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Author Topic: Neutral Milk Hotel  (Read 20082 times)
Reverend Joshua Sloane
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« on: April 19, 2006, 02:44:51 PM »

I finally understand the fuss about In An Aeroplane Over The Sea. It makes perfect sense and I cannot stop listening to it.

Anyone else?
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Chance
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« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2006, 04:11:15 AM »

Oh, man. (Takes breath, then gushes.) As good as anything Wilson, Dylan or Lennon ever did, IMO. Right up there with SMiLE for me. A classic for the ages. The most original, brilliant music to come out of the nineties, it never fails to level me. And yet it's oddball enough that I can understand and not fault anyone for not being able to get into it. But I say give it a shot, if you love it, you'll love it like nothing else you've ever heard.
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CosmicDancer
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« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2006, 05:06:24 AM »

This record is truly an amazing work of art!  Glad to see some of you are enjoying it as much as I have over the years.  If you dont own it already, check out their first full length album "On Avery Island".  That one is great as well.  There is so much great music to recommend in the Elephant 6 collective.  For any that dont know of it, you should do some research and check it out.  My personal faves are:  Of Montreal (loosely affiliated to E6), The Apples In Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and The Olivia Tremor Control.  OTC does a wonderful cover of Do You Dig Worms? if you can dig it up.
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Reverend Joshua Sloane
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« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2006, 05:52:00 PM »

This record is truly an amazing work of art!  Glad to see some of you are enjoying it as much as I have over the years.  If you dont own it already, check out their first full length album "On Avery Island".  That one is great as well.  There is so much great music to recommend in the Elephant 6 collective.  For any that dont know of it, you should do some research and check it out.  My personal faves are:  Of Montreal (loosely affiliated to E6), The Apples In Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, and The Olivia Tremor Control.  OTC does a wonderful cover of Do You Dig Worms? if you can dig it up.

Yeah I love the Elephant Six bands. The front page of their website has a funny little Brian Wilson tribute of a sort.

Do You Like Worms = http://www.elephant6.net/mp3/otc/OTC_DoYouLikeWorms.mp3
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« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2006, 06:01:40 PM »

I would love to hear this.
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mike thornton
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« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2006, 06:34:06 PM »

eh, you're all kidding...right? coldplay, stereolab, otc, nmh, et al.  LOL

what i can tell you is that dylan, lennon, wilson, spector, et al would never listen to such pseudohiplookatme shite. at least the archies had some melodic sensibilities.

but, like i said, you're all kidding.
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« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2006, 06:40:17 PM »

why the hate, man?

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Chance
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« Reply #7 on: April 20, 2006, 07:47:49 PM »

Who the hell is talking about Coldplay and Stereolab? I know nothing of either. Seriously, this came out of your head, not ours.

And if a billion trendy hipsters adopt something good, I gotta stop listening to it?? Like I said, I don't fault anyone for not getting it, but I resent the condescension. Music has been my oxygen, my religion and my universe since 1972, I'm not deaf and blind to quality, kid.
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Reverend Joshua Sloane
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« Reply #8 on: April 20, 2006, 09:36:20 PM »

eh, you're all kidding...right? coldplay, stereolab, otc, nmh, et al.  LOL

what i can tell you is that dylan, lennon, wilson, spector, et al would never listen to such pseudohiplookatme merdae. at least the archies had some melodic sensibilities.

but, like i said, you're all kidding.

Find us something modern that's on the same level as Dylan, Lennon, Wilson, and Spector then.
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« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2006, 09:50:58 PM »

But I do agree, a lot of those type of bands (Not ALL) sound like they heard the late 60's Beach Boys albums and tried the same things themselves. The difference being that Brian and the Boys were MAJOR talents, each one of them. For them to make simpler music while still having that GREAT quality was easy. Tons of bands now, and myself i'll admit ashamedly, simply copy this type of music and lack the simplistic greatness that is in those BBoys cuts.
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« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2006, 12:02:43 AM »

Aeroplane is my favorite album ever, probably.  I think it's the richest, most rewarding emotional experience to be found in popular (and I use that term loosely here) music.  Then again, I know some people who absolutely hate it. 

Then again, I also know some people who might actually love it if they got over the whole 'indie hipster' stigma and gave the record a chance.
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« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2006, 02:09:30 AM »

i wish i liked this album more.

im a massive E6 fan, but this album just doesnt connect with me the way it does with other people.
dont get me wrong i like the album a lot, but sooooooooooooo many people seem to think that Oh Comely is the greatest thing sinced sliced bread.
its just some bloke harping away at an acousitc guitar.
its nothing really special.
if youre gonna be all acousticy, you should be more like the incredible string band.
but then thats just my opinion.

but on saying that, Ghost and the following instrumental tracks are two of the greatest musical moments ever recorded.


oh, and i wouldnt say that Of Montreal are loosely affiliated with E6 - have a look af who's on The Gay Parade. everyone's there.
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CosmicDancer
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« Reply #12 on: April 21, 2006, 04:42:09 AM »

what i can tell you is that dylan, lennon, wilson, spector, et al would never listen to such pseudohiplookatme merdae. at least the archies had some melodic sensibilities.

but, like i said, you're all kidding.

Man, I guess it's a good thing that while I have mass amounts of respect for all the artists you listed there, I dont look only to them to find things to listen to and enjoy.  I have found that thinking for myself and following my own tastes can be very helpful and it tends to lead me to some great stuff that is out there.  It's not my problem if indie hipsters pick up on something that I like.  Good tunes is good tunes my friend and I really don't care what group of people like or dislike it.
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« Reply #13 on: April 21, 2006, 03:02:38 PM »

NMH's Aeroplane is BRILLIANT. Probably the best album of the '90s, although Of Montreal and Radiohead competed for that title, too.

Stereolab and Coldplay are not E6 bands.

If NMH is such "look-at-me hipster" music, then why did Mangum leave the music scene (with a few exceptions of barely audible guest roles on other minor releases)? People who want attention tend to, oh, SEEK IT. Mangum, on the other hand, turned down an opening slot with REM and basically retired.

That album is a piece of absolute art. Turn off the lights, turn it up and let yourself feel it. You'll probably cry before it ends.
 
I have most E6-related stuff, by the way. I'm happy to share it with anyone who wants it...AIM me. (But not now...may laptop is dead, thus no file sharing at the moment.)

Other BW-related, E6 covers: OTC also did "Little Pad" (in addition to the aforementioned "Do You Dig Worms"); Apples in Stereo did "Heroes and Villains"; Jeff Mangum did a Spector cover, "I Love How You Love Me" (I count that as BW-related!)...for some reason I'm thinking there's more, but I don't recall what.
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« Reply #14 on: April 21, 2006, 05:12:15 PM »

While I certainly respect the bands mentioned here, and NMH/Magnum, I for some reason can't stand NMH or any Elephant 6 band, really.  I've tried really hard.  I've had people put on Aeroplane for me with the intention to like it, but I end up wishing it were over pretty quick every time.  Sorry guys.
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« Reply #15 on: April 21, 2006, 05:52:14 PM »

dear thread perusers,

perhaps this is a larger issue. "society" isn't as interesting (and all the connotations you can throw in with that) as it used to be.

chance, i'm 45. i grew up in LA with all the best top 40 you could imagine. i find it odd and a tad distressing that the music i liked when i was 5 and listened to on the radio (and that of older friends brothers and sisters 45's/albums) is qualitively light years ahead of today's. i never ascribed to the "it's my generation's music, therefore it's mine and better than what preceeded it" pov. that is a common condition. when i started playing in bands and writing my own music, U2 was really taking off. they were the only current band i liked. all of my fellow musician friends and the hip crowd, as it were, were into the smiths, the cure, siouxie, and all those other flavor of the moments. i was a complete anomaly as i was into badfinger, the zombies, led zeppelin, van dyke parks, and above all the beach boys. i was simply the cute, slightly eccentric bass player because of it. now, those same people are completely into what i am and are embarrassed that they gave me any grief. when the 90's rolled around, i heard very little of any value. some stood out, though. some alice in chains, most nirvana, a few stone temple pilots, monaco's first. a couple of songs really stood out. "ordinary world" by duran duran (believe it or not), "one headlight" by the wallflowers (knocked roger waters out, btw). but, by and large, the rest was CRAP. i couldn't believe that the j's on the old smile shop board were touting such drivel as in my first post. i mean, come on...at least "ma belle ami" is a very good facsmilie. a good song. it's not forced. it's not trying to be "hip" bra. so what if e6 bands covered bw. does that make them cool? accomplished? no, cool and accomplished would be the pepper's cover of "higher ground" or ewf's "got to get you into my life." why many people on this board are praising the works of stereolab, radiohead, and coldplay is so far beyond me as to be incredulous. if you ladies and gents think dylan, macca, bw, vdp, or even peter gabriel listen to that stuff albeit occassionally, you'd be very sadly mistaken. miles davis or julian bream yes, in an aeroplane over the sea, no.

so, now i'll go back to listening to stack o tracks, the pet sounds box, hawthorne, sketches of spain, time out, blonde on blonde, revolver, plays granados & albeniz, phonograph record, and music from big pink. to name a few.  Smiley

subjectively speaking, of course.  Afro

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Reverend Joshua Sloane
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« Reply #16 on: April 21, 2006, 07:04:25 PM »

So where are the great talents of today?

If popular music was consistantly better in your day (Again not pushing the generation argument) then why is it not now? The music business hasn't gotten to be much more of a greedy beast than it was in 1972. The people as general human beings haven't changed. Since music became a commercially viable product, through sheet music publications or iTunes deliveries, there have always been the "Greats" of every era. Where are these people now? I'm looking for a serious answer.
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Reverend Joshua Sloane
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« Reply #17 on: April 21, 2006, 07:14:42 PM »

What do you think of Sufjan Stevens?

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« Reply #18 on: April 21, 2006, 09:08:55 PM »

why many people on this board are praising the works of stereolab, radiohead, and coldplay is so far beyond me as to be incredulous. if you ladies and gents think dylan, macca, bw, vdp, or even peter gabriel listen to that stuff albeit occassionally, you'd be very sadly mistaken. miles davis or julian bream yes, in an aeroplane over the sea, no.


Although I fail to see what any of those artists have to do with Neutral Milk Hotel, I'll bite.

From Paul McCartney's own mouth, these are the bands he listed when asked to pick his ultimate festival lineup from artists either living or dead:

"The Beatles, The Who, Rolling Stones, Queen, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Radiohead and Sex Pistols (to name but a few)."

And keep in mind that Paul also had Nigel Godrich, whose best known works are with Radiohead, Beck, and Pavement, produce his last album.  George Martin has also gone on record as saying that such bands as Radiohead and Prodigy write great material and make great records.  U2, who you seem to like, are also very vocal in their admiration of Radiohead and Coldplay, among numerous other modern bands.

And a quote from Peter Gabriel: "Radiohead, for me, are one of the great bands and one of the reasons is that they're always trying to innovate and push back boundaries, both in their musical work and in their video work."




Now, not that any of that really matters to me--I don't really see why it should make that much of a difference to any of us what artists we admire choose to listen to in their spare time--but it seems to make a difference to you, so I dug up the quotes above. 

One of the marks of many great artists, I've found, is that they don't shut themselves out to new influences, and they understand that music, like all aspects of culture, is constantly evolving and changing.  And much of that evolution is actually a pretty great thing, if you choose to keep your ears open to it.

Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel are two of my favorite bands, just because I find their music incredibly moving and interesting.  But I also adore The Beatles, Beach Boys, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin, Zombies, The Who, and most other 60s/70s pop/rock/soul artists you could care to mention.  And I don't see at all why the two things sould have to be in conflict.  I'm a music fan first and foremost; the era in which it was made is irrelevant to me if I think it's good.

If you don't like anything recent, that's fine; you're more than entitled to your own tastes.  But to suggest that anybody who dares to seriously enjoy music from an era you don't like is either kidding you or kidding themselves is something I just can't really agree with. 



And by the way, have you ever actually listened to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea?  Just wondering...
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« Reply #19 on: April 21, 2006, 09:49:23 PM »

ok, i'll bite.  Wink

"in the aeroplane over the sea" sounds vapid and lifeless.

what i've seen of radiohead and coldplay live (albeit not in person) was boring and uninspired.

yes, we shall have to agree to disagree. as i do with many posters on this board over bands of the last +/- 10 years. whatever you ladies and gents hear, i don't. and that's fine.  Smiley

i would *LOVE* to hear something really honest, moving, and inspired in pop from say 1995 on other than by u2 and monaco's first. i really would. i would say "orange crate art" is one of the last, best songs i've heard. to me, its a desert out there. so, i write my own things (in concert and alt tunings) to entertain myself and sing at open mics.

as to your quotes, if i went to peter gabriel's house and found a radiohead cd, i'd give you $100. US. same thing with macca and george martin.

i can see that posting in the gen music discuss thread on the whole is pointless for me. art is interpretation and experience. criticism is interpretation and analysis. and believe me, i've gotten into heated discussions with various art class profs over these types of things.

music isn't just enjoyment for me. its a passion. and to see popular practitioners practice bad art is an affront to *my* sensibilities which are apparently much different than most here. i'll put it car terms. i'm a classic ferrari guy. many car people swear that the new bmw z rivals any bmw sports car ever made or the newest porsche boxster every bit as good as the 50's aluminum speedster. but me? i'll take a 250 gt or an original superamerica without a nanoseconds hesitation any day and wish the new bmw and porsche drivers all the best.

which is what i'm ending with here.







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« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2006, 10:51:18 PM »

the illinois lp is the best album of 2005. for sure.
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« Reply #21 on: April 22, 2006, 12:43:57 AM »

So what if Paul doesn't actually OWN any Radiohead albums?

He's as old as my Grandma and she doesn't even know who they are!

Just because Paul is in the business doesn't mean that he has the one and only supreme taste. I bet that his personal record collection is sh*t from his day, what he grew up with. And when i'm 63 i'll have albums from my youth as well. It's a very simple chain of events to see this. Brian Wilson doesn't listen to anything new because he's bonkers. He listened to Be My Baby for days on end on a child's tape deck! Brian Wilson's opinion on anything but his own music is irrelevant as far as i'm concerned. And "Be My Baby" is hardly the pinnacle of popular music, there's more substance and quality to a lot of modern music than there is to it.

*Furious 4am rant over*
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« Reply #22 on: April 22, 2006, 12:55:56 AM »

There's a ton of Radiohead songs which I would pick over the Beatles ANYDAY. Tons is an understatement. To generalize all this as "bad art" is so damn insulting. To make a junk food reference:

I am a plain pizza kinda guy. I like the simplicity of the meal. Other people though, they think that they need thousands of toppings. They think that because they took an idea and expanded on it that they are better off. They have more taste, more meal to eat, more to fill the void of hunger, more to feel good about. They expanded on a simpler idea. How dare they do such a thing! I demand that every pizza place only serves plain pizza. If these youngsters start putting pineapple on their slices it'll be the end of the world. Clearly pizza with more than just bread, sauce and cheese is a form of bad pizza.

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« Reply #23 on: April 22, 2006, 01:06:04 AM »

The thing that really fodaing pisses me off about the nay-sayers to modern and popular music is that their opinion serves to prove mine invalid. Every emotional connection I and others may have had to music post-1975 is now shown as foolish. Of course it's all subjective and it's all one opinion against the next, all that merda. It really angers me though to hear people dismiss everything current and look back into the past for greater things. "1560 what a rough year, too bad times aren't like 1480, now there was a good year. Hopefully things will be better in 1590 when our kids are old, I wonder if..Heavens no!...they won't possibly look back on our generation admiringly will they?"
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« Reply #24 on: April 22, 2006, 07:08:23 AM »

NMH as vapid and lifeless...wow. Those are a couple of words I wouldn't have used by it, but it doesn't matter (thank goodness). You've got your music and me, I've got mine.

Sufjan...I've said repeatedly and stand behind this: great arrangements, but far, far too little substance. Half a dozen great melodies and he drags it out over an hour. I like concise pop, so maybe it's my own bias. But he's certainly a talent, and I think I did rank it something like the fifth best album of 2005. He's got a labelmate whose music I prefer far more--Half-Handed Cloud (John Ringhofer). It is like a bizarre Flaming Lips/Beach Boys/insane thing, often minimalist, but with sudden bits of horns and harmonies, etc. Warning: it is overtly Christian music, not like Sufjan's often subtle message. So if that sort of thing is annoying to you, you won't like it at all. (I'm not religious at all, but it doesn't bother me, since the music is good and the lyrics are a lot of fun--childlike and joyful.) The tunes are very sophisticated, but sometimes sound as if it's hard music played by children.

Radiohead...I don't like the last studio album so much, but the half dozen before were great, among the best in pop at the time. I think their run from the Bends through Amnesiac was just remarkable.

With all due respect to the "music was better in my day" argument...I don't buy it. You've had time to become nostalgic, your time's legends have become affixed in society's collective mind, you're not seeing the bad of your time anymore, etc. There is so much great music now, it's astounding. Finding it is difficult, as major labels have dropped (or don't pick up) most good acts, so you need to peruse Polyvinyl, Merge, Matador, Fat Possum, Sub Pop, etc. But they're there. As for who will eventually stand with "the classics," we'll find out later. It's tough to place anyone in a canon at the time.
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