The Olivia Tremor Control

The Olivia Tremor Control is an American rock band that was prominent in the mid-to-late 1990s. It was, along with The Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, one of the three original projects of The Elephant 6 Recording Company.[3] The band was founded by the remnants of the group Synthetic Flying Machine (Jeff Mangum, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart) in 1994. The band went on hiatus in early 2000,[4] and later reformed in 2009.

The Olivia Tremor Control
Olivia Tremor Control live in 2005 (reunion)
Background information
OriginRuston, Louisiana
Genres
Years active
  • 1992–2000
  • 2009–present
LabelsCloud Recordings
Website
MembersWill Cullen Hart
Eric Harris
John Fernandes
Peter Erchick
Derek Almstead
Past membersBill Doss
Jeff Mangum

Bill Doss died on July 31, 2012 (according to some sources, due to an aneurysm, however no official cause of death has been released).[5][6]

Synthetic Flying Machine

Synthetic Flying Machine was an early project of Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum. The band later went on to become known as the Olivia Tremor Control, with Hart and Doss remaining members while Mangum eventually left to focus on Neutral Milk Hotel. The band had only one official release to their name, Heaven Is for Kids, but there are several other tape cassettes of music distributed among friends and collaborators. Many of the songs performed by Synthetic Flying Machine later became songs by Neutral Milk Hotel ("Arms So Real") or Olivia Tremor Control ("Shaving Spiders", "Opera House"). Jeff Mangum wrote a song about the band of the same name, which became "Up and Over" and finally "The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3" on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

Sound and history

The band's distinct sound is a mixture of Doss and Hart's pop and experimental tendencies. Some tracks are 2–3 minute songs, while others are electro-acoustic collages ranging in length from 2 seconds to 10 minutes, and differing in content from vibrant horns to near silence.[7][8][9] Furthermore, the band released a record of experimental electro-acoustic music, The Late Music, Volume One, under the name The Black Swan Network, in 1997. Another Black Swan Network release, a 7" EP on the Happy Happy Birthday to Me label, appeared in 2000, though it did not feature Bill Doss. In October 1997, a "collaborative" LP between the Olivia Tremor Control and The Black Swan Network was released, originally as a tour-only item, and later put out as a CD by Flydaddy, which gave the record the title, The Olivia Tremor Control vs. The Black Swan Network, though the band had never wanted the record to be named as such.

Other projects

The members of the Olivia Tremor Control embarked on a variety of different projects before and after the band broke up. Eric Harris released a record under the name Frosted Ambassador and later two CD-R releases under his own name on Cloud Recordings, the label founded by Fernandes and Hart in the wake of OTC's demise. Pete Erchick released three records, Individualized Shirts, Special Fanfare For Anything and Lost in the Pancakes, under the name Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. Bill Doss followed OTC by putting out records as The Sunshine Fix, a name he had used years before. The Sunshine Fix has evolved from a recording project to a formal working band. Hart's post-OTC project, Circulatory System, has taken a similar route. The self-titled 2001 LP continued the melding together of pop and experimental traditions the OTC had worked on and won high accolades from the press. Jeff Mangum followed OTC with Neutral Milk Hotel, releasing On Avery Island and In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as well as a few "underground" acoustic demos.

Signal Morning, Circulatory System's sophomore LP features the reunion of Will Hart and Bill Doss singing harmonies on its opening track. Signal Morning was released on 8 September 2009 on Cloud Recordings.

Will Cullen Hart has collaborated with groups such as Athens Tango Project in which he contributed backup vocals to a cover version of Olivia Tremor Control's song, I Have Been Floated[10] which appeared on the compilation album release, An Enthusiast's Fanfare for Elephant 6 released in 2019.[11]

Reunion

In 2005, the Olivia Tremor Control temporarily reunited, solely for live shows, at the behest of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival.[3] They appeared at a UK version of the festival, preceded by warm-up shows in Athens, Georgia and London; that summer, they again played Athens, at the Orange Twin Conservation Community, as well as gigs in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and L.A.[12] In the fall of 2008, all members of the Olivia Tremor Control toured with other members of the Elephant 6 collective as part of the Holiday Surprise tour. In May 2009, Will Hart said in an interview that the band had recently re-entered the recording studio: "We've got two songs for the next Olivia record, in my opinion. They're on Bill's hard drive."

In March 2011, Elf Power drummer Derek Almstead confirmed that he was engineering and playing percussion on the new record and that new material would be debuted at All Tomorrows' Parties later in the year.[13][14] In addition to this, they have released a song titled North Term Reality under Olivia Tremor Control for AUX Vol. 2.

In September 2011, the band released the single The Game You Play Is In Your Head, a 3-song suite. It is unknown whether or not the song is a single from their new album. More live shows were planned including an appearance at the ATP Curated by Jeff Mangum festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England. On January 17, 2012, it was announced that OTC would play the fifth Austin Psych Fest April 27–29, 2012 at Emo's East in Austin Texas. OTC performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago's Union Park on July 13, 2012.

On July 31, 2012, the band announced the death of Bill Doss. He died of an aneurysm.[15]

Members
Current members
Former members

Discography

Studio albums

Other albums

Compilations

EPs and singles
  • California Demise (Elephant 6; 7" 33​1⁄3 RPM; 1994)
  • The Olivia Tremor Control/The Apples in Stereo split (Small Fi; 7"; 1994)
  • The Giant Day (Drug Racer; 7" 33​1⁄3 RPM; 1996)
  • The Opera House (Blue Rose; double 7" 45 RPM/double CD-single; 1996)
  • The Olivia Tremor Control/Black Swan Network (Flydaddy; LP, October 1997; CD, 1998)
  • Jumping Fences (Blue Rose; 12" 45 RPM/CD-single; 1998)
  • Hideaway (Blue Rose; 12" 45 RPM/CD-single; 1998)
  • Those Sessions (self-released CD; 2000)
  • Once Upon a Time (with Kahimi Karie) (Polydor Japan; 2000)
  • "The Game You Play Is in Your Head, Pts. 1, 2, & 3" (Cloud Recordings; 2011)

Compilation appearances
  • "The Ships" on Succour (Flydaddy; CD; 1996)
  • "The Late Music 2" on Treble Revolution, Vol. 1 (Kindercore; Cassette; 1996)
  • "Silverbug" on Treble Revolution, Vol. 2 (Kindercore; CD; 1996)
  • "Beneath the Climb" on Dreamboat (Cassiel; CD; 1996)
  • "Collage No. 1" on Terrastock (Ptolemaic Terrascope; CD; 1997)
  • "Christmas with William S." on Christmas in Stereo (Kindercore; CD; 1997)
  • "I Won This Dog At The Driftwood Reunion Carnival 12/2/72" on Soundtrack To The Bible Belt Reunion Carnival (Anhedonia; CD; 1997)
  • "Do You Like Worms? (Do You Dig Worms)" & "Little Pad" on Smiling Pets (Sony; CD; 1998)
  • "Outside Explorations, Pt. 3" on More Music, Less Parking: WFMU Live From Jersey City (WFMU; CD; 2000)
  • "European Son" on Rabid Chords 002: Tribute to the Velvet Underground (Victor; CD; 2000)
  • "Glass Beard" on Keep Left Vol. 1 (Ace Fu; CD; 2000)
  • "Hideaway (Remix)" on Kindercore Fifty (Kindercore; CD; 2000)
  • "North Term Reality" on AUX 2 (ICE; CD; 2010)

References
  1. Clair, Adam (September 21, 2016). "Elephant 6 & Friends Reflect On The Legacy Of The Olivia Tremor Control's Dusk At Cubist Castle". Stereogum.
  2. Pickard, Joshua (July 5, 2014). "Record Bin: The fractured pop wonder of The Olivia Tremor Control's "Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One"". Nooga.
  3. "PitchforkMedia News". Archived from the original on March 3, 2008.
  4. "elephant6.com". Archived from the original on April 4, 2004.
  5. "Apples in Stereo's Robert Schneider gave up a flourishing music career to chase his true passion: Math". Atlanta Magazine. 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
  6. "Bill Doss of The Olivia Tremor Control reported dead". The Line of Best Fit.
  8. "PitchforkMedia Review". Archived from the original on July 2, 2007.
  9. "PitchforkMedia Review". Archived from the original on September 22, 2007.
  10. Lamb, Gordon. "Hope for Agoldensummer Scores Podcast, and More Music News and Gossip". Flagpole Magazine. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  11. "Athens Tango Project - I Have Been Floated". Bandcamp. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
  12. "PitchforkMedia News". Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
  13. Faix, Thomas (March 25, 2011). "Elephant Six Bring Spring To Philly". Square Cotton Candy. Retrieved March 29, 2011.
  14. "Music". EW.com.
  15. Andre Gallant (July 31, 2012). "Olivia Tremor Control's Bill Doss dead at 43". OnlineAthens. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  16. "RiYL podcast 029: Will Cullen Hart of The Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System". Boingboing.net. December 6, 2013.
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