Neutral Milk Hotel

Jeff Mangum is perhaps the most famous, unknown musician of the past two decades.  He recorded only two full-length albums, both in the late 1990s, but their appeal continues today.  In fact, his popularity among music fans is growing -- Neutral Milk Hotel was even referenced in an episode of Parks and Recreation just last week.  For those of you in NYC, there's an added bonus:  he will be playing for the first time in years toward the end of this upcoming summer.

Mangum, the seemingly-tortured soul behind Neutral Milk Hotel, grew up in Ruston, LA, the same town as Robert Schneider of Apples in Stereo.  The two of them frequently traded ideas while in high school and even moved together to Colorado in the mid-1990s.  The two remained close despite being involved in separate projects, and they worked together for NMH's two LPs, including Mangum's crowning achievement, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.  For this album, Schneider served as producer, adding distortion and fuzz to all instruments to compliment the raw, heartfelt emotions so evident in Mangum's vocals.

For the past ten years, Jeff Mangum has played a few sets in small venues throughout the country, almost teasing the growing masses of fans who yearn for a taste of what they missed while still in high school.  In the next few months, as I mentioned, he will play a couple large shows.  Although less personal, this may be the last chance to meet the Dylan of our generation.

Albums:  In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998), On Avery Island (1996)

Tracks:  In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Two-Headed Boy, Holland 1945, Ghost, Song Against Sex, Naomi

Oh, that sweater!

"We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same." -AF