Neutral Milk Hotel

The self-described “fuzz-folk” project Neutral Dairy Hotel was among the primary outgrowths from the Elephant 6 Saving Firm collective, a coterie of like-minded lo-fi indie groups — like the Apples in Stereo system, the Olivia Tremor Control, and Key Square — who shared music artists, ideas, and sensibilities. While varying in audio and idea from single acoustic function to full-band shows, Natural Milk Resort essentially remained the task of Jeff Mangum, a vocalist/songwriter in the remote city of Ruston, Louisiana. Ruston was also house to Robert Schneider (afterwards from the Apples), aswell as Can Cullen Hart and Costs Doss (who produced the Olivia Tremor Control); throughout senior high school, the aspiring music artists — all inspired by famous brands the Beatles, the Seaside Guys, the Zombies, Green Floyd, and Sonic Youngsters — exchanged house recordings and performed in each other’s rings. Natural Milk Hotel initial took form in 1989 like a sound rock and roll trio that performed its debut gig at an area laundromat; a yr later on, Mangum, Hart, and Doss relocated to Athens, Georgia, to create the group Cranberry Existence Cycle, which later on became Synthetic Soaring Machine (and eventually the Olivia Tremor Control) after Mangum’s departure. In 1993, he and Schneider relocated to Denver, Colorado, where Schneider quickly founded the Apples in Stereo system. Ultimately, Mangum gravitated to NY and resumed documenting under the Natural Milk Resort aegis. After some singles and privately released cassettes, including Invent Yourself a Shortcake, Beauty, and Buzz City, Mangum journeyed back again to Denver to record the critically acclaimed 1996 recording On Avery Isle on Schneider’s four-track machine; in the the springtime of 1997 he once again came back to Colorado to begin with focus on the follow-up, the amazing In the Aeroplane Over the ocean.