final details are being worked out for the spring 2005 release of the new album, recorded last fall with steve albini. there’s also a new live 2xlp recorded last year in europe, slated to be available on the october dates and then through stores and mailorder in january 2005.

for those that missed out the first time, secretly canadian will be reissuing “the black album”, “axxess and ace” and “the lioness” on vinyl in october. “the lioness” and “axxess and ace” are available from the band on tour right now. “the black album” won’t be available until october as it will be packaged in a special triple-gatefold jacket featuring the cover and the insert images from the first two pressings. it will also contain the lp-only track “for you” (which was included on the previous pressings of the lp)

the magnolia electric co. is about to hit the road for the first dates of two separate tours… the august tour features a five man magnolia- jason molina (guitar, vocals), jason groth (guitar), pete schreiner (bass), mark rice (drums) and michael kapinus (keyboard/trumpet)… the line-up will be expanded for the october dates to include jennie benford (guitar, vocals) and mike brenner (lap steel).

the answers are in (and even transcribed)… so give ‘em a look and learn a little ohia/magnolia folklore. thanks to jason molina for taking the time to answer all thirty questions.

jason molina has kindly offered to do a question and answer session with the fans. email me your questions at ned@noloveforned.com and i’ll compile them to send onward for answers. i can’t guarantee every question will be answered, but it’ll definitely make for a good read. q & a is now closed- please do not send any more questions. thanks!

for those of you that didn’t rush out to get the japanese version of magnolia electric co., the studio version of “the big game is every night” appears on a promotional compilation entitled “connect.com/insound rarities sampler volume one”. as far as i know, it’s not available for purchase. it was sent to college radio and given away at this year’s coachella… here’s the artwork: front/black

a new untitled song by magnolia electric co. will be appearing on a compilation to be released at the end of 2004. recorded live in an abandoned church with jason molina on guitar and vocals and jason groth on guitar. the compilation will be attached to an anthology called “isn’t it romantic, 100 love poems by 100 younger american poets” to be released by verse press. other artists scheduled to appear on the compilation include: vic chesnutt, richard buckner, doug martsch, david berman, ida, jenny toomey, nina nastasia, mark mulcahy, and hamell on trial.

just wanted to let everyone know that the jason molina 7″ available from chunklet magazine is now shipping. keep your eyes on your mailboxes… for those that haven’t ordered yet, the color vinyl is all gone (the black is still available)…

chunklet magazine is selling an exclusive jason molina 7″ if you place an order at their website. the two tracks (”no moon on the water” and “in the human world”) were recorded last month andwill be exclusive to this release (they will *not* appear on the album due out later this year)… early orders will get one of the three extra-limited colored vinyl versions- gold, clear and grey.

“soul” from the ‘nor cease thou never now’ 7″ appears on the new mix by death in vegas entitled back to mine… this is the same version that appears on the 7″… for those of you that don’t have the original vinyl already, it’ll be nice to get ahold of… and for those of you that do, you won’t be wearing out all that e-bay-able vinyl anymore, right?

there are a few new dates scheduled for the second half of the month in the eastern united states. jason will be appearing solo.

insound are running a contest. if you pre-order a copy of pyramid electric co., you’ll be entered to win one of twenty two jason molina drawings… pyramid electric co. is also still available directly from secretly canadian for less, but you won’t be entered in the drawing.

secretly canadian has repressed a very small quantity of the limited edition version of magnolia electric co. with the bonus demos disc. it’s currently available from retailers (probably of your indie variety) and at live shows (which are done for the year). but do not fear, secretly canadian should have a few available to sell online after the new year.

jason molina’s “pyramid electric co.” lp is finally available for pre-order on the secretly canadian website, to be shipped by december 10th. a quick tracklist - pyramid electric co / red comet dust / division st. girl / honey, watch your ass / song of the road / spectral alphabet / long desert train

the old yahoogroup is being abandoned in favor of a new one, which is set properly to avoid spammers. hopefully everyone who jumped shipped in the past few weeks/months due to spam issues will find their way to the new group. and for anyone that didn’t even know about it, by all means join up too…

word from someone who spoke to jason at last night’s wilmington, nc show is that the arab strap dates are indeed happening. magnolia electric co. will be touring as a duo of jason molina (guitar, vox) and jim zespy (keyboard).

the surfacing rumors of u.s. dates with arab strap seem to be true as the kork agency (who book magnolia electric co.) just listed a route of tba dates that coincide with the potential arab strap dates mentioned. note: this will most likely not be for the entire arab strap u.s. tour, just a week or two…

the cover artwork for jason molina’s “pyramid electric co” album has appeared on the secretly canadian website. currently schedule for a january 2004 release, songsohia.com should have a detailed page, including tracklist and lyrics, up very soon.

just back from spain, the magnolia electric co. is getting ready to hit the road for two weeks in november. the band this time: jason molina (guitar, vox), jason groth (guitar), pete schreiner (bass), mark rice (drums), mike brenner (lap steel), michael kapinus (keys, trumpet), and jenny benford (vox, mandolin, guitar). when the tour ends in chicago, the same group will head into electrical audio to record with steve albini.

some german promoters have mistakenly announced that songs: ohia/magnolia electric co. will be supporting arab strap on a number of dates over the next week. now that the band is back in the states, these are definitely not happening.