The Microphones Albums (9)
'Live in Japan, February 19th, 21st, and 22nd, 2003'
Release Date 2/3/2004
Tracks 11
Label K
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Recorded over the course of three separate days in Japan in February 2003, this isn't your typical live album rehashing familiar studio material. The songs were all new at the time they were performed, and indeed were reported to be but a sampling of new songs presented by Microphones singer/songwriter Phil Elvrum during the two-week tour, composed after spending five isolated months in Norway. Remember how haunted Neil Young sounded when he sang "Cowgirl in the Sand" alone, acoustically, on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Four Way Street? That's how Elvrum sounds here, particularly on the solo acoustic opener, "Great Ghosts," though he's a little wackier and more unstable, as if the strangest solo Neil Young had been imbued with a little of the spirit of Jandek. (Whether in a conscious tribute or not, one of the songs is actually titled "After N. Young.") Playing both solo and with sparse backup accompaniment (with Calvin Johnson joining on a couple of numbers), Elvrum has a talent for penning and (shakily) singing tunes of creepy vulnerability in the manner of the better acid folkies -- not just Neil Young, but also more obscure oddballs like Dino Valente and Craig Smith (aka Satya Sai Maitreya Kali). The brief snatches of "My Favorite Things" and "Silent Night" are a little irritating, and the instrumental execution a little sloppy (though when it comes to K Records, they might take that as a compliment). But this is cool stuff that's as prettily solitary as it is unnerving, with phenomenally super-low backup vocals by Johnson on "Universe Conclusion" and "I Love You So Much." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Microphones' most demanding album, Mount Eerie, isn't exactly the follow-up to The Glow, Pt. 2 that one might expect. Instead of offering more expansive, kaleidoscopic pop, Phil Elvrum presents a concept album about life, death, and identity that spans five epic songs. Microphones fans are used to Elvrum's artistic twists, but this album is a hairpin turn, moving into much more abstract territory than any of his previous work. The 17-minute opening track "The Sun" ( "In which the story begins, where you are born and run away from death up the mountain in fear and are watched by a ball of fire," the liner notes explain) is a perfect example. It begins with heartbeats and the heavy, tolling bells that closed The Glow, Pt. 2, and moves to layered, galloping drums and horns that sound like a race or a hunting party, which are silenced abruptly by a ghostly choir, a hesitant guitar, and Elvrum's desolate, vulnerable vocals before an explosion of distortion finishes the track. It's a hypnotic, portentous beginning, introducing the suspense and search for spirituality that dominate Mount Eerie. The album is concerned with death in all of its forms -- the end of a day, of a life -- not in a morbid way, but as a necessary transition or as the answer to a question (which, of course, only provokes more questions). When death finally comes on the title track, in the form of Little Wings' Kyle Field, it's as funny as it is unsettling: "I'll press you to the ground / You'll fade from where you're found." Likewise, the accompanying vultures -- voiced by Karl Blau -- are so cartoonishly morose that they add little more than (admittedly dark) humor to leaven the atmosphere. Vocal cameos by friends and collaborators such as Mirah, Khaela Maricich, Dennis Driscoll, Adam Forkner, and Calvin Johnson (wittily cast as the voice of the Universe) make Mount Eerie feel more like a school pageant than a concept album; this childlike wonder gives the album's sense of discovery even more impact and poignancy. "Childlike" doesn't equal simplistic, however -- Mount Eerie is musically and lyrically complex within its naive viewpoint. The album's quietest and loudest moments feature subtle shifts that add to its surreal soundscapes; for example, the gusts of static that buffet the album recall not only hissing wind, but rain, snakes, and insects as well. This stream-of-consciousness approach extends to the album's songwriting as well, particularly on "Solar System," where the setting sun reminds Elvrum of a faraway girl juggling a soccer ball like a planet. Even more personal and overflowing with detail than the Microphones' other work, Mount Eerie is a truly stunning album, managing to be deeply beautiful and unnerving, as well as deeply thoughtful, without ever seeming pretentious or heavy-handed. While The Glow, Pt. 2 might still be the most perfect distillation of Elvrum's style to date, at the very least Mount Eerie proves that his ambitions and his ability to express them are growing at an exciting rate. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
While It Was Hot We Stayed in the Water expanded the Microphones' lo-fi, psych pop horizons, their 66-minute epic The Glow, Pt. 2 marks an even bigger departure. Named after It Was Hot's sprawling centerpiece, the album explores and explodes styles and moods over the course of 20 songs that lead into one another breathlessly, as if even an hour simply isn't enough time for Phil Elvrum and company to pack in all of their ideas. The album revels in its kaleidoscopic sounds, spanning pastoral folky ballads, playful symphonic pop, and gusts of white noise. Flourishes like the steel drums on the title track and the double-tracked vocals and xylophones on "The Map" make The Glow, Pt. 2 something of a rarity: a lo-fi album designed for headphones. The distorted drums, murky organs, and crisp acoustic guitars that punctuate the album have an oversaturated, almost tangible quality that, while dense, never overwhelms Elvrum's fragile voice or poetic lyrics. The beautiful acoustic ballad "I Felt Your Shape" cautions against holding on too tight to someone, literally or figuratively; "I Am Bored" sets the boredom of a dying relationship to noisy fuzz pop. But it's The Glow, Pt. 2's deep, nearly spiritual yearning that makes it the Microphones' most compelling album to date. Vague, strangely hymnal lyrics like "Through rotting skin I'll leave my coffin/Through callous work I will grow soft," from "I'll Not Contain You," resonate emotionally, albeit cryptically. At times, The Glow, Pt. 2 resembles My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything ("I Want to Be Cold") and His Name Is Alive's Home Is in Your Head (especially on the instrumentals); like those bands' best work, the album is dense with musical quick-changes, production tricks, and evocative imagery. Expansive yet accessible, indulgent yet unpretentious, The Glow, Pt. 2 redefines the Microphones' fascinatingly contradictory music. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'It Was Hot We Stayed in the Water'
Release Date 9/26/2000
Tracks 11
Label K
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
On their third album It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water, the Microphones present more delicate, almost folky melodies wrapped up in and surrounded by waves of droning, distorted guitars and organs. The naïve, psychedelic experimentalism and girl-boy vocals on songs like "Between Your Ear and the Other Ear" and "The Glow" sound uncannily like an update of Eric's Trip; indeed, the Microphones pay homage to that band with a cover of "Sand." "Karl Blau" borrows the melody of "Blue Moon," "The Gleam" calls to mind some of the Swirlies' early work and Pet Sounds-worthy harmonies abound, but the Microphones' appropriations always feel like tributes instead of a lack of originality, and only add to It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water's distinctive mix of noise and beauty. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As part of K's slight expansion from the release of purely indie pop records, there are the Microphones, whose Don't Wake Me Up moves between gritty lo-fi rock and droning, spacy constructions; a delicate pop melodicism lies beneath the surface noise of both, putting the general aesthetic of the album somewhere close to Stereolab's Transient Random-Noise Bursts, or some of Grandaddy's early work. The latter of the two approaches seems to fare better, with the songs' dramatic builds and careful composition rendering a sound that is a lot more artistically impressive than pure rock -- but the fuller compositions are just as impressive, using their rampaging drums and the odd dichotomy between lo-fi guitar noise and frail, His Name Is Alive-style vocal presentation to approach something like an exaggerated shoegaze effect. Above all, Don't Wake Me Up offers a fascinating and involving set of sounds -- even in the rare moments when these sounds aren't organized as well as could be, they're still compelling. ~ Nitsuh Abebe, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A collection of recordings about the act of recording -- complete with titles such as "Feedback Love," "Soundwaves," and "Preamp" -- Tests, the debut full-length from Phil Elvrum's Microphones, lays out much of the sonic groundwork that follows on subsequent releases. From echo-laden dub vignettes to psychedelic flourishes to Sonic Youth-inspired noise experiments to kiddie twee pop about "high pitch treble monsters," Elvrum paints from a wide palette. But, true to the title, Tests is a little too all-over-the-place to make for a satisfying album. It sounds more like Elvrum with a host of friends in tow (including Calvin Johnson of Dub Narcotic and Karl Blau of D+) just having a lot of fun with a room full of musical toys. It's the sound of the artist testing the depths of his nascent project. It makes sense to hear this album after later, more fully realized work such as Don't Wake Me Up or It was Hot We Stayed in the Water, and see where the ideas originated, otherwise it will just sound excessive and uncalculated. ~ Jason Nickey, All Music Guide
