Friday 18 September 2009

Week 5 - Three Degrees of Jeff Mangum

A funny thing happened on the way to this blog. I was looking into a band who I'd been listening to and realised he'd played some part in two other bands I liked. That man, as the title suggests, is Jeff Mangum. Perhaps shamefully, up until last week I didn't know who he was.

For those like me, he's the singer from Neutral Milk Hotel, the 1990s American indie/rock/psych-folk band. While they never hit the heights of stardom, they certainly flirted with it. Their second album - 1998's In an Aeroplane over the Sea - has become an almost cult recording. Some great offbeat tunes ranging from psychedelia through folk to quite heavy rock.


Neutral Milk Hotel, I've just discovered, were my second introduction to Mangum.
The first was Apples in Stereo.

Now, while he wasn't a member of these, Louisiana's NMH are intertwined with Colorado's Apples in Stereo. The latter's Robert Schneider first met Mangum in Ruston, LA, having moved from South Africa at an early age.

The pair went to school together, but Schneider packed up and attended college in Denver, where he formed Apples in Stereo. It was here Schneider set up the Elephant 6 recording company, alongside Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum. So, four friends from school set up a recording company and, in doing so, also created some of the toppermost American indie bands of the 1990s.

Mangum, along with Doss and Hart, were also part of Olivia Tremor Control, a band I have only just recently discovered - thus being the third part of the Mangum trilogy. Olivia Tremor Control are an intriguing and quintessential American 1990s indie/college rock band formed in Athens, Georgia.

So, there we are. And for those interested, you can now download a song by each of the Elephant 6 artists mentioned.

The first is The King of Carrot Flowers, Parts Two and Three by Neutral Milk Hotel. What a great introduction! "I love you Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, I love you." From quite an odd and quavery beginning, the song then launches in to a fantastically uptempo rock number.

Next is Lucky Charm by Apples in Stereo. I first heard this when it appeared in an episode of Teachers in the early 2000s. A pleasant, simple ditty that repeats itself in your head.

Finally is Hideaway by Olivia Tremor Control. Not very typical of the band, but this song is a wonderful example of blissful English shoegazing music taken across the pond and given the college rock treatment.

Enjoy.

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