Least Terrible Elephant 6 Band

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Poll Results

Option	Votes
Neutral Milk Hotel	27
Olivia Tremor Control	15
The Apples in Stereo	7
Of Montreal	7
Beulah	5
Dressy Bessy	3
Elf Power	2
Essex Green	1
Circulatory System	1
Secret Square	1
Ladybug Transistor	1
Minders	1
Bablicon	0
Fablefactory	0
Great Lakes	0
Late B.P. Helium	0
Marshmallow Coast	0
Marta Tennae	0
Midget and Hairs	0
My First Keyboard	0
Thimble Circus	0
Von Hemmling	0
ulysses	0
Sunshine Fix	0
Black Swan Network	0
Chocolate USA	0
Dixie Blood mustache	0
Frosted Ambassador	0
The Gerbils	0
High Water Marks	0
Major Organ and the Adding Machine	0
Marbles	0
The Music Tapes	0
Orchestre Fantastique	0
Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't	0
Visitations	0

― abanana, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:49 (eighteen years ago)

oooh, let's guess who's going to win this one... hmmm...

― the next grozart, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:51 (eighteen years ago)

Apples In Stereo because they are brilliant while Olivia Tremor Control are just very good.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:52 (eighteen years ago)

HI DERE!

― The Amazing Randy, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:09 (eighteen years ago)

Chocolate USA fuckin' ruled. if they win, i'm going to actually find a copy of 'Smoke Machine' to replace the one i lost/someone stole off me, instead of just talking about it.

in the meantime, i guess i'll just vote for Neutral Milk Hotel. seems silly not to.

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 20 April 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

NMH would be high on my most terrible list, actually. I just cannot stand atonal wailing.

― zaxxon25, Friday, 20 April 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

it's a happy, privileged existence that doesn't have need of a bit of atonal wailing now and then.

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 20 April 2007 17:25 (eighteen years ago)

How many of those choices are real?

― M.V., Friday, 20 April 2007 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

NMH in a walk, sorry to say. The sole band that made a focused, coherent, enduring collection of songs.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:23 (eighteen years ago)

You've heard all those bands?

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

i hadn't even heard of like half these bands! e6 was a big crew.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:43 (eighteen years ago)

Here's my take on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - I think the songcraft is merely OK and the overall tone of the thing is maudlin but vague about why it's so maudlin.

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:44 (eighteen years ago)

not all, but definitely a majority

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:50 (eighteen years ago)

I guess my caveat is that I've heard the following and NMH is the best of this lot.

The Apples in Stereo
Beulah
Black Swan Network
Circulatory System
Dressy Bessy
Elf Power
Essex Green
The Gerbils
Marbles
Minders
The Music Tapes
Neutral Milk Hotel
Olivia Tremor Control
Secret Square
Sunshine Fix
Von Hemmling
Great Lakes
Ladybug Transistor
Of Montreal

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

dude, the Nazis killed his historical imaginary girlfriend. you'd be maudlin, too.

xposts

― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:52 (eighteen years ago)

i like the "when did you stop beating your wife" phrasing of the poll question though

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:58 (eighteen years ago)

NMH in a walk, sorry to say. The sole band that made a focused, coherent, enduring collection of songs.

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, April 20, 2007 1:23 PM (39 minutes ago)

i'd argue that the apples made a focused, coherent, enduring collection of songs with 'tone soul evolution'...anyone agree?

― stephen, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

NMH is barely a band, it's a guy with problems.

OTC by a mile. Anyone that fawns over Animal Collective and their tendrils but disses this band is bereft of common sense.

― neustile, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:05 (eighteen years ago)

Dusk At Cubist Castle is my favorite album from the bunch, so I voted OTC.

the Minders, NMH, and Of Montreal would be my next 3.

― nicky lo-fi, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:09 (eighteen years ago)

NMH in a walk, sorry to say. The sole band that made a focused, coherent, enduring collection of songs.

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, April 20, 2007 1:23 PM (46 minutes ago)

I dunno, I thought Circulatory System was... focusedly unfocused, for lack of a better way of putting it

― bernard snowy, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:16 (eighteen years ago)

OTC changed my life one day, when I was on 2 hits of strong acid and cutting vegetables.

― the table is the table, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:45 (eighteen years ago)

I trust the reconstructive surgery went well.

― M.V., Friday, 20 April 2007 22:58 (eighteen years ago)

it was rough going , let me tell you. kept on thinking my hands were stalks of rhubarb.

― the table is the table, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:00 (eighteen years ago)

of Montreal have certainly never made a focused, coherent album...

― Tim Ellison, Friday, 20 April 2007 23:31 (eighteen years ago)

just seeing the name 'midget and hairs' depresses me

― electricsound, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:02 (eighteen years ago)

yea, i like NMH, but parts of Dusk at Cubist Castle are unfuckwithable.

― poortheatre, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:15 (eighteen years ago)

1) NMH 2) Of Montreal 3) OTC

― ENBB, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:35 (eighteen years ago)

i always wanted to hear the frosted ambassador album.. can somebody who has tell me what it's like?

― babedad, Saturday, 21 April 2007 01:45 (eighteen years ago)

did ladybug transistor release anything on elephant 6? i know they've toured with them. if they had only released 'the albermarle sound' they would win this poll even if they hadn't ever released anything officially afiliated with elephant 6. but they released those other horrible records. Of montreal wins.

― keythkeyth, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:12 (eighteen years ago)

2007 is the perhaps the Elephant 6's peak year, with New Magnetic Wonder and Hissing Fauna.

― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 21 April 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

dont blame me, i voted for circulatory system

― Dimension 5ive, Saturday, 21 April 2007 04:01 (eighteen years ago)

the only thing on that list I own is Secret Square. But I don't remember what it sounds like other than I confuse it with Grit Kisser because I bought them on the same day. I don't know anything about either.

― dan selzer, Saturday, 21 April 2007 04:15 (eighteen years ago)

i voted for dressy bessy. haven't listened in 4evah but i remember the album (1st one, or was it an ep) was adorable.

― s.clover, Saturday, 21 April 2007 07:48 (eighteen years ago)

I just cannot stand atonal wailing.

Me thinks you're confused about the meaning of this "atonal."

And this poll needs a "mu" option.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 21 April 2007 18:50 (eighteen years ago)

I simply don't understand the "atonal wailing" complaint against Neutral Milk Hotel. I was just listening to "Holland, 1945" last night, and that song has some great melodic hooks.

― Nathan, Saturday, 21 April 2007 19:21 (eighteen years ago)

Every song on that album has melodic hooks. And then of course there are the beautifully surreal and affecting lyrics, the singular instrumental textures, etc. And terminology aside, accusing Jeff Mangum of singing out of tune, assuming that's what was meant, would still be off the mark.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Saturday, 21 April 2007 19:27 (eighteen years ago)

Dressy Bessy are the only band on this list that aren't uniformly horrible.

― Dom Passantino, Saturday, 21 April 2007 19:45 (eighteen years ago)

It happens from time to time that I give Dusk at Cubist Castle a listen and I always get stuck with it for at least a few days before putting it away again. Because it's good. OTC it is!

― sonderangerbot, Saturday, 21 April 2007 22:18 (eighteen years ago)

Parts of the list seem off -- the Ladybug Transistor might as well have been an Elephant 6 band, but I'm not sure they actually were. (I think The Albermarle Sound is my favorite single album by anyone on this list, but overall I can't seem to muster up a vote.)

― nabisco, Saturday, 21 April 2007 22:21 (eighteen years ago)

Oh wait, never mind, I guess they're listed on the Elephant 6 website.

― nabisco, Saturday, 21 April 2007 22:22 (eighteen years ago)

But as "extended family" -- the point in the poll where the alphabetization restarts is "extended family."

― nabisco, Saturday, 21 April 2007 22:23 (eighteen years ago)

Jeff has the power.

― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 14:24 (eighteen years ago)

Of those I listened to then, NMH is the only band I want to occasionally revist today.

But since we're all revisionists, revive thread in 2011 and watch us all fucking drool over Apples or something...

― PappaWheelie V, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:10 (eighteen years ago)

THIS POLL RESULT = ILM IS FULL OF IDIOTS

XPOST

OH LOOK STEVE FUCKING GOLDBERG THE HUMAN PIECE OF SHIT FROM CMU!

― JW, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 22:27 (eighteen years ago)

7 sane people here at least.

But Apples In stereo are not "least terrible", they are the best Elephant 6 band. There may well be terrible bands in Elephant 6, but Apples In Stereo are sure not among them.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

No votes for Bablicon? I didn't see them listed, or they would've been it.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 23:14 (eighteen years ago)

NMH s-u-u-u-u-cks

― elan, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 02:15 (eighteen years ago)

I have yet to see anyone give a good reason why NMH wasn't a fantastic band. Mangum's lyrics and delivery alone make In the Aeroplane Over the Sea a must-have.

― Nathan, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 02:20 (eighteen years ago)

A few points:

1) "Ruby" by Apples In Stereo is my single favorite song by any E6 band -- totally and unimpeachably the best thing about the retro-chic aesthetic.
2) Along the same lines, I still think The Minders' Golden Street is damned good -- at least for the first seven songs.
3) OTC have many a fine moment but seem a little worse for wear as time marches on. Still, Dusk... holds up -- in particular "Can You Come Down With Us?"

― Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

nmh don't actually s-u-u-u-ck, but they are def. not good enough to be considered so canonical

― elan, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 02:53 (eighteen years ago)

this thread makes me sad because of its 'least terrible' construct. the secret square record is grate and u r all haterz (or people who never heard it since it seems to have had a run of about 14)

― maura, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 03:00 (eighteen years ago)

I dig the "Holiday Suprise" little mini-suite on "Dusk at Cubist Castle." Also, "Benefits of Lying with Your Friend" by the Apples.

― ColinO, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

it is a shame this thread is couched in such negative terms, a handful of these bands are very good indeed and 2 or 3 are exceptional in their own way. i suppose the penchant for silly names, facial hair and studied oddness has done them no favours.

― cw, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 10:07 (eighteen years ago)

oh also, elf power are one of the greatest rock bands of the last decade. wtf.

live show confirms this.

― Tim Ellison, Thursday, 3 May 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

Tim is OTM. I didn't realize it until recently, but When the Red King Comes is a fantastic album.

― Naive Teen Idol, Thursday, 3 May 2007 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

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