::stepping outside the music game for a second::
Kim just sent me the draft manuscript for her book on Neutral Milk Hotel's Aeroplane Over The Sea for the 33 1/3 series. She went to Athens twice to interview everybody involved, and I think she's got not only the definitive book on the subject, but one of the great portraits of 90s indie rock bohemia.
The Elephant 6 collective settled themselves into a series of communal Athens houses. Jeff’s base was 156 Grady Avenue, an old wood frame house on a lovely street lined with big trees...Jeff shared the Grady Avenue house with Julian Koster, Robbie Cucchiaro, Laura Carter and Bryan Poole. As might be expected, it was a very loud place to live. Bryan lived between Jeff and Julian’s rooms. “I had Jeff pacing the room with his acoustic guitar, belting out at the top of his lungs, working through the songs. It was a really intense thing. And then I’ve got Julian on the other side, who’s bouncing a kickball for percussion, and stomping his foot, and recording the same song fifty times! Every day! After I moved out, Will Hart moved in for like two weeks and he couldn’t take it.”