Now that Jeff Mangum is touring again — and sounding great — it’s time for all the obsessive Neutral Milk Hotel fans to come out of the woodwork. Take, for example, the apparently anonymous soul who has created an NMH-themed video game called In the Time Machine Over the Sea. The 16-bit-style diversion features characters from throughout the band’s mythology, from Anne Frank and, erm, Adolf Hitler to Mangum himself. Opinion seems to be split among the devotees at Elephant 6′s message board; while some fans enjoy the game, others complain that because it came out of 4chan, “It’s less about Aeroplane and more about… 4chan.” Luckily, trying it out and deciding for yourself will cost you nothing: You can watch the trailer after the jump and download it for free here.
We’ve seen Jeff Mangum get onstage and sing a few choruses at his Elephant 6 pals’ shows over the past few years, and even caught some grainy video of him performing Neutral Milk Hotel songs at a benefit last May. If anything, those brief glimpses make us even more grateful to Stereogum for pointing us to a downloadable, high-quality recording of Mangum’s recent performance in Toronto. Thanks to Southern Souls, you can hear him singing most of NMH’s best songs, including about half of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, “Song Against Sex,” a Roky Erickson, and even amusing the crowd with banter. Most importantly, Mangum sounds fantastic — confident, strong, and with a voice just as textured and emotive as we remember it. Do yourself a favor and stream or download the set here. [Image via]
Thanks to the wonders of DVR, we watched last night’s back-to-back episodes of Parks and Recreation pretty late. So, when we woke up this morning, we sort of assumed we had daydreamed the part where Leslie orders Ann to read Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, Leslie and Ben’s discussion of two real dorms from our alma mater (Johns Hopkins University), and especially the substantial subplot about April preferring Neutral Milk Hotel to Andy’s band. Thankfully, there are clips to confirm that we were not, in fact, hallucinating. If you missed Parks and Rec yesterday, you can watch the episode after the jump. The relevant clip begins about five minute in, after which NMH pops up throughout the remainder of the show.
The best tattoos have a deeply personal meaning for the person whose body they adorn. So it makes sense that music fans would want to decorate their skin with lyrics to their best-loved songs — or the art from their favorite album. After the jump, we round up 20 fantastic tattoos inspired by equally wonderful album covers, from Bob Dylan and The Smiths to PJ Harvey and Kanye West.
It appears that Jeff Mangum, the lyricist and lead vocalist of wildly adored indie band Neutral Milk Hotel and one of the founders of the Elephant 6 Recording Company, is finally coming back from that dark place he left us for so long ago. Not only has he been popping up in the most unexpected (or actually, totally expected, if one were expecting him at all) places with more and more frequency over the past couple of years, but he has even broken down and played some classic NMH songs in recent appearances. Now, it seems that he will return in full force, with a series of shows starting in August that promise to be Actual Jeff Mangum Shows. Clearly, we couldn’t be more thrilled that the core of our favorite band from age 16 to present will be returning to us in the flesh. Click through for a (mostly) video timeline of Mangum’s appearances in recent years, slowly, quietly and secretly leading up to the current day.
If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: everyone’s favorite chosen-child-boy-wizard, Harry James Potter.
It is often a bad idea to get song lyrics tattooed on your body. Really, who wants to be a 40-something mother of three with, say, a Dashboard Confessional tramp stamp that dates back to high school? Our friends at Buzzfeed have rounded up 22 truly awful lyric tattoos, from a misspelled Goo Goo Dolls line to what appears to be a toilet paper roll bearing the words of Staind. As music fans, we knew there had to be at least a few decent song lyric tattoos out there. After the jump, 13 that we can get behind.
Oh, and people? Lay off of “Love will tear us apart” and “There is a light that will never go out” for a while, OK?
Musicians are, almost by definition, exhibitionist types — given to loud costumes, flashy spectacles, well-publicized romances, and various publicity stunts. But how about the exceptions that prove the rule, those recluses who have always made their music in seclusion, shied away from performing, or retreated to a shack in the middle of nowhere after years of fame? You may question what’s driven them away from the adoration of millions, but in the end, you also have to respect them for refusing to cash in and feed tabloid culture.
In fact, December has been a big month for these mysterious iconoclasts, what with Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum showing up to perform a set in Brooklyn and Lauryn Hill announcing a string of tour dates. After the jump, we take a look at the careers of some of music’s most reclusive artists, from Syd Barrett and Scott Walker to Hill and Mangum.
1. In his first on-camera interview since the release of The Social Network on 60 Minutes last night, Mark Zuckerberg revealed details about the new look of your Facebook profile. Watch it here here.
2. Were you one of the 75 people who watched Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum play a very rare surprise show at a Bushwick loft space called The Schoolhouse on Saturday night? If not, check out some audio clips here. [via The Measure]
3. George Lucas may be trying to digitally resurrect dead actors in order to have them all star in a movie together. [via Collider]
4. “Now let me try to answer the question you might be asking yourself at this point: was I boring? Yes, I might have been. In hindsight, I probably should have read a few pages from my book to give the audience a feel for it, and I did struggle with a few explanations. But I was not lazy and neither was Deborah. We were both working very hard at our task.” – Steve Martin responds to ArtWorldInterviewgate
5. Tumblr went down yesterday afternoon, and it’s still down now. So, what are we supposed to do with our day? [via The Next Web]
We are total Gleeks. And while we love hearing top ten hits in four-part harmony every week, our favorite episodes are those that pay tribute to particular pop artists. After the wildly popular Madonna episode (and confirmation of a followup), and in anticipation of tonight’s Lady Gaga spectacular, we started thinking about which indie artists we’d most like to see covered by the McKinley High School Glee Club. Is it so crazy to hope that Puck sports an ironic mustache or Rachel Berry trades in her patterned sweaters for thick-rimmed glasses? We don’t think so.
