Prepare to stain your mountaintops…
Jeff Mangum (the J.D. Salinger of the music world) has awakened from his eternal slumber in R’lyeh, and, upon discovering that the internet survived past 1998, decided to finally launch an official Neutral Milk Hotel website. However, instead of being just a retrogressive shrine to the late greatness of his project, the website contains information regarding new fucking releases from the band (kind of).
On November 22, Mangum will release a vinyl box set (at last, a reason to use that record player you picked up at Walmart to impress that chick you met at the coffee shop!), which will compile the band’s entire discography (all two albums). The interesting part is that the set will include 15 previously unreleased tracks (which I’m assuming Mangum put a bit of effort into polishing up, so that they don’t sound like a mosquito buzzing around in a tin can). The set includes the band’s two studio LPs, On Avery Island and the immortal In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It’ll also include the Everything Is EP (in expanded 10-inch format with bonus tracks), a 7-inch that includes unreleased and live versions of the song “Little Birds,” another 7-inch with early four-track versions of “You’ve Passed” and “Where You’ll Find Me Now”, the previously released Holland 1945 7-inch, and a final 10-inch EP that compiles the rest of the unreleased material (original title Unreleased Songs About Nazis, Masturbation, and Ghosts scrapped for Ferris Wheel on Fire). The box set also comes with two 24” x 24” posters to hang up in your college dorm (Jeff Mangum still doesn’t realize you graduated college a long time ago).
You can/should also go ahead and stream two of the unreleased tracks — “Oh Sister” and “Ferris Wheel on Fire” — at the new website. The two songs will also be sold on Bandcamp starting November 22 for a “pay-what-you-wish” price model (isn’t that cute?), and if you’re dying to know but are too lazy to find out, yes, the two songs are awesome. Interestingly, the first song (about masturbation, of course) includes some of the lyrics from the band’s epic “Oh, Comely”.
The website also contains some extra information, including a promise of additional solo Mangum tourdates on the horizon, a 30-minute radio program hosted by Mangum (which will be updated regularly), and the option to buy some of Mangum’s childish scribblings (you know, for kids!) at $15 a pop!
Ferris Wheel on Fire EP tracklisting:
A1. Oh Sister
A2. Ferris Wheel on Fire
A3. Home
A4. April 8th
B1. I Will Bury You in Time
B2. Engine
B3. A Baby for Pree/Glow into You
B4. My Dream Girl Don’t Exist
Jeff Mangum tourdates:
09.07.11 - Northampton, MA - Academy of Music Theatre
09.09.11 - Cambridge, MA - Sanders Theatre (Harvard University)
09.10.11 - Boston, MA - Jordan Hall (New England Conservatory)
09.26.11 - Baltimore, MD - 2640 Space (St. John’s Church)
09.27.11 - Baltimore, MD - 2640 Space (St. John’s Church)
09.30.11 - Asbury Park, NJ - Paramount Theatre (ATP)
10.02.11 - Asbury Park, NJ - Paramount Theatre (ATP)
10.03.11 - Asbury Park, NJ - Paramount Theatre (ATP)
10.27.11 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater (Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary Benefit)
10.29.11 - New York, NY - Town Hall
11.06.11 - Jersey City, NJ - Loew’s Theatre
11.30.11 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s
12.04.11 - Minehead, UK - ATP Curated by Jeff Magnum
12.08-09.11 - London, UK - Union Chapel
• Neutral Milk Hotel: http://walkingwallofwords.com
