Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, October 13th, 2003 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Though your fascination with the natural beauty of Japan may only extend from last weekend when you watched Bill Murray line up his tee shot with Mount Fuji in the background in Lost in Translation, Mount Eerie's Phil Elvrum has been there and done that-- and now he's going to share. Elvrum is pulling the Microphones name off the shelf once more to release a live album full of new material culled from his February 2003 tour of Japan, when the band were still calling themselves Microphones. The new album, awkwardly dubbed Live In Japan: Recorded Feb. 19th, 21st & 22nd, 2003, will be released February 3rd, 2004 on K.

Curiously, these shows-- in Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo-- were played only a few days after the news broke that the Microphones name was being retired. "I didn't want the Live In Japan thing to be the first Mount Eerie album," Elvrum told Pitchfork, adding that there's "sort of" an overlap between the songs on the album and the new songs he's been playing live on tour under the new moniker, Mount Eerie. "The whole [Microphones] break-up thing is a ridiculous joke."

Therefore, it's likely that most of the new material showcased on Live in Japan won't appear elsewhere-- or at least, according to Elvrum, "not the same way." Tracklist:

01 Great Ghosts
02 The Blow, pt. 2
03 Universe Conclusion
04 We Squirm
05 My Favorite Things
06 Silent Night
07 After N. Young
08 Climb Over
09 "I Love You So Much!"
10 I Have Been Told That My Skin Is Exceptionally Smooth
11 Thanksgiving

If you don't want to wait until next February to hear the confluence of The Glow and the Rising Sun, you don't have to. Beginning on Halloween, Mount Eerie will be touring across the Western U.S. with Japanese songstress Nikaidoh Kazumi, and playing the Pacific Northwest with Japan's Moools as well. The Moools will appear on the Live in Japan album, according to Elvrum, and he certainly seems happy at the prospect of playing with Kazumi, who hails from Hiroshima and is all but unknown in America and English-speaking webspace.

"[The Moools] were on the whole tour with us in Japan and played also with Calvin [Johnson] and Kyle [Field] and I on some songs on the recording. Nikaidoh (Nika) played with us at one show in Tokyo and sort of was the spiritual inspiration for my shows there. Her songs and presence really touched me. I am excited for people in the western U.S. to see and hear her play, and get her CD." If the simultaneously cute yet disturbing picture of a blue cat-person on her website is any indication, she should be right at home. Dates (all shows after October 31st with Nikaidoh Kazumi):

10-16 Vancouver, BC - Sugar Refinery (w/ International Falls)
10-24 New York, NY - Tribeca (CMJ showcase)
10-25 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's (w/ Calvin Johnson and COCO)
10-31 Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety (w/ The Poison Dart, Moools)
11-02 Seattle, WA - Luscious (w/ Xiu Xiu, Moools)
11-03 Portland, OR - Fourteen (w/ Moools)
11-05 Olympia, WA - Phoenix House (w/ Moools)
11-06 Eugene, OR - Core Star Center / Hall of Mirrors
11-07 Chico, CA - Moxie's
11-08 Berkeley, CA - Rasputin Records (in-store)
11-08 Berkeley, CA - The Ramp (w/ Poser Posse)
11-10 Santa Cruz, CA - TBA
11-11 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
11-12 San Luis Obispo, CA - Z Pie
11-13 Los Angeles, CA - UCLA Cooperage
11-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory / Alterknit Lounge (w/ Photobooth)
11-14 Long Beach, CA - Koos Cafe
11-15 San Diego, CA - Gelato Vero Cafe (w/ [[[[VVRSSNN]]]], Dirty Projectors)
11-16 Los Vegas, NV - Park for the Arts
11-18 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
11-19 Boise, ID - Boise Cafe
11-20 Walla Walla, WA - Gilligan's Island Halfway House
11-21 Bellingham, WA - WWU Coffeehouse (w/ Karl Blau)