AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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cortez the killer
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by cortez the killer »

dime in the gutter wrote: molina should only be covered by neil young and jimmy jack. nobody else. ever.

too much personal spook and shit. can't begin to touch it.


edit to add. i now see wooden wand on the list. may have to buy it after all.


jimmyjack wrote:
I cannot understand how someone can be a fan of Neil Young and not like Jason Molina


Well, that'd be me. Dude went from mercilessly ripping off Will Oldham to mercilessly ripping off Neil Young. He's always struck me as little more than an above average mimic. You damn him with faint praise: many of the attributes you mention - the 'eerie similarity' to Neil, the repeated themes cycled and recycled ad nauseum - are the very reasons I absolutely can't stand this guy. I don't hear a lot of Jason Molina in his music, just Jason Molina's (apparently very small) record collection. Sorry - major dud in my book. To each his own!

To be fair, I'll listen to some of these samples on this thread when I get some time and see if I'm swayed any. In any case, good, well-written post as usual. Love these threads.

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by tinnitus photography »

i'm not sure what the circuit testing sheet means, but 2011 post from JJ, in light of his recent contribution, must have meant those samples turned him around! :lol:

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by cortez the killer »

Must've posted the wrong spreadsheet.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by jimmyjack »

I wrote some liner notes for the comp - they were solicited - and I use them to explain this. Definitely not fronting like I've been a fan forever, and it's true that for years and years this guy's music did absolutely nothing for me. Partly out of professional jealousy, maybe, but largely because, well, it did absolutely nothing for me. But one night on tour in the UK, a friend played me an album - Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go - and it spooked me in the best possible way, and made me reconsider his entire discography. It may have been the way I was feeling that night - homesick, drunk, too tired to be listening to someone rave about a record - but it stuck, and haunted me ever after (still won't listen to it in light of Molina's death). Truth be told, I've gone back and listened to a lot of the pre-MEC stuff and, nope, still don't care for it, but that Soujorner box is great, and the MEC album is every bit the classic that you guys have been saying it was for years. So you can say I've come around, and was very happy to contribute a cover of a great song. I never met Jason but we had many friends in common, and, well, we're all in the same gang, and there but by the grace if God go I, you know? Anyway, thanks for keeping me honest, you bastards. :D

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Penny Lane »

dime in the gutter wrote:
cortez the killer wrote:Pitchfork reviews the re-issue of The Magnolia Electric Co.

i could only get thru about 3 paragraphs. what a shitty, lazy, missing the whole point type review. piss faint praise or something.

or is it just me?


I thought the same thing and had to login and see if anyone on 3DD had picked up on this! These Pitchfork writers need some editors! I hated this whole thing. Is Pitchfork paying by the word or the extra unnecessary comma!?

And I hate music reviews for statements like this: The eerie similarity between “Magnolia” and “Molina” isn’t lost on anyone. (Really? It was TOTALLY lost on me and I love his music.) I know very little about Will Oldham but now see I need to look into this accusation; so it's a Bob Dylan/Woody Guthrie type of thing? I learned about Jason from 3DD (or at least got to appreciate him like I do today---especially after our hammer obsession in the NC!) Hammer down...heaven bound..

The My Morning Jacket cover is terrible, it almost hurts my ears and heart to listen to that song translated like that. Someone suggested it was payback for the things he'd said about them but I refuse to believe that. If anything, this makes me fearful of what MMJ's new album will sound like. Yet I think I know. :?

Oh and hey, everyone. I, missed you. And I write, for Pitchfork.

edited to add-JJ will look forward to hearing your contribution. Pretty damn cool..
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by cortez the killer »

jimmyjack wrote:I wrote some liner notes for the comp - they were solicited - and I use them to explain this. Definitely not fronting like I've been a fan forever, and it's true that for years and years this guy's music did absolutely nothing for me. Partly out of professional jealousy, maybe, but largely because, well, it did absolutely nothing for me. But one night on tour in the UK, a friend played me an album - Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go - and it spooked me in the best possible way, and made me reconsider his entire discography. It may have been the way I was feeling that night - homesick, drunk, too tired to be listening to someone rave about a record - but it stuck, and haunted me ever after (still won't listen to it in light of Molina's death). Truth be told, I've gone back and listened to a lot of the pre-MEC stuff and, nope, still don't care for it, but that Soujorner box is great, and the MEC album is every bit the classic that you guys have been saying it was for years. So you can say I've come around, and was very happy to contribute a cover of a great song. I never met Jason but we had many friends in common, and, well, we're all in the same gang, and there but by the grace if God go I, you know? Anyway, thanks for keeping me honest, you bastards. :D

Well, that shuts me the fuck up. Glad you are digging, JJ. Music is a funny thing and something that rubs you wrong at a certain point in time can sound like gold at another point in time with a context tweak or a different frame of mind. I think it's great that you were asked to contribute a track to the Molina tribute & I can't wait to hear it. Also, I'm still absolutely lovin' that World War IV record. Top notch stuff!
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Beebs »

jimmyjack wrote:Truth be told, I've gone back and listened to a lot of the pre-MEC stuff and, nope, still don't care for it, but that Soujorner box is great, and the MEC album is every bit the classic that you guys have been saying it was for years. So you can say I've come around,


kudos to you for being open to it after having had a pretty strong opinion. I always find it's the real music fans who are willing to reexamine things

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Where the fuckstink have you been?
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by jimmyjack »

Thanks gang! It's so tempting to reevaluate Molina's art through the lens of the circumstances of his death (see also: Hunter S Thompson, Vic Chesnutt, etc) and though I try to avoid falling into that, it's difficult not to hear significance--real or imagined--in all of these songs now. Looking for clues in retrospect is one of the only ways to come to terms with something like this. That's why I chose the song I did. "I thought that I'd live long enough that the light would come shining through / but don't this look like the dark?" I mean, how would you ever answer that question? How could anybody?

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Beebs »

http://www.npr.org/2014/04/22/304918830 ... -look-back



A little over a year ago, singer-songwriter Jason Molina died at 39 due to complications from alcohol addiction. He released hundreds of songs and dozens of albums under the moniker Songs: Ohia and with his band Magnolia Electric Co., and collaborated with many other musicians. He was also the driving force that helped make Bloomington, Ind. record label Secretly Canadian an indie music mainstay today.

This past weekend on Record Store Day (April 19), the label released an ornate box filled with all of Molina's out of print 7" records as a kind of formal send-off. This week, some of the many artists he influenced are following suit with Farewell Transmission, a double-disc tribute compilation to benefit the MusiCares Foundation. Iowa Public Radio's Clay Masters spoke about Molina with a few of the musicians who knew him best; hear his appreciation at the audio link.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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Strand of Oaks' tribute to Jason Molina off their upcoming album, Heal.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Remembering Jason Molina: Doc Feldman’s Tribute (Feat. Brothers Lazaroff)

I had missed this series of remembrances but the link to others is at the bottom of this piece.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by schlanky »

Up until this week, I haven't listened to MEC much after Molina's death---was just a little too hard to hear some of it for a while. I listened to most of the box set off and on during this past week. After hearing the studio stuff compared to the two live recordings I had (Trials & Errors and the one from Cat's Cradle they had up on their website to collect for Molina's medical fund), it occurred to me to take a look on the archive.org site for some other live material. I've been doing work around the house all weekend listening to old shows. I figure I'm late to the game (as usual) and everyone on this thread has probably already heard these shows----but if not, they're well worth checking out.

The 8/27/09 show at Paradiso and the 10/15/03 show at Planta Baja are incredible. Good sound quality for the most part--guitar is a little low for my taste on some of them. Planta Baja opens with a really good version of "Almost Was Good Enough." I've read some horror stories about bad shows, but this is just one of those bands that sounds a lot better live than in studio to me. Wish I would have discovered them early enough to see them in person.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Shakespeare »

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ja ... d=15163643

this is a must read (though probably not while at work or in the company of others)

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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Shakespeare wrote:http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jason-molina-songs-ohia-magnolia-electric-co-secretly-canadian/Content?oid=15163643

this is a must read (though probably not while at work or in the company of others)


Great article. Fills in many of the blanks in my knowledge of his early career and, unfortunately, his last years.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by StevieRay »

Beebs wrote:
Shakespeare wrote:http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jason-molina-songs-ohia-magnolia-electric-co-secretly-canadian/Content?oid=15163643

this is a must read (though probably not while at work or in the company of others)


Great article. Fills in many of the blanks in my knowledge of his early career and, unfortunately, his last years.


Great read. This particularly struck me:

"When he made the Songs: Ohia record The Magnolia Electric Co. in 2002, he paid his bandmates and collaborators with pizza, a handwritten copy of the lyrics, and an elaborate drawing for their help."

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by dogstar »

Deluxe reissue of Didn't It Rain due at start of December

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Didn't It Rain is Jason Molina's first perfect record. Recorded live in a single room, with no overdubs and musicians creating their parts on the fly, the overall approach to the recording was nothing new for Molina. But something in the air and execution of Didn't It Rain clearly sets it apart from his existing body of work. His albums had always been full of space, but never had Molina sculpted the space as masterfully as he does on Didn't It Rain. This expanded reissue presents Molina's home demos of the record, eight previously unreleased tracks, complete with a distant playground full of children chiming in the background for a few songs. The glorious juxtaposition of Molina's songs' desolation and the blissful playing of children is about as haunting as it gets, friends.


Disc: 1
1. Didn't It Rain
2. Steve Albini's Blues
3. Ring the Bell
4. Cross the Road, Molina
5. Blue Factory Flame
6. Two Blue Lights
7. Blue Chicago Moon

Disc: 2
1. Ring the Bell - Working Title: Depression No. 42
2. Cross the Road, Molina Working Title: Chicago City Moon
3. Blue Factory Flame
4. Two Blue Lights
5. Blue Chicago Moon
6. The Gray Tour - Working Title: Waiting It's Whole Life
7. Spectral Alphabet
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by StormandStatic »

If you've ordered it from Secretly Canadian you can download all the tracks now.

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by cortez the killer »

Aquarium Drunkard has a piece on the expanded reissue of Didn't It Rain.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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cortez the killer wrote:Aquarium Drunkard has a piece on the expanded reissue of Didn't It Rain.


Beautiful write up. Thanks.

Like last year’s reissue of Molina’s first post-Songs: Ohia album, Magnolia Electric Co.’s self-titled debut, Didn’t It Rain comes packaged with original demos for most of the album’s tracks, along with a pair of songs he would later re-record. Because the sound of the raw demos so closely mirrors the finished album, they lack the standalone value of their MECo counterparts.

I agree. There's something magical about the MECo demos and I find myself still listening regularly. I've enjoyed the DIR demos but, as the author says better, they're basically low fi versions of the album with less worked out vocal phrasing. The real value in this reissue for me is having such a quiet and beautiful album on vinyl.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by tinnitus photography »

Secretly Canadian has the 2LP set for $14. hard to beat that price.



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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by bovine knievel »

tinnitus photography wrote:damn. this is beautiful

http://pitchfork.com/news/58066-jason-m ... unearthed/


Thanks!

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

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:lol:


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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Beaverdam »

I recently discovered Magnolia Electric Company through my DBT Pandora channel and have enjoyed all of their songs that were played. I took a little time to research them today and learned that the Jason Molina, lead singer, is deceased, so I guess the band is no more. I hated to learn that I caught on to them too late!

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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Tequila Cowboy »

Beaverdam wrote:I recently discovered Magnolia Electric Company through my DBT Pandora channel and have enjoyed all of their songs that were played. I took a little time to research them today and learned that the Jason Molina, lead singer, is deceased, so I guess the band is no more. I hated to learn that I caught on to them too late!
Better late than never. He was a terrific songwriter and hugely missed. You've got a lot of great discovery ahead of you!
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Beebs »

Tequila Cowboy wrote:
Beaverdam wrote:I recently discovered Magnolia Electric Company through my DBT Pandora channel and have enjoyed all of their songs that were played. I took a little time to research them today and learned that the Jason Molina, lead singer, is deceased, so I guess the band is no more. I hated to learn that I caught on to them too late!
Better late than never. He was a terrific songwriter and hugely missed. You've got a lot of great discovery ahead of you!
X2

Beave, sounds like maybe you're not yet aware that Magnolia Electric Co. was only one of his projects. Be sure to delve into his/their previous/alternate incarnations as Songs:Ohia, Pyramid Electric Co, etc.
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Re: AotW 5/8/11 - Magnolia Electric Co. RIP Jason Molina

Post by Beaverdam »

Beebs wrote:[Beave, sounds like maybe you're not yet aware that Magnolia Electric Co. was only one of his projects. Be sure to delve into his/their previous/alternate incarnations as Songs:Ohia, Pyramid Electric Co, etc.
I was unaware. Like I said, I just have seen Magnolia Elec. Co. on Pandora on several mornings on the elliptical machine. After getting to work, getting kids to daycare, and everything else, I had forgotten to investigate Magnolia Elec. Co. till today!

It's kind of ironic because in the small circle of folks I know I"m usually considered kind of well-versed in music, but I know nothing compared to most of my 3DD buddies!!!!!

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