The self-described "fuzz-folk" project
Neutral Milk Hotel was one of the primary outgrowths of the Elephant 6 Recording Company collective, a coterie of like-minded lo-fi indie groups -- including the Apples in Stereo,
the Olivia Tremor Control, and
Secret Square -- who shared musicians, ideas, and sensibilities. While ranging in sound and concept from solo acoustic work to full-band performances,
Neutral Milk Hotel essentially remained the work of
Jeff Mangum, a singer/songwriter from the remote town of Ruston, Louisiana. Ruston was also home to
Robert Schneider (later of
the Apples), as well as William Cullen Hart and
Bill Doss (who formed
the Olivia Tremor Control); throughout high school, the aspiring musicians -- all influenced by the likes of
the Beatles,
the Beach Boys,
the Zombies,
Pink Floyd, and
Sonic Youth -- exchanged home recordings and played in each other's bands.
Neutral Milk Hotel first took shape in 1989 as a noise rock trio that played its debut gig at a local laundromat; a year later,
Mangum, Hart, and
Doss moved to Athens, Georgia, to form the group Cranberry Life Cycle, which later became Synthetic Flying Machine (and ultimately
the Olivia Tremor Control) after
Mangum's departure. In 1993, he and
Schneider relocated to Denver, Colorado, where
Schneider soon founded the Apples in Stereo. Eventually,
Mangum gravitated to New York and resumed recording under the
Neutral Milk Hotel aegis. After a series of singles and privately released cassettes, including Invent Yourself a Shortcake,
Beauty, and Hype City,
Mangum traveled back to Denver to record the critically acclaimed 1996 album
On Avery Island on
Schneider's four-track machine; in the the spring of 1997 he again returned to Colorado to begin work on the follow-up, the brilliant
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi