Neutral Milk Hotel
299461
224863615
2008-07-10T19:20:18Z
Lightbot
7178666
Units/dates/other
{{Refimprove|date=December 2007}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| Name = Neutral Milk Hotel
| Img = Neutral_Milk_Hotel.jpg
| Img_capt = Neutral Milk Hotel. From left to right: Jeff Mangum, Scott Spillane, Julian Koster and Jeremy Barnes.
| Background = group_or_band
| Origin = [[Ruston, Louisiana]], [[United States]]
| Genre = [[Indie pop]], [[Psych-folk]], [[Neo-psychedelia]], [[Lo-fi music|Lo-fi]]
| Years_active = 1989–1998
| Label = [[The Elephant 6 Recording Company|Elephant 6]], [[Merge Records|Merge]]
| Associated_acts =
| URL = [http://www.neutralmilkhotel.net/ Official website]
| Current_members = [[Jeff Mangum]]<br />[[Scott Spillane]]<br />[[Jeremy Barnes]]<br />[[Julian Koster]]<br />
| Past_members =
}}
'''Neutral Milk Hotel''' was an [[United States|American]] [[Independent music|indie]] [[folk]] [[Band (music)|band]]. The band's chief [[songwriter]], [[Jeff Mangum]], played with a number of other musicians on the band's two full-length albums. Notable contributors to the band's oeuvre include [[Jeremy Barnes]] ([[drum]]s), [[Scott Spillane]] (horns), [[Julian Koster]] ([[banjo]]/[[bass guitar]]/[[musical saw|saw]]), and producer-instrumentalist [[Robert Schneider]]. Neutral Milk Hotel is a part of [[The Elephant 6 Recording Company]], based out of [[Athens, Georgia]].
==History==
===Origins===
Jeff Mangum, along with high-school friends [[Will Cullen Hart]] and [[Bill Doss]], formed [[The Olivia Tremor Control]], with Mangum appearing on their first release, the ''[[California Demise]]'' 7".
Prior to recording for friends under the NMH moniker, Mangum recorded at least one cassette under the name Milk; the most well-known of these tapes was called ''Pygmie Barn in E Minor''.<ref>[http://www.elephant6.com/disco/milk1.html The Elephant Six Recording Company - E6 Catalog - Milk<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> These are the earliest known recordings that Mangum initiated and executed himself. There were only an estimated dozen or so copies ever made of this tape, none of which has been made public. It was revealed circa 2006 on the Elephant 6 online forums that another tape under said name, entitled ''Beauty'', was released, along with several recordings under the name ''Rubby Bulbs'' (also a song dating from that era, perhaps the only Milk song to be played by Neutral Milk Hotel).
Neutral Milk Hotel began simply as a recording project for Mangum, in the early 1990s. He produced several demo cassettes, among them 1991's ''[[Invent Yourself a Shortcake]]'', 1992's ''[[Beauty (album)|Beauty]]'' (not to be confused with the earlier cassette), and 1993's ''[[Hype City Soundtrack]]'', along with two more from this period, seemingly unnamed. Although easily found on the Internet, these demos capture the project at a very embryonic stage: songs are played in between various sound collages and tape experiments, one of which consists only of a six minute conversation between Mangum and Hart. Another track, "Digestion Machine", features a varied collage of voices answering the question asked by Mangum, "What does the digestion machine mean to you?" The more accessible "Synthetic Flying Machine", also titled "Up and Over", later became "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" on ''[[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea]]''.
During this period, Mangum was wandering the country, staying in the closets of friends, and in a state of perpetual unemployment. It was in these circumstances that the band's first formal releases took shape. Strictly speaking, however, the 'band' usually consisted of Mangum and whoever else was present at the time. This is obvious on Neutral Milk Hotel's first release, a 7" record entitled ''Everything Is'', recorded when Mangum was spending time in [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]], [[Washington]], released on Cher Doll Records in 1994.
=== ''On Avery Island'' ===
A full album, ''[[On Avery Island]]'', followed, this time recorded mainly in [[Denver, Colorado]], where Mangum was backed by [[Robert Schneider]] of [[The Apples in Stereo]], Rick Benjamin of The Perry Weissman 3 and Lisa Janssen of [[Secret Square]]. It was released by [[Merge Records]] in 1996.
After the release of ''Avery Island'', Neutral Milk Hotel became a fully-fledged band, as Julian Koster, Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes joined Mangum, the band now being based in [[New York]]. Soon after this, they moved to [[Athens, GA]], where many of Mangum's friends had begun to settle, and the [[Elephant 6]] recording company began to fully take shape. After this, the band went back to [[Denver]], to record a proper follow up to ''On Avery Island''.
===''In the Aeroplane Over the Sea'' and final show===
{{Sound sample box align right|Audio samples:}}
{{Listen
| filename=NeutralMilkHotel-Holland1945.ogg|title="Holland, 1945"
| description="Holland, 1945", from ''[[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea]]''
| format=[[Ogg]]}}
{{sample box end}}
The band's second [[LP (format)|LP]], ''[[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea]]'', released in 1998, is notable as a critically acclaimed work and a widely popular recording. It is a spiritually motivated work conceptually based on the beauty to be found in the horrific fate of [[Anne Frank]]. During live performances, including the one released under the title ''Live at Jittery Joe's'', Mangum has described some of the songs off this album as based on urgent, recurring [[dream]]s he had of a [[Judaism|Jewish]] [[family]] during [[World War II]]. The album was highly praised by critics for its wildly inventive instrumentation and Mangum's provocative and impassioned lyrics. Although it met with scant response from the general public when it was released, the recording has continued to gain momentum in [[indie rock|indie]] [[music]] circles, selling well over 100,000 copies, according to [[Merge Records]].<ref>{{cite book |title= In the Aeroplane Over the Sea|last= Cooper|first= Kim|authorlink= Kim Cooper|coauthors= |year= 2006|publisher= Continuum|location= New York|isbn= 0-8264-1690-X.}}</ref> However, the record (along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it) took its toll on Mangum. The band abruptly went on hiatus, turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for [[R.E.M. (band)|R.E.M.]]<ref>[http://www.slate.com/id/2185219/pagenum/all/ The Salinger of Indie Rock: What happened to Jeff Mangum?] Taylor Clark,
[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]. Posted Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008, at 1:45 PM ET.</ref><ref>[http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A13178 Have you seen Jeff Mangum?] Kevin Griffis, Creative Loafing. Published 09.04.03</ref>
Before Neutral Milk Hotel began their indefinite hiatus, Mangum played live at a house show on [[December 5]], [[1998]] in Athens on Chris Bilheimer's birthday.<ref name="Cooper_pp94-95">Cooper, pp. 9495</ref> The bill was shared with [[Elf Power]], and the audience was made up almost completely of friends and bandmates. Playing solo and acoustic, Mangum opened the set with what was to be the only post-''Aeroplane'' composition to be performed in public, "Little Birds". He explained to the audience that the song is about a boy whose body becomes filled up with miniature birds that come out of the bathtub faucet and protect him from his murderous father (who has apparently already killed the main character's younger brother).<ref name="Cooper_pp94-95" />
{{cquote|''Did you know the burning hell it took your baby brother?''<br />''Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?''<br />''Another boy in town at night he took him for his lover''<br />''And deep in sin they held each other''<br />''So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in''<br />''Knowing God in Heaven would have never could forgive him'' }}
Mangum finished the rest of the evening with most of the ''Aeroplane'' songs, encouraging the audience to sing along in substitute for the horn parts. For the last several songs, Scott Spillane took his trumpet in to an adjacent room and played his parts through the wall.<ref name="Cooper_pp94-95" /> A recording of the show is known to exist, but it has never been officially released, most likely due to the poor quality of the recording.
Mangum played another show on December 31, 1998, at which he performed the songs "Oh Sister", "Engine", and "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", joined by Koster and Spillane.
On [[February 4]], [[2001]], Mangum played his very last show in [[Auckland]], [[New Zealand]] at The King's Arms at the request of [[Chris Knox]]. The show was referred to as ''[[The World of Wild Beards Incorporated]]'' and consisted of acts from Mangum, [[Laura Carter]], and Chris Knox. Mangum played 13 songs, about half of them from ''Aeroplane'' as well as covering [[Phil Spector]]'s "I Love How You Love Me" and [[John Lennon]]'s "Mother" with Chris Knox joining him on the latter of the two. A recording of the show does exist, but has never been officially released.
===Hiatus===
Although all the members are still active with one another in other projects, it is unknown whether any more Neutral Milk Hotel albums will be released. When asked in an interview if he intends to write another album, Mangum said, "I don't know. It would be nice, but sometimes I kind of doubt it."<ref>[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/31406-interview-neutral-milk-hotel Pitchfork Feature: Interview: Neutral Milk Hotel<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> There were plans to release a Neutral Milk Hotel rarities album on the [[Orange Twin Records|Orange Twin]] [[record label|label]]; its cancellation was subsequently announced in 2005 on the Orange Twin website, stating that Jeff Mangum decided against the project.
There has, however, been some activity since ''Aeroplane''. First, Orange Twin re-released ''[[Everything Is (EP)|Everything Is]]'', complete with extra bonus tracks, as well as ''[[Live at Jittery Joe's]]'', a live recording by filmmaker [[Lance Bangs]] of a show Mangum played in a coffee house in [[Music of Athens, Georgia|Athens, Georgia]] in 1997. The ''[[Major Organ and the Adding Machine]]'' album, a rather secretive project released by Orange Twin in 2001 and consisting mainly of experimental musical collage, features Mangum, along with Julian Koster, [[Of Montreal]]'s [[Kevin Barnes]], [[Elf Power]]'s Andrew Reiger and the [[Olivia Tremor Control]] and [[Circulatory System]]'s [[Will Cullen Hart]] and [[Eric Harris]]. There was also the release of ''[[Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I]]'', Mangum's field recording of a [[Bulgarian music|Bulgarian]] folk festival, also on [[Orange Twin]] in 2001. Additionally, he plays drums on the first [[Circulatory System]] album.
Since the breakup of Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum has only played live proper again once, at the Kings Arms pub in [[Auckland]], [[New Zealand]], at the request of the [[Tall Dwarfs]]'s [[Chris Knox]]. The band was billed as the ''World of Wild Beards Incorporated'', although when he explains this bizarre name during the course of the show, Mangum gives a small speech about an obscure, seemingly fictional company existing in the early 1900s named "Walking Wall of Beards Incorporated". He has also made appearances with [[Elf Power]] and [[The Instruments]], and came onstage at the first of the Olivia Tremor Control's New York shows on their 2005 reunion tours, to sing briefly. Further releases from Neutral Milk Hotel, however, are indicated to be unlikely.
The other members are all still releasing material: Julian Koster as [[The Music Tapes]], Scott Spillane as [[The Gerbils]] and [[Jeremy Barnes]] as [[A Hawk and a Hacksaw]], [[Bablicon]] and Marta Tennae.
In 2005, ''[[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea]]'' saw its re-release by [[Domino Records (1993)|Domino Records]] in the UK, in a sleeve featuring praise from, among others, [[Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand]] and [[Arcade Fire]], both very much influenced by the band. Mangum has also done a few small art projects - following a charity auction on [[eBay]] of an acoustic guitar decorated by Mangum himself, more guitars hand-decorated by Mangum were sold via [[Orange Twin Records]] for $900 apiece. Also, a number of Mangum's original drawings, this time costing only $10 each, were sold via Neutral Milk Hotel's website.
In 2006, a message was posted on the [[Elephant 6]] message board, purportedly from Jeff Mangum. The message suggested that Mangum would again record music and tour, though it was unclear if it would be under the Neutral Milk Hotel moniker or another one. It soon caused an enormous stir within the indie community, and news of the message appeared in [[Rolling Stone]], [[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]], and [[Billboard]]. However, it was eventually discredited by [[Robert Schneider]], frontman for [[The Apples in Stereo]] and close friend of Mangum's. The perpetrator of the hoax (which convinced many sources close to Mangum) is still unknown.<ref>[http://pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/37148-bupdateb-jeff-mangum-returns Pitchfork: Update: Jeff Mangum Returns?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Discography==
{{main|Neutral Milk Hotel discography}}
===Studio albums===
* 1996: ''[[On Avery Island]]''
* 1998: ''[[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea]]''
===EPs===
* 1994: ''[[Everything Is (EP)|Everything Is]]''
===Singles===
* 1998: "[[Holland, 1945]]"
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Cooper, Kim (2005). ''In the Aeroplane Over the Sea 33⅓''. (New York) Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1690-X.
* Azerrad, Michael (2001). ''[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991]]''. (Boston) Little Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-78753-1.
* DeRogatis, Jim (2003). ''Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock''. (Milwaukee) Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-634-05548-8.
==External links==
===Official sites===
*[http://www.neutralmilkhotel.net/ Neutral Milk Hotel's official website]
*[http://www.elephant6.com/bands/neutral.html The band's page at Elephant 6's website]
*[http://www.e6townhall.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5 Official Neutral Milk Hotel discussion board]
* [http://www.scrammagazine.com/scram-categories/scram-books/aeroplane Latest news about the band's 33 1/3 book]
===Fan sites===
*[http://www.neutralmilkhotel.org/ The Carrot Flower Kingdom: Full, informative discography, most up to date information]
*[http://www.knerd.com/~sashwap/ Sashwap: Mp3s, quicktime movies, lyrics, etc.]
*[http://www.sadtomato.net/NMH_frame.htm Sadtomato: FAQ, lyrics, fan contributions, etc.]
*[http://www.opticalatlas.com/ Optical Atlas: Elephant 6 Fansite with NMH content]
*[http://www.tomatoes-radiowire.com/ Tomatoes & Radiowire: 10 year anniversary tribute for Aeroplane. 11 songs, 11 artists, 11 videos.]
===External sources===
*[http://neutralmilkhotel.net/momandi.html Mommy and I Are One zine interview 1997]
*[http://www.neutralmilkhotel.net/pt.html Ptolemaic Terrascope biography]
*[http://communitywalk.com/map/301 Interactive map to Neutral Milk Hotel's psycho-geography]
*[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/31406/Interview_Interview_Neutral_Milk_Hotel Pitchfork: Jeff Mangum Interview]
*[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/watw/02-08/neutral-milk-hotel.shtml Pitchfork: The Unreleased Recordings of Jeff Mangum and Neutral Milk Hotel]{{dead link|date=January 2008|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/watw/02-08/neutral-milk-hotel.shtml}}
*[http://www.mentalcontagion.com/archive_first5years.html# Essay on Neutral Milk Hotel in Examinations Archive]
*[http://hip.net.nz/music_in_nz/Jeff_Mangum/WorldOfWildBeards_gigPoster.gif 'World of Wild Beards' gig poster]
*[http://www.noripcord.com/?q=node/511 Neutral Milk Hotel Feature at No Ripcord]
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7553885360273146591 Video of Halloween 1997 Performance]
*[[Lyricwiki:Neutral Milk Hotel|Neutral Milk Hotel lyrics on Lyricwiki]]
{{Neutral Milk Hotel}}
{{E6}}
[[Category:Elephant 6 artists]]
[[Category:Alternative musical groups]]
[[Category:American indie rock groups]]
[[Category:Louisiana musical groups]]
[[Category:1990s music groups]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1989]]
[[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1998]]
[[bs:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[ca:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[de:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[es:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[eo:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[fr:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[gl:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[hr:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[id:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[nl:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[pl:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[pt:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[fi:Neutral Milk Hotel]]
[[sv:Neutral Milk Hotel]]