Jeff Mangum's World of Wild Beards

A News Blog for Friends of the Elephant 6 Recording Company

Jeff Mangum's World of Wild Beards

Published Thursday, March 02, 2006 by Jeff | E-mail this post

Cable and Tweed happen to be hosting the performance of Wild World of Beards from King's Arms in New Zealand, February 4, 2001.

And what's that?

Well, this band called Neutral Milk Hotel presumably split up shortly after the release of the seminal Elephant 6 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. But on 2/4/01, Jeff Mangum showed up in a club in New Zealand with Laura Carter of Elf Power and the Tall Dwarfs' Chris Knox--and began to sing. This is the last known complete performance by Mr. Mangum, although he's turned up guesting on various albums (most notably Major Organ and the Adding Machine) and has joined Circulatory System, Elf Power, and Olivia Tremor Control on tour. So we indie music freaks consider this recording historic. And I've never listened to it. I will remedy this super-quick.

And speaking of Cable and Tweed, they have a nice post, with MP3s, on the topic of Chocolate USA, the band that Julian Koster forged before going on to The Music Tapes.

Thanks again to Cable and Tweed for pointing us in the right direction.