that phone call had been "Molina is in town and not uncomfortably drunk" instead of "Molina is dead," we would have dropped everything and spent yesterday evening hanging out. We would have rather done that than made a record.

Dude slept, sweat, and bled music. I would call his obsession with his art pathological, but he had genuine pathologies and now is not the time to be glib.

He was a great writer. He was a great singer.

He didn't know when to quit in either art or life. Couldn't quit, more like it. But I'm not so sure music didn't rescue him and keep him afloat longer than he would have been without it.

I've missed him for a while, now with the unmistakeable extra knife-twist of finality.

Be good to each other. You never know, for better or worse, you never know.

I had no idea farewell transmission was this serendipitous

JM: “Farewell Transmission” must be one of the most heroic recording moments of all time, because I called in people that were not already scheduled to be in the band and I was like, “Oh, now we’re going to have a violin player, and we’re going to have an extra singer.” I called out all of these things, much like a conductor does – and trust me, I’m not a conductor. I’m the break man. I will not fuck you up if I am the break man, I just don’t want to move anymore.
We put, I think, about 12 people in a room and recorded that song live, completely live, and unrehearsed. I showed ‘em the chord progression, they had no idea when it would end, and we just cut it.
Steve (Albini) did a beautiful job. I noticed that at one point when it was a little too loud or a little too soft he came and opened a door to make it work, because it was just an ambient recording. When you hear that song kick off everybody knows it, and what’s so disturbing to me is the way that I ended it is I was dictating to the band and Steve—I go “Listen. Listen. Listen.” And then at one point they all stop. It’s great.

JT: I can’t even believe that was done live and improvised. That is absolutely stunning.

JM: I got all my favorite friends from Chicago, and my favorite, good musicians and we just did this record, and it has lasted. It’s got weight, I’m talking 500 pound weight; something you ain’t going to be able to lift too easy. You have to understand we’re working on a string, and Steve is throwing us a bone, giving us the studio and everything, and we are terrified about how expensive it is and he just went the extra mile. That’s the way it works and that’s where I come from. You get the job fucking done.

http://www.thefastertimes.com/music/2011/06/22/music-as-seance-jason-molina-in-conversation-with-justin-taylor-pt-ii/

That's incredible.

wow

Yeah seriously that story is unreal. I read somewhere else at some point in the past, that pretty much the whole record was done this way in one form or another.
Regardless, its a perfect album for me and was pretty much the sound track to my life for a year or two.

blue factory flame

damn

OTM.

probably my single favourite molina song..

I had no idea farewell transmission was this serendipitous

JM: “Farewell Transmission” must be one of the most heroic recording moments of all time, because I called in people that were not already scheduled to be in the band and I was like, “Oh, now we’re going to have a violin player, and we’re going to have an extra singer.” I called out all of these things, much like a conductor does – and trust me, I’m not a conductor. I’m the break man. I will not fuck you up if I am the break man, I just don’t want to move anymore.
We put, I think, about 12 people in a room and recorded that song live, completely live, and unrehearsed. I showed ‘em the chord progression, they had no idea when it would end, and we just cut it.
Steve (Albini) did a beautiful job. I noticed that at one point when it was a little too loud or a little too soft he came and opened a door to make it work, because it was just an ambient recording. When you hear that song kick off everybody knows it, and what’s so disturbing to me is the way that I ended it is I was dictating to the band and Steve—I go “Listen. Listen. Listen.” And then at one point they all stop. It’s great.

JT: I can’t even believe that was done live and improvised. That is absolutely stunning.

JM: I got all my favorite friends from Chicago, and my favorite, good musicians and we just did this record, and it has lasted. It’s got weight, I’m talking 500 pound weight; something you ain’t going to be able to lift too easy. You have to understand we’re working on a string, and Steve is throwing us a bone, giving us the studio and everything, and we are terrified about how expensive it is and he just went the extra mile. That’s the way it works and that’s where I come from. You get the job fucking done.

http://www.thefastertimes.com/music/2011/06/22/music-as-seance-jason-molina-in-conversation-with-justin-taylor-pt-ii/

― anonanon, Wednesday, March 20, 2013 8:59 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

holy shit

i just put some magnolia electric co by accident, did some googling and only now finding out he passed. good lord.

Just sent from Secretly Canadian:

We are proud to announce the 15th Anniversary reissue of a Songs: Ohia classic, the Hecla & Griper EP, now appearing for the first time on vinyl with previously unreleased bonus material. The special reissue is one of several projects Secretly Canadian was working with Jason Molina prior to his passing in March.

After spending the summer of 1997 on the road, Jason Molina and Co. headed into Bloomington, Ind. studio The Grotto with producer Dan Burton and layed down these eight songs. Odes to love of loss and reggae friends. If you have ever found the other pillow empty in the morning, this is what you need to dry your tears. It also features a Conway Twitty cover.

This vinyl reissue contains two previously unreleased Songs: Ohia tracks ("Debts" and "Pilot & Friend") and alternative versions of two songs that would later appear on Songs: Ohia's Impala ("Hearts Newly Arrived (Hecla Session)" and "One of Those Uncertain Hands (Hecla Session)".

The vinyl EP will be out tomorrow, April 30, in stores and is available online at SC Distribution.

A memorial concert for Jason Molina is planned for Saturday, May 11th, at The Bluebird Nightclub in Bloomington, IN. Admission is a $5 donation. Bands performing include Songs: Ohia (members from all over the country and all eras performing songs specific to the eras in which they recorded with Jason), Magnolia Electric Co (with special guest singers and musicians), Oneida, and The Coke Dares.

Special Guest Include (in no particular order):
Swearing at Motorists
Jennie Benford
Mike Brenner
Andy Cohen of Bottomless Pit/Silkworm
Tim Midget of Bottomless Pit/Silkworm
David Vandervelde
Members of Golden Boots
Lawrence Peters
Elephant Micah
Chris Kupersmith
Many more!

Benefit compilation now available:

http://songsmolina.bandcamp.com/album/songs-molina-a-benefit-compilation-for-jason-molinas-survivors

"sometimes i can't stop" by mark kozelek/desertshore is a really nice tribute

This bootleg is hitting the spot today: https://archive.org/details/meco2003-03-23.sbd.flac16

Heavy & raw & on the distorted-electric/Crazy Horse-side of things.

Also, 10th anniversary edition of Magnolia Electric Co.; with a bunch of great demos: http://secretlycanadian.com/blog/2013/10/album-announce-songs-ohia-magnolia-electric-co-10-year-anniversary-deluxe-edition-out-november-12th-2013/

'Hold on Magnolia' still makes me almost tear up.. So sad the way he went.

yea that song is brutal. i always want to start a thread asking for songs in the vein of "hold on magnolia," dylan's "standing in the doorway" and bill callahan's "riding for the feeling." something kind of heartwrenching and twangy in all these

See: Chris Darrow's "Keep On Trying" - always thought it would have been a great song for Molina to cover.

Start the thread!

Really detailed profoundly sad story of Jason Molina's long road
recommended

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jason-molina-songs-ohia-magnolia-electric-co-secretly-canadian/Content?oid=15163643

i liked that article but i still think it indulges in some romantic mystification of alcoholism

also i guess molina was living a few blocks from me in the early 2000s? i didn't know.

i don't think it sounds romantic at all

i dunno just all the mentions of "darkness" etc

alcoholism is a chemical dependency...

addiction is more complex than chemical dependency

yeah but it's not just about "the darkness that lurks w/in" or w/ever. i guess i just get irritated by cliches like that.

There are lovely extended tributes to JM on the latest Rivulets and Strand of Oaks records.

jesus, sounds like if he had been able to continue addiction treatment we might be having a different conversation about him right now.

I posted above about a memory of the Secretly Canadian guys coming to Oberlin to meet Jason after the Palace record came out, but maybe that was after meeting him in NY?

I don't know if this link will work, but this is the poster we made for one of his shows:

http://instagram.com/p/rBJ_UStkxj

I don't know how I only ever saw Magnolia Electric Co. one time. I must've seen the side dudes' bands (Coke Dares, etc.) dozens of times in Bloomington during the early '00s. But I don't remember Molina being much of a presence at all during his time there.

i saw him... three times i think? once solo, opening for tindersticks, ca. 2000/2001.

thanks for posting that link to the Chicago Reader story.

I'm with La Lechera on this - tragic , desperate story.

Fucking alcohol. A marriage in the depths of hell.

Damn the no edit function.
JM really could express 'the darkness' through his music - as well as anyone

http://I.imgur.com/S9xCc20.jpg

:'-)

ah!

look at the dude in the background making the "slit my throat" gesture

whoa!

avon lake is super close to where i grew up

90s high school kids in ohio breaking my old heart this morning
my hs bff had a sweater just like hers and she gave it to me a long time ago and i still wear it

An unreleased track has been posted today, with notes from Alasdair Roberts, who participated.

http://secretlycanadian.com/blog/2015/01/listen-jason-molina-september-11-2001-featuring-will-oldham-alisdair-roberts/

Not many people saw The Circle, it got awful reviews, but I loved the book so I checked it out. "Farewell Transmission" is featured for exactly three seconds when Emma Watson's luddite ex-boyfriend pulls up to meet her on the side of the highway. Best moment in the movie.

So I came back to this song, which I only discovered after Molina died four years ago. I'm obsessed with it all over again, especially after finding out that it was done live in one take, and the final "LISTEN!" was improvised. Like that interview says above, it really is absolutely stunning, the whole piece. Talk about a masterpiece.

a book about molina is coming soon

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442268678/Jason-Molina-Riding-with-the-Ghost#

Erin Osmon presents a detailed, human account of the Rust Belt–born musician Jason Molina—a visionary, prolific, and at times cantankerous singer-songwriter with an autodidactic style that captivated his devoted fans. The songwriting giant behind the bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. had a knack for spinning tales, from the many personal myths he cultivated throughout his life to the poems and ballads he penned and performed. As with too many great musicians, Molina’s complicated relationship with the truth, combined with a secretive relationship with the bottle, ultimately claimed his life.

Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost details Molina’s personal trials and triumphs and reveals for the first time the true story of Molina’s last months and works, including an unpublished album unknown to many of his fans. Offering unfettered access to the mind and artistry of Molina through exclusive interviews with family, friends, and collaborators, the book also explores the Midwest music underground and the development of Bloomington, Indiana–based label Secretly Canadian.

As the first authorized and detailed account of this prolific songwriter and self-mythologizer, Jason Molina provides readers with unparalleled insight into Molina’s tormented life and the fascinating Midwest musical underground that birthed him. It’s a story for the ages that speaks volumes to the triumphs and trials of the artistic spirit while exploring the meaningful music that Molina’s creative genius left behind

here is an excerpt:

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1494-how-jason-molina-charmed-will-oldham-and-first-got-signed/

'farewell transmission' is definitely one of my favorite ever songs

likewise.

Jason lived with me the year after the period discussed in that excerpt, though most of those guys had graduated by then (Tom and Jeff were two years ahead of me) and I was with him when the guys from Secretly Canadian came to visit. I didn't really know him during that year, I just heard people talking about "Sparky" and somehow got it in my head they were talking about this guy Ebin who had a sparkly shirt. Definitely brought some stuff back, he was certainly some kind of pathological liar. Would just tell these stories and you'd look at him thinking "that's probably not true" but it was a good story so you just went along with it.

Echoing the Farewell Transmission love--a harrowing track that I wish were 30 minutes long

the song + the performance is just a staggering achievement

and all the players are so good! god, to be in that room, watching, listening, participating, all while it builds... what do you say when that's done?

I recently rediscovered my love for that song when I tried to play it and I could. I was surprised! It sounds like a song that has always existed and just happened to pop out when those people were planted in that room (even though I know that's not how it works).

i would love a neil young/crazy horse 25min cover of it

great tune and that whole album has an amazing vibe

A couple of my friends/neighbors were in that band, and it sounds like Erin (a former editor of mine) did a good job with this thing, looking forward to it.

If anyone wants to play an endless jam of this song I'm in!

The bonus track on the new Mark Eitzel album is dedicated to Jason Molina, and is absolutely gorgeous.

New Arriver album, awesome metal band featuring three members of the Mag. Elec. Co. band:

https://arriver.bandcamp.com

here comes midnight
with the dead moon in its jaws

I only just realised that Steve Albini recorded The Magnolia Electric Co. after he got referenced in the title of 'Steve Albini's Blues' on Didn't It Rain.. wonder if that shout out tipped it

Ha. I thought this post was to promote the new release

https://songsohia.bandcamp.com/

The first — and likely the best — love songs album of the new millennium now expanded into a 2xLP compendium. Featuring:
• An entire album of never-before-heard recordings from The Lioness sessions
• 16-page booklet with photos and meditations by Jason’s family, collaborators
• Packaged in deluxe tip-on gatefold jackets
• Replications of ephemera from Jason’s life from the time of recording, including: a two-sided postcard, a check for “one million kisses,” a two of hearts playing card, a handwritten letter in an envelope, a guitar pick, and a photograph of Jason and his wife-to-be

1. 'Love & Work: The Lioness Sessions' on limited edition translucent purple vinyl
2. Limited edition 2-sided tote bag 

The Lioness expanded reissue

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.

I may just get the digital version

Reading some great reviews of this. A pity it's not available on CD

Seven years already. This was a tough loss.

If the blues are you hunter
Then you will come face to face
With that darkness and desolation
And the endless depression
But you are not helpless
And you are not helpless
Try to beat it

I mourn the loss regularly.

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 Away
02 Shadow Answers the Wall
03 The Mission’s End
04 Old Worry
05 She Says
06 Fire on the Rail
07 Be Told the Truth
08 Thistle Blue
09 The Crossroad + The Emptiness

The track thus far released is really doing it for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZLrnk0h8nE

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.

I'm on a Molina binge rn and was thinking about whether I should get this.

I'd say that if you've got any interest at all in JM then you should definitely get it.

"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.

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/

Rob and Dan Macadam both went to Oberlin with us. Dan runs the amazing Crosshair silkscreen company.

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.

This Arriver album is great, thanks

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.

I bought Eight Gates, on my third trip to the record shop. I had to, somehow. But I've yet to play it...

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..."

10 years gone.

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...

so Fall Out Boy stole the "why put a new address on the same old loneliness" line? that's fucked up

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

"Vanquishers" live album now streaming! Recorded in Tilburg, Netherlands on October 9th, 2000.

The Magnolia Electric Co outtake of Whip-Poor-Will is sublime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDaEb-7pEPQ

Not sure if this making of Josephine has been shared yet. Good amount of Albini in it too.