Jeff Mangum

Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum (in plaid) plays in Pittsburgh on October 18, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Jefferson Nigh Mangum
Born	October 24, 1970 (1970-10-24) (age 39) Ruston, Louisiana
Instruments	Guitar, Drums, Bass, Organ, Vocals, Floor tom
Years active	1989–2002, 2009
Labels	Merge Records, Orange Twin Records
Associated acts	Neutral Milk Hotel, Circulatory System, The Olivia Tremor Control, Synthetic Flying Machine, Cranberry Lifecycle, The Apples in Stereo, Major Organ and the Adding Machine, Elf Power
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-125

Jeff Mangum (born October 24, 1970^[1] in Ruston, Louisiana) is a musician best known for being the lyricist, vocalist and guitarist of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as being one of the cofounders of The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Mangum, along with the other members of the Elephant 6, attended Ruston High School in the late 1980s. The friends shared a passion for bands of the 1960s such as The Zombies, as well as an affinity for newer, noisier bands such as Sonic Youth and Minutemen. They reflected these influences in the tapes they recorded and shared with each other, forming the seeds of what would become the Elephant 6 Collective.

With Neutral Milk Hotel

From the ashes of a band called Synthetic Flying Machine, Neutral Milk Hotel was born, with an original line-up of Will and Bill on guitar and bass and Jeff on drums. Around 1995 Jeff decided to leave Synthetic Flying Machine to focus on his own songs. A year of intensive songwriting (some of it accomplished, according to Jeff, while he was living in a haunted closet) in Denver, Colorado with Robert Schneider at his Pet Sounds Studio resulted in his debut album, On Avery Island, released in 1996, which was mostly Rob and Jeff playing Jeff's songs with a few helpful friends. Jeff eventually expanded the line up of Neutral Milk Hotel and in 1998 released what many consider the band's (and indeed, the Elephant Six Collective's) defining album, In the Aeroplane over the Sea.

After Neutral Milk Hotel

The relative success of the album in addition to the pressures of being suddenly thrust into the spotlight took its toll on Mangum, who disbanded Neutral Milk Hotel in 1998 after a tour in support of their latest album. Mangum has kept out of the public eye since then (although not without fans speculating on his whereabouts), only rarely playing acoustic sets and concentrating more on his recorded sound and music collages.

In March 2001, Mangum and Julian Koster (also formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel) contributed to an album called Major Organ and the Adding Machine. Other involved players were Kevin Barnes from the band Of Montreal, Eric Harris and Will Cullen Hart of Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power's Andrew Rieger. ^[2]

In the summer of 2001, he released a compilation of field recordings of Bulgarian folk music called Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I followed by a live album on the Orange Twin label, Live at Jittery Joe's. The set was recorded by filmmaker Lance Bangs in 1997 and was put out to combat the exorbitant sums that Neutral Milk Hotel live albums were selling for on eBay. The CD features a QuickTime movie of the concert performance, but Mangum is backlit and seen mostly in silhouette throughout the video. In 2005, Live at Jittery Joe's was released on LP by Isota Records.

In the summer and fall of 2002, Mangum hosted several radio shows featuring tape loops and other recordings on East Orange, New Jersey station WFMU FM.^[3][4]

On September 19, 2006 it was announced that Mangum would contribute to The Apples in Stereo's new album New Magnetic Wonder. Mangum is reported to be playing "drums, cow object, backing vocals, handclaps".^[5] Mangum also contributed drums to the Circulatory System album, Signal Morning, released in September 2009.

He is married to Astra Taylor, best known for making the documentary film Žižek! about the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek.

In October 2008, Mangum performed the song "Engine" on several stops of the Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise Tour. Prior to these performances, he had not played Neutral Milk Hotel songs in public since 2001. At the Lexington, KY stop, Mangum, Scott Spillane and Julian Koster led concertgoers outside the venue to a nearby tree. Prior to playing Engine, the group surprised the audience with Neutral Milk Hotel's "The Fool". This was, effectively, the closest thing to a Neutral Milk Hotel performance since 1998.

In November 2009, Mangum reappeared from musical obscurity to contribute the song "Sign the Dotted Line" to a Chris Knox tribute album titled "Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox" ^[6].

Discography

With The Olivia Tremor Control

• California Demise (Elephant 6 Records; 7"; 1994)
• Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One

With Major Organ and the Adding Machine

• Major Organ and the Adding Machine (Orange Twin; 2001)

With Neutral Milk Hotel

See Neutral Milk Hotel discography.

As Jeff Mangum

• Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I (Orange Twin; CD; 2001)
• Live at Jittery Joe's (Orange Twin; CD; 2001)
• Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox (Merge; CD; 2009)

External links

• 33 1/3 series - Kim Cooper's book "Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In The Aeroplane Over The Sea'"
• Kevin Griffis, "Have you seen Jeff Mangum?", Creative Loafing, September 4, 2003
• Jeff Mangum discography at MusicBrainz
• Jeff Mangum discography at Discogs
• Video of Halloween 1997 Performance
• Video of Live at Jittery Joes Performance
• Jeff Mangum, Astra Taylor Married, Glorious Noise, January 9, 2008

References