the microphones - microphones in 2020 (2020)

i am very much looking forward to hearing this one long song

premiering as a powerpoint karaoke slideshow shortly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BkabF31ak

oh shit good looking out! been looking forward to this

"thanks for being on the computer everyone" <3

as someone v invested in this man's discography i think this is fairly remarkable!

cried twice, your mileage may vary

this is cool yeah, sort of a logical endpoint/culmination of what he's been up to for a while

oh my god

how does phil keep getting better at this

my favourite thing he's ever done

awesome to hear! i'm going to listen tonight

in a tradition that goes back almost 20 years now, i plan on waiting til the middle of the night, getting really stoned and watching/listening with complete attention.

Amazing! Am only halfway through, but already floored. The photo show/lyric video presentation really drives it all home effectively.

i love how this washes over you. he's really perfected the approach he had on now only

yeah, the video w/ the photos is just perfect.

i'm not sure i'd want to buy this on 2xLP, y'know? and break it up into four pieces?

moments for laughs, room for tears. what a terrific record

in a tradition that goes back almost 20 years now, i plan on waiting til the middle of the night, getting really stoned and watching/listening with complete attention.

love this

had a lovely time watching this last night. I shouldn't still be surprised by his brilliance but he keeps impressing me with every new chapter

putting my first reactions here now, before i start reading other takes and reviews and start feeling differently.

that was, of course, an emotional rollercoaster. seeing the video at the same time felt essential - so much of power of it was in the images. i'm not sure i've seen a photo montage go on so steadily for so long. i love how the effect changes throughout the song. it's easy to make connections to waterfalls and relentless change, when he's singing about that, for example.

and of course, the images are powerful because they show what he cared about. it's kind of an "actions speak louder than words" thing - these are all the places he's been, and what he took pictures of. you can get a really good idea of who he is, without any music at all. all the long exposure photos, and the ones where he and his pals are only ghostly half-images - he doesn't mention them in his lyrics, directly, but you can see how it relates to growing up in a garden and dissolving borders between nature and home.

anyway...there are so many little references that i feel kind of weird for even recognizing. it's weird, this is like a very, incredibly detailed gift to superfans that is also very personal. it speaks to the odd way that he lets his listeners into his life while also maintaining distance

it was pretty funny to watch this premiere and follow the very busy and quite obnoxious chat window a bit. at one point he's like "I don't know if I like the chat"

what I wondered - and maybe Karl answered this - but how does he have *so many* images that are essentially ghostly humans against beautiful backgrounds? i'm not a photographer, so is that just a technique that's not hard to master? was he obsessed with that at some point (or did he know someone who was)?

it looks cool and not particularly simple to pull off when you're, i don't know, driving or hiking around the PNW and snapping pix along the way, but maybe it is ... or maybe it was really important to someone.

i think he's just been doing it a looooong time. the half-ghost images have been a visual trademark of his since almost the very beginning. they're not super hard to do (they're long exposures, where the people are only in the frame for some of the exposure time), but also not super easy either! the guy has dedication

it doesn't really need to start with only those guitar chords for seven minutes but i'm impressed that he somehow gets away with it

he talks about the ghostly photos here https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/phil-elverum-the-microphones-in-2020

WILLIAMS: In your photos, you appear as a ghost a lot.

ELVERUM: I had an old film camera, and it was my only way of taking self-portraits—to open the shutter, run out there, and stand there while the picture was being taken. I loved that technique.

WILLIAMS: So that was born out of an accident?

ELVERUM: Accident and necessity. I liked the ghostliness of it. I think I’ve always had a strong visual in my mind when I’ve made all this music. I know what image goes with it. I just haven’t gotten around to making the film that goes with the music. But there’s a visual component for me, definitely. And a lot of those exact photos, I’ve lived with them. They’ve been taped to the wall in all the bedrooms I’ve had. It’s been part of my life.

i didn't realise what i was entering and that was simply incredible

the photos oh my god. feels like it was literally a single take even if it wasn't

the photos of europe and america. and norway. and washington. man.

i liked the sonic layers

i listened to the interview on Aquarium Drunkard, he said he spent 3 weeks on the photo sequence. Other notable thing from that interview was that a section of the song about Weird Al was removed.

Lot more buzz around this than the last couple of albums - good for him! I look forward to a proper listen soon. Streamed the premiere from my cubicle. Still great. Always liked his photos. It was like flipping through the "Mount Eerie Pts 6 & 7" book.

Agree that changing the turntable three times during this might break it up too much. But obviously it's something he put thought into (at some point in the chat he's like, here's the start of side x). Can always play digitally while looking at the detailed packaging anyways.

Vinyl shipments are delayed a couple of weeks btw. Finally noticed that on Reddit when i couldn't turn it up at any Canadian shops online.

now only really deserved all the buzz and acclaim of a crow looked at me

yeah i think so. It's funny how just the Microphones name is putting a lot of buzz on it. Other thing from the interview was that he claimed he only used that name for that one show - Heck fest reunion or something? - so it would match a bill from years ago. And that got him thinking on this whole retrospective piece thing.

Idk if this has been said but the pairing of Phil and Julie is inspired, I hope they keep working together for a long time

Excited to listen to this new one today... I love The Microphones - Mount Eerie very, very much

some friends and i spent the last two months or so going through his discography one by one each day, as sort of lockdown therapy. and i can't really imagine a better pay off. i love this record, seems to still be playing in my head even when i'm away from it.

wow you must have started with the cassettes or something? How are those?

they're neat, mostly evoke the feeling of experimentation, fumbling joyfully into new sounds. not too much i would go back to but every now lovely moments of very phil chord changes, vocal lines. 'oh anna' off tests, prob my fav song of that era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOc0_UlEgms

havent' given this a listen yet, but will shortly. Despite the Glow being one of my very favorite albums of the past 20 years, I haven't given his other work enough time; I was initially kind of put off by the early Mount Eerie albums when they came out, dipped back around a Crow (which I liked), but I feel like his work is so dense it demands the kind of attention I rarely have these days. But tonight I'll throw this on a big screen and stream the music through the stereo and watch it.

"it makes me glad that I am only this one contrary grump impossible to reunite"

I feel like this album finally delivers on what i was promised when i read all those glowing reviews about 'Benji' by Mark Kozalek.

it doesn't really need to start with only those guitar chords for seven minutes but i'm impressed that he somehow gets away with it

it totally does need to start that way tho

it's a long time without anything really happening but i could listen to those chords forever

it's essential

and those first few minutes of The Pull remain some of my favorite minutes of music, too. it's very evocative of water, the endless flow, which fit in both for The Pull (water themed album) and the new one (endless waterfall of experience)

It took me a few listens to really start feeling this. I think on the first two (listening while reading the lyrics, then listening while watching the youtube photoshow)I was too distracted by the lyrics and the overall concept of the album to really appreciate it. Today, I am listening to it on a rainy morning, just zoning out and letting the whole thing wash over me, and it's like I can feel it permeate my whole mind and body. Totally beautiful record.

i went ahead and ordered the 2LP, although i doubt i will ever listen to that version (youtube stream is without interruptions of flipping the record and has the photo roll-out, which seems absolutely essential).

i ordered it just before reading his tweet from last night, but i'm sure he'd approve:

So far the only pro-streaming argument I've heard is basically "Because I want it. It is more convenient for me to not pay you."

Just because Sp****y's business model is not illegal yet, that doesn't make it right.

Pay the people who make what you love. It's very simple.

— Phil Elverum (@PWElverum) August 16, 2020

the man designs such beautiful objects as well

indeed. it'll be nice to have the lyrics for the new one in a lovely format, too.

it's funny, because in the same order i also picked up A Crow and Now Only, which i will also not be listening to very frequently at all. still, during my rare listens to all three releases, i've already gotten so much out of them.

this is incredible

Can anyone see an affordable way of buying the (Japanese) CD in the UK?

I won’t be around for this but Phil Elverum AMA happening in a bit: https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/ibh1k4/phil_elverum_microphones_ama/

xp https://www.normanrecords.com/records/182908-the-microphones-microphones-in-2020

Thanks - had seen that but it was showing as £4.99 postage, for some reason. I was really drunk when I looked, mind.

Oh, they're only sending things out tracked at the moment. (Sorry, to have derailed with such mundanity - it's a great track).

Juno have it listed as forthcoming - I’ve requested an email alert for when it becomes available.

Kids say the darnedest things — like, "For my 16th birthday, I want Mount Eerie by the Microphones on vinyl." Somehow the modest amount of hype around the new album piqued my kid's interest and he has developed a full-blown Phil Elverum fixation. It's funny to me because I've always only been vaguely aware of him in his various guises. Never know what's going to resonate. I guess gateway drugs for this for my son were Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel (both of which he also discovered entirely on his own).

that's really cool! i got obsessed with the microphones when i was 17 or 18, and it meant the world to me.

at first i thought your kid asked for Microphones in 2020, which seems like a really intense gateway drug. Mount Eerie (the album) is also a huge epic intense thing, but very different (and much more fitting for an adolescent, i think)

good clean mind-expanding fun for teens!

the mount eerie album was the first vinyl record i ever owned and meant a lot to me at 16, it seemed full of the promise of some vague and mystical world of music that was just beginning to open up to me

it also had that amazing huuuuuuuge fold out exegesis/lyrics thign

I'm hoping that's included, we'll see. Ordered the vinyl from Phil's own site.

My son has adopted the screen name "Phil Elverum's Secret Son" on a forum he's on, I'm trying to not take it personally. (He does also love Microphones in 2020, but Mount Eerie was the album he settled on.)

tm that is so cute

"Mount Eerie" by The Microphones remains his best (and imo, his only essential) release

Get your kid the 10" of the drums, also, if you can... it's like $30 on Discogs rn, it's totally worth it. The singing one is great too (but nobody seems to be selling it)

mount eerie was the first microphones cd I bought and the dude who sold it to me in tower was extremely gushing about the excellence within/of phil in general

A friend of mine put Phil on in Dundee in 2003, just as The Microphones were becoming Mount Eerie. Great show. There’s a recording of it taken from the PA, it used to be online but not sure if it is anymore. If anyone would like a copy then just let me know.

"Mount Eerie" vinyl

it also had that amazing huuuuuuuge fold out exegesis/lyrics thign

you don't mean "No Flashlight", do you? World's largest album cover.

I'm on Discogs now trying to work out what press of "Mount Eerie" i have cuz there was no insert and the label doesn't match any pressing on the site. Fun! Their images show only the CD having a large(ish) insert.

It's worth picking up first presses of Phil's work. I dragged my heels on the 2012 albums and learned the re-press of "Ocean Roar" doesn't have the booklet. Dang it Phil!

oh yeah there was this separate mix CD-R and explanation booklet "Headwaters: An Attempted Explanation Of 'Mount Eerie' By The Microphones" ... that thing's not even on Discogs.

http://theseancetwo.blogspot.com/2010/12/headwaters-attempted-explanation-of.html

Due for a re-listen of the album... and attempt to read the photos.

iirc around the time of re-issuing No Flashlight without the massive notes, Phil found this sort of thing a little embarrassing (something something that's why the newer things attempt to say all of the things within the songs.... I think he was saying this going back to "Sauna" or earlier)... but i dunno it's a lot of fun

Such a beautiful album. Different bits pull me in on different days. Sometimes, watching on YouTube, the photos really get to me. On others hearing about Stereolab changing his life mean more.

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/musician-phil-elverum-on-following-the-idea/

as with anything the creativeindependent does, good stuff!

for those wondering about how he might approach his future records:

If I make another record, I hope it’s not more self-reflective, literal, explicit autobiography, because I’ve gone maybe to the limits of what I can ask of people to care about my specifics. I want to make short songs that are ambiguous.

My favourite - and most played - album of this year. Sort of surprised people don't want to say more about it.

still absolutely one of my favourites of the year too. somehow never gets old

I think about it all the time. I had it on just now while wandering over the boggy fields in twilight.
You might have seen that there's a 'silent version' about to come out. I love the idea of that, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFnWG8AuoWQ

performance of the album/song

started listening to it just to check it out and ended up listening to the full thing, it's such a mesmerising record

crouching tiger hidden dragon part is the best lyrics ever

haha he's cringing inside out doing that Q&A

lol they got through.

Glad this came up so I got around to watching it. Beauty. And it's like 10 minutes longer than the album!

who is that he's playing with?

That came up at the end. Jay Blackinton. Looks like he's a chef on Orcas Island. The show was shot at his place.

Thanks for posting that. Intriguing. Made me play the album again, after a break from it. I did play it every day for an age ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPUK06CLxG8

that was excellent! i didn't expect to see anything about his child, just because he usually doesn't, so i was surprised that it was maybe central subject. captures his ethos brilliantly i think

It's sort of mawkish and moving and ... unexpected.

It's made me play "Microphones in 2020" all day, which is what I did for months after it was first released.

i loved the moment in the car where he's obviously taking great joy in telling his daughter that they're listening to my bloody valentine, and that it's kevin shields, that he gets to be the person to do that in her life. i guess maybe you could say it's a little coolddadgivesangrydaughterremaininlightasagift.jpg, but i can imagine that special thrill of being in that moment as it happens.

separately, I was thinking of "the microphones in 2020", and how it's funny that simultaenously:

- takes a prominent theme from his past ("the pull", 2000), and revisits it 20 years later in a completely new way, somehow burrowing even further into the original strumming and the tempo and the chords, but this time with a grand, broad, completely convincing lyrical journey that's almost psychedelic
- hews to the "play the old hit with a new twist for the 20th anniversary!" kind of formula you'd expect from arena rock acts in the mid-90s or something. but it's beautiful in that way

x-post - Oh, yeah, you're definitely right - some of the moments like that caught me a bit.

I related hard to the scene where his daughter wanted to ride her scooter to school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPdRCUJvv4

We all start somewhere

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y19PA-uFdL4

Also just in case you haven't seen this massive ball of silliness