Neutral Milk Hotel: Classic or Dud?

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".

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.

That said board was called "I Love Music".

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

It's an observation.

NMH > The Beatles

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

mm

xpost, does it matter?

i mean, really?

"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.

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

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 (2 years ago) Link

wow, this thread has a lot of interesting inputs throughout it

well its just got to be classic. right?
'in an aeroplane...' = totally enthralling. the vocal melody at the two minute mark of the title track gets me every time - strangely melancholic, lyrically obtuse, entirely captivating.
also, he has a hypnotic way of raising his voice to elevate the tension of the music that gives the sparser moments a density and immediacy that you don't come across too often in music. this record holds you and doesn't let you go. perfect fodder, in album format, for the thoughtful person.

i'm pretty happy for him to be canonised. if only because special music is deserving of special attention. and this guy's forever gonna be relegated to the 'acquired taste' basket regardless.

On Avery Island > Aeroplane

and that said, NMH is classic, but minor not major classic, if i might make the distinction.

whose reunion tour/album will be bigger - MBV or NMH

album: nmh
tour: mbv

Yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of Aeroplane. Happy belated NMH day!

I fear I'll never like them as much as I did when I was 15. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.

I can't believe people's ears or sanities have survived 10 years of Aeroplane's existence.