We here at Tiny Mix Tapes may not have the testosterone-fueled prolificacy of some of these hulking music publications, but gosh darnit, we make up for it with heart and determination! We might not have the latest Skrillex remix up on the Chocolate Grinder as fast as you’d like, but if we hear word from Lightning Bolt on something, you know we’re gonna give you the info post-haste. Certain groups give us all a collective fuzzy feeling inside, and so we naturally keep on top of their every move, to the benefit of all our readers. Julian Koster’s project The Music Tapes, for example, gets the royal treatment ‘round these parts, and if there’s something on the horizon, we’re first out the gate with the news, passing the excitement on to you!
And so, it’s our pleasure to tell you that The Music Tapes are planning to release a brand-new EP follow-up to 2008’s Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes (TMT Review) called Purim’s Shadows (The Dark Tours the World) on June 14 through Merge. Merge has a cute little deal going on where you can get the EP “on kazoo” with a digital download code attached, which we all think is—
Wait. June 14. That’s yesterday. This came out yesterday? COME ON. Why are we so pathetic? Do you have any idea how much of an idiot I look like right now? Do you? I just wrote all that slop about keeping abreast of certain groups and warm feelings and now this? No, Mr P, it’s not alright! It’s so not alright I’m gonna fucking turn over this chair, “alright?” I swear to God, one little invite from AOL Spinner and I’m outta here. I got Jim Jones news that’d make your jaw drop. Yeah, I’ll finish this story, but beyond that? This whole operations’s on thin ice, man. Thin ice.
So. Purim’s Shadows is a brief six-song excursion, but fans of the 7-Foot-Tall Metronome, the Orchestral Banjo, and the Singing Saws need not worry: all are featured on a song or two here. Also making a return are Mr. Tapes’ antique recording devices, field recorders, and the RCA DX44 ribbon mic. Koster has some help on this particular EP from co-founder Robbie Cucchiarro on horns and euphonium (it’s like a harmonium but with more euphoria), and a saw solo from Ian Ludders is featured on “Night and Day.” The kazoo version of the album will include a bonus track and a “special surprise” from Koster himself, which, given his antics over the years, could be something very special indeed.
What’s really exciting is that this EP serves as a little hors d’œuvre before the ribbon mic feast that will be Imaginary Symphony No. 3. Though there’s not much information about it yet, we do know that it’s arriving as two separate full-length albums, the first of which will be called Mary’s Voice. A release date is unknown for that, but you can be sure vaguely hope that you’ll hear the first word on details from TMT P4K 3D.
Purim’s Shadows (The Dark Tours the World) tracklisting:
01. So the Day Long
02. A Lightning’s Cheeks (Everything Gets Born Here)
03. 3
04. (Jeff, Jill, and Julian Serenade Rudy on the Beach at Nantasket)
05. Night and Day
06. Nantasket
• The Music Tapes: http://www.orbitinghumancircus.com
• Merge: http://www.mergerecords.com
