Mount Eerie Tour the Shit Out of That Bitch
All future releases limited to 100 wax cylinder copies

It used to be that keeping track of The Microphones just meant staying up-to-date on the many Pacific-coast musicians who had played/were playing/might play with band mastermind Phil Elvrum. Then about a year ago, we had to go and add a whole cross-index system to the Pitchfork card catalog on account of Elvrum breaking up The Microphones but starting a suspiciously similar-looking project under the name Mount Eerie, which you may recall was also the title of The Microphones' final album.

Now, in a bit of news that we don't entirely understand, Mount Eerie's primary creator has added an extra letter to his own name: world, meet Phil Elverum. If it helps you remember, just think of baby eels, which are known as "elvers". See? Easy as pie.

Or perhaps you'd prefer a more vivid reminder of Mr. Elverum's existence, like a personal visit to your town? Sold! Mount Eerie will rampage all over this fine continent of ours from August through October, doing a formidable series of all-ages shows. (Bring the kiddies!) Also of note: Some of the East Coast dates are with Calvin Johnson, making them double-plus good, and probably twice as weird. The itinerary:

08-06 Anacortes, WA - Department of Safety
08-19 Missoula, MT - Roxy Theater
08-24 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College (early show)
08-24 Ames, IA - Nick's Place, 138 Main St. (late show)
08-25 Chicago, IL - Open End Gallery
08-26 Grand Rapids, MI - Division St. Arts Collective
08-27 Bloomington, IN - Bloomingtonfest 2004
08-28 North Manchester, IN - The Firehouse
08-29 Columbus, OH - The BLD
08-31 Manasquan, NJ - Manasquan Womens Hall
09-01 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
09-02 Wilkes-Barre, PA - Cafe Metropolis
09-05 Buffalo, NY - "Coffee &"
09-06 Toronto, Ontario - Music Gallery
09-07 Montreal, Quebec - TBA
09-08 Montreal, Quebec - TBA
09-09 Quebec City, Quebec - TBA
09-10 Fredericton, NB - Elks Club
09-11 Prince Edward Island - TBA
09-12 Sydney, Nova Scotia - Cedar's Club
09-14 Halifax, Nova Scotia - TBA
09-15 Shelburne, Nova Scotia - Osprey Arts Centre
09-16 Moncton, NB - TBA
09-17 Biddeford, ME - The Hang, Univ. Of New England campus
09-18 Cambridge, MA - YWCA *
09-20 Brooklyn, NY - El Bohemio *
09-21 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
09-22 Washington, DC - Warehouse Next Door *
09-23 Charlottesville, VA - Tokyo Rose *
09-24 Greensboro, NC - Foust Park, UNCG campus
09-25 Asheville, NC - Harvest Records
09-26 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
09-27 Birmingham, AL - TBA
09-28 New Orleans, LA - Micha & Carlys
09-29 Houston, TX - Mary Jane's Fat Cat
09-30 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
10-01 Austin, TX - Emo's
10-02 San Angelo, TX - the Phoenix
10-03 Lubbock, TX - Tokyo Joes
10-04 Albuquerque, NM - TBA
10-05 Santa Fe, NM - Center for Contemporary Arts
10-06 Tucson, AZ - La Nuit (Flash Gallery)
10-07 Tempe, AZ - Stinkweeds (early free show)
10-07 Phoenix, AZ - Modified ("different, better, show from the early free show")
10-08 San Diego, CA - Che Cafe
10-09 Goleta, CA - the Hard to Find
10-10 Santa Cruz, CA - TBA
10-11 San Francisco, CA - TBA
10-12 Berkeley, CA - Fort Oregon
10-14 Chico, CA - Moxies

* with Calvin Johnson

Despite conjecture in some publications (i.e. Pitchfork) that the band "Thanksgiving" were some kind of veiled Elverum side-project, he reiterated via an email to us that he had recorded Thanksgiving's album but, as he put succinctly it, "It's not my own music. I wish." Additionally, fans hoping to get their sickly paws on the Seven New Songs of Mount Eerie EP and Two Songs 12-inch we reviewed last week are shit out of the luck. Elverum says they're all long since sold out, and that no more will ever be made. [Insert Wheel of Fortune "bankrupt" sound effect here.]