In honor of this week’s anniversary of Olivia Tremor Control member Bill Doss’s death, 333Sound takes a brief look back at the Elephant 6 Recording Company (and its extensive family tree).

As Kim Cooper documented in her now iconic 33 1/3 In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, something extraordinary was happening in Athens, Georgia, when Jeff Magnum, William Cullen Hart, and Bill Doss emerged in the music scene as Synthetic Flying Machine. Recently transplanted from the small neighboring towns of Ruston and Dubach in Louisiana and already flying under the elusive banner of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, SFM would bring a new, DIY, pop-psychedelic sound to the then predominately grunge landscape of Athens—a musical style (and way of life) that would linger in the community for years to come.

Synthetic Flying Machine flyer, early 90s, Ruston, LA. From the Neutral Milk Hotel Picture Archive.

By 1997, SFM had…