Transmissions From The Molinaverse - February 16th
A regular update on all things JM
Jason and studio cat, Electrical Audio, Chicago
Hi all,
Hope everyone’s keeping well out there.
As ever, we find ourselves back with another little round-up of all things Molina, from a glance back at some album and show anniversaries from last month, to some recently unearthed early Songs: Ohia footage, notes and sketches from the archive, some recent covers and more.
We hope you enjoy browsing through all of this, and as ever if there’s something you’d like to share with us here, please do in contact either by replying to this email or alternatively find us at Molina@secretlycanadian.com.
All the best,
S&D x
Last month in Molina…
This January just gone marked some milestone release anniversaries of three important and very different records from Jason’s catalogue via Secretly Canadian:
Songs: Ohia’s ‘The Lioness’, released 25 years ago on January 17th, 2000
Here’s a snippet from the record, the beautiful album closer ‘Just A Spark’
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Jason’s ‘Pyramid Electric Co’, released 21 years ago on January 20th, 2004.
Sometimes overlooked, it’s a special record from the Molina catalog and personally it’s one that contains many of my favorite lyrics of his.
Here’s the haunting piano-led ‘Red Comet Dust’ from the album.
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Magnolia Electric Co.’s live album ‘Trials & Errors’, released 20 years ago on January 18th, 2005.
A raucous and fun live recording with lots of extended jammed-out versions, it’s maybe no surprise this one has been referred to as MECo’s Neil Young/Crazy Horse moment. Here’s ‘Ring The Bell’ from the album.
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Elsewhere in January, here’s a great little snippet from a Songs: Ohia show 26 years ago at CD Exchange, Bloomington IN - courtesy of Songs: Ohia Video Archive.
From the archives…
We have a number of sketches and doodles from Jason in the archive, ranging from the simple to the surreal. We’re not entirely sure what’s going on here, is that a giant goose holding a pitchfork? An interesting scene, nonetheless.
We also enjoyed this note we found with a submission of a merch design from Jason:
“Hello guys. Here is the Songs: t-shirt design - I imagine it white on black. Let me know what all else you need. I hung out out with Cheap Trick at Albini’s studio.”
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Here’s a recent upload from Songs: Ohia Video Archive of what’s believed to be the earliest performance footage of Songs: Ohia - “In honor of what would have been Jason's 51st birthday, here's the earliest known S:O video from the Black Album tour in the summer of 1997. As usual, Jason was also playing songs that would appear on future releases. The audio is garbled about halfway through but clears-up after a couple of songs. I have a soundboard of this show but couldn't really get things synched to be worth the effort.”
The Covers
Last week at an LA benefit concert for Wildfire Relief, here’s Static & Distance favorites Waxahatchee & Kevin Morby performing their cover of ‘The Dark Don’t Hide It’ at the Hollywood Palladium
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And while we’re here….here’s West Virginia country-folk artist Charles Wesley Godwin with a recent rendition of ‘Hammer Down’ .
Fan Corner…
A miniature fan-made terrarium gifted to Darcie at End Of The Road Festival last year, referencing 'Didn't It Rain', the black album, and 'Axxess & Ace'
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Here’s another great tattoo inspired by William Schaff’s ‘The Magnolia Electric Co.’ album cover, via tattoo artist Indigo Bethany
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And.. a birch owl carving inspired by the very same artwork - via udoneoguri (reddit)
Photograph by Angela Lewis