― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Yes, they are an E6 band but don't subscribe to the 60s pop aesthic that most (but not all) of the other E6 bands do. Sonically and lyrically they are much more diverse.
― Jeff, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
And I still think "Pinkerton" is a bigger shock, and Weezer just has a higher profile fan base.
― scott p., Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Oh and I want Josh to be my friend.
― Jenny, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Why am I only posting about retarded music today?
― Otis Wheeler, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― james e l, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― fred solinger, Thursday, 17 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Speaking of which, _Lateralus_ = wonderfulness.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Classic for the line "I'm tasting Naomi's perfume. It tastes like shit."
― Keiko, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Luís Sousa, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
the new ladybug transistor record is beautiful, strange thing that all of their side projects are absolutely horrid but because gary olson is around on lt records they are great, but then he was a member of the mad scene and maybe some of hamish kilgour's genius rubbed off on him. how pleasing to see the clientele mention the chills as their favourite band, i imagine he was a big fan of the moles as well.
― keith, Friday, 18 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tom, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Haven't ever made it all the way through 'On Avery Island', but, yes, 'song about sex' is utter greatness. search the charred usk of napster for mangum's take of Spector's 'i love how you love me', too, or any NMH boots you can find. wonderful love band.
― stevie, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Patrick, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Otis Wheeler, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Ultimately, Neutral Milk Hotel remind me of a Dukes of Stratosphear or _On the Sunday of Life_-era Porcupine Tree that makes a critical mistake -- it takes itself seriously.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― james e l, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
p.s. : they're by far the worst band in elephant 6. much love.
― ethan, Saturday, 19 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
More to the point -- you've actually got it wrong, James, I didn't hate it with a deep and abiding passion, I more found it pointless. Consider: I *loathe* Rage Against the Machine and always will. Still, I understand why a lot of people really, *really* like them, even if I never will go down that primrose path. I find Neutral Milk Hotel a general nonstarter, vaguely pleasant at best but no more. Hearing them praised to the skies as some sort of revelation, that's what really suprises and riles me, because I just can't see or hear that at all. Substitute in the word "Weezer" for "Neutral Milk Hotel" and you've got two reactions covered.
― james e l, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― stevie, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I also can’t see how the lyrics are hateful, and I don’t think they exist to shock; I think they’re unironic, honest, loving – to the point where that skewed sincerity could be off-putting (and is, obviously). It is a "love it or hate it" album – you connect with it or you don’t, and that, to me, is more time than not a positive. I can see why people would have a strong connection to this record (and many of the other high-ranking selections in the ILM 100 from the Holy Bible to 69LS to Man-Machine) regardless of whether I enjoy them or not.
If I may, about the lyrics: Mangum uses a number of words repeatedly, seemingly in a oblique way (among them: spine, mouth, sweet, cheek, sink, tongue, teeth, face, smile.) Lyrically, the album traces a personal history of pain, loss, and disappointment from an unhappy family life to attempts at comfort through sexual awakening, religious epiphany and a belief in the invincibility of youth to the experience of reading the Diary of Anne Frank and Mangum’s connection to her hope despite inevitable death to the plight of a "Two-Headed Boy" who longs for some sensual, human connection despite his being birthed to a life of almost inevitable loneliness. Throughout, these seemingly unrelated words above are peppered amidst alternating stream-of-consciousness lyrics and very lucid observations about the pain of both Mangum and his characters.
Then, at the end, the final song is about the suicide of a friend, and all of those words are used in context, it’s the moment where Mangum isn’t transferring that fresh pain to memories or moments of hurt that he has had the opportunity to reconcile. And when he pleads, "Push the pieces in place /Make your smile sweet to see /Don't you take this away / I'm still wanting my face on your cheek" it’s almost as if he is pushing all of those scattered lyrical pieces from the previous songs together, allowing himself the chance to grieve for what is causing his hurt, and then it’s too much and he retreats back into character and the album closes with him comforting the two-headed boy as he worries that he’ll never feel true human contact and love, warning him that when and if he does not to lament that it’s ultimately fleeting.
Again, apologies for the length of this.
― scott p., Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Tom, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I've officially even bored myself on this topic.
― Stevie Nixed, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mitch Lastnamewithheld, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― , Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Josh, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Stevie Nixed, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
"Tenk You Veddy Much"
michael g. breece
― michael g. breece, Sunday, 1 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Josh, Sunday, 1 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Sunday, 1 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― matt, Saturday, 7 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Melissa W, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― dleone, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
1) I think Jeff's a tremendous performer & has a way with a certain kind of melody -- though I think he'd do well to explore some minor keys, occasional seventh-chords, etc
2) I think he's a talented lyricist with a real gift for the rhythms of words within a line
3) I think since he's chosen to make the sort of music that attracts not just fans but people who develop a real emotional attachment to & need for his stuff, he owes them more new material than he seems willing to deliver; I have strong feelings about this as I feel an artist's most important responsibility is to his listeners, and that if you can't write at least five songs a year of you-at-your-best, then you're not trying hard enough
4) "Two-Headed Boy" is a great great great indie rock song, just a great song period; I think if Jeff believed that discipline were a virtue, which he doesn't, he'd be routinely writing some of the great songs of the age
5) Jeff's a prince of a human being, and I don't believe in separating the artist from his output but rather that the one is a reflection of the other: therefore,
CLASSIC
― John Darnielle, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
This probably should be another thread (I think it is already, actually!) -- I don't believe in this myself. Mr. M not being the subject under discussion here, I should note! I haven't ever met the man, so no point in my judging him on this point. But I've meet some friendly, fine folks who make music that Annoys and Outrages Me Deeply and I've encountered some standoffish idjits who Brought the Rock or whatever.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nate-o, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― ethan, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Lately I've been listening to live stuff, the acoustic set from Aquarius, to be exact. Lots of good unreleased stuff--"My Dream Girl Don't Exist" ; "Oh, Sister" ; "Rubby Bulbs". The demos are decent as well; some more than others. The tape collage stuff is kind of blah, and the noisy jokey stuff ("Chocolate Coffin"?!?! wtf?!?!) is pretty bad. But then you get grebt unreleased tracks like "Circle of Friends," "Wishful Eyes" and "Wood Guitar."
Right now I'm looking for other live stuff (the show with "Ferris Wheel on Fire" ; is that the one from the Cat's Cradle?) and the "Invent Yrself A Shortcake" demo, which I had aeons ago but somehow lost. slsk doesn't work in my dorm, so I can't get things that way--alas.
― Ian Johnson (orion), Sunday, 1 February 2004 21:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Llahtuos Kcin (Nick Southall), Sunday, 1 February 2004 21:54 (twenty years ago) link
i wonder if they'll be another album...
― rock 'em sock 'em (Treeship), Monday, 29 April 2013 22:11 (ten years ago) link
picturing a sleazy executive from merge, chomping on a cigar and encouraging them to "go electric," saying it'd be "like sufjan."
― rock 'em sock 'em (Treeship), Monday, 29 April 2013 22:14 (ten years ago) link
Tom Scharpling is already on the hook to direct that very video.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 29 April 2013 22:25 (ten years ago) link
Not much of a "tour." Too bad no Cali dates...
― schwantz, Monday, 29 April 2013 22:07 (Yesterday) Permalink
It's sort of blowing my mind that they're bothering to call this a tour, and that the headlines are going with it.
― mox twelve, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 02:54 (ten years ago) link
It's sort of blowing my mind that you guys didn't notice the part that says
Only a handful have been announced so far, but apparently there is "more to come,"
― bish don't kmt (some dude), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:03 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, my bad. Crossing my fingers...
― schwantz, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:27 (ten years ago) link
are these tickets going to be really expensive?
― rock 'em sock 'em (Treeship), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:36 (ten years ago) link
probably not if you buy them at face value. i think my mangum solos were 30 bucks apiece or so
― 'scuse me while i make the sky cum (k3vin k.), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:45 (ten years ago) link
pretty stoked for this, was listening to the new a hawk and a hacksaw last week and thinking how unlikely it was i'd get to see that band lineup again, when barnes moved out of town that's when it started to be apparent that this 'break after a year of touring' might turn into something more. nmh plus elf power, 1998 all over again, gonna be fun to see mangum pop up to sing in 'the arrow flies close' again.
― balls, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 03:46 (ten years ago) link
Enormous honking dud.
― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 05:18 (ten years ago) link
If there's one thing I've learned from the oughts, it's that breaking up / losing your mind / retiring forever at some point is the best thing one can do for one's career.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 07:48 (ten years ago) link
I saw the last ever NMH gig. There were maybe 50 people there. I imagine more people will want to see them this time round.
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 09:50 (ten years ago) link
Was that the Camden Underground show? Where they improvised that song in tribute to the sun at the end? One of the best shows I've ever seen.
― media conglomerates are pedaling the same product (stevie), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 10:15 (ten years ago) link
That was indeed the Underworld. Brilliant gig. I'd loved In the Aeroplane so much I was convinced everyone else in the world must feel the same, so I was genuinely shocked at how sparsely attended it was. I don't remember the improv, just being bowled over by the whole thing - so ramshackle yet hurtling forward without doubt.
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:06 (ten years ago) link
The ramshackle thing was key - I remember the drummer would tumble into these epic drum rolls, and not be able to roll back into the songs, so he'd just stop playing, listen along for a couple of bars and then jump back in. And they were just so joyous, laughing, drunk, a wonderful mess. I couldn't get the Melody Maker to cover them back in the day, but The Times let me mention them in my roundup of the year, and I wrote something about how they played like a Salvation Army Band after their first taste of the demon booze.
― media conglomerates are pedaling the same product (stevie), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:23 (ten years ago) link
The Maker rejected them because an office wag said they sounded like "the panpipe band off the Fast Show".
― media conglomerates are pedaling the same product (stevie), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:25 (ten years ago) link
Got Mark B to write about them for me a couple of years ago. I always wanted to get Simon Schama to do something on them - did you know he's a fan?
― If you tolerate Bis, then Kenickie will be next (ithappens), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:28 (ten years ago) link
Ha! Simon Schama?? Well, the album is steeped in history, I guess...
― media conglomerates are pedaling the same product (stevie), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:32 (ten years ago) link
Get Bieber to write about them.
― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:41 (ten years ago) link
my gf listens to 'aeroplane' at least once a week but wasn't too excited by the idea of seeing dude solo. we'd both go see the full band though.
ITAOTS was very ~important~ to me but at the ATP JM curated I was pretty cynical about seeing him play for a variety of reasons, and then when he actually played I was a blubbering hysterical wreck from the first note till the last. Dunno how he did it it was just a bloke with a guitar playing some songs I don't have particularly intense feelings for any more ffs.
― the kind of man who best draws girls' eyeballs (Merdeyeux), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 11:51 (ten years ago) link
stalled out on missiontix tryna get a ticket rn...
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Friday, 10 May 2013 16:05 (ten years ago) link
nvm no one i know got tickets
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Friday, 10 May 2013 16:27 (ten years ago) link
lol
― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Friday, 10 May 2013 16:31 (ten years ago) link
there are still tickets in columbia mo. for now, at least.
― mike a, Friday, 10 May 2013 17:18 (ten years ago) link
oops. sold out too. fortunately i got one.
― mike a, Friday, 10 May 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exRvC0jYOzE
― 乒乓, Monday, 13 May 2013 12:00 (ten years ago) link
seems like it would be hard to play the ukulele wearing fur gloves. sometimes i feel like my fingers are already too big. kudos to that guy.
― Treeship, Monday, 13 May 2013 12:06 (ten years ago) link
Tickets for the January 2014 D.C. show sold out too quick for me. I tried but couldn't get through. Stubhub already has some-- not sure I want to pay $80 a ticket
― curmudgeon, Friday, 2 August 2013 14:40 (ten years ago) link
Just saw them in Jersey City. Thankful there was no gigantic singalong. Such an odd band to become so big.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 05:04 (ten years ago) link
Hey, me too! I was behind the bar loading drinks for the bartenders. Got to watch the show in full afterwards too! Yeah the audience was not as sappy as I'd imagined they'd be.
― Evan, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 05:16 (ten years ago) link
i remember a feeling of dread when i checked that indiepop list in the late 90s , that band was "happening" there. i bounced as they say.
― Sébastien, Wednesday, 15 January 2014 05:19 (ten years ago) link
Don't forget dying, that's still a classic move
― L'Haim, to life (St3ve Go1db3rg), Wednesday, 15 January 2014 15:18 (ten years ago) link
Friend tweeted from that show "Yes, everyone is old."
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 January 2014 16:01 (ten years ago) link
saw them over the weekend and it was pretty magical. a surprising number of young kids there, who apparently waited out in the cold all day to get up front (which, it turned out, was totally unnecessary since all the olds were happy to hang out in the tiered seating). i was really impressed at how tight they were, the level of musicianship on that stage is super high. i'll bet they're a way better band than they were in the '90s.
JM was rocking a giant grey beard and kept his hat over his eyes the whole time but sounded spot-on.
― festival culture (Jordan), Monday, 10 February 2014 17:20 (ten years ago) link
"I was really impressed at how tight they were, the level of musicianship on that stage is super high."
Yes! Much more commanding and professional than I was expecting, and I've seen them all perform in other projects over the years.
― Evan, Monday, 10 February 2014 17:28 (ten years ago) link
the drummer and the multi-instrumentalist (jeremy & julian iirc) are particularly great.
― festival culture (Jordan), Monday, 10 February 2014 17:30 (ten years ago) link
Recent DC show sold out fast, but they're coming back to a big shed this summer.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 10 February 2014 17:32 (ten years ago) link
Saw them last night - echoing the comments above, couldn't believe how well they played. I was pretty dubious about seeing a band that I'd cared so much about in 2000, but it was still amazing.
― toby, Thursday, 22 May 2014 09:46 (nine years ago) link
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Seahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH3CRVVBL9oI cried all day long after I saw this music video for the first time.didn't care for any other songs on this album, haven't heard any of their others.
my playlists cataloging the best songs of each decade http://postmusicindustry.blogspot.com
― TabForaCause.com, Thursday, 22 May 2014 10:13 (nine years ago) link
we laughed, we cried, we spammed
― ςὖτ ιτ Οὖτ (some dude), Thursday, 22 May 2014 10:23 (nine years ago) link
http://the-toast.net/2014/10/22/songs-neutral-milk-hotel-album-reference-holocaust/
― everybody loves lana del raymond (s.clover), Saturday, 25 October 2014 21:12 (nine years ago) link
i was really impressed at how tight they were
well, if you only write, like, 22 songs over the course of a quarter century, I assume you get those songs down pretty good at some point
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 25 October 2014 23:56 (nine years ago) link
Who wouldn't get off on being revered like a Christ figure? Dude does not need to write another song in his life. ITAOTS is perfect and only gets better.
― Pentenema Karten, Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:22 (nine years ago) link
huh I could've sworn its stayed p much exactly the same since it was released
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:24 (nine years ago) link
its so strange that he doesn't write songs anymore. I figured some new stuff would emerge after the tours he did, but he's still playing all old stuff isnt he?
― prince moth mothy moth moth (cajunsunday), Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link
that well is drty
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:40 (nine years ago) link
also dry
I figured some new stuff would emerge after the tours he did
i could see that making it even harder to write new songs.
― festival culture (Jordan), Thursday, 30 October 2014 18:49 (nine years ago) link
For a Milk Hotel to be Neutral, at a time like this, is unconscionable— David Spector (@spectordeforce) January 10, 2021
― nickn, Monday, 11 January 2021 18:27 (three years ago) link
A funny tweet thread.
― nickn, Monday, 11 January 2021 18:28 (three years ago) link