Pitchfork

Some labels are content with modest periphery pursuits-- hosting a club night, printing some t-shirts, rallying a street team-- while a few have substantially grander designs.

Upping the ante set by Omaha's Saddle Creek-- who, as reported in August, have a serious civic project in the works-- Athens, Georgia's Elephant 6-affiliated Orange Twin imprint has just received the go-ahead from the city and surrounding county's mayor to embark on an ambitious community endeavor.

In the works for some time now, the Orange Twin Conservation Community will consist of "a 155 acre pedestrian-based intentional community of homes and common spaces clustered in two villages amid farmland and forest" just a few miles outside Athens, according to Orange Twin's Laura Carter (who also plays in Elf Power and several other E6 acts, including Neutral Milk Hotel when that band actually exists).

The label's website includes a detailed vision statement for the twin villages of Orange, whose future citizens-- presently 21 people who co-own the land and help run OT-- "wish to live with each other and with all other forms of life, plant and animal, in a way that is respectful, considerate, and open to growth." They're also all about tolerance, learning, sharing, coloring, kite-flying, and painting pretty pictures.

"We hope our community can serve as a model of sustainable living," the statement continues, "using viable solutions that do not further harm, but rather help to heal the earth." If this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, click here.

The label puts their profits toward these ends, so supporting Orange Twin is kind of like supporting Mother Nature-- and you know you want Her on your side.

Our future conservation community-dwellers have several releases set for next year, including a CD version of The Slow Bang by Madeline-- who gets serious indie karma points for helping the underaged into her 21+ shows-- coming in January. It's out now in very limited vinyl format thanks to Virginia's Valiant Death Records. Finally, Lovers' previously reported third LP, Sleep With Heat, will warm bedridden hearts at last this February.