Recorded Hype City Soundtrack

After graduating from high school, Mangum attended Louisiana Tech University , but dropped out. He moved to Athens, Georgia , and played in a band called Synthetic Flying Machine with Doss and Hart, but left shortly after the band was formed. He then became a vagabond , and lived in cities such as Denver , Los Angeles , and Seattle . Mangum occasionally recorded music during this period, including a 1993 demo album titled Hype City Soundtrack . Schneider says Hype City Soundtrack was a reaction to what Mangum believed was the rampant commercialization of music within large cities. While living in Seattle, Mangum overcame his apprehensiveness about the music industry and released the song ” Everything Is ” on Cher Doll Records . The song’s exposure convinced Mangum to record more music under the name Neutral Milk Hotel. According to Mangum: “The single was a godsend because I was pretty much at the end of my rope with just about everything in my life at that point … I ended up sending a tape to [Nancy Ostrander] at Cher Doll Records and she saved me merely by saying she wanted to do a single.”