On Saturday (December 4), notoriously reclusive songwriter Jeff Mangum reinstated his Neutral Milk Hotel moniker for a small, intimate and mostly secret show at Brooklyn, NY venue the Schoolhouse. The show was by word-of-mouth-only, and was estimated to have an audience of about 75 people. But thanks to the Internet, you can listen to some of the performance now.
Pitchfork spoke with concert organizer Ben Goldberg, who said, "I really can't say what this means in terms of future performances. This was a last-minute show, done intentionally without build-up to let it be as simple and easy going as possible. It seems to have gone exactly like that. What I honestly feel like I saw tonight wasn't the greatest musician in the world performing the most amazing songs ever, but rather a fantastic musician performing his wonderful songs. God, I have to say that is so much more gratifying than trying to look at it as a life altering event. I bet others who were there would agree with me."
The International Tapes blog managed to capture some relatively lo-fi audio of the performance. The bootleg includes the second half of Mangum's set: "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1-3," "Song Against Sex," "Naomi," "Two Headed Boy" and "Two Headed Boy Pt. 2." Check out the tracks here.
Pitchfork spoke with concert organizer Ben Goldberg, who said, "I really can't say what this means in terms of future performances. This was a last-minute show, done intentionally without build-up to let it be as simple and easy going as possible. It seems to have gone exactly like that. What I honestly feel like I saw tonight wasn't the greatest musician in the world performing the most amazing songs ever, but rather a fantastic musician performing his wonderful songs. God, I have to say that is so much more gratifying than trying to look at it as a life altering event. I bet others who were there would agree with me."
The International Tapes blog managed to capture some relatively lo-fi audio of the performance. The bootleg includes the second half of Mangum's set: "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1-3," "Song Against Sex," "Naomi," "Two Headed Boy" and "Two Headed Boy Pt. 2." Check out the tracks here.