Jeff Mangum & Olivia Tremor Control

Well, there he is folks...the elusive sasquatch of indie rock...Jeff Mangum! Right before the disbelieving eyes of some lucky New Yorkers.

In the 90's, Jeff Mangum and his band Neutral Milk Hotel produced two of the best albums of the decade (On Avery Island & In the Aeroplane Over the Sea). In fact, In the Aeropane is arguably one of the best albums of all-time. But then Mangum stopped producing music and just disappeared. There were occasionally stories about him doing field recordings of Bulgarian folk music and playing collections of odd sounds during an overnight slot on WFMU but other than that, he was gone. The J.D. Salinger of his genre.

But last night, we had a spotting of the man when he joined Olivia Tremor Conrol on stage at the Bowery Ballroom for a pair of songs. The recently reunited OTC are friends of Mangum's and important members of the Elephant 6 recording collective with Neutral Milk Hotel and Robert Schneider (mentioned below). So, it makes sense that he would appear with them. The question is whether this means that he ready to resume his career. I'm not too hopeful but this is at least promising.

Here are a few tunes from Mangum performing solo on British radio in May 1998 and a pair of tunes from Olivia Tremor Control's brilliant 1999 Pet Sounds-inspired album Black Foliage.

Jeff Mangum - King of Carrot Flowers - Part 3
Jeff Mangum - Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone

Olivia Tremor Control - A Peculiar Noise Called "Train Conductor"
Olivia Tremor Control - Hideaway

Also, SPIN has a brief clip of the historic moment last night at the Bowery Ballroom.

Thanks to Stereogum for the OTC mp3 links.
Thanks to Prefix for the picture.