NMH Definitive Discography pt. 3:
Misc. / Other

[Milk cassettes]

Milk - Compilation
© 1987, 88, 89, 90 you in a box music
Side 1:
You f*cking b*tch (someone cussing to music) - 0:59
We are made of skin and bones - 1:48
Pull your hands over your head - 1:10
Rubby Bulbs - 1:28
Noises and screaming - 1:27
Oh I try to see (dial tone and busy signals also) - 2:00
Safety and shield - 2:25
Oh Baby Strawberry - 1:00
She wore a string of tiny bells around her ankle - 1:07
The dust in the corner (save all the clowns) - 0:54
Our Love - 1:19
Noises with fuzzy language I can't understand - 1:55
More Noises - 0:46
That's just the way it goes - 2:32
Weight of the world … I feel nothing at all - 1:30
There is danger everywhere - 2:12
Noises and Piano - 1:39
We Breathe Skin Every Day - 1:02
No one understands you when you're down - 1:08
More Noises - 1:18
Saw the Radiator - 1:11
Side 2:
Goodbye My Friend - 2:43
Woke up this morning and I was dead - 1:33
She made sculptures of hard clay - 1:21
Noises and TV Dialog - 1:00
Strawberry Shirt - 1:00
Noises - 1:30
The happy head (my best friend) - 3:59
In the springtime - 1:07
Inferiority Complex - 0:51
Save all the clowns, a radio transmitter - 1:15
World - 1:25
A hollow head - 1:30
A big hole in my head - 2:04
Noises - 2:35
Beautiful Eyes - 1:39
Took a trip inside my mind… - 1:14
Sing me a song - 1:57

Comments: Before Jeff started using the name Neutral Milk Hotel, he made a few cassettes under the name Milk. These tapes were usually just one-offs, or perhaps he dubbed a few copies, but just homemade cassettes to share with friends. This tape is a compilation of songs and noises recorded from 1987 - 1990. Side A is from '87, '88, and '89, while the second side is all from '90. It has not circulated online, unfortunately. The tracklists and photo are courtesy of someone going by the pseudonym Alfred Hybrid, who was asked by Elephant 6 not to share the recordings. The only song on the tracklist recognizable to NMH fans seems to be an early version of "Rubby Bulbs". This tape did not come with a tracklist, so these titles are arrived at using contained words or best guesses. Alfred had this to say about the tape: "Of this hour of tape, there are a few absolutely wonderful songs that really stand out from the noise. Safety and Shield, Beautiful Eyes, Goodbye My Friend, In the Springtime are a few of them (again, guessing on titles)."

Milk - Pygmie Barn in E minor

Comments: This self-released tape was done in 1989. The tracklisting is not known. On the cover is written "all songs: j.m. '89. art: w. cullen hart." ..that's all that's known about it, and the music has not been made public, unfortunately for fans of Mr. Mangum. Cover pic from the elephant6.com website.. contributed by Will Hart.

Milk - Beauty
Side 1:
Rubby Bulbs (beginning verse and other stuff) - 1:24
You Bled Quite a Bit - 1:22
Raising Cattle - 0:28
Saw the Radiator - 1:09
Side 2:
Oh Penelope - 1:39
Oh Baby Strawberry - 0:57
We Breathe Skin Every Day - 1:03
Inferiority Complex - 0:48
Noises - 1:05

Comments: This cassette was recorded by Jeff alone in his bedroom during December 1990. It has not circulated online, unfortunately. The tracklists and photos are courtesy of someone going by the pseudonym Alfred Hybrid, who was asked by Elephant 6 not to share the recordings. The only song on the tracklist recognizable to NMH fans seems to be an early version of "Rubby Bulbs". This tape did not come with a tracklist, so these titles are arrived at using contained words or best guesses. This Milk demo tape should not be confused with the Neutral Milk Hotel demo tape of the same name.

[Neutral Milk Hotel unreleased demo tapes]

Invent Yourself a Shortcake
 1. Digestion Machine - 6:12
 2. Calypso Part One - 3:28
 3. My Dreamgirl Don't Exist - 2:10
 4. Calypso Part Two - 1:31
 5. Chocolate Coffin - 3:41
 6. Sinking Ship - 4:45
 7. Random Noise - 1:54
 8. Jaw Harp 1:42
 9. A&E Melody - 2:13
10. Prank Call - 4:01
11. More Noise - 1:15
12. Synthetic Flying Machine - 2:16
13. Charlotte - 4:14
14. Love You On A Tuesday - 1:37
15. Spooky Sounds - 2:01
16. Preacherman - 3:47

Comments: Said to date back to 1991, this cassette actually predates Elephant 6 (the recording company started by Jeff Mangum and his friends), and it's debatable whether to consider it an actual "album" or just a collection of recordings Jeff put together. No original physical copy is known; chances are he put this tape together for friends to check out and it wound up online eventually. It should also be noted that many of the "known" song titles may have in fact been concocted by fans, and not the actual titles given by Jeff. As for the content, the guy at the sashwap NMH fansite said it best: "some interesting ditties and some appalling noise. this is the embryonic NMH and it's not pretty." Much of this demo is made up of odd dialog and grating sound collages. Even the great song Jeff had called "My Dreamgirl Don't Exist" is manipulated/sabotaged horribly, nowhere near as brilliant as the bootleg live version that's out there. One track, "A&E Melody" (AKA "You Can Deny all Your Addictions"), is a rough-as-can-be late-night demo Jeff made so that he wouldn't forget a new song idea he had just come up with. There are a few bright spots that hint at what the band would eventually develop into, however, such as "Sinking Ship" and a rollicking early version of "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" (here titled "Synthetic Flying Machine").

Beauty
 1. Engine - 4:22
 2. Circle of Friends - 3:28
 3. Wishful Eyes - 6:00
 4. Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone - 5:47
 5. Sailing Through - 4:36
 6. Bucket - 3:10
 7. Noisy Racket - 3:55
 8. Conversation with Will Hart - 6:15
 9. Someone Is Waiting - 1:45
10. Aunt Eggma Blowtorch - 6:13

Comments: Said to be from 1992. As with Invent Yourself a Shortcake, it's debatable whether to consider this cassette an actual "album" or just a collection of recordings Jeff put together. No original physical copy is known; chances are he put this tape together for friends to check out and it wound up online eventually. The first five tracks are solo acoustic with Jeff talking a little bit before and after each song, as if he's playing an acoustic show in front of people (though there appears to be only one other guy in the room). "Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone" is much slower than the familiar, released version. The second half of the tape features two electric songs and three non-songs: "Noisy Racket" (possibly not the song's real title; a metal freak out), "Conversation with Will Hart" (often mislabeled "Conversation with Robert Schneider"; not a song, but just what the title implies), and the sound collage track "Aunt Eggma Blowtorch" (often labeled "Hypnotic Sounds"; same version as found on the Everything Is single, only here it has an extra minute-long jam at the beginning.)
It seems every circulating version of this tape is a bit poppy in the left channel.. sounding as if it were transferred from vinyl or something.. but it's just the one speaker that has it; the other's fine. I'm not sure if the original tape was made that way, or if it's just a defect with the particular copy that made its way online.

"Shannon's Monroe House Demos"
1. Going Down (a.k.a. Now I'm Going Down) [recorded in a living room on Trenton Street, 1991] - 3:46
2. Jennifer (a.k.a. I Bring Jennifer) - 2:52
3. Monsters (a.k.a. Tiny Monsters) [Synthetic Flying Machine, 1993] - 3:12
4. Cranberry Dream [Cranberry Lifecycle, 1991] - 2:01
5. Flowers (a.k.a. There Are Flowers) [Rubby Bulbs song, 1991. "Pop Music" Various Artists comp] - 2:09
6. Cigarette Part One - 1:17
7. Arms So Real [Synthetic Flying Machine, 1993] - 1:43
8. (Open Your Heart, I have opened up my mind for you) (short edit) - 1:00
9. Don't Take No [Synthetic Flying Machine, 1993] - 1:58
10. Gardenhead - 1:54
11. Smile [Jeff Mangum, "Pop Music" Various Artists comp tape, 1991] - 2:38
12. (there is A World Inside you and me) [also part of the "Cigarette" trilogy?] - 3:17
13. (Sidney is dancing.. now she's On Fire) - 2:00
14. Sleepytime (a.k.a. Dead Dog) - 1:13
15. Say Goodnight [with Bill Doss] - 1:23
16. (Open Your Heart, I have opened up my mind for you) [full length version] - 1:46
17. Lifetime of Love - 1:23
18. (I Want to Dig a Hole) [non-Jeff: Will Westbrook] - 2:20
19. (My Own Brother) [non-Jeff: Will Westbrook] - 1:31
20. (Pompousness) [non-Jeff: Will Westbrook] - 1:50
21. (Melanie In Her Tight Fit Jeans) [non-Jeff: Will Westbrook] - 1:03
22. (Sweet Potatoes) [dialog clip of an old lady on the radio] - 0:38
23. (song about Mold in the bathroom) [non-Jeff: Shannon Willis (maybe)] - 1:30
24. (This Is The Bathroom Song) [non-Jeff: Will Westbrook] - 0:31
25. (Look At That Frog) [non-Jeff: unknown female singer & Will Westbrook] - 2:12
26. Engine - 4:17
27. Circle of Friends - 3:30
28. Wishful Eyes - 7:00
29. Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone - 4:57
30. Sailing Through (short edit) - 1:55

Comments: This recording is a cassette of Jeff Mangum home demos recorded circa 1991-1993 originally given to Shannon Palmer in August 1994 by John Fernandes (Olivia Tremor Control) when they were housemates. In November 2005, Shannon kindly sent the tape to neutralmilkhotel.org to digitalize and enable it to be shared online. We wanted to first get Jeff's permission, however he has been elusive and has yet to give a verdict. A few songs have "leaked" from it, however.
It came with no track info, so most of the song titles have been guessed (Unconfirmed titles are indicated on the tracklist in parenthesis), though some have been identified thanks to detective work and friendly folks.
Only a small handful of the songs were previously in circulation. "I Bring Jennifer" first surfaced in 2004 on the "Unreleased Demo #2".. same version, though the quality is better on Shannon's tape, plus there's one line that was edited out on the previously heard version.
"Arms So Real" was previously known only by one live version (where it had been mistakenly known to fans as "Arms From You" or "Hearts Are Real"). The same version (apparently?) was released in 1993 on the Synthetic Flying Machine Heaven Is For Kids cassette. Some of the other songs were apparently also put out on self-released cassettes, as indicated in the tracklisting.
"Open Your Heart [short edit]" begins with a short clip of "Follow Me Down" (which is also on "Unreleased Demo #2").
The first version of "Gardenhead" is notable in that it's the only known recording that doesn't feature its siamese twin sister song "Leave Me Alone" but instead goes into a guitar solo fade out.
Also previously available are the "live" acoustic demos at the end of the tape ("Engine" through "Sailing Through"), known to fans as the first half of the Beauty demo tape. Shannon's tape features the songs in slightly better quality, though the middle of "Sailing Through" has been edited out for some reason.
Though the original tape was simply labeled "Neutral Milk Hotel" on both sides, it also includes several songs which don't seem to feature Jeff Mangum. Some of these are apparently by fellow E6'er and occasional NMH bandmember Will Westbrook (The Gerbils), who sadly passed away in 2006. The song "There Are Flowers" seems to feature someone else on lead vocals, but apparently it's a young Jeff (possibly with the tape speed adjusted to make his voice sound higher).

"Unreleased Demo #1"
1. Sweet Marie - 5:21
2. Love You More Than Life - 3:33
3. Candy Coated Dream - 3:38
4. Through My Tears - 3:49
5. I Hear You Breathe - 3:33
6. Bucket - 2:58 ["Organ Version".. this is a different version than the Beauty demo]
7. Random Noise II - 1:45
8. Random Noise III - 0:24

Comments: Unreleased home demos, often tacked onto bootleg copies of the Invent Yourself A Shortcake demo. Likely recorded sometime circa 1993-1995. There isn't really an official name for this recording, but most fans just refer to it as the "unreleased demo" or "unknown demo".. although, it gets confusing since there is now a second unreleased/unknown demo (below)...

"Unreleased Demo #2"
1. Everything Is - 2:54 [this seems to be the same as the released version]
2. April 8th - 2:25
3. unknown - 3:37 [guess at title: "Heroin Bag"]
4. Jennifer - 2:41 [also known as "I Bring Jennifer"]
5. unknown - 3:48 [guess at title: "Life Is Neverending"]
6. unknown - 2:27 [guess at title: "Follow Me Down"]
7. unknown - 3:48 [guess at title: "Angel Eyes"]
8. Aunt Eggma Blowtorch - 5:01 [again, seems to be the same as the version released on the Everything Is single]

Comments: This recording just mysteriously surfaced on soulseek in early 2004. Falsely claims to be Synthetic Flying Machine demo from 1993. (Will Cullen Hart, a member of Synthetic Flying Machine, verified that it is not SFM, but rather Jeff Mangum songs.) It was apparently recorded around the time of the Everything Is single, seeing as 2 of its tracks are featured on that release. Some fans speculate this was the tape Jeff sent to Cher Doll Records, the Seattle label that originally released the single. Like with "Unreleased Demo #1", there's no real title for this recording, so until its origin is pinned down, fans just call it by various names, such as the "other" unreleased demo.

[miscellaneous early cassettes involving Jeff Mangum]

The Word Fir Today Is Pop! (Various Artists)
1. Rubby Bulbs - Flowers - 2:04
2. Cranberry Lifecycle - Cranberry Dream - 2:01
3. W. Cullen Hart - Rigormortis - 1:31
4. Jeff Mangum - Smile - 2:36
5. Pea - Nut - 0:49

Comments: This is a pseudo "Pop Music" compilation put together by Jeff Mangum and Will Hart in 1991. It seems Jeff and Will each contributed 2 songs, plus 1 together. Jeff's songs were "Flowers" (though the vocals don't really sound like Jeff) and "Smile", while Will's were "Rigormortis" and "Nut". The song they did together was "Cranberry Dream". The bands Rubby Bulbs and Pea were likely fake names they made up to make it seem like there were actually more artists involved with the compilation than just the two of them. This is another tape that is uncirculated and only known about thanks to Alfred Hybrid. The three songs here featuring Jeff are also on the Shannon Monroe House Demos.

Cranberry Lifecycle
1. Burning Queen [Jeff & Will] - 1:42
2. Fireplace [Jeff & Will] - 2:12
3. Mess of Love [Jeff & Will] - 1:26
4. Potato Eyes [Jeff & Will] - 1:19
5. Baby Spirit [Jeff & Will] - 1:25
6. Happy Place [Jeff] - 1:31
7. Margaret Ann McKay [Jeff] - 1:19
8. Hey People [Jeff & Will] - 1:36
9. Catch the Sun [Jeff & Will] - 2:13
10. Are Now Reality [Jeff & Will] - 1:56
11. Take My Bones [Jeff] - 1:32
12. Inside a Hollow House [Will] - 1:38
13. Her Name Was Heather [Jeff & Will] - 1:42
14. Wait Till Tomorrow Comes [Jeff & Will] - 2:02
15. Skin Cups [Jeff & Will] - 1:10
16. Ugly in Your Heart to Give Away [Jeff & Will] - 2:21

Comments: Self-released cassette from 1991. Says Robert Schneider, "Will [Hart] and Jeff used to record together under the name Cranberry Lifecycle when they lived in Ruston and first moved to Athens, before Will moved out to Denver. I swear to god these Cranberry Lifecycle recordings were mind-blowing, and really inspired my recordings. This is some of the best shit to ever come out of Elephant 6 EVER, loose and spontaneous and catchy and surreal lo-fi perfection. I don’t know if these recordings are available as bootlegs, but I certainly hope they are. If not I hope Will and Jeff will one day release them because this is really fun stuff."
Please let me know if you have any Cranberry Lifecycle songs. They're not currently circulating, but there's a chance they'll be released on cd by Orange Twin someday, so keep an eye out. This tracklist is thanks to Alfred Hybrid. These titles may only be guesses. The only familiar song seems to be an early version of "Fireplace", which would later be released by the Olivia Tremor Control.

Synthetic Flying Machine - Heaven Is For Kids
1. Monsters
2. The Opera House
3. Spiders
4. Candy Striped Motion Sickness Carriage
5. Avery Street
6. Arms So Real
7. The Bubble Song
8. Run Around
9. Don't Take No
10. Playing Scrabble

Comments: Self-released cassette from 1993. Synthetic Flying Machine was another collaboration between Will Cullen Hart and Jeff Mangum, with Bill Doss also being involved sometimes. The band would splinter off into Olivia Tremor Control (Will and Bill) and Neutral Milk Hotel (Jeff), but not before putting out at least one tape, Heaven Is For Kids. Many SFM songs later became OTC songs, and some are unreleased NMH songs. Jeff, by the way, did return to the fold and was a member of OTC in the band's early days. Picture: back
Please let me know if you own this. The tape is very hard to find (even mp3s are impossible to find, with the exception of "Arms So Real"), but it might be reissued on cd by Orange Twin someday.

Jazz

Comments: Possibly one of Jeff's first entries into sound collage work, this cassette labeled only as "Jazz" features, as Alfred Hybrid describes it, "a bunch of weird samples." It's from the late 80s or early 90s.

AUX: Experimental Sound from Athens, GA

This is a limited edition cd, released April 2006, that contains the track "excerpt from Dogbirthed Brother in Eggsack Delicious" by Korena Pang (who some may know as the alter-ego Jeff sometimes uses for his sound collage work). For more info, see the Optical Atlas entry. Or for more and ordering info, check its official site, auxcd.com. The Korena Pang selection is apparently from a new mix of the piece Jeff played during his first WFMU radio show, where it was credited as "To Animate The Body With The Cocoon of the Her Unconscious Christ The Mother Removes Her Death Body of 1910 Only To Be Reborn In The Same Spirit as a School of Blow Fish Believing in the Coming of the Milk Christ" by The Long Warm Wall of Alfred Snouts.

1. Paul Thomas - Hope
2. Chronicle Ape and the New Sound - Antique #1
3. Javier - somewhere in the someone is the something
4. Sarah Black - Music Box
5. Korena Pang - excerpt from Dogbirthed Brother in Eggsack Delicious
6. W. Cullen Hart - Dimensional Snail and Friend
7. Noisettes - The October Situation
8. Heather McIntosh - Next it Becomes Winter
9. Make Out Music for Insects - First Things First
10. Blake Helton and Colin Bragg - Cars on Fire
11. Desk Pussy - Pi for Psychotics
12. Mark Fisher - Saros
13. Hannah Jones - Bells for Electronic Owl
14. Matt Williams - Newchile
15. The QRM - Boetheus
16. The Leapyear - Waiting for the Dawn to Break
17. Pelican City - Weston Street Rose
18. Manipulated Sound Source - The Breathing Table

Live-only unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel songs

All the Colors of the Rainbow
Ferris Wheel on Fire
I Love How You Love Me (Phil Spector song)
I Will Bury You in Time
Little Birds
Oh Sister
She Did A Lot of Acid
Song for Ché (Charlie Haden song)
Worms In The Wind (excerpt, often done as an intro to King of Carrot Flowers pt. 2)

Comments: Some of these may have been recorded, but i don't think true studio versions are circulating amongst fans.
 

Jefferson on WFMU

Jeff Mangum had a weekly radio show in the wee hours for a few months in late 2002 at WFMU, a freeform independent radio station broadcasting at 91.1 fm in the New York City area, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley, and live on the web at WFMU.org. Archives of the programs are available in streaming RealAudio here. The shows are filled with recordings that are, at various times, interesting or enjoyable, if not challenging to the average listener. Jeff (or Jefferson, as he's credited on the station's site) played at least a couple original sound collages, though most of what he played was authentic world music, avant garde jazz, field recordings of nature, obscure musical oddities, and other eccentric stuff that you'll definitely need an open mind to appreciate. Each show is basically like a 3 hour sound collage, with Jeff popping in about once an hour to let people know what they're listening to. Click here for playlists.