As soon as the band gathers onstage, it’s obvious this will be a departure from previous Mount Eerie shows.  Gone is the organic intimacy recalled from Mount Eerie’s 2008 performance, in which Elverum played quietly amidst the crowd seated on the floor.  This time, he is joined by a full band – consisting of tour mates No  Kids and guitarist Tara Jane O’Neil – in order to recreate what has been described as his most fully realized album to date.

Though Elverum scoffs at reviewers’ use of “black metal” to describe Mount Eerie’s new sound, it’s difficult not to use the genre to describe the rumbling distortion and immersive guitar fuzz that envelop his lyrics, which revisit themes of nature and mortality.  Elverum’s voice still maintains its hushed reservation, but this time it competes with the loudness of droning, heavy guitars and the blast-beats of not one, but two drummers.  Even still, the more sonically epic songs were broken up by surprisingly upbeat – even poppy – songs like the Twin Peaks-influenced “Between Two Mysteries.”

Though the set was drastically louder, heavier, darker than previous shows, Mount Eerie ended the set in the usual fashion.  “Thank you for coming,” Phil Elverum said politely,  “Goodbye.”

The Music Now crowd was out in full force, as artist Jessica Dessner’s pencil drawings were on display. Dessner interpreted each year of the Chinese zodiac in sketches she displayed in conjunction with string quartet Osso’s re-interpretation of Stevens Enjoy Your Rabbit album. Osso performed selections, each titled as years of the Chinese zodiac, that were beautifully performed.

Next came the highlight of the evening: a screening of Steven’s The BQE. The film itself is very interesting, as it takes an antiquated filming technique to a modern phenomena of highway driving. It was very interesting to witness cars in full force and long lines of traffic alongside Stevens bombastic score. It was a very well done piece, and one that I highly recommend everyone take in him/herself.

I was very impressed with the gallery space that Country Club had constructed and was disappointed that more didn’t seem to take in the environment. Many left before the screening, realizing Sufjan himself wasn’t going to be there, and they really missed a well-planned and executed event.

This four piece band from middle the Tennessee area had quite a stage presence and played a solid forty minute set for the Covington crowd. They have an album that came out in July called Some Kind of Salvation on the Kings of Leon label Bug Music, and the set focused mainly on this sophomore release. The one thing really stood out about The Features was the way singer Matt Pelham used distance from the microphone for different vocal effects. There were times it seemed he was two feet back from the mic, but singing loud enough that it would come through faintly with the rest of the music. Other times he was so close to the mic you thought he was going to eat it for a late night snack. Not having heard The Features a ton before the show, they were quite impressive and left me wanting to hear more from them after seeing the live performance.

After setting up, The Whigs stormed the stage and opened with the title track to their upcoming release, “In the Dark”. The first thing that was noticeable was they brought along quite a light show with them, especially for a place like The Mad Hatter. They were also clearly going to keep the promise that Tim Deaux made ENS during the interview a last week: it was loud and they were energized! The show here in the Cincinnati area was one of the first for the band on its current tour, and so we were treated to quite a few songs. We were even treated to “Its Automatic to Me” and “Someone’s Daughter” which were both played live for the first time. All of the new tunes are right in line with the previous work from The Whigs which definitely makes In the Dark a nice release to look forward to in early 2010.

Aside from testing out some new ones, The Whigs did also play a mix of songs from their first two albums. One of the highlights had to be “Production City” which they changed up a bit to reveal more of a ska influence than it seems to exhibit on Mission Control. Singer Parker Gispert revealed a sweeter side on a somewhat toned down “Right Hand on My Heart” which was the show stopper in my book. It was really interesting seeing this three piece in such a small setting, even for this tour. They are slated to play bigger rooms along the way, and while they could have mailed this one in, they didn’t and their passion rubbed off on the crowd. The band wrapped up with a one song encore featuring “Need You Need You” and flew off the stage just as fast as they came on.

On this night, neither band let the small crowd impact their show and those that were in attendance seemed to really appreciate and understand the effort that they gave. As a writer, and someone that represents the Cincinnati music scene, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed in our area for staying home on a Monday night. In my eyes, live music is so important to the fabric of a community and when people don’t come out to support it like you think they should it makes you wonder. There were a lot of things working against these guys on a Monday night, but even still one of their impressions of the area is that they had little support which makes them unlikely to come back through town anytime soon.

-Dave Rolfes

I really like going to concerts, but it’s actually very rare that I continue to reflect on a show months after it’s passed. Mount Eerie’s 2008 performance at the Art Damage Lodge in Northside was one of those shows. Phil Elvrum, the creative force behind Mount Eerie, performed along with two of his friends, Julie Dorion and Fred Squire, with whom he had collaborated on last year’s lauded Lost Wisdom album. The tone of the show was hushed, intimate, and even reverent. The lonesome and organic sound of the trio’s performance, as well as the set of songs Elvrum performed alone, left a haunting impression. Now, on the heels of a much darker, bombastic, and occasionally aggressive record, Mount Eerie’s 2009 album Wind’s Poem, Phil Elvrum is touring again, this time with a full band lineup. Judging from the immense sound of his new album, this year’s show will have a much bigger feel.

Phil Elvrum has been writing, playing, and recording music for almost fifteen years. A steadfastly “D.I.Y.” musician and songwriter, he first began making tapes of sound experimentation in the back of a Washington record store in the mid nineties, just as the grunge era was in full swing. Now, almost a decade and a half later, Elvrum is seen by many as an independent music veteran.

Over the years, Elvrum has made a name for himself as one of the most prominent members of the Pacific Northwestern independent music scene. He was a longtime contributor to the K Records roster, participating in groups like D+ and Old Time Relijun, as well as helping to produce and engineer albums by Beat Happening and Mirah, among others. He is probably best known for his work as the Microphones; his 2001 album The Glow, Pt. 2 became an indie touchstone of the 2000’s.

In 2003 he dropped the “Microphones” moniker in favor of “Mount Eerie.” The albums following this change have shared similarities with the music of the Microphones, but with a decidedly heavier and more dramatic feel. Elvrum’s movement to heavier end of the spectrum has produced Wind’s Poem, an album he released earlier this fall which has drawn many comparisons to death metal, goth, and drone music. In addition to a change in name and sound, Elvrum has changed the way he distributes his music. He started his own record label, P. W. Elverum and Sun, Ltd., and began taking orders and selling merchandise from pwelverumandsun.com.

Elvrum was recently kind enough to answer a few questions about the past, present, and future of the Microphones and Mount Eerie.

You’ve come to Cincinnati twice in as many years. What keeps you coming back?

[Phil Elvrum]: Ohio is right in the middle of the country. It’s on the way from one place (home) to another (the crowded Northeast). Sorry it’s no special love affair with Cincinnati. I will play anywhere.

Your tour last year featured your collaboration with artists Julie Doiron and Fred Squire. The sound seemed pretty tight, hushed, and restrained. In fact, that seemed to be the aesthetic of last year’s Lost Wisdom; a sort of distillation of your previous musical experimentation into tightly edited acoustic songs. This year’s Wind’s Poem has a much more expansive feel. How will your live setup reflect this shift?

[PE]: I’ll be touring with a 6 person band, big amps, gongs, loud distortion, etc. Before that “Lost Wisdom” tour with Fred and Julie I had never really given much effort to evoking the recording live. It’s always seemed impossible so in the past I played shows that felt like loose interpretations of the recorded music. This time I have a band and I think we are succeeding a little at creating a big sound. It is exciting. With Lost Wisdom it was easy to recreate the recording because the album was very sparse and live sounding already.

I’ve noticed that your musical progression while using the name “the Microphones” is in some ways similar to your progression while under the name “Mount Eerie.” For example, you had a few releases which seemed to establish your sound ( for the Microphones, Don’t Wake Me Up and Window; for Mount Eerie, No Flashlight and Singers,), a few albums in which your sound seemed to congeal and gain momentum, (for the Microphones, It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water; for Mount Eerie, Black Wooden Ceiling Opening,) an album which seemed to be a peak of critical acclaim and recognition, (for the Microphones, The Glow, Pt.2; for Mount Eerie, Lost Wisdom), and an album in which you seemed to push the conventions you’ve established into new territories, (for the Microphones Mount Eerie; for Mount Eerie, Wind’s Poem). For the record, I loved Mount Eerie as well as Wind’s Poem.

In a nutshell, do you see similarities in direction and intention between what you did on as the Microphones Mount Eerie and what you did as Mount Eerie on Wind’s Poem? Either way, what’s next?

[PE]: I hadn’t thought about it like that but I guess it’s pretty true. None of that is intentional. I am always making the record that seems essential to make at the moment. I personally see the flow from “the Microphones” into “Mount Eerie” as an unbroken continuum. Just an insignificant name change. One river. I don’t know what’s next. At the moment it’s all touring and thinking about those logistics. I hope to make an even huger denser sounding record next. A wall.

After your experience on Lost Wisdom and Singers, do you see yourself collaborating with any other artists in the future?

[PE]: Yes, sure. Those collaborative records seem like “side projects” or something. Not part of the lineage of more deliberate albums with cohesive themes. Just song collections, or documents of specific time periods and recording sessions. I guess those kinds of records will keep happening, but I’m always more excited about the “real” albums.

A lot has been made about the black metal influence on Wind’s Poem. I can definitely hear some of that, as well as echoes of it on Black Wooden Ceiling Opening. However, Wind’s Poem doesn’t sound to me just like a black metal album. To my ears, it sounds like a black metal album through the voice and filter of Mount Eerie. Do you have any other genres you’d like to tackle and translate through the sound of Mount Eerie?

[PE]: I don’t know where this black metal thing started. It’s kind of annoying. Sure, I like some black metal, but I wasn’t trying to make a black metal album. The idea of doing an album in some genre is not interesting at all to me, and is in fact embarrassing. I want to make music that I haven’t heard before. I don’t want to put it in some dead category. I’m sure almost all musicians feel this way, yet we have all these limiting genres to label music with, closing our ears.

I think what’s going on specifically with black metal these days is people don’t actually know what black metal is. Or, maybe the definition has broadened to include pretty much anything that’s loud. In my understanding, black metal requires high pitch shrieking, really trebly guitars, crappy sounding drums, discordant half step chord changes, and maybe costumes. I don’t have any of these things. Black Wooden Ceiling Opening is probably closer to “hardcore” or “rock and roll”. Wind’s Poem is probably closer to “new age” or “goth”. I don’t know. It’s all meaningless anyway.

I see what you mean. I’ve noticed as much press in the past comparing your earlier work to folk music as I have seen current press comparing Wind’s Poem to black metal. Is this a longstanding difficulty as an artist; dealing with the labels reviewers and music writers put on your music? Being an artist who has had a long history in the “indie” music scene, do you find your music more generalized by blogs and underground music commenters, or by reviewers with bigger outlets like the New York Times and National Public Radio?

[PE]: I don’t think the labeling thing is inherent to some people and not others. It’s just the built-in problem with talking about music. It can’t really be done, so comparisons and subgenres exist as descriptive shortcuts to help writers grope in the dark. I don’t usually pay much attention to reviews though. I am just doing my thing.

I noticed a pretty extensive merch table at your show last year, as well as an extensive catalogue at your website, including special items like artistic packaging tape. This seems like a pretty unique addition to the usual touring lineup of t-shirts and buttons. Do you have any special merch plans for this tour?

[PE]: I made some pennants with glow in the dark words. Also some books, shirts, records. I’m sold out of tape at the moment.

You seem to have an interest in distributing music accompanied by impressive tangible accompaniments. I’m thinking of the photo book connected with Mount Eerie Pts. 6 & 7 and the journals associated with Dawn. However, you are also an artist who has made the move from record label release to distributing music and information independently from an online source. What is your feeling on the future of music distribution and the connections between physical packaging and the potential of the internet?

[PE]: It’s not true that I left a label in favor of the internet. No way. I started releasing my own records so that I could make the extravagant packages I wanted to and be the only one to blame for their success or failure. I still aim to get my things into stores. I work closely with Chicago Independent Distribution to do this. I also go on tour and do direct selling (”merch table”). The website is just the permanent international merch table, always set up. It’s not the focus, not at all.

I don’t know what the future holds. It seems like the bubble of relative affluence we are enjoying (still, really) must pop soon. Subsisting on art and music is such a luxury. It’s hard for me to imagine a future where there is an internet, let alone clean drinking water and electricity. Shit’s crazy.

For now I am enjoying making nice sturdy fancy packages and I think that’s a good solution (for me at least) to the problems posed by the internet in relation to making money off of music.

What differences have you found in your creative, distribution, and touring process since you made the switch from a K Records artist to a self-releasing artist?

[PE]: I have to spend a lot more time on the computer. I do so many of the steps myself, it’s kind of ridiculous. I spend so much time packing orders. I go to the post office every 2 or 3 days with a huge load. It’s rewarding but I am always super busy. I guess I like it. I love being in touch with all the aspects of manufacturing. My quality control is pretty high, so it’s nice to have only myself to blame if it turns out wrong.

Your website has a store for Mount Eerie and Microphones releases, but you also distribute output by artists like Thanksgiving and Woelv. How do these type of partnerships come about? What is your level of involvement as a distributor? Do you have any plans to expand this?

Those are just records I released on my label. Thanksgiving and Woelv are close friends and family. They were records that I felt needed to be released and I was lucky enough to be able to do it. My role is basically coordinating the manufacturing of the records, getting them to the distributor, and then selling the rest on my website and at shows. Pretty normal. I don’t have plans to expand this kind of thing. It’s overwhelming enough just to release my own stuff.

You’ve long been associated with the Pacific Northwest “Indie” scene, which has been one of the forefronts of important and influential music for two decades or more. What do you think that area of the country does so well in relation to music and community that you feel other areas of the country, like Cincinnati, for example, could learn from?

[PE]: I don’t know. That’s a good question.

Maybe it’s the overcast winters, keeping people inside to do their projects? Maybe it’s being far enough from Los Angeles or New York or Chicago that people just do things themselves rather than moving to the city hoping to get “signed” or something ridiculous like that. Maybe the self sufficient pioneer mentality persists still in 2009.

-interview by John Crowell

Mount Eerie will perform at the Art Damage Lodge along with Tara Jane O’Neil and No Kids on Wednesday, November 4th. Tickets are $7. The Art Damage Lodge is located at 4120 Hamilton Avenue in Northside.

I’m not surprised that I walked away from the show dumbfounded by the unpretentious nature of all the men on stage. Not once was there tension between or among any of the artists, and in fact, the group actually appeared to be a band in their own right. Rather than rehash everything from the evening, let me tell you the setlist was eye-poppingly long and enjoyable, taking some of the best moments from each man’s catalogs and weaving that with nearly every song from the new album released by the group. Despite switching instruments throughout the set, and each man taking time off during a song here or there, the group flowed through the evening seamlessly and with the precision of consummate musical professionals.

Especially impressive about the evening was the setting. The Palace is really one of the best places to witness a live musical event. With breathtaking architecture and gorgeous back-lighting, the stage is set up to awe and inspire. It certainly didn’t hurt that the men on stage, particularly Oberst and Ward, were holding the audience in the palm of their hands through several quieter solo numbers. I was particularly impressed with Ward’s ability to emote such magnificent passion through his guitar-playing. Not since seeing Yames’s guitar-licking counterpart in My Morning Jacket, Carl Broemel, have I felt that connected with the mentality, passion, and direction of a guitarist.

The climax of the night came with Yames’s “Smoking from Shootin” from My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges, easily the most anthemic song of the evening. In the spirit of the evening, the band came out after a 20-minute intermission in full KISS regalia, and closed with 40 minutes of fun and excitement. However, it was the 2 and ½ hours prior to this that truly showed the focus and precision that these musicians possess. While this may be a side project for these men, it certainly didn’t feel like it. The KISS statement showed externally that the men on stage lacked all pretention, but it was their movements, words, and cohesion throughout the first few hours that was the most impressive statement of the evening.

-Dave Tobias

Thanks to some perusing of the Shake It Records web store, we found a few gems from local artists that you may or may not already own. Take a peek…

Buffalo Killers – Huma Bird 7″ – We told you about this one right here

Wussy Split 7″ w/ The Fervor – This is said to be very, very limited so all Wussy fans get on it fast!

The Chocolate Horse – We Don’t Stand On Ceremony – The band’s second album is great, as we mentioned earlier this week, and you can’t get it on CD. So pick it up on vinyl, it’s worth it.

Lexington’s  Beaux Arts Fall Ball is throwing what might be the most awesome Halloween party in the area.  Man Man and mash up collaborators DJ STV SLV and ABX, aka The Hood Internet join Lexington’s Dinosaurs & Disasters, as well as our own lovely Seedy Seeds.

For those who aren’t really into indie music (um, why are you reading this?), the Fall Ball has also brought in some of Lexington’s most bizarre side show acts: the March Madness Marching Band, the Burning House Side Show, and The Ford Theater Reunion.

Sat. 10/31
18+
@ Busters
doors @ 8:30
$20 advance/$25 DOS, $10 after 1AM

ENS – Thanks for talking to us

Tim – Thank you for taking the time to chat with me as well.

ENS – You guys are getting ready to head out for a few months. What do you to get ready?

Tim – Well, we pack clean underwear, make sure the gear is loaded, and fill the van up. Seriously, we are putting the finishing touches on our new album and will be working on it pretty much until the moment we hit the road. We will be heading out until mid-December with only a Thanksgiving break doing about a lap and a half of the US. We are looking forward to it!

ENS – You mentioned the new album. Tell us a little bit about it.

Tim – It’s going to be called “In the Dark” and it should be out early 2010. We recorded it in Athens with (among others) producer Ben Allen who is a long time friend of the band. We haven’t settled on the final track list but it will be 10-12 songs.

ENS – Ben Allen produced the Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion”… what did he lend to the process?

Tim – Well, the three of us have been on the road so much and working out the new songs, it’s just great to get a fresh set of well respected ears and have him lend his opinion and challenge us in ways we wouldn’t challenge ourselves.

ENS – So, can we expect to hear some of the new songs at The Mad Hatter?

Tim – Absolutely! We are excited to get out and play the new stuff for people and see what they think of it. We will play a mix of old and new songs, but we are really looking forward to playing the new stuff live. It will be our first headlining tour in a while, so we can’t wait to get out and play a full set.

ENS – Yeah, I saw you opened for Kings of Leon and the Drive-By Truckers recently. What did you learn from those guys?

Tim – It was a privilege to go out with both those bands. It’s great to see them do what they do because they’ve been at it so long and are real professionals. I guess you just pick stuff up along the way… from songwriting, to performing, to production and really anything else. It was also great to get The Whigs music out to people that might not otherwise know who we are.

ENS – So, what else should we expect at The Mad Hatter?

Tim – I think we bring a lot of energy to our shows! We like to bounce and jump around; we like to have a lot of fun! Oh, and it’ll be really loud too! We are also looking forward to playing some smaller rooms on this tour after playing arenas ahead of Kings of Leon. It will be nice to get back to our roots.

ENS – One last question. Who was cooler, Letterman or Kimmel?

Tim – We had such a great time at the Letterman show. We had to drive through the night to get there and load our stuff in at 530am. You know, then you are on stage and there’s Paul Schaeffer… it was really surreal.

ENS – Okay, one more… was it as cold as everyone says it is?

Tim – Cold?! We were bundled up and wearing gloves before we went on stage. Then they called us out and we played “Right Hand on My Heart” and that was it. It flew by! We were watching it later that night and realized that our drummer Julian forgot to take his hoodie off. It was hilarious because we’d never seen Julian play in anything other than a t-shirt and jeans.

ENS – Too funny! Well Tim, thanks for the time tonight. We are looking forward to seeing you at the Mad Hatter on November 2.

- Interview by Dave Rolfes

Check out the title track from The Whigs forthcoming album.

And don’t forget, we have tickets to give away to the Whigs show, and will be drawing a winner soon!

We Don’t Stand On Ceremony follows the excellent debut album from the band, Patience Works!, which the band released on their own label, as a vinyl and digital output. Not only do we love the way that album was released, but it was a catchy, warm adventure into layers of strings and diverse sounds.

The new album is actually more diverse, as frontman Jason Snell and his bandmates incorporate instruments again like banjo, French horn, flute, upright bass, drums and piano but also take a stab at some electronic weirdness here and there, courtesy of their affection for The Flaming Lips. For alot of bands this trip down a more psychedelic path could end up disastrous, but the subtly of it works really well for The Chocolate Horse.

Take the lead track from the album for example, “Your Daughter”, which begins with some spacey sounding feedback and and blips and softly merges into a gentle but building burner of a song. So far, it’s easily my favorite track from the new album.

So it’s not difficult for us to embrace this new record from The Chocolate Horse as one of our favorite local releases of 2009 already, and we encourage you to pick up a copy on vinyl or digital from the band as well right here. Snag a song for download below to get a taste.

The Chocolate Horse – Your Daughter

The Whigs are getting ready to release a brand new album of their own in 2010 after the success of their first two records and being the road warriors that they are, will be headlining the bill here in Cincy next week. The new Whigs album is titled In The Dark and even though it is not available until early next year, we have a new song from the record to share with you today.

The Whigs – In The Dark

And oh yeah, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the show, so send us an email to enscontests at gmail do com with “The Whigs” in the subject line and we will draw a winner by the end of the week. Good luck!

All the upcoming tour dates after the jump…

With The Features (from October 28th – December 15th)
With The Dead Trees (from October 28th – November 21st)
With Mean Creek (October 28th and December 5th – 15th)

October 28th Middle East (Downstairs) Boston, Massachusetts
October 29th Funk & Waffles Syracuse, New York
October 30th Mohawk Buffalo, New York
October 31st Musica Akron, Ohio
November 2nd Mad Hatter Cincinnati, Ohio
November 3rd Newport Music Hall Columbus, Ohio
November 4th Birdy’s Indianapolis, Indiana
November 5th Cannery Nashville, Tennessee
November 6th Bottom Lounge Chicago, Illinois
November 7th Triple Rock Minneapolis, Minnesota
November 10th Bluebird Theater Denver, Colorado
November 13th Media Club Vancouver, British Columbia
November 14th Tractor Tavern Seattle, Washington
November 15th Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
November 17th The Independent San Francisco, California
November 18th Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California
November 19th The Troubadour Los Angeles, California
November 20th Beauty Bar Las Vegas, Nevada
November 21st Soma (sidestage) San Diego, California
December 1st Emo’s Austin, Texas
December 2nd The Loft Dallas, Texas
December 4th The Variety Playhouse Atlanta, Georgia
December 5th Rhythm & Brews Chattanooga, Tennessee
December 8th Visulite Charlotte, North Carolina
December 10th Black Cat Washington, DC, Washington DC
December 11th The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza New York, New York
December 12th North Star Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
December 14th Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
December 15th Pour House Charleston, South Carolina