The Microphones: Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)/Weird Storm/Heavy Eyes 7" (The Bedtime Record, 1998)

(7" cover front, back, inside, record inner labels A and B)






The Microphones: Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)/Weird Storm/Heavy Eyes 7"
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-Recorded in 1998 at the Business in Anacortes, Wash. and Dub Narcotic in Olympia, Wash. by Phil Elvrum.

-Released on The Bedtime Record (BED06) (P.O. Box 9142, Chatanooga, Tenn. 37412) sometime in 1998. In an interview in Jimi Sharp's FIB zine Phil mentions that this 7" was going to be coming out "December '98, maybe".

-Cover art by Phil and Justyn Pogue. The liner notes (which are printed on the inside of the sleeve, no other, loose, insert*) say "the cover: snow in Anacortes, 1900/the chair: Justyn Pogue. And, as such, the art appears to be a collage of Justyn's very distinctive drawing style (we'll see it again, all over the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP) and what appear to be heavily xeroxed and re-xeroxed pics, presumably by Phil.

*Ok, turns out there is an insert that came with some copies of this record. It was just a little two-sided label insert (The Bedtime Record) , black and white, photocopied. I do not at the moment have a copy of this insert and if anyone does I'd love you forever if you'd make me a copy and send it to me. But, barring that it is viewable here in some pics I grabbed from someone's ebay auction.


-Other details of note on the cover of this 7". I read over on a brothers-in-arms site (http://getofftheinternet.wetpaint.com/page/Microphones+Singles+and+EPs), that the covers were all printed in black and white but, at some point, some of the people at the label decided to "personalize" most of them by scribbling all over them in various colored crayon, as seen here:


however, this was all done without Phil's consent or knowledge. No idea how many were colored and how many left un-molested. I seem to have lucked out and ended up with an unblemished, uncolored one.

-No clue how many of these were pressed. I would guess 500 or less.

-Record plays at 33 1/3 rpms on both sides.

-These songs (same versions) would all later be collected, in order, on the "Song Islands" CD.*

*"Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)" appears in several permutations. On the back cover it appears as "Feedback (the Loop in Life and Love)" on the actual 7" inner label it loses the qualifiers and picks up a colon, "Feedback: (Life, Love, Loop)". On the inside of the cover it appears as "Feedback (Life, Love, Loop) (no colon this time). Later, on the "Song Islands" CD, it would appear as simply "Feedback" on the back cover and "Feedback (Life, Love Loop) (no second comma) in the liner notes.

-Other details of note on this record:

The vinyl on this is black, but it's that very light vinyl that, when held up to a light, appears to be a sort of translucent brown. As seen here:


This is the first time we see Phil's trademark vinyl inner label design, albeit in a somewhat earlier design and in lighter shade than the usual "old book" yellow.

We are again informed that we should contact the fine folks at the KNW-YR-OWN label for more information on "the microphones".

The cover and the song credits both have the band name as just "Microphones", no "The". But the masthead on the vinyl inner label does indeed have the "The" attached.

The track listing on the inner sleeve literally reads:
Feedback (life, love, loop) with Weird Storm and then Heavy Eyes
(This is the same format that the track list for the "Bass Drum Dream" 7" had followed as well.)

There are a couple pages in Jimi Sharp's lovely FIB zine, issue #8, where he "interviews" Phil about his upcoming life plans and record release schedule and at that time he talks about having this 7" coming up and that he and Justyn will be doing the cover art. he mentions that the possible tracks to be included were "Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)", "Where it's Hotter" plus more. This comes on the heels of him discussing the 7" which will precede it, the one on Up Records. At this time he says that the songs that might end up on that one are "Bass, Drum Dream" and "In Sleep I Float Around" plus more. It is definitely worth noting that, in the conceptual stages this 7" was originally going to feautre, among others, what would end up being the b-side the the first Microphones 7" and that this 7" was originally going to feature, the as yet unreleased track, "In Sleep I Float Around".


And lastly, the inner groove on this record, in addition to the usual info (KNW-YR-OWN BED06A and B), appears to have someone's signature engraved. It is illegible and very short. It kind of looks like a cursive "mes".




.........................................................




As previously mentioned, I won this from the same kid at the same time as the first Microphones 7", what a day. And, as also mentioned, this is early Phil, but not all that early. Early enough that he's still doing that thing where he literally sings about microphones and equipment. "Feedback..." feels like the little sister of the "Tests" CD. It starts out with that same "science-y guy talks about the physical properties of sound" thing before dissolving into a low-key whispery song about microphones loving speakers.

"Weird Storm" and "Heavy Eyes", on the other hand, sound a lot closer to where he must have already been headed, the first "proper" Microphones album "Don't Wake Me Up". There's more of that pretty melody in a cocoon of noise and percussion thing happening here that will become so much more prevalent on subsequent releases.

And that's that pretty much. The inside and cover art looks a lot like Justyn Pogue's stuff in the zine which accompanied the original release of the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP. It also riffs really heavily on the cover of the previous 7", "Bass Drum Dream"/"The Storm" (in fact, it uses the exact same drawing of the weird cloud). I guess, to that end, "Weird Storm" might even be some kind of follow up to "The Storm".

Like all these releases I wish I could be providing the exact numbers of how many were pressed and in what format and so on, but, alas, that info seems lost to the pages of time. I'm gonna try to look into it as best I can.

As an inexplicable side note I will add that, at some point, while downloading some of these things on Soulseek, back in the day, I loaded a version of this that had a fourth untitled track. It's clearly Phil. It's about 1:17 long and it's just noise, a passage of sound. When I got the 7", however, I was able to confirm that this track is not on it. Where it came from or what it is I have no idea. It seems very likely that it's from some other Phil release and just mistakenly tacked onto someones files for this 7". If I can ever figure this out I'll be sure to update. For the record, while the three real actual songs from this 7" have been used in mixology, the phantom fourth song has not.

And there it is. I imagine, then as now, these records must have seemed cryptic, confounding and inscrutable. They are certainly time capsules, un-crackable by those of us not inside Phil's head or at least his circle of friends and patriots.

No insert, but there is info printed on the inside of the cover. Also worth noting, on the vinyl labels, under the band name, on each side are two of Phil's little extraneous exclamation/alternate titles. Though, in this case, they are not attributed to the songs, but, seemingly to the actual name of the band. Side A's says "Something's in my head" and Side B's says "Cover me up". A song with the name "Cover Me Up" would later appear on the "Windows" CD.
(--056, --016, --049)



Tracklist
------------------------
Side A:

Feedback (Life, Love, Loop)


Side B:

Weird Storm
Heavy Eyes






















xo

The Microphones: Bass Drum Dream/The Storm/Where It's Hotter Parts 1, 2 & 3 7" (Up Records, 1998)

(7" cover front, back, vinyl inner label A, B)








The Microphones: Bass Drum Dream/The Storm/Where It's Hotter Parts 1, 2 & 3 7"
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-The 7" says that this was "Produced by Phil Elvrum" so we must assume he did all the recording here. "Bass Drum Dream" was recorded at Dub Narcotic. Where it's Hotter was recorded at The Business. And there is something of a vagary concerning where "The Storm" was recorded.

-Released on Up Records (UP064) (http://www.uprecords.com/ P.O. Box 21328 Seattle, WA 98111). In the "Song Islands" CD Phil writes that this was released in 1998, however, on the vinyl inner label the copyright information says 1999. In the FIB interview with Jimi Sharp (issue #8) Phil states that this 7" is in the works and is coming out in December of '98.

-Cover designed by Justyn Pogue, using elements we would see again on the nest 7" (Feedback) and on the first Microphones vinyl LP (Don't Wake Me Up).

-No idea how many were pressed. Up was a pretty well-established label by this time but I would still imagine that this 7" was in the 500 copies or less realm.

-Record plays at 45 rpms on both sides.

-Vinyl is black, as far as I know, on all copies.

-Inner groove features the generic label numbering (UP 064-A and B) as well as some other designation on both sides which I have no idea about (L-50999).

-These songs (same versions) would all later be collected, in order, on the "Song Islands" CD

-Other details of note:

This is the first Microphones release on vinyl.

As with the second 7" on the cover there is no "The" it is only referred to as "Microphones" however on the vinyl inner label there is a "The".

As with the second 7" the track list literally reads:
Bass Drum Dream then the Storm, Where it's Hotter Parts 1, 2, 3

"Where it's Hotter" sometimes picks up and loses the "&" symbol. On the back of the 7" it is absent, however on the vinyl inner label it appears. It is also present on the liner notes to the "Song Islands" CD but absent on the back cover. Also the "parts" in the name changes from time to time. On this 7" it is written out as "Parts" both on the back cover and on the vinyl inner label. It is, likewise, written out in the "Song Islands" liner notes, however it is abbreviated as "pts." on the back cover.

Phil's contact info is again, as on all early releases, listed as KNW-YR-OWN 1717 Commercial Ave Anacortes, WA 98221)

This is one of the only Phil releases that does not feature his distinctive hand-drawn inner labels (I need to look into this but we may go as far as the very recent "Black Wooden" EP released as part of the "Latitudes" Series on . Instead we have the generic Up Records template. Talk about coming full-circle...)

As with the second Microphone's 7", this one was discussed briefly with Jimi Sharp for his FIB zine (issue #8). In this interview Phil is talking about his plans for upcoming releases. He says that he is going to be putting out a 7" on Up Records, possible featuring the songs "Bass Drum Dream" and "In Sleep I Float Around" plus more. He says the second 7" in the works will possible feature the song "Where it's Hotter" and others. But, as we can see, that song would be bumped up the b-side of this first 7" for reasons none of us will ever know.






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In a real coup for my cause this (the first ever Microphones 7") and "Feedback" (the second ever Microphones 7") were won from one single lovely seller on Ebay for a song. Getting these two were sort of an early Holy Grail (although there are since many, many more much holier grails in their place, sigh). The fact that these are the first 7"s by Phil is something but is actually made much less in light of the fact that there are copious amounts of earlier, more primitive, releases than these. In fact, in light of that, listening to these now, they seem far less rudimentary and primal than they once did to me. This was already Phil a few steps up the evolutionary ladder.

All of the early hallmarks are there, Phil singing about the actual, literal equipment involved in recording "a drum set in the sky..." "bass drum making the sound wave...", the percussion heavy (lets not forget the fascinating fact that Phil kind of got started as a drummer) arrangements, weird samples and so on. But the seeds of where he's going are clearly visible, the beginning riffs of "Bass Drum Dream" sound like they are just dying to turn into "I Lost My Wind", "The Storm" is practically an excerpt from "The Sun" from the last Microphones album proper, "Where It's Hotter" sounds like it could be an early run-through of the ideas that would become "The Glow", et al.

It seems worth noting that "The Storm" is not actually credited as a song on the 7" itself and, even on the cover, it is sort of added as an afterthought to "Bass Drum Dream" ("...then the storm" maybe to declassify it as a song and make it more of an interlude, though later it would achieve "actual song" status on the "Song Islands" collection CD.)

No insert, any info here is either gleaned from the cryptic cover, the music itself or purely extrapolated.
(--029, --125, -123)



Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

Bass Drum Dream
The Storm


Side B:

Where It's Hotter Pts. 1, 2, & 3
















xo

The Microphones: Moon, Moon/I Lost My Wind 7" (K Records, 1999)

(7" cover, front, back, vinyl inner label, A, B)







The Microphones: Moon, Moon/I Lost My Wind 7"
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-Recorded "mostly in August 1999 at Dub Narcotic by Phil Elvrum, Khaela Maricich & Dennis Driscoll"

-Released on K Records as part of their "International Pop Underground" series. (www.kpunk.com) (PO Box 7154 Olympia, Wash. 98057) This is the International Pop Underground vol. XCV (#95).

-No indication who designed the art or the cover though it is worth noting that the front cover is very reminiscent of the "Don't Wake Me Up" LP and the back cover seems to riff on the the first press of the "It Was Hot..." LP.*

Again, it is worth noting that according to the Japanese release of the "Song Islands" cd the artwork was designed by Phil. Although there are a number of discrepancies between the info on that cd and other sources.

-No idea about pressing numbers. This was on K so I might guess that it was as high as 1000 or even 1500.

-Record plays at 45 rpms on both sides.

-All copies on black vinyl, as far as I know. Though again, this is that very thin vinyl which, though black, if held up to a light appears to be translucent brown.

-Inner groove info is standard label stuff (IPU 95 A and B)

-These songs would later be collected (same versions) on the "Song Islands" CD.

-Other details of note on this record:

Side A is credited to "The Microphones featuring Khaela Maricich". Side B is credited to "The Microphones featuring Dennis Driscoll"

Side B has an unlisted, untitled track that's about a minute long and is just noise, cymbals and drums crashing. (Thank you to Ben for reminding me of this track and the description, cheers!)

As in past releases, they are again, on the cover of the 7" referred to only as "Microphones", no "The". Though on the vinyl inner label they are referred to as "The Microphones"

Here we have the first full-on appearance of Phil's trademark inner labels. The color is there, the design and fonts are there. It's all in place, at last.




...........................................




This was another lucky early purchase in my Microphones career. This was, I think, one of the records that turned my opinion around about The Microphones. Up until then (more on this as we go) I think I thought of them as a formless, shambling indie rock mess. It was here that I finally got a glimpse at the tiny, fragile, songs and sentiments at the core of the mess. The first inkling of the elementary school chorus aesthetics of Phil. I remember this record spinning on a turntable in the Harvard Square Newbury Comics, going into my ears and my brain. Probably right before or right after the copy of The Microphones "Blood" LP I had in my hands and then passed up on then. This record, I can say, absolutely, with total recall, was the moment that I started to understand and like the Microphones. I had tried on earlier occasions. My first interaction was in Seattle, working at Orpheum Records (RIP) on Broadway on Capitol Hill. The "Tests" CD showed up and I gave it a spin and was unimpressed (stupid Brian) and there were some attempts in Boston after Nicole suggested I might like them. To me they were already cemented as nothing great, man was I wrong. Thank goodness I kept trying, and I guess that, in and of itself, is a testament to Phil and his beautiful looking records.

These songs have the distinction of being early soldiers in the mix war but also, sort of unsung, in their way. "I Lost my Wind" ended up being the secondary title song for mix 5 (it's original, as we will see soon, was "Karl Blau") and "Moon, Moon" has the distinction of being one of the first Phil songs to be incorporated in the mixes as songs but not as the title/focus of a particular mix.
(...is on mix 6, but not used as a title/005 [secondary title track])




Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

Moon, Moon


Side B:

I Lost My Wind
Untitled, unlisted track









xo

The Microphones: The Moon/The Moon (Version) 7" (K Records, 2001)

(7" cover, front, back, vinyl inner label, front, back, insert, front, back)










The Microphones: The Moon/The Moon (Version) 7"
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-Strangely little info available on this. No recording info. Not where, not when. Though, based on the timeline and release date we would have to assume it was recorded sometime in 2000.

-Released on Instatone Brand Records (IBR003) (again, conflicting addresses here. The 7" claims 203 Prospect Ave. SF, CA 94100. An internet site claims 1724 Ash St. Portland, OR 97214. The 7" also lists a website (run by a fellow named Aaron Cohen) which is no longer in operation: www.instatonerecords.com,)

-Cover designed by Khaela Maricich. "Copying"? by Frank R. Paul.

-As usual I am guessing this was pressed in an edition of maybe 500 based on the size of the label.

-All copies on black vinyl, as far as I know.

-Record plays at 33 1/3 rpms, both sides.

-These songs would later be collected (same versions) on the "Song Islands" CD.

-Inner groove info is that combo of obvious label stuff and indecipherable other numbers (IBR-003A and B, and then U-53305 M-A and B)

-Other details of note on this record:

We have, once again, the classic Phil inner label design, fully realized.

The back cover is, again, without info, only a blurry photo, reminiscent of other Microphones releases from around this time (Moon, Moon 7", It Was Hot... LP)

Once again there is an absence of "The" both on the 7" and on the inner label. It is only on the insert that they are referred to as "The Microphones".

This is the first Microphones vinyl to feature and actual insert. The first of many, featuring Phil's hand-written lyrics. Though, curiously, no other info. The insert only has the lyrics and the full name of the song (The Moon or "Constand reminder of your size, worth, place, girth, span, point, avoidance, fearsome view, lack."). A theme we will see many time throughout Phil's career. A song title with many alternate titles or expansions of the original title, added parenthetically, somewhere, usually on a 7" or an insert.




....................

This was a recent arrival in my collection, in fact "my collection" is a recent arrival in and of itself. I have always been a music dork and ravenous in my consumption but have never really codified with "record collectors", I have always felt a fascination for the music and not the product, however, there are a few exceptions, the most notable (as evidenced, in part, by this blog) being Phil Elverum and his lovely records. It seems fitting. Phil, more than most, seems to produce records that are actual physical artifacts, like heirlooms, pieces of important family import, preserved organs, tombs, distilled elements, spells, TALISMANS. And so here we are, with this blog and my own personal collecting obsession turned to actual physical objects, like religious sygils. The point of this rambling being that, "The Moon" as a song is one of my earliest favorites, one of my earliest and most ongoing touchstones with Phil and the people I know that love him, "The Moon" is just one of those songs we all come back to as a epoch making moment in both Phil's career and our own lives. Suffice to say once I finally laid hands to this it was hard to understand how I had lived without it for so long. It was also at one point an idea I kicked around to have the entirety of the lyrics tattooed on my body until it was explained to me that the verbosity of the song would require most of my body to hold it. It seemed completely apropos and impossible.

The versions featured here, an acoustic version of the one on the "Glow Pt.2" LP, which was, at one point, referred to, by someone I knew, as "that totally wussed-out version of The Moon" and a "Version" of the one from "The Glow Pt.2". The concept of "version" may be a little foreign to people who do not follow Studio One or Jamaican dub reggae at all. This is one of the most fascinating aspects of The Microphones and totally makes sense when you consider Phil's background as a drummer and percussionist and producer. He sometimes includes these "versions" on his releases, here, on the reissue of "The Glow Pt.2" etc...

From the Wikipedia page:

Dub music is characterized by a "version" or "double"[15] of an existing song, often instrumental, using B-sides of 45 RPM records and typically emphasizing the drums and bass for a sound popular in local sound systems. The instrumental tracks are typically drenched in sound effects such as echo, reverberation, with instruments and vocals dropping in and out of the mix. Another hallmark of the dub sound is the prominent use of bass guitar. The music sometimes features other noises, such as birds singing, thunder and lightning, water flowing, and producers shouting instructions at the musicians. It can be further augmented by live DJs. The many-layered sounds with varying echoes and volumes are often said to create soundscapes, or sound sculptures, drawing attention to the shape and depth of the space between sounds as well as to the sounds themselves. There is usually a distinctly organic feel to the music, even though the effects are electronically created.

(004/126)








Tracklist
---------------
Side A:

The Moon (or "Constant Reminder Of Your Size, Worth, Place, Girth, Span, Point, Avoidance, Fearsome View, Lack.")


Side B:

The Moon (Version)














xo