It's good to be back

Capping a weekend where I rediscovered music (thank you Pixies "Surfer Rosa," Slint "Spiderland" Trans Am "The Surveillance," Spank Rock "Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo") and arose from the new-job-black-hole that swamped the past two months of my life with words and numbers but no sounds, online today I found video of an Elephant Six show held over the weekend that features none other than Jeff Mangum playing my favorite Neutral Milk Hotel song, "Engine," a children's song. Mangum, the principal of '90s indie rock fathers and sons and holy spirits Neutral Milk Hotel, has been tagged a recluse for his MIA status in the music world for the last 10 or so years, having chosen to hide out (live a normal life?) after he released the seminal album "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." That Mangum, a goddamn blessing to music as far as I'm concerned, has emerged from his seclusion bodes well for these dark times. Maybe we're all about to enter a moment of light.