A friend of mine made me a mix tape with "Song against sex" and "Holland 1945" by Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as some songs by Apples in stereo, and one of my favorites, "Penelope" by Of Montreal (this song got me into Of Montreal pretty damn quick). After hearing the Neutral Milk Hotel songs, I said to myself "don't I have this record?!" and sure enough it had been collecting dust in a pile for a few years, in which I rescued it and returned it safely spinning in my record player. "Satanic Panic in the Attic" was the first Of Montreal album I heard, and it remains my favorite. Although they have a lengthy discography, I own 4 of their albums (Satanic Panic, Horse & Elephant Eatery, Sunlandic Twins, and Aldhils' Arboretum). I think that Of Montreal has great pop sensibility, clever lyrics, and an interesting way of structuring their songs reminiscent of the Beatles with more keyboards and overall quirkiness. My friend swears by Aldhils' Arboretum, but after heavy doses of Satanic Panic, I found Arboretum difficult to listen to. Sunlandic Twins sounded like video game music (but the opening track is stellar and an actual rock song). Even though what I've heard of Of Montreal has been a real hit-or-miss for me, I still consider them one of my favorite bands just because they REALLY hit the target dead-on with the Satanic Panic record.
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Posts: 35 | Location: Madison, WI | Registered: 20 June 2005
I've just about exhausted my E6 catalouge. Anyone have any ideas for related stuff? I'm most into "Tone Soul Evolution", "Fun Trick Noisemaker", and "Aeroplane"
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is absolutely my favorite album of all time -- and Dusk at Cubist Castle is in my top 5 or 10. For sure. I first discovered the Elephant Six collective when I was about 14 -- from an article in SPIN of all things. At least something good from reading Spin. hehehehe
Wasn't Beulah Elephant Six for a while? I loved, loved, loved their album "When Your Heartstrings Break" (top ten of all time, greatest summer album of all time) and their other stuff is rad as well.
Of Montreal took a while for me to appreciate, but they are fantastic live. I have Sunlandic Twins and Satanic Panic, and both albums are superb.
------ And you're lying if you sing along
Posts: 2193 | Location: ATL-abouts. | Registered: 24 October 2006
Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer: Sorry for the double post, but I was curious as to any projects Jeff Mangum might have worked on since NMH... what has he been up to?
Well besides going into near-total seclusion and isolation and reportedly having a mental breakdown , the last album he put out was a series of field recordings of a Ukrainian folk festival he attended and then spliced together. Yeah he basically probably isn't ever gonna do anything NMH related again... although I do recall from an interview I read that he is still writing music...
I've been a big NMH/Jeff Magnum fan for a while now, but never really checked out the rest of the label... picked up "Night at te cubists castle" or w/e and I'm thoroughly enjoying it
I posted this in the Rough Guide Exercise thread to a chorus of crickets. Maybe it will stir some discussion in this thread.
quote:
The Rough Guide to the Elephant 6 Collective
01. Neutral Milk Hotel, "Everything Is" 02. The Apples in Stereo, "Shine a Light" 03. Beulah, "Score From Augusta" 04. The Essex Green, "Mrs. Bean" 05. Dressy Bessy, "Look Around" 06. Elf Power, "Skeleton" 07. The Gerbils, "Sunshine Soul" 08. Great Lakes, "Some of Shelleys Blues" 09. The High Water Marks, "Good I Feel Bad" 10. Instruments, "Bird Song" 11. Sixth Great Lake, "Cannon Beach" 12. The Ladybug Transistor, "Perfect Shattering" 13. Marbles, "Hello Sun" 14. The Minders, "Hand Me Downs" 15. Of Montreal, "Baby" 16. The Essex Green, "Southern States" [Sasha sings] 17. The Sunshine Fix, "Age of the Sun" 18. The Olivia Tremor Control, "California Demise 3" 19. The Apples in Stereo, "Rainfall" [Hilarie sings] 20. Ulysses, "The Falcon" 21. Circulatory System, "Joy" 22. Jeff Mangum, "I Love How You Love Me"
Total Time: 59:56
_____________________________ Weep to Water the Trees.
"This is my main concern with Obama; what if he has been groomed since childhood to blend in with the zionists and infidels? What if he has been led along by a radical islamic terrorist organization and positioned to become an influential politician?
What if Obama gets into White House and turns out to be some crazy muslim terrorist? What do we do then? We'll be pretty screwed. It could happen." -- by some fucking nutjob
Posts: 1996 | Location: The Noog, TN | Registered: 08 April 2007
Neutral Milk Hotel is definetly the best introduction to the Elephant Six Collective, but I'm not sure I'd pick that track. Naomi, The King of Carrot Flowers, Two Headed Boy, Song Against Sex and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea are all brilliant Neutral Milk Hotel tracks that are a bit more accessible than Everything Is, though I do love that song. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was actually the first album I ever bought, and I used it to get a lot of my friends seriously interested in music. Surprisingly enough, most of them loved it.
Posts: 120 | Location: California | Registered: 04 January 2008
Neutral Milk Hotel is definetly the best introduction to the Elephant Six Collective, but I'm not sure I'd pick that track. Naomi, The King of Carrot Flowers, Two Headed Boy, Song Against Sex and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea are all brilliant Neutral Milk Hotel tracks that are a bit more accessible than Everything Is, though I do love that song. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was actually the first album I ever bought, and I used it to get a lot of my friends seriously interested in music. Surprisingly enough, most of them loved it.
I picked "Everything Is" precisely because ItAOtS is such a fantastic album. Pulling a song from that album would be like amputating a perfectly good hand. If I were to give this compilation to someone who was unfamiliar with E6 collective, I would also hand them a list of albums they should consider listening to. ItAOtS would be at the top of that list.
_____________________________ Weep to Water the Trees.
"This is my main concern with Obama; what if he has been groomed since childhood to blend in with the zionists and infidels? What if he has been led along by a radical islamic terrorist organization and positioned to become an influential politician?
What if Obama gets into White House and turns out to be some crazy muslim terrorist? What do we do then? We'll be pretty screwed. It could happen." -- by some fucking nutjob
Posts: 1996 | Location: The Noog, TN | Registered: 08 April 2007
Big fan of E6 overall, with NMH and of Montreal my tops. I really love The Essex Green's 2006 release "The Cannibal Sea." (For those playing "Six degrees of Elephant," The Essex Green's connection is through Ladybug Transistor, another band not yet mentioned.)
I think that the two most important things E6 did for "indie," were the use of non traditional instrumentation (as seen in subsequent bands like Arcade Fire, and the Decemberists), and the reintroduction of psychedelia.
--------------- I wonder if you're mythologizing me, like I do you
Posts: 1429 | Location: State of Disarray | Registered: 10 January 2007
I think psychedelia has always been a part of the indie scene. Early Flaming Lips, the Butthole Surfers, the Flying Saucer Attack, Galaxy 500, all the shoegaze bands, etc. But what the E6 bands did so well, was they added the pop element-- melding Syd Barrett and the Beatles. They made quirky pop cool again.
_____________________________ Weep to Water the Trees.
"This is my main concern with Obama; what if he has been groomed since childhood to blend in with the zionists and infidels? What if he has been led along by a radical islamic terrorist organization and positioned to become an influential politician?
What if Obama gets into White House and turns out to be some crazy muslim terrorist? What do we do then? We'll be pretty screwed. It could happen." -- by some fucking nutjob
Posts: 1996 | Location: The Noog, TN | Registered: 08 April 2007
I've heard that they've had an album ready for the past year or two and it's just been kinda chillin... no idea on release date.
But what about the Major Organ & the Adding Machine movie coming out? It looks so damn good... get myself some mushrooms and a copy of that; match made in heaven.
