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WEDNESDAY, JAN 23 rd
Hobohemians
THURSDAY, JAN 24 th
Odd Trio
FRIDAY, JAN 25™
Jonathan Byrd
Adam Klein
SATURDAY, JAN 26™
Kyshona Armstrong,
Drew Kohl and Young America
SUNDAY, JAN 27™
Rob Veal
MONDAY, JAN 28™
Open Mic with
Kyshona Armstrong
TUESDAY, JAN 29™
Mary Sigalas
WEDNESDAY, JAN 30™
Guitar Summit in honor of
Craig Lieske
ATHENS’ INTIMATE LIVE MUSIC VENUE
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HIT THE BIO TOP
Friday, the 40 Watt plays host to
two shows featuring The Music
Tapes, each part of what's being
billed as "The Traveling Imaginary." A few
days before Christmas, Flagpole spoke with
Music Tapes bandleader Julian Koster, who,
having just woken up, was drowsily explaining
just what, exactly, "The Traveling Imaginary"
would be.
"I think the main thing to know is that
it's gonna be a very different or unusual sort
of evening from the minute you walk in the
door," he says. "The structure of the evening
is very different from when you normally enter
a concert. Some of it is best kept secret—
that's what will make the experience fun."
What we know is this: Koster and his band
will set up a big tent inside the 40 Watt. To
give a more concrete sense of how different
the evening will be, the 40 Watt offers this
disclaimer on its website: "We want to stress
that this is a limited-capacity show. This is
not an ordinary show, as the band is perform
ing inside a tent in the venue. Tickets sold
will only be for inside the tent." Another blurb
online promises an evening of "songs, stories,
games, movies, magic, amusements and more."
After years of clandestine midnight candle
games, and two caroling and lullaby tours that
saw the band venturing either out into the
world or inside fans' living rooms, Koster and
company now have their own chance to play
host. The project offers the band an oppor
tunity to work with a much larger canvas, an
opportunity that seems appropriate at this
juncture.
Mary's Voice, released last September, is
both more ambitious and more cohesive than
its predecessor, Music Tapes for Clouds and
Tornadoes. On the new record, Koster's eerie,
compelling melodies fit more seamlessly
within the music, a result of close collabora
tion with band member Robbie Cucciaro. And
if the band's whimsical aesthetic provokes a
cynical response in some, it's worth mention
ing that Mary's Voice is also a much darker
record, emphasizing childhood and dream
states, and not only their positive aspects.
Still, as Koster explains, these aspects aren't
the album's essence.
"Darkness is a part of it, but I feel the
darkness is external. It's probably more of a
response to darkness."
As for "The Traveling Imaginary," the con
cept has been with Koster for some time.
"The whole idea came from something I
conceived a very long time ago, when I was
living on an island in Maine," he says. Now,
set to tour in support of a new record, "We
decided to make this thing happen for real, in
a form that could travel." Concrete prepara
tions began last summer, backed by a highly
successful Kickstarter campaign, where dona
tions exceeded the band's goal three times
over.
Setting it all up, though, has proven to
be quite an undertaking. The Kickstarter page
makes mention of "historic tentmakers in
England," and Koster explains that "all the dif
ferent parts were built independently."
Two unannounced shows last year, in
Connecticut and Massachusetts, offered a first
glimpse of the project. The impetus for the
sneak previews was, in part, practical—"the
tent is too big to set up anyplace we usually
rehearse," Koster explains—but both evenings
were successful.
"We didn't have everything, but we had...
several large elements of it," Koster says of
the preview shows. His account hints at the
grand scale of the main event.
The two Athens performances will mark the
first official performances of "The Traveling
Imaginary," and will kick off a month-long
tour, with more substantial travel planned for
later this year.
The goal of a performance as involved and
unconventional as this one, a performance
that departs from the typical rock concert
script, is, at its root, transportive. It seems
The Music Tapes' intention is to create a cohe
sive, self-contained experience. But as ambi
tious as it is, the project is not naive, nor is
the music.
Marshall Yarbrough
/ \
WHO: The Music Tapes Present
“The Traveling Imaginary”
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Friday, January 25
(8:30 & 10:30 p.m.)
HOW MUCH: $11
V I )
18 FLAGPOLE.COM • JANUARY 23, 2013
ALBERT BIRNEY