I did a search, but couldn't find any one thread dedicated to Elephant 6 bands. I like what I've heard, the music continues to grow with my imagination, and I was hoping you guys could recommend some of your favorite projects from this group.
Thanks.
Elephant 6
-
chimologic
- Posts: 221
- Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 10:20 am
-
dialecticbricks
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 9:56 pm
Elephant 6, really exists no more and hasn't for quite a while. It was originally just a banner for a handful of friends to rally around in Louisiana in the late 80's and early nineties. As they moved apart they kept the name of the "loose collective" to bond them together despite living thousands of miles apart. Robert Schneider ran Elephant 6 West, they put out a couple 7"s and a ton of wonderful cassettes by Sunshine Fix,Synthetic Flying Machine,Always Red Society,Von Hemmling,Neutral Milk Hotel,Marbles and maybe a few more I'd have to rummage through a few old cassette boxes to remember. Will Hart ran E6 East out of Athens all I remember coming out of that was the first Olivia 7", a fantastic record, there may have been more that were available to their close friends but I can't say as I was still in Louisiana at the time.
As more notoriety,press, what have you accrued the name was probably less necessary even a hindrance to them though they did give the E6 blessing to some bands that were'nt a part of the original Louisiana based fold like Of Montreal and Beulah and others like The Gerbils whose roots did stretch back the Ruston,La days. As they got older had kids,more divergent interests etc some of them drifted apart creatively and the name effectively died out/fell into disuse.
However take none of this as gospel just one man's viewpoint who was around in the early days. I'm sure the folks directly involved would have a different take would be better versed than me.
That said some of my fondest memories are of seeing the Olivia Tremor Control at the old Drydock in Ruston,Louisiana in 92 or 93 or at house parties. Or seeing Jeff Mangum (NMH for all intents and purposes was a one-man until the full lengths, orig Jeff just recording under the name Milk) kill the crowd with just a tiny amplifier and an acoustic guitar opening for Yo La Tengo in a tiny warehouse in Shreveport,Louisiana in 94. Various out of town bands from Beat Happening, Sebadoh,Low or whomever playing in the tiny dining room of the Monroe Street House in Ruston with whatever E6 band were around at the time opening. The wondrously, freeform Clay Bears playing the world's shortest gig at Enoch's in Monroe,La or open mike nights and gigs at the Tomkat Club. My second to last night living in Louisiana I had the opportunity to see the Gerbils,Neutral Milk Hotel and the touring Chocolate USA (w/whom Bill Doss of OTC was playing bass for at the time) crowd the tiny Monroe St House with maybe a 100 people or so crowding the living room, the stairwell and hanging out of the front door of the house. The atmosphere was like a family reunion and each band wrung out every note like it was their last. Jeff dueting w/the Gerbils on "Glue" with the fervor of a tent revival preacher collapsing into the drumset as the song climaxed or Chocolate USA playing so loud and the crowd jumping up and down in time to them you could almost feel the floor buckle under your feet. Post-gig a dozen or more of so crowded in the local Huddle House for breakfast and maybe my memory is a bit foggy but I seem to recall one person starting and everyone else chiming in singing the Mountain Goats' "Window Song" until the place was nearly empty and the waitresses weren't sure whether to call the cops or join in singing. I packed up my car and left a day later. I must've listened to the tape of the gig the night before I made on Scott Spillane's little handheld tape recorder ten times on the drive from La to Va.
I stopped in Ruston a year or so later on my way to Dallas,Tx but almost everyone was gone. Onto Texas or Georgia or California or elsewhere. The Monroe St House was boarded up and more dilapidated than ever. I took one last photograph of the house post-mortem and a shot of the Gerbils graffiti on a lampost up the street in front of the supermarket and kept on driving.
They were some of the happiest times of my life. I carry around the memories still like a picture of an old lover in a golden heart locket. I feel blessed to have been in those guys presence as they were learning their craft and I still look forward to hosting any of them whenever their bands come through town which is far too infrequently these days.
People can say what they will about the records but I never saw any group of people put so much effort and love into every note that they played at that time and I still haven't. God bless the many ships of the Elephant 6 and all who sailed them.
Clay Bears at the Monroe Street House,
As more notoriety,press, what have you accrued the name was probably less necessary even a hindrance to them though they did give the E6 blessing to some bands that were'nt a part of the original Louisiana based fold like Of Montreal and Beulah and others like The Gerbils whose roots did stretch back the Ruston,La days. As they got older had kids,more divergent interests etc some of them drifted apart creatively and the name effectively died out/fell into disuse.
However take none of this as gospel just one man's viewpoint who was around in the early days. I'm sure the folks directly involved would have a different take would be better versed than me.
That said some of my fondest memories are of seeing the Olivia Tremor Control at the old Drydock in Ruston,Louisiana in 92 or 93 or at house parties. Or seeing Jeff Mangum (NMH for all intents and purposes was a one-man until the full lengths, orig Jeff just recording under the name Milk) kill the crowd with just a tiny amplifier and an acoustic guitar opening for Yo La Tengo in a tiny warehouse in Shreveport,Louisiana in 94. Various out of town bands from Beat Happening, Sebadoh,Low or whomever playing in the tiny dining room of the Monroe Street House in Ruston with whatever E6 band were around at the time opening. The wondrously, freeform Clay Bears playing the world's shortest gig at Enoch's in Monroe,La or open mike nights and gigs at the Tomkat Club. My second to last night living in Louisiana I had the opportunity to see the Gerbils,Neutral Milk Hotel and the touring Chocolate USA (w/whom Bill Doss of OTC was playing bass for at the time) crowd the tiny Monroe St House with maybe a 100 people or so crowding the living room, the stairwell and hanging out of the front door of the house. The atmosphere was like a family reunion and each band wrung out every note like it was their last. Jeff dueting w/the Gerbils on "Glue" with the fervor of a tent revival preacher collapsing into the drumset as the song climaxed or Chocolate USA playing so loud and the crowd jumping up and down in time to them you could almost feel the floor buckle under your feet. Post-gig a dozen or more of so crowded in the local Huddle House for breakfast and maybe my memory is a bit foggy but I seem to recall one person starting and everyone else chiming in singing the Mountain Goats' "Window Song" until the place was nearly empty and the waitresses weren't sure whether to call the cops or join in singing. I packed up my car and left a day later. I must've listened to the tape of the gig the night before I made on Scott Spillane's little handheld tape recorder ten times on the drive from La to Va.
I stopped in Ruston a year or so later on my way to Dallas,Tx but almost everyone was gone. Onto Texas or Georgia or California or elsewhere. The Monroe St House was boarded up and more dilapidated than ever. I took one last photograph of the house post-mortem and a shot of the Gerbils graffiti on a lampost up the street in front of the supermarket and kept on driving.
They were some of the happiest times of my life. I carry around the memories still like a picture of an old lover in a golden heart locket. I feel blessed to have been in those guys presence as they were learning their craft and I still look forward to hosting any of them whenever their bands come through town which is far too infrequently these days.
People can say what they will about the records but I never saw any group of people put so much effort and love into every note that they played at that time and I still haven't. God bless the many ships of the Elephant 6 and all who sailed them.
Clay Bears at the Monroe Street House,
-
user_140
I like a majority of the Elephant 6 releases, but a few stand out. I think all of the Olivia Tremor Control stuff is amazing, and I would number Dusk At Cubist Castle among the best debut full-length releases of all time. Neutral Milk Hotel is also awesome. I like Elf Power, Great Lakes, Of Montreal (inconsistent, but good), and the VERY bizarre Music Tapes. I'm also a big Apples In Stereo fan. They appeal to my pop side, and have come up with some of the more memorable tunes of recent years. Circulatory System and Sunshine Fix are both great too.
As far as clunkers go, I never really warmed up to Secret Square or the Gerbils.
As far as clunkers go, I never really warmed up to Secret Square or the Gerbils.
-
user_3
I really like both Olivia Tremor Control full-lengths, and there was a cool musique concrete record under the name Black Swan Network that I also liked a lot.
I never liked anything else I heard by the E6 crew and I intensely hated that much-touted Neutral Milk Hotel record, it made me want to punch that guy.
I never liked anything else I heard by the E6 crew and I intensely hated that much-touted Neutral Milk Hotel record, it made me want to punch that guy.
-
franz bieberkopf
- Posts: 642
- Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 9:33 pm
-
user_138
-
user_125
-
user_120
-
user_30
just email cloud recordings, i'm pretty sure that john fernandez is the guy that answers all their email. he's a nice guy, but man is he weird. when circ. system played wake radio's concert i got to talk to all of them, cool guys. also cool thing about the show: their encore was "the opera house" which, considering how incredibly drunk i was plus memories with a late high school/early college infatuation with otc, i was a bit overenthusiastic.
-
dialecticbricks
- Posts: 249
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 9:56 pm
john fernandes is a great guy. he and i used to do a radio show together maybe 11 or 12 years ago at KLPI. It was always alot of fun getting together with him. If you happen to email him again ask him if there are any plans to reissue the Sock the Monkey cassette tape on CD and watch as he responds in shock and horror.
db
db
-
user_98
-
user_243
i hadn't gone back to those OTC discs for quite some time until recently and i was very impressed as to how well they have stood up over time. they're both quite solid and there's really no filler there. they had a couple of throwaway tracks that popped up on comps/singles, etc, but on the body of their work i think it is OTC and not NMH that was the most consistent (and best) e6 band.