Neutral Milk Hotel

Although psychedelic retro-pop and neohippie experimentalism defined the cadre of affiliated bands known as Elephant 6 (including Apples in Stereo and Olivia Tremor Control), Jeff Mangum's Neutral Milk Hotel stands out as the unique, even visionary, one of the collective -- and the most enigmatic. With Mangum (the group's only constant member) aided primarily by Apples chief Robert Schneider, Neutral Milk Hotel made an impressive debut with On Avery Island. Somewhere between the gloomy Smog and the classic-rocking Guided by Voices on the spectrum of notable mid-'90s lo-fi indie sounds, the record succeeds in blending surrealist lyrics and Sgt. Pepper-like instrumental coloring with punk-rock urgency and nearly gothic atmospheres. Its production limitations and a still-developing songwriting voice were the only slight weaknesses of this terrific effort.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Mangum had put together something resembling an actual band, resulting in a far richer and more organic sound. What's more, the songwriting had blossomed far beyond the bounds of Elephant 6 (or indie rock as a whole), with Mangum etching out timeless transcendentalist pop steeped in a century of American music (from funeral marches to driving punk). All sorts of triumphant brass and quavery organs dress up Mangum's passionate acoustic-guitar strums, irresistible melodies, and lyrics that rarely feel obtuse even when they're nonsensical. Although Aeroplane lacks a single weak track, an opening stretch -- from the brisk introductory chords of "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One" to the fuzzed-out raveup of "Holland, 1945," halfway through -- breezes by particularly flawlessly, shifting without notice among fragile, creaky, dignified, and even ballsy to create the core of a truly great record.

Aeroplane's accomplishment would be hard to top, and in fact Mangum thus far has found it impossible to follow up. While he spent three years in the apparent throes of writer's block and off making field recordings in Bulgaria, the Elephant 6-affiliated label Orange Twin finally interrupted his absence with a pair of archival recordings. Everything Is, which reissued Neutral Milk Hotel's 1995 European-only EP plus a previously unreleased track from the same period, features material that wouldn't have sounded out of place on On Avery Island. The second is a live solo recording by Mangum from a 1997 performance in an Athens, Georgia, coffeehouse. The set combines material from both albums, plus a cover of Phil Spector's "I Love How You Love Me" and previously unreleased Mangum songs. (RONI SARIG)

From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide