The Elephant Six Collective were a group of American musicians who spawned some of the most notable independent bands of the 1990s, including The Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Apples in Stereo and Of Montreal.

History

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The collective was officially founded in Denver, Colorado (but figuratively in Athens, Georgia) by childhood friends Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart, Jeff Mangum, and Robert Schneider. The four grew up making music and sharing cassette tapes in Ruston, Louisiana. They started several bands and pet projects; Doss and Hart with Olivia Tremor Control (then called Synthetic Flying Machine), Mangum with Neutral Milk Hotel, and Schneider with the Apples in Stereo. Several Elephant Six projects began to find commercial success in the late 1990s, including Beulah, Elf Power, The Music Tapes, and Of Montreal, as well as the founding bands mentioned above.

It was Schneider who created the E6 record label when he moved to Denver, Colorado in late 1991 to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder. There, he and new friends started up The Apples (which eventually became Apples in Stereo). Recorded by April 1993, the "Apples" EP was the first E6 release.

Back home, Doss had moved to Athens where he joined Hart and Mangum in Synthetic Flying Machine, which became Olivia Tremor Control. They released California Demise as their first recording, and E6's second.

Most of the bands subsequently signed with major record labels; E6 as an entity slowly deteriorated until the collective called it quits — due to recording difficulties and lack of organization — in 2002. The collective's bands all moved on to various labels and projects of their own, though many band members are still friends and even tour together under various guises. Many live together on the Orange Twin Conservation Community in Athens. The Elephant Six mantra has become a symbol for the circle of friends sharing similar ideas and goals.

Distinguishing characteristics

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The most characteristic trait of an Elephant Six recording is the eclectic and exotic instrumentation: along with the guitars and drums you can hear, for example, the flugelhorn, singing saw, wandering genie, and one-note piano on Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea; the euphonium, selemintan, and magnus organ on Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage; the sitar, "magic robot voice", and Nepalese copper shawm on Elf Power's When the Red King Comes; and everything from sarangi to clarinet played by eighteen backup musicians on Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break. This was the ostensible nature of the Elephant Six collective: instruments, players, and space are divided among and shared among many projects.

See also

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• Indie rock
• Psych folk
• Post Rock

External links

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• Elephant6.com – An unofficial site about the collective.
• Elephant 6 blog – Another unofficial site with almost daily postings of current E6 happenings.
• E6 Townhall – An unofficial Elephant Six message board.

American musical groups | Psych folk record labels | Musical collectives | Elephant Six | Elephant Six