Elephant 6

The Elephant 6 Recording Company is a loosely defined <a href="/facts/Indie_rock/WwHEa2bQ">indie rock</a> <a href="/facts/Musical_collective/2bUGnbJv">musical collective</a> from the United States. Notable bands associated with the collective include <a href="/facts/The_Apples_in_Stereo/BoEUP7yp">The Apples in Stereo</a>, <a href="/facts/Beulah_(band)/jCTNhKXh">Beulah</a>, <a href="/facts/Circulatory_System_(band)/EGs6Y7sI">Circulatory System</a>, <a href="/facts/Elf_Power/oqMWGkcM">Elf Power</a>, <a href="/facts/The_Minders/qpYWYlJr">The Minders</a>, <a href="/facts/Neutral_Milk_Hotel/CLVebgML">Neutral Milk Hotel</a>, <a href="/facts/Of_Montreal/TVhqqa06">of Montreal</a>, and <a href="/facts/The_Olivia_Tremor_Control/Ly5fNlHD">The Olivia Tremor Control</a>. Although bands in Elephant 6 explore many different <a href="/facts/Music_genre/ceqIJRjh">genres</a>, they have a shared interest in <a href="/facts/Psychedelic_pop/v1mvS3uG">psychedelic pop</a> of the 1960s, with particular influence from bands such as <a href="/facts/The_Beach_Boys/6CdaMJwW">the Beach Boys</a>, <a href="/facts/The_Beatles/2syHWLcM">the Beatles</a>, and <a href="/facts/The_Zombies/9jMKeJlI">the Zombies</a>. Their music sometimes features intentionally <a href="/facts/Lo-fi_music/c0HswxI3">low fidelity</a> production and experimental recording techniques.
The collective started in <a href="/facts/Ruston%2c_Louisiana/tprv4Drx">Ruston, Louisiana</a> in the late 1980s. The name was occasionally used to denote the <a href="/facts/Home_recording/MDhQDBth">home recordings</a> made by four high school friends: <a href="/facts/Bill_Doss/0sysePAF">Bill Doss</a>, <a href="/facts/Will_Cullen_Hart/2L8YcWl3">Will Cullen Hart</a>, <a href="/facts/Jeff_Mangum/b3qwIdUD">Jeff Mangum</a>, and <a href="/facts/Robert_Schneider/2BBMzYTY">Robert Schneider</a>. After high school, Schneider formed the Apples in Stereo; Doss, Hart, and Mangum formed the Olivia Tremor Control; and Mangum independently formed Neutral Milk Hotel. These three bands would serve as the basis for Elephant 6, and soon, many other bands joined. <a href="/facts/Athens%2c_Georgia/j6eYIlRR">Athens, Georgia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Denver/KWUnuDSu">Denver, Colorado</a>, became major hub cities, and the mid-to-late 1990s represented the peak years of activity for the collective.
Due to the confluence of new bands and the dissolution of Neutral Milk Hotel and the Olivia Tremor Control, the collective stagnated in activity in the early 2000s. A brief resurgence in the late 2000s ended with the death of Doss, and in recent years the collective has remained relatively dormant. Journalists have described Elephant 6 as an important <a href="/facts/Underground_music/mAIDxHnU">underground music</a> movement, and a key contributor to the emergence of <a href="/facts/Alternative_rock/7xRALNsG">alternative rock</a> and <a href="/facts/Indie_rock/WwHEa2bQ">indie rock</a> in the 1990s.

Elephant 6 open-in-new

Elephant 6