Neutral Milk Hotel: Classic or Dud?

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I recently saw a very good movie called The Station Agent, and the banjo playing was credited to Julian Koster, who I'm assuming is the very same Julian Koster of NMH fame.

If anyone gets a chance to see the film, it's well worth it for the music alone.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 1 February 2004 22:51 (twenty-two years ago)

ned is the antichrist.

I thought you knew that already!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 1 February 2004 22:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Is the Live at Jittery Joe's album any good? The pitchfork review was kind of mixed.

― nickn (nickn), Sunday, 1 February 2004 23:03 (twenty-two years ago)

it's good. the sound quality isn't the best but the cover of "I Love How You Love Me" is mind-bogglingly good.

― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Sunday, 1 February 2004 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

Listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea makes me sick to my stomach. Arrrrgh.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 14 June 2004 01:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Listening to it makes me cry. I love it, but it's too intense for everyday use.

The interview from Creative Loafing, above, is terribly sad. I hope things come together for Jeff.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Monday, 14 June 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I bought that Jittery Joe's CD a couple weeks ago and just listened to it yesterday. It is pretty good, just wish that baby had kept quiet.

― nickn (nickn), Monday, 14 June 2004 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

That Creative Loafing piece bothered me. Bands don't owe their fans anything. According to the Creative Loafing writer, NMH made an album that helped him deal with his brother's suicide. And it's still not enough for him! So he decides to harrass Mangum's family. The writer of that piece needs to focus on the music -- the thing that saw him through that period -- and leave the guy behind it (whom he has never met and doesn't know a thing about) alone.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i haven't liked nmh for a long, long time now. just in case you were wondering.

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 14 June 2004 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

M., come back to the land of Indie! We have chocolate and E!

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The Creative Loafing piece bothered me, too, but the notion that bands "don't owe their fans anything" is horseshit - we owe them our skins more often than not

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Bands owe the fans love & respect for supporting past & current works, sure, but do they owe them something new if said band doesn't want to "do that" anymore? ("Do that" = make a new album, stay the course, play old songs in concert, throw raw meat, etc.)

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen you debate this point before John and I know where you are coming from. I definitely agree with you when it comes to honesty and respect re and artist & his/her audience. But Mangum isn't promising or expecting anything as far as I can tell.

I find this disturbing:

"In his music, I found both mythological nourishment and a nudge toward hope that some piece of life doesn't perish with the body and the brain.

So, of course, the one album wasn't enough. I wanted more."

And then this sets him off on some kind of "Roger and Me" odyssey to find the man behind the music. The guy nees to read some Thich Nhat Hanh or listen to Pete Townshend's "A Little is Enough".

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 14 June 2004 13:58 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post I'm not suggesting that I like the Creative Loafing piece much, 'cause I don't: it'd be one thing if Jeff had been missing for twenty years or something, but shit: he ain't even missing! he just doesn't feel like releasing anything right now. So yeah I find the piece disturbing, I'm just debating an issue raised by it, which is actually one of my hobby horses:

1) "owe them" new work? no, I guess not, but it's pretty unsporting not to make the effort
2) old songs in concert? emphatically yes. "Musician" is a job for which one gets paid. You get hired based on the strength of work you've demonstrated you're capable of doing (i.e., the hits). You ain't gotta play all the hits every time, but fuck a band that thinks people ONLY came to hear the new stuff/whichever way the muse is leading them. People paid to get in. You shouldn't take their money if you're not willing to give them some of what they paid for.
3) throw raw meat? my vegetarian stance on this matter is well known

I'm just so tired of the notion that Artists Must Do What Artists Will Do! The people who suppport artists are as much part of the artist's work as are the growth experiences that the artist brought to the table when he/she had no listeners. I think the debt artists owe their public is routinely undervalued, and that it's artists who've made a point of furthering the notion that "the artist is responsible only to his art," which I think is baloney. If you're only responsible to your art, then keep it to yourself.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 14 June 2004 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

GOD DAMNED STUPID FUCKING DUMBSHIT BASTARD SON OF A BITCH ALBUM I KILL YOU

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:11 (twenty years ago)

This should a "Defend the Indefensible." Utterly indefensible shit.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

NMH > The Beatles

― cdwill, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

Total classic.
Took me a couple of listens to really get into, but once I heard it uninterrupted on headphones I had a small epiphany. Incredibly powerful, strange and beautiful. And the bagpipe solo is most triumphant.

― Stew (stew s), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

I once said on some internet message board that Two-Headed Boy would make me start to tear up often, and someone told me I was not cool.

That said board was called "I Love Music".

― PappaWheelie B.C., Monday, 19 September 2005 21:43 (twenty years ago)

I like Neutral Milk Hotel.

I was all broken hearted about this girl in college and Two-Headed Boy was my mope song of choice.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 19 September 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

I'm Just a Mop(e)s.

― The Mops, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:52 (twenty years ago)

Aeroplane : one-off, how-the-hell-did-he-do-that classic

(Btw, Jittery Joe's is a CD-R, I seem to recall. Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

― M. V. (M.V.), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:06 (twenty years ago)

I finally heard In the Aeroplane Over the Sea for the first time a couple of years ago and I have a tape of it that I've listened to a few times. I think there are a couple of songs that are fairly well written, but there are a lot of songs that really aren't. And I find the record very maudlin.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

I like Holland, 1945 and a few other songs on their second album. Otherwise it sounds like Oasis singing folk standards.

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

Listening to NMH is akin to rubbing one's fingernails on a chalkboard. Of course I guess some may like that sound.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:20 (twenty years ago)

C L A S S I C

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Monday, 19 September 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

Listening to NMH is akin to rubbing one's fingernails on a chalkboard. Of course I guess some may like that sound.

It's almost as if we were totally unaware that we have a noize board here at ILX.

― PappaWheelie B.C., Monday, 19 September 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

Neutral Milk Wolf Hotel

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 19 September 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

I mean, he's written some good songs and all, but come on people. Let's not fucking cannonize the guy. It's not like he's Diplo, or Digweed.

― The King of Flop Threads, Monday, 19 September 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

it's not like he's that one mc on that run the road 2 comp

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

classic. im loving olivia tremor control at the moment, too. not sold on apples in stereo, however.

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

Jittery Joe's is an official release, not a CD-R.

― alan z, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

not sold on apples in stereo, however.

You shouldn't be.

The funny thing about the lyrics for "Two-Headed Boy" is how they might as well be a Smashing Pumpkins song from around 1997 or so.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

actually, a big epic Smashing Pumpkins cover of Two Headed Boy would be the bee's knees! I can hear it in my head....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 01:36 (twenty years ago)

Jittery Joe's is an official release, not a CD-R.

I believe it's an officially released CD-R. Look at the color of its playable side.

― M. V. (M.V.), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

Search (or download or whatever): Jeff Magnum @ Aquarius Records in SF, 1995 or 1996-ish

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 03:02 (twenty years ago)

Apples in Stereo's EP collection Science Faire is almost as good as the first OTC and NMH albums. I could see someone hearing other things they've done instead and not regarding AiS as comparable to the other two, though. But back in the olden days of 96-97, the three bands really did seem of a piece.

Oh and Neutral Milk Hotel is totally classic. On Avery Island is one of the best albums of manic folk sincerity genius there is.

― Louis Kahn, Tuesday, 20 September 2005 03:48 (twenty years ago)

really lousy

― jermaine (jnoble), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 09:11 (twenty years ago)

The funny thing about the lyrics for "Two-Headed Boy" is how they might as well be a Smashing Pumpkins song from around 1997 or so.

-- Ned Raggett
From you Ned I'm guessing this is a compliment! There is a "Disarm" vibe to that guitar strum, also.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

i like the mountain goats version of two headed boy more. it's more spine tingly.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

From you Ned I'm guessing this is a compliment!

It's an observation.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

In The Aeroplane Over the Sea was my favorite album for like all of high school.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 20 September 2005 15:47 (twenty years ago)

i ithink i really hate jeff mangum. and i hate that some grieving dude got some shame for crossing the line with this dork. but aeroplane is a pretty good album.

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Wednesday, 21 September 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

something tells me that NMH would still be cool if he'd stopped after On Avery Island (which is sooooo much better than Aeroplane)

― Aaron A, Wednesday, 21 September 2005 21:08 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

NMH > The Beatles

-- cdwill, Monday, 19 September 2005 21:30 (2 years ago) Link

― three handclaps, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:32 (eighteen years ago)

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:33 (eighteen years ago)

xpost, does it matter?

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

i mean, really?

― I know, right?, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

"something tells me that NMH would still be cool if he'd stopped after On Avery Island (which is sooooo much better than Aeroplane)"

"it sounds like Oasis singing folk standards."

psssshhh and pfffft respectively.

― circa1916, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 23:01 (eighteen years ago)

"can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all" -- it doesn't get much headier than that.

― McFiend, Thursday, 29 November 2007 13:19 (eighteen years ago)

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