Illustration from Lawman comic book #970, 1958
The late '90s saw a new form of "phoney Beatlemania" making a name for itself in a scene that was quite separate from the power-pop tradition the Rooks and Spongetones came from. The Elephant 6 Recording Company was a collective of musicians originally from Ruston, Louisiana (but based out of Denver and Athens, Georgia.) Their love of pop music was tempered by a strong DIY aesthetic and interest in experimentation that developed largely independent of the music scene at the time. Two of the musicians central to the scene, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, were the minds behind Olivia Tremor Control, a group that never got as much attention as their associates in the Apples (In Stereo) and Neutral Milk Hotel. Olivia Tremor Control exemplified as well as anyone the Elephant 6 approach to pop music and experimental music. They married catchy melodies to sound collages and grafted them to washes of ambient sound and dark psychedelia in a way that sometimes walked the line between compelling and indulgent.
It seems reductive to say that Cullen Hart and Doss represented the two sides of the music of Olivia Tremor Control, but this theory was borne out when the group disintegrated in 2000. Bill Doss carried on writing and recording as the Sunshine Fix, whose music was a fun if faceless take on sunshine-y British Invasion pop. Will Cullen Hart formed the Circulatory System, whose only album was a distinctly darker version of nouveau psychedelia with a swooning, druggy feel to it. Olivia Tremor Control's best aspect was balancing these two instincts, but one of my favorite OTC songs is "Jumping Fences", where Bill Doss is definitely the driving force. In under two minutes, the song proves that these outsiders could challenge any power-pop band for the "We Love the Beatles" crown.
"Jumping Fences" by Olivia Tremor Control
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