Jason at MacRock 2005
Photograph via Jarrod / Roughtusk
Hey everyone,
Hope you are all doing well out there!
Here’s another roundup of some things we’ve been discovering and looking at recently. From a rare and beautiful in-person celebration of Jason’s music to some unseen photos, a long-awaited vinyl reissue and some anniversaries. There’s hopefully plenty for you to dig into here.
We hope you enjoy going through this and if there is something you want to share here or with you can reply to this email or get us at Molina@secretlycanadian.com.
All the best,
S&D x
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On October 25th, Songs: Ohia’s ‘Protection Spells’ will receive a vinyl release from Secretly Canadian for the first time ever, after years being out of print in other formats.
This is something we’re really excited about and that lots of you have been asking for for a really long time.
Incredibly this sold out super quickly - so really we’ll just say if you were hoping to pick one up and are disappointed, it’s only our / SC’s allocation that has gone so do check out record stores in the US & EU and you’ll likely find a copy.
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A few weeks ago, those of us based in the UK were lucky enough to attend the ‘Farewell Transmission’ screening and tribute set at @endoftheroad festival in Dorset. A celebration of Jason’s life and music, the tribute marked 15 years since his last UK festival appearance in 2009 🖤
Thank you to the team at EOTR for their help in making this happen, and apologies to those who were unable to attend due to the venue being at capacity. Rest assured there will be further opportunities to see the film in future - we are just carefully choosing the right venue for each showing.
Finally, thanks to the wonderful @samamidon, @brownhorse_band and @thegoldendregs for joining to perform wonderful covers of ‘The Black Crow’, ‘Whip-poor-will’ and ‘O! Grace’ plus a group rendition of ‘Farewell Transmission’ to finish the performance ⚡️
Photos and video from the tribute can be seen here
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Something that was brought to our attention over on Instagram for you here… Some previously lost photos of Magnolia Electric Co. at MacRock 2005. Our huge thanks to Jarrod / roughtusk for sharing these 🖤
The story of the photos below:
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“A few weeks ago I found a mystery roll of exposed 120mm that had expired in 2005 in an old camera bag. I had no idea if it was from my time abroad or just playing around with a plastic camera in college.
Turns out it was from Magnolia Electric Co and @mattpondpa @ the Macrock Festival in 2005- on a Holga.
I feel like I remember this show vividly. Standing with Mikey Iafrate. In awe of Jason Molina when he dropped his guitar pick, pulled his hotel keycard from his pocket, and played the rest of the song (show?) with it.”
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Over on the Archive Tapes series own S&D’s paid tier, we’re really excited to be working our way through a live-recording of an incredibly special show.
A live recording of Songs: Ohia’s somewhat fabled July 1996 show at the Adult Crash record store in Manhattan, NYC, which ultimately led to Jason’s signing to Secretly Canadian. Below we have put a bit more info & context on the show.
Here’s a great quote from Numero Group director Ken Shipley, taken from this blog post on the Numero Group website:
“Run out of a former aerobics studio, Tim Jackson and Carolyn Schmitt’s Adult Crash clothing and record boutique was the first shop I ever visited when I washed up in Manhattan in August 1995. There were plenty of other record stores in the neighborhood; including Dance Tracks, Kim’s, A-1, and Breakbeat Science, but Adult Crash was the epicenter of all things indie in mid-to-late-’90s New York. Kim and Thurston shopped there. As did Jon Spencer, Courtney Love, and any other self-respecting kid on the scene. The shop would eventually host the infamous Songs: Ohia show that led to Jason Molina’s signing to Secretly Canadian. I’d heard from my hosts Barry London and Chris Leo that a spot named from a Minor Threat lyric carried the best selection of underground 7”s and did not leave disappointed.”
The show is also mentioned by Oneida drummer Kid Millions in this great Flood Mag article from back in 2017:
“I first met Jason Molina during an auspicious moment in his career that gets covered in wonderful detail in Riding With the Ghost. I was at the 1996 show he played to about twenty-five people at the Adult Crash record store in New York. It was here that Jason handed over the DAT master of what would become his first Secretly Canadian single to Chris and Ben Swanson. Chris and Ben had driven over 800 miles to pick up the recording because Jason demanded it. This dedication was rewarded with Jason’s loyalty. Secretly Canadian went on to become the main label behind Molina’s various guises and projects until he died in 2013. I ended up at Adult Crash because Jason went to Oberlin with a few of my close friends. It’s funny to think how unmediated those early shows used to be and how open I was to whatever was about to happen….”
“As he sang with rapt furor, his eyes rolled far into the back of his head until I could only see the whites quivering in their sockets. It was a move that struck me as the height of affect and made it easier to dismiss what was in hindsight certainly the strangest and most arresting performance I’d seen by a contemporary.”
As part of this series, we’ve also asked a couple of folks who were in attendance to contribute their memories of that time, so we hope to share these too in the coming weeks.
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September has seen the anniversary of two important records from Jason’s back catalogue. 23 years ago in 2001, Songs: Ohia released the live album 'Mi Sei Apparso Come Un Fantasma' ('You Came To Me As A Ghost') and 18 years ago in 2006, Magnolia Electric Co. released ‘Fading Trails’ 🖤