In 2023, Neutral Milk Hotel released another box set, titled The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel . The box set includes every recording by the band, including Live at Jittery Joe’s , a live album Mangum released independently in 2001. The Collected Works of Neutral Milk Hotel was nominated…
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On April 29, 2013, Neutral Milk Hotel officially announced a reunion tour with all four members of the band. In an interview with Orlando Weekly , Schneider said: “[The hiatus] certainly wasn’t purposeful, and I’m not sure [Mangum] even realized he was being a recluse until it was overwhelmingly the…
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Mangum resurfaced in 2008 with a few solo shows before embarking on full solo tours in 2011 and 2012. During this time, Mangum curated a box set of Neutral Milk Hotel material, which included an extended play of unreleased songs titled Ferris Wheel on Fire . As Mangum was active…
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In the Aeroplane Over the Sea ‘s critical standing rose tremendously in the years after its release, which Winkie attributes to the cult following. Domino Recording Company released a reissue in 2005, which was awarded a perfect 10/10 score by Mark Richardson of Pitchfork . Richardson wrote: “It’s a record…
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Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel were not told why the band went on hiatus. Some were angry and accused Mangum of being selfish, and others wrote hoax blog posts giving fake details of upcoming tours and other false information. The speculation and online discussions raised the profile of the band,…
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During the hiatus, Mangum occasionally worked on some projects, but nothing was widely publicized. When asked about a third Neutral Milk Hotel album in a 2002 interview, Mangum said: “I don’t know. It would be nice, but sometimes I kind of doubt it.” Although Neutral Milk Hotel did not officially…
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According to journalist Luke Winkie, the release of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea inadvertently coincided with the rise of the Internet. In the late 1990s, music journalism websites like Pitchfork became more prevalent, and online message boards increased in popularity. Winkie believes this period was important to exposing Neutral…
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In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was released on February 10, 1998. Merge pressed 5,500 CD and 1,600 vinyl copies, and expected sales to be similar to On Avery Island . These initial projections were correct, as the album sold moderately well for the first few months. Critical responses to…
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Neutral Milk Hotel’s second album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea , was produced by Schneider, and was recorded from July to September 1997. Schneider used new recording techniques to capture Mangum’s lo-fi preferences. Mangum liked having a layer of distortion over the music, but Schneider did not use standard…
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The band members moved to New York City and lived and rehearsed in a house owned by Koster’s grandmother. Koster encouraged the band members to play instruments outside their comfort zones. For example, drummer Barnes learned to play the accordion, and Spillane learned how to play the horn parts from…
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