Pitchfork: Jeff Mangum Lives!

First Brian Wilson finished Smile. Then Jandek played live. And now, Jeff Mangum, the elusive, fragile and possibly downright batty mastermind behind Neutral Milk Hotel, has made his first major public appearance in years, joining Olivia Tremor Control last night at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. (What next, Syd Barrett does Coachella? Pretty soon, we�ll have no more mysterious crazy geniuses to obsess over.) According to Billboard.com, Mangum "bounded" on stage "decked out in a blue button down shirt and green ball cap" to belt out "I Have Been Floated". The crowd promptly lost their shit, and there was much rejoicing. He later returned for the encore, "Shaving Spiders," which ended in a chaotic group hug/pile-up.

Reader Nicholas Kinsey reports, "When Jeff sang, his voice came from the earth, not the heavens (as he does on the records we love). He was haunted, as if he had not sung a note in five years...It was powerful yet unsure...His eyes darted from the audience and up past the ceiling and into the sky as he clenched a water bottle that looked like it would burst... There was optimism in the whole show...A revolution thought defunct, now alive."

But wait, don�t get too excited! Mangum has appeared on stage with Elephant Six-associated bands like Elf Power and Circulatory System several times over the past few years, and the world didn�t end. The Olivia Tremor Control has two more dates scheduled on their current tour, though, so who knows what might happen. A full-scale Neutral Milk Hotel reunion on Saturday in Athens, maybe? Olivia Tremor Control dates:

08-03 New York, NY � Bowery Ballroom*
08-06 Athens, GA � Orange Twin Community#

* - with A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Tall Dwarfs
# - with Tall Dwarfs

href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/05-06/06.shtml#otc">OTC to Play Another Handful of Shows