Elephant 6 Recording Company: Review

If you are a fan of li-fi psychedelic music, you know Elephant 6, the record label and collective that birthed The Apples and Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, The Minders and so many more.

There’s a brand new documentary Called Elephant 6 Recording Company that lovingly recounts this group of small town misfits who carved out their own musical path. But they also took care of each other.

It pulls back the curtain on the creative process, especially the nucleus, Robert Schneider. My favorite quote is someone recounting what he said about making an album, “It doesn’t matter if any one hears it. We are making rock and roll history.”

It’s also a great testament to Athens, Georgia, the 40 Watt and more.

The film is so inspiring and beautiful.

(Credit: Chris Bilheimer).

I never lived in Athens but I lived in Atlanta when The Black Lips and Cat Power and Deerhunter/Atlas Sound and a bunch of other bands were blowing up. And right after that, living in Montreal also had a strong scene.

Those moments burn like hot stars until they implode. bands go on hiatus or break up, and move on or sometimes reform. Or in the case of Bill Doss, die unexpectedly and tragically young.

I don’t think any kind of organic scene is ever going to emerge like Elephant 6 again, at least not in music because it’s all but impossible to make enough money to live on as an independent musician any more unless you already have an established fan base. So it either means this type of music will only be made by people who are independently wealthy or people who just treat it as a hobby.

At the same time, the fact that Elephant 6 ever existed at all might be enough.

This is probably a documentary just for fans, but if you like music in general, and the process of creating art, you’ll find value in it.