Today at Optical Atlas we've added the MP3s of Neutral Milk Hotel's early cassette-only release Hype City Soundtrack (1993). As rare as the actual cassette is, it's one of the most heavily-bootlegged and file-shared releases out there, so if you're reading Optical Atlas, there's a damn good chance you already have a copy. And the cassette is incredible. The first Neutral Milk Hotel work to approach the form of an album (the first cassettes were a hodgepodge of experimental collages, dialogue, and snatches of songs, and give the impression that Jeff Mangum was only making them for his close friends, rather than a wider audience), Hype City gives a fine suggestion of the brilliance to come rocketing forth in On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. You could see it as a transitional recording--there's still the prank-addled playfulness of the early pieces, which is easier to take when bookended by the beautiful melodies of "Wood Guitar," "Engine," and the like. I haven't shared much in the way of NMH MP3s on this site simply because I figure fans are die-hard enough to have everything, but in this case I think it would be nice to make the most accessible NMH cassette more widely available, at least for a little while.

As usual with all MP3s I host, if I've stepped on any toes in Elephant 6, I will take it down ASAP. For now, you can download the tracks here.