Marshmallow Coast (formerly M Coast) is an indie pop band associated with the Elephant Six Collective.
The band began as a solo recording project of singer/songwriter Andy Gonzales, who first recorded as Marshmallow Coast in 1996 with a self-released cassette, which featured contributions from Joel Richardson of The Minders. After a split single release, Gonzales met up with old friend and Neutral Milk Hotel member Julian Koster to record Timesquare. While it was recorded in 1997, it did not get released until 2000 due to various label disputes.
Gonzales, after releasing some more singles, dropped the Marshmallow Coast project temporarily to tour with Music Tapes, Koster's side project, and relocate to Athens, GA in 1997. In Athens, Gonzales met with Kevin Barnes and Derek Almstead, singer/songwriter and bassist/ engineer, respectively, of the relatively new Of Montreal. With Barnes, Gonzales recorded Marshmallow Coast's second album, 1999's Seniors & Juniors, and became a member of Of Montreal himself. The other members of the band became his backing band for a couple singles including the split with Of Montreal and with My First Keyboard.
2000 brought the Derek Almstead produced Marshmallow Coasting, and a tour with Of Montreal. Gonzales then began a website-based project where he recorded songs for paying customers and gave them sole ownership. Derek and Andy's second collaboration Ride the Lightning was released in 2001 with another Of Montreal tour.Antistar released in 2003 without Derek or any other Of Montrealers and with the addition of Sara Kirkpatrick on flute, was produced by Jason NeSmith of Casper & the Cookies.