"and of water course womb rume is a wandering the welkin woman whose fune caul is all umbilical cord code that comes equipped with read volve vît curtains that čun seel my văl én tich radio reason in remembrance of mademoiselle gabrielle and her wone tym pad lock of burd language as it borders on twin tolk the wolk king wall of woolpack pigeons pointing to the fly blind readers riddle and his rian boh" —Neutral Milk Hotel reunion tour, obvs.

This seems like something you might want to jump on: "In September of 2006, the Wordless Music series presented its first concert at the 250-capacity Good Shepherd Faith Church on West 66th Street in New York City. Five years later, we are slightly shocked and humbled to announce the start of our 5th anniversary season with a true musical great: Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel, performing his first U.S. live shows since 1998, and in two of the country's great acoustical treasures: on Saturday, September 10, at the 1,050-capacity Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory in Boston; and on Friday, September 9, at an historic 1,150-capacity [...]

Neutral Milk Hotel recluse Jeff Mangum will be making a rare appearance at a benefit show here in town this May, and it's already causing controversy!

Since the show will certainly sell out quickly no matter what, we'll be honest and say that while there is no artist we'd rather see perform than Mangum (in the world), the fact that every single person there will be holding up a Flip Cam or iPhone to record it, ruining the moment and breaking our hearts, means we will be skipping the show and waiting for the YouTube footage to be uploaded that night. (And no, the irony of that [...]

It's a hip-hop mash-up of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea! You will be impressed, horrified or apathetic depending upon your age, but I suppose that's true of everything.

• Remember that you’re seeing the first full-length concert in over a decade from the man behind one of the greatest albums of the '90s (if not the greatest) at the greatest music festival in the country. So, be happy.

• But not too happy. After all, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and, to a lesser extent, On Avery Island, are great albums that coincide nicely with feelings of depression. Meaning, it’s totally okay to cry, which a lot of people did during Mangum’s performance at the Chris Knox benefit at Le Poisson Rouge last year. Again, sobbing, totally acceptable, but what’s not acceptable, and I [...]

There's further footage from that amazing 1998 Neutral Milk Hotel concert we were lucky enough to get a back-in-time glimpse of last week through Youtube. Pitchfork has three more songs: "Oh Comely," "The King of Carrot Flowers" and "The Fool." Neutral Milk Hotel. Has there ever been a greater band with a lamer name?

In the car, my friend Jonathan and I talked about my kids, and his job, and how we feel old all the time. He’d come up that morning from North Carolina, where we once lived together, to come to the concert with me; now we were driving together from Arlington to Baltimore in a CRV whose backseat was dense with child-safety seats and princess books.

Jonathan recalled how he’d once received a mixtape from a girl he thought might be interested in him, only to discover that it featured “Song Against Sex,” which he took as a poor omen. Our friend Ehren gave me a song by the band on [...]

As predicted. He sounds great, no? (Also: "cameras weren't allowed so i tried to get by with my cell phone. i think the set was recorded though! so be on the look out for that.")

So, you know Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum reappeared last year, after going underground for a decade after making what some people believe (what this person believes) is one of the ten-or-twenty-or-so greatest albums of all time, ever, by anyone. The reappearance was brief. And there's been no new music. But Merge Records recently rereleased In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as well as the band's other, slightly less perfect album, On Avery Island. And also, in celebration, a pair of video clips of Mangum playing solo at the Knitting Factory in 1998. The footage is, umm, intense. He is like a cross between John Fogerty in [...]