Before microphones were microphones, I assume people just failed miserably at recording by using empty honey jars to capture sound. But before The Microphones were The Microphones to people outside of Phil Elverum and his circle of collaborators, their music was obviously in a fetal stage prior to being birthed and awakened through their debut studio album from 1999, Don’t Wake Me Up. Impending fans (or fans of Elverum’s subsequent and ongoing Mount Eerie project) are free to get a sense of early Microphones by simply listening to that album, or another option would be to purchase the just-announced release EARLY TAPES, 1996 - 1998, which self-evidently recalls some of the band’s rough work prior to the widespread enamoration that was achieved with The Glow Pt. 2. (That one’s a classic, of course.)
Elverum describes EARLY TAPES as a “no big deal” compilation of the “best parts” of the band’s “rough” and “uncommon” early tapes, and release-wise, it’ll be delivered December 9 on vinyl and accompanied by a download card and a three-foot-long poster. The album apparently came out of nowhere even from Elverum’s perspective, so maybe he was doing some artifactual music digging that ultimately allowed us to benefit.
Pre-orders are available right here (P.W. Elverum & Sun) or here (Bandcamp).
EARLY TAPES, 1996 - 1998 tracklisting:
01. Teenage Moustache
02. So Wrong
03. Nightly
04. the Creeps
05. 5 String Attack
06. Beautiful Face
07. For Kaye, June 6
08. Night Time
09. (bass)
10. Microphone pt. 1
11. drums tape loop with bass
12. Feedback Loop
13. Compressor
14. Microphone pt. 2
15. Rebirth on Tape Deck Mountain
16. Wires And Cords
More about: Mount Eerie, Phil Elverum, The Microphones
