The discography of Neutral Milk Hotel, a Ruston, Louisiana-based indie rock group, consists of two studio albums, two singles, two extended plays, two compilation albums, and three demos.
Neutral Milk Hotel formed in 1989 as an offshoot of Milk, a high school musical project of singer-songwriter Jeff Mangum,Cooper (2005). p. 9 and the band was largely a Mangum solo project in the group's earlier days.DeRogatis (2003). p. 541 The group was a part of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, a collective of musicians that includes, among others, notable indie rock bands The Apples in Stereo, The Olivia Tremor Control, and Of Montreal. The 1993 single "Everything Is" was the band's first release, and it would later be reissued as an EP with additional tracks. The band's first studio album, On Avery Island, was released on the independent label Merge, and has sold a relatively high 5,000 copies. Afterwards, the band began to tour for the first time, and grew to include horns player Scott Spillane, multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster, and drummer Jeremy Barnes. In 1998 the band released In the Aeroplane Over the Sea on Merge, an album which has since become one of the most popular and acclaimed indie rock albums of the 1990s. Up until 2011's Ferris Wheel on Fire EP, the band had no new releases since In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, though Mangum has said "I don't know what's going to happen, but I certainly want to make music a bigger part of my life in the future than it has been for the last couple of years."Fierma, Marci. "Interview: Neutral Milk Hotel ". Pitchfork Media, February 1, 2002. Retrieved on August 26, 2007.
Albums Studio albums + List of albums, with selected chart positions Title Album details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications USVinyl On Avery Island Released: March 26, 1996 (US); September 30, 1996 (UK) Label: Merge (MRG #103), Fire (Fire #53) Formats: CD, vinyl — US: 5,000 +Cooper (2005). p. 37 In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Released: February 10, 1998 (US); May 18, 1998 (UK) Label: Merge (MRG #136), Blue Rose (BRRC #10192), Domino (Domino #21) Formats: CD, vinyl 12 US: 393,000 BPI: Silver "—" denotes a recording that did not chart
Compilation albums Title Album information Walking Wall of Words Released: December 12, 2011 Label: Neutral Milk Hotel Records Formats: vinyl The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel Released: February 24, 2023 Label: Merge Records Formats: vinyl
Extended plays Title Album details Everything Is Released: 1993 Label: Cher Doll (Cher #002), Fire (Blaze #079), Orange Twin (OTR #005), Neutral Milk Hotel (NMH #001) Formats: 7", 10", CD, digital download Ferris Wheel on Fire Released: December 12, 2011 Label: Neutral Milk Hotel Records Formats: 10", digital download
Singles Title Year Album "Holland, 1945" 1998 In the Aeroplane Over the Sea "You've Passed"/"Where You'll Find Me Now" 2011 Walking Wall of Words "Little Birds"
Demos Year Information Formats 1990 Beauty (Milk demo) Label: self released CS 1991 Invent Yourself a Shortcake Label: The Elephant 6 Recording Company CS 1992 Beauty Label: Elephant 6 CS 1993 Hype City Soundtrack Label: Elephant 6 CS Unreleased Demo #1 CS 1994 Shannon's Monroe House Demo CS Unreleased Demo #2 CS
Miscellaneous Year Song Album Comments 1993 "Ruby Bulbs" Those Pre-phylloxera YearsThe title is sometimes spelled "Rubby Bulbs" because of someone misspelling it.1994 "Up and Over" Amazing Phantom Third Channel The original version of the song "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Three" from In the Aeroplane over the Sea. "Bucket"Cramer, Stephen. "[ Periscope: Another Yoyo Compilation]". Allmusic. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. Periscope: Another Yoyo Compilation Taken from the band's July 1994 Yoyo A Gogo Festival performance. 1995 "Invent Yourself a Shortcake" Champagne Dancing Party Taken from an improvisational collaboration with members of Olivia Tremor Control. "Everything Is"Bachner, Gavin. "Compilations with Neutral Milk Hotel tracks". neutralmilkhotel.org. Retrieved on September 3, 2007. Appetite For Swag Originally appeared on "Everything Is" 1996 "Love Me on a Tuesday""[ Yo-Yo a Go-Go]". Allmusic. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. Yo-Yo a Go-Go The same song as "Tuesday Moon",Bachner, Gavin. "Neutral Milk Hotel Song Index". neutralmilkhotel.org. Retrieved on September 12, 2007. which appeared on Everything Is, Hype City Soundtrack, and Invent Yourself A Shortcake. "(Untitled)" Ptolemaic Terrascope This track is a different song than the untitled tenth track from In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. 1997 "Glue" A cover of a song by The Gerbils. "Naomi" Originally appeared on On Avery Island. 1998 "Everything Is"Phares, Heather. "[ I Wouldn't Piss On It If It Was On Fire [Fire/2 Disc]]". Allmusic. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. I Wouldn't Piss On It If It Was On Fire Originally appeared on "Everything Is". "Oh Comely (live)" More Than You Can Ask Or Imagine Live version of "Oh Comely" from In the Aeroplane over the Sea recorded at the 1997 Terrastock festival. "Oh Comely" 9 O'Clock in the Morning Originally appeared on In the Aeroplane over the Sea. 1999 "Engine"Phares, Heather. "[ Oh, Merge: Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation]". Allmusic. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. Originally appeared on "Holland, 1945". 2000 Songs for Summer Originally appeared on In the Aeroplane over the Sea 2002 Orange Twin Records Sampler The compilation also contains two Mangum solo tracks. 2004 Old Enough to Know Better Originally appeared on On Avery Island
Unreleased songs There are several songs which have been written and performed by Neutral Milk Hotel but have not officially released. These include songs that have only been performed live and songs that have appeared on unreleased demo tapes. Mangum stated that he has written songs possibly intended for a future Neutral Milk Hotel release, although these songs went unnamed; the only known song written after In the Aeroplane over the Sea is "Little Birds". The following are titled unreleased songs by Neutral Milk Hotel.
"Sweet Marie"Bachner, Gavin. "Other Neutral Milk Hotel Rarities". neutralmilkhotel.org. Retrieved on September 2, 2007. "Love You More Than Life" "Candy Coated Dream" "Through My Tears" "I Hear You Breathe" "Random Noise II" "Random Noise III" "Jennifer"
"All the Colors of the Rainbow" "She Did A Lot of Acid/Beautiful Baby" "Worms In The Wind" "Goldaline"Cooper (2005). p. 75 "Now There is Nothing"
I From the first untitled demo tape. "Candy Coated Dream" has since been released as "Unborn" on the 2011 re-release of "Everything Is". II From the second untitled demo tape. III Although never released in full, the last verse of "Oh Comely" is taken from "Goldaline".
See also The Apples in Stereo discography Live at Jittery Joe's Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I
References
General "". neutralmilkhotel.net. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. "Neutral Milk Hotel discography". Merge Records. Retrieved on August 26, 2007. Bachner, Gavin. "Neutral Milk Hotel releases". neutralmilkhotel.org. Retrieved on September 2, 2007. Cooper, Kim (2005). In the Aeroplane over the Sea 33⅓. (New York) Continuum International Publishing Group. . DeRogatis, Jim (2003). Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. (Milwaukee) Hal Leonard Corporation. . Specific
External links
Neutral Milk Hotel at Elephant 6 Neutral Milk Hotel at Merge Records