Hey everyone,
Hope you’re all doing okay.
A little bit of a while since we last had one of these, so there’s some cool stuff to show you that has reared its head in the last month or so…
From some super early entries to the Molina canon through to some tokens from Jason’s last tours and a new conversation with the Magnolia Electric Co. guys, there’s lots to dig into here.
As ever, if there is something you want to share here you can reply to this email or get us at Molina@secretlycanadian.com
All the best,
S&D
-
Josephine - Leeds, UK Show
To start us off, here is a poster sent to us from The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, one of the UK’s most loved independent music venues, The Brudenell hosted Jason several times over the years, as well as the Songs: Molina A Memorial Electric Co. tour.
While digging through a box of posters, venue owner Nathan Clark discovered and sent us a promotional poster from Josephine that Jason signed and left in the venue.
-
Spineriders - Like Eye Care
An amazing find here from Instagram user randomrecordpulled
“Discogs random: SpineRiders - Like Eye Care - Not On Label - 1990.
.
.
Oh boy, this one is really taking it back. To middle school, to be exact. When this popped up, I decided to bust out the portable cassette player and have my coffee on the porch.
For those of you that are fans, this is probably the earliest entry in Jason Molina’s (Songs Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co.), catalog. Check out the second picture.
Growing up a couple towns over from these guys, we got to see them at the “Battle Of The Bands” and such. Very very different from anything Jason would do later on, but honestly pretty great for a bunch of high school kids.
The songs are pretty typical of late 80s / early 90s crossover, with bits of metal and punk interspersed. I don’t know if this is online anywhere, but the song “Adult” is fantastic and has gotten in my head for over 30 years now. Polyester Princess is hilarious but I doubt it would/could be written today.
I gave my copy of this tape to Jason around 2000 when he said he didn’t have a copy anymore. Awesomely, a friend I grew up with, who knows how much of a Molina fan I am, gifted me his copies a few years back. Amazing ❤️❤️❤️”
https://www.instagram.com/randomrecordpulled
-
Early S:O / SC Ad
Something really cool here courtesy of regular photographer and font of Molina knowledge Thomas Heath.
Some background courtesy of Thomas:
“Flygirl magazine no. 7 (1997). The most significant thing about this issue (at least to me) was the inclusion of a handwritten, cryptic note from Jason Molina and one of the earliest Secretly Canadian magazine ads. (Scroll for more photos). Jai Agnish ran the magazine and record label. He’s a really nice guy and great musician- check out his stuff when you get a chance. This issue also included a 7” with Lou Barlow, John Davis, Swirlies, and others."
Here his Instagram where you can find more
“There’s also something that speaks to the skeletal, scratchily-drawn vistas that Jason Molina rendered with his devastating Pyramid Electric Co LP – another brave, difficult attempt to somehow capture both lightning and shattered human sentiment in an old dusty bottle.”
-
Now this is as tangential as we’re going to get but…. This record from BIG | BRAVE’s Mat Ball was reviewed in The Quietus who favourably compared it to Pyramid Electric Co.
That’s where the connection ends but we listened and think lots of you are going to find a lot to love here…
-
“I want to make this my In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”
Finally, we have begun a deep dive into the final Magnolia Electric Co. record ‘Josephine’ which will be our focus for the next little while.
To kick things off, here we have part one of a two part conversation with Magnolia Electric Co. hosted by journalist and Jason’s biographer, Erin Osmon.
You can see the full video by subscribing to S&D.
-
That’s all for now!