A day after Pitchfork confirmed that Neutral Milk Hoteller Jeff Mangum really did post to e6townhall.com about a new album (OMG!), they got the unfortunate news it was a hoax after all.

Apples In Stereo sleuth Robert Schneider e-mailed Jeff, who disavowed the note.

“It didn’t sound like his writing style because, for instance, it closed with the words ‘thanks for listening,’ which is a phrase that I’ve always used on Elephant 6 literature, not Jeff. It was kind of my little catchphrase,” Schneider tells PFork.

Um, yeah — we totally noticed that.

As for who started the thread, we may never know. But we’re sure the culprit’s feelin’ pretty satisfied he got 10,000 record store clerks to cream their keyboards.

The good news is that Sleater-Kinney is still breaking up. I mean, not the good news. But, you know, the real news.