Elephant 6 Announce Holiday Surprise Tour!

(photo via You Ain't No Picasso)

On the heels of finding out that Jeff Mangum was performing music for the luckiest 75 people ever, my jaw hit the floor today on discovering that the Elephant 6 Collective will be planning another Holiday Surprise tour next year! To take place in February and March, (apparently "Holiday" in Elephant 6 world is a year round thing), the tour will have slightly different cast this time, most noticeably missing Robert Schneider of Apples in Stereo, members of Music Tapes, Nana Grizol, Olivia Tremor Control, The Gerbils, Elf Power, Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't, Circulatory System, Major Organ and The Adding Machine, and yes, Neutral Milk Hotel will be showing up this time. No confirmation of Jeff Mangum, but it has been confirmed that Neutral Milk Hotel music will be played which is still a great sign. Their tour back in 2008 was legendary and were else can see "The Opera House", "Glue", and "Majesty" all in the same show?! Without a doubt something you will regret not seeing for the rest of your life. Can't wait!

Tour Dates:

Thu 02.24.11 Roswell, GA WhirlyBall Atlanta
Fri 02.25.11 Tallahassee, FL Club Downunder at Florida State University
Sat 02.26.11 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
Mon 02.28.11 Austin, TX Emo's - Inside
Tue 03.01.11 Dallas, TX The LOFT at the Palladium
Thu 03.03.11 Phoenix, AZ The Duce
Fri 03.04.11 Los Angeles, CA The Satellite
Sat 03.05.11 San Francisco, CA The Independent
Tue 03.08.11 Portland, OR Backspace at the Someday Lounge
Wed 03.09.11 Seattle, WA The Vera Project
Fri 03.11.11 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
Sat 03.12.11 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
Mon 03.14.11 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
Tues 03.15.11 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
Wed 03.16.11 Kalamazoo, MI The Strutt
Thu 03.17.11 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop
Fri 03.18.11 Toronto, ON Horseshoe Tavern
Sat 03.19.11 Buffalo, NY Big Orbit’s Soundlab
Sun 03.20.11 Easthampton, MA Flywheel
Tue 03.22.11 Brooklyn, NY Knitting Factory
Wed 03.23.11 New York City, NY Le Poisson Rouge
Thu 03.24.11 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church
Fri 03.25.11 Charlottesville, VA The Southern Café and Music Hall
Sat 03.26.11 Raleigh, NC Kings Royal Barcade

Jeff Mangum Live, Recorded

Like every other human being with ears, a heart, and a soul, I absolutely adore Neutral Milk Hotel and wait for the day Jeff Mangum finally will get his band mates back together and spread large quantities of joy through out the world with live shows. So imagine my pure shock when I log into Pitchfork this morning to discover the news that over the weekend Jeff Mangum had performed a completely surprise show to less then 100 people over the weekend at the little Brooklyn loft The Schoolhouse. With even greater shock, news came to be that the absolutely awesome people at International Tapes had managed to record half of his set and posted it for the world to hear. As much as I would kill to have actually managed to attend the show itself, these mp3s are a clear reflection of how much Jeff Mangum still some how manages to still have all the skill and incredibleness that people have said he always had. Also this whole situation helps to build up the minute, possible fact that Jeff Mangum might be will to do more musical projects in the future. A boy can dream.

(mp3) Jeff Mangum-King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1-3 (via International Tapes)
(mp3) Jeff Mangum-Naomi (via International Tapes)

Grab the rest of the songs here, from International Tapes