Elephant 6 Recording Co., The

Elephant 6, the legendary collective of various bands with overlapping membership and boundless creativity, were featured in a documentary in 2022; after a few years, they have just now released a soundtrack album to accompany, featuring a wealth of deep cuts, but importantly two new Olivia Tremor Control tracks (released the same day W Cullen Hart, the surviving member of the duo, passed away); anyway, the doc is amazing, and this collection of songs is extremely varied but full of heart and joy---FCC clean!

1. (3:47) ******* Olivia Tremor Control with a new track, long in incubation: baroque, dense, fun '60s pop-psyche sound; bright, with shadowy-forest tones--lovely
2. (3:33) **** Neutral Milk Hotel medley: lo-fi, raw, snarly, punky track that becomes folkier and plummier as it goes on; originally released with Hype City Soundtrack
3. (3:18) **** The Marbles (Apples in Stereo side-project) with '60s slinky spy-movie/party song rave with lo-fi ambience, fun
4. (5:02) ** The Gerbils (lesser-known E6 group) ... atmospheric soundscape, plaintive vox over string section; very emo
5. (1:02) **** W Cullen Hart (of Olivia Tremor Control, etc) with a characteristically experimental and playful instrumental: short, plinky, atmospheric
6. (3:08) *** Elf Power, live, soulful folk ballad, drum-heavy arrangement
7. (3:16) ***** Olivia Tremor Control's other new track, similarly long in gestation: baroque, but deeper and sadder in texture and tone; contemplative and hypnotic; vox start 1:30-in
8. (5:59) **** Dixie Blood Moustache (12-piece all-woman band/film co-op) experimental, weird tape collage, originally part of short film; all rattled up, start-and-stop, bird sounds... weird, good
9. (2:03) **** Always Red Society (W Cullen Hart side project): fuzzed-out groove-heavy instrumental
10. (4:46) ***** E6 participants get together on stage to cover the Les Paul chestnut, very very bittersweet (molasses-slow, heart-wrenching)
11. (4:35) *** Apples in Stereo performing live turn their organ-backed pop-rocker into a chance for their colleagues to jam out together