Neutral Milk Hotel: Classic or Dud?

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.

My feelings haven't changed re: the album, btw.

i agree with curt1s. also i don't like mangum's voice.

http://rapspace.tv/files/images/HATERS.preview.jpg

i find it hard to believe that nmh featuring in a top 100 was even a surprise back in 2001

NMH's existence obviates the need for a top 100

OR

Jeff Mangum took a time machine back to 2001 and put it on the list

I still stand by my comments as well.

Like a movie like The Holy Mountain, or Anne Carson's poetry, or any other work so personal and flawless one can only ever really look in on it and wonder, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has the rare distinction of existing only technically inside commerce, criticism and opinion. You can of course have an opinion about it, but it would be really hard to even approach the intentions that made it, let alone the constantly unraveling impact it has had and continues to have a decade later. I came to understand with the thousands of other people who have been changed by this music, that you could argue to finer points, but the core of what the record meant was perfect, pure and silently understood.