Monday, August 29th 2011
News: Neutral Milk Hotel
Listen To Two Unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel Songs
It must be a wonderful feeling to know that even after 10 years of complete reclusion, you are not forgotten. Notorious indie hermit Jeff Mangum’s recent reemergence has been a much-talked-about marvel in many musical circles. The Neutral Milk Hotel frontman, who back in 1998 after the release of the groundbreaking In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - frightened of celebrity and the panic of never being able to top himself – abruptly disappeared, quietly announced several North American solo shows earlier this year with each of them selling out in mere minutes after they went public.
Fans thought that this short string of dates may indeed be the last hurrah that Mangum never received. However, now it seems to be more than what we thought. Mangum’s short tour seems to be extending, and he’s announced a great number of exciting future releases for the second-half of 2011.
On a newly refurbished Neutral Milk Hotel website, Mangum revealed that on November 22nd, he will be self-releasing a massive vinyl-only box-set of Neutral Milk Hotel’s entire discography (this includes the band’s two widely-praised LPs, the Everything Is EP, and a great collection of 7” from the short-lived band’s history) with a bonus EP featuring never-heard-before songs that will surely be considered a gem for both collectors and the casual Neutral Milk Hotel fans. Two of those unreleased songs respectively titled Oh Sister and Ferris Wheel on Fire are currently available for steaming on the website, which you can also listen to by clicking here.
Also on the website is a strange radio program called Songs, helmed by Mangum himself. You can also listen to the first of hopefully many episodes by clicking here. For those hoping that the soundtrack to Mangum’s seclusion featured a great many variety of Western indie rock and post-dubstep electro-folk, they will surely be disappointed, as the episode features mostly traditional Eastern European folk music (which Mangum has always been enthralled by) that could certainly prove a treat for those yearning to listen to something dissimilar from the music we are usually accustomed to.
Neutral Milk Hotel’s music has regularly been typecast as “hipster-music,” a word that not a great many of people hope to be labeled under. The band’s music however surpasses such tags, as it has influenced a wide array of artists and the entire genre of “indie rock”. The music world lost a great artist with Jeff Mangum’s disappearance in ’98, and so this resurgence is certainly one that we hope will continue and evolve in many years to come.
