How did the Neutral Milk Hotel legend get so out of hand?
May 11, 2016 7:34 AM Subscribe
There’s this attitude that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is still holding something back. A belief that Neutral Milk Hotel is keeping secrets, and our grand unified theory about the twins, the potato, the singing saw, the piano full of flames, and the marching band, is missing a few crucial teeth. A cult needs something to work toward, a communal faith that someday, somehow, it’ll all come together... The AVClub tries to understand how Neutral Milk Hotel's legend has gotten so out of hand.
“I’m sure the shows were great,” says Cahoon. “But my friends and I always joked that a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion show would be the most obnoxious show ever. Thousand of young people shouting along to every word so loudly that you couldn’t hear the band.”
I was at one of those shows, and people were shouting the songs, and it was still awesome. At least part of what's great about them is that they're an amazing live band and the albums capture at least part of that. I'm sure I only heard about them because 'the legend got out of hand', so I'm ok with it.
posted by Huck500 at 7:52 AM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
I was at one of those shows, and people were shouting the songs, and it was still awesome. At least part of what's great about them is that they're an amazing live band and the albums capture at least part of that. I'm sure I only heard about them because 'the legend got out of hand', so I'm ok with it.
posted by Huck500 at 7:52 AM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
I never really thought about the odd intensity of this record, despite it being firmly in my era (I'd graduated high school a couple of years before) and in my area (living in Greenville, SC, I spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Athens because that's where all the good shows were when I was a teen). It just was. I was never as enamored of it as most of my friends--there was always a NMH song on any mixtape, usually the same ones--so I didn't get it. I am more receptive to the band and the album as an older adult, but I still don't get it? Most of my workmates and friends in Atlanta in the early 00s decamped to Williamsburg, NYC and often spoke in hushed tones about they were pretty sure they saw Jeff Mangum That One Time when they would come back to visit.
posted by Kitteh at 7:55 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 7:55 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
They were great in '98, when they came to the UK with Sparklehorse. I bought the two albums (and a couple of singles) off the back of that, and still listen to them sometimes now.
The best thing Jeff Mangum could have done would be to follow that album up with one not quite so good. Either that or do a load of boring interviews.
posted by pipeski at 7:59 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
The best thing Jeff Mangum could have done would be to follow that album up with one not quite so good. Either that or do a load of boring interviews.
posted by pipeski at 7:59 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
The best thing Jeff Mangum could have done would be to follow that album up with one not quite so good.
He already did that with "On Avery Island."
posted by NoMich at 8:04 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
He already did that with "On Avery Island."
posted by NoMich at 8:04 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've listened to Aeroplane, and while it's a good album, the sheer reverence people have for it confuses me.
I suspect part of my disconnection is that it didn't live up to the hype, coming to it with its cult already established. Had I come across it in 1998, I might feel differently.
Maybe Aeroplane and Neutral Milk Hotel have their stature in the way that some celebrities are famous for being famous...
posted by SansPoint at 8:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I suspect part of my disconnection is that it didn't live up to the hype, coming to it with its cult already established. Had I come across it in 1998, I might feel differently.
Maybe Aeroplane and Neutral Milk Hotel have their stature in the way that some celebrities are famous for being famous...
posted by SansPoint at 8:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I caught one of their reunion shows in 2013. Mangum looked like a homeless person. It was a powerful show, and I'm not normally the type of person who is affected much by live performances. I can't recall if the audience was screaming along or not. If they were, I probably was too. It felt like everyone in the room was alive and buzzing on the same wavelength.
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:20 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by dephlogisticated at 8:20 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Man, yesterday it was all about how, sure LMM is good and all but it would have been better if someone else had played Hamilton, now I hear that NMH is okay I guess but doesn't exactly live up to the hype. Some of you kids are just too cool for me.
posted by teh_boy at 8:21 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by teh_boy at 8:21 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I remember first hearing NMH from my bandmates in Milledgeville, GA--about an hour's drive from Athens--usually on CD-Rs sometime around 2001 or '02. I think maybe I heard On Avery Island stuff first and asked who it was, because it was so different from the usual blasts of Don Cab or Cornelius or Yume Bitsu that they normally listened to around the practice house. "Oh, I know metal guys and punks and stuff who love Neutral Milk Hotel," I was told. "Everyone likes 'em."
Aeroplane quickly became a favorite and even then before the huge mythology really blew up just a couple years later, I think everyone acknowledged that the album was special. That it wasn't simply a good record, but an album that Meant Something. In the absence of information, people will substitute just about anything, so I can easily see how a weird emotional record full of portentous imagery covering WWII, Anne Frank, broken families, sex and death would gain a special foothold with the weird emotional teens and twenty-somethings who naturally gravitate to that kind of thing. You don't have to "get it" to be able to grasp that.
I remember hotly discussing NMH on another message board years ago after a woman put a bunch of songs on the internet that were taken from tapes she'd found in a box after she moved into Jeff Mangum's old room in Athens. Back then, the general consensus was that it'd been a crappy thing to do, and that those recordings were clearly never meant for public consumption and it was emblematic of people thinking they were entitled to an artist's works just because they felt some sort of connection to them.
I remarked that if the woman had moved into Bob Pollard's old bedroom, we wouldn't be having the discussion at all.
I saw the band at one of their sold-out reunion shows at the Tabernacle and I'm glad I did. They were really really excellent. Seeing the people behind that record play in front of me was really special and humanized them to an extent--Mangum hiding behind a giant beard, Julian Koster bouncing around the stage like a maniac. They looked like they were having such a damn good time up there, and that meant a lot to me.
posted by Maaik at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [13 favorites]
Aeroplane quickly became a favorite and even then before the huge mythology really blew up just a couple years later, I think everyone acknowledged that the album was special. That it wasn't simply a good record, but an album that Meant Something. In the absence of information, people will substitute just about anything, so I can easily see how a weird emotional record full of portentous imagery covering WWII, Anne Frank, broken families, sex and death would gain a special foothold with the weird emotional teens and twenty-somethings who naturally gravitate to that kind of thing. You don't have to "get it" to be able to grasp that.
I remember hotly discussing NMH on another message board years ago after a woman put a bunch of songs on the internet that were taken from tapes she'd found in a box after she moved into Jeff Mangum's old room in Athens. Back then, the general consensus was that it'd been a crappy thing to do, and that those recordings were clearly never meant for public consumption and it was emblematic of people thinking they were entitled to an artist's works just because they felt some sort of connection to them.
I remarked that if the woman had moved into Bob Pollard's old bedroom, we wouldn't be having the discussion at all.
I saw the band at one of their sold-out reunion shows at the Tabernacle and I'm glad I did. They were really really excellent. Seeing the people behind that record play in front of me was really special and humanized them to an extent--Mangum hiding behind a giant beard, Julian Koster bouncing around the stage like a maniac. They looked like they were having such a damn good time up there, and that meant a lot to me.
posted by Maaik at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [13 favorites]
I've been to a couple of the shows since about 2012 (one billed Jeff Mangum and one billed Neutral Milk Hotel). I probably drank a couple of six dollar beers, but I can't really remember because I and everyone else I knew were pretty busy singing all the words.
Your favorite backlash sucks.
posted by brennen at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
Your favorite backlash sucks.
posted by brennen at 8:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
SansPoint, this is something I've thought about a bunch. And teh_boy, this isn't some hipsterer-then-thou affectation; there are plenty of us who just don't fully get it. I like Aeroplane just fine - it's an OK album, a few songs are real standouts - but I've never quite understood the reverence that a lot of people approach it with (I have other albums that make me feel the same way Aeroplane seems to make other people, so I get where they're coming from, but Aeroplane itself has never done it for me).
I've more or less come to the conclusion that it's like the Wheel of Time books: if you come to it at the right time and place in your life you're hooked forever, but if not you're never quite going to understand. I didn't hear it until 2009, at which point I was already in college, so I missed that boat. The people I know who heard it at a different point, it'll be a cherished piece of them for ever. And that's cool.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:24 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I've more or less come to the conclusion that it's like the Wheel of Time books: if you come to it at the right time and place in your life you're hooked forever, but if not you're never quite going to understand. I didn't hear it until 2009, at which point I was already in college, so I missed that boat. The people I know who heard it at a different point, it'll be a cherished piece of them for ever. And that's cool.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:24 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
Listening to Aeroplane at age 18 circa 2004 after being introduced to it by friend was probably the revelatory musical experience of my life. Given that this was strongly aided by, ahem, "performance enhancers." I grew up listening to my dad's classic rock, 90's hip hop, and the aggro-bro mainstream radio rock at the turn of the century. I didn't know that music could be so tender, and weird, and wonderfully sincere. I'm sure it was my personal circumstance as much as the content and quality of the music, but it opened my eyes to a new world of music which I am grateful, and it will always be one of my favorites.
Also yeah, I saw him solo in an old church/venue in Augusta a few years ago, and I had no problem being that guy.
posted by dudemanlives at 8:27 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Also yeah, I saw him solo in an old church/venue in Augusta a few years ago, and I had no problem being that guy.
posted by dudemanlives at 8:27 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
“... Thousand of young people shouting along to every word so loudly that you couldn’t hear the band.”
I was so close to David Byrne I could've thrown something at his head.
Just seconding that the reunion show was amazing. Although I think Scott Spillane is aging on behalf of the rest of them.
posted by griphus at 8:31 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I was so close to David Byrne I could've thrown something at his head.
Just seconding that the reunion show was amazing. Although I think Scott Spillane is aging on behalf of the rest of them.
posted by griphus at 8:31 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
For my money, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea most assuredly is a fantastic record that ages well. And the story about Mangum becoming a recluse is captivating. Still, I don't think you have to be part of a backlash to find the near-deification of him a little weird. We could probably fill a whole thread just naming artists who made terrific records then more or less disappeared. But NMH's legend/cult goes beyond most of those. It's definitely interesting to think about why that might be.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:31 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:31 AM on May 11, 2016
We could probably fill a whole thread just naming artists who made terrific records then more or less disappeared. But NMH's legend/cult goes beyond most of those. It's definitely interesting to think about why that might be.
My guess would be that it came along at just the right time and lodged itself in to the mind of just the right people. It hit in the earliest days of the modern Internet, and was bigger among, for lack of a better word, a lot of the proto-hipsters who were among the earliest non-techie adopters of said Internet. Thus, they start talking online about NMH in an Internet that isn't quite as overrun by chatter as the modern one, which leads a new generation of listeners come to the album as a mysterious artifact rather than an album some band out out, and the rest is history.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:35 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
My guess would be that it came along at just the right time and lodged itself in to the mind of just the right people. It hit in the earliest days of the modern Internet, and was bigger among, for lack of a better word, a lot of the proto-hipsters who were among the earliest non-techie adopters of said Internet. Thus, they start talking online about NMH in an Internet that isn't quite as overrun by chatter as the modern one, which leads a new generation of listeners come to the album as a mysterious artifact rather than an album some band out out, and the rest is history.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:35 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
Completely honestly, Aeroplane, for me, has only gotten more emotionally affecting as I've aged, gotten married, had a kid, lived a little. It's a test for me to shout-sing along to it in the car (there is no way for me to passively listen to it) and not break down ugly crying in Atlanta traffic at some point. I'm not sure exactly what it is about it, but there is _something_ to that intense experience. It's why people still pass this record along to their friends and younger siblings. Like, as soon as some 16 year old niece starts to show an interest in weird music, this is a go-to Listen To This Now album. I think that communal aspect to how it's shared goes a way toward explaining the out-of-hand mythology.
posted by Maaik at 8:37 AM on May 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Maaik at 8:37 AM on May 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
Also I think I've listened to their albums for a combined several hundred hours of my life. Years before I had a copy of Aeroplane, I had a demo track of "My Dream Girl Don't Exist" and it was the single strangest, most inexplicable MP3 I ever downloaded from Napster.
We played "April 8th" as a slow dance at our wedding. Here's a demo version of that song that is even more haunting than the album version, sometimes.
posted by griphus at 8:38 AM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
We played "April 8th" as a slow dance at our wedding. Here's a demo version of that song that is even more haunting than the album version, sometimes.
posted by griphus at 8:38 AM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
Disgusting: ISIS Just Released A 2-Star Review Of ‘In The Aeroplane Over The Sea’
posted by crazy with stars at 8:41 AM on May 11, 2016 [27 favorites]
posted by crazy with stars at 8:41 AM on May 11, 2016 [27 favorites]
I had heard about the cult of Mangum and ITAOTS here on Metafilter and other forums long before I ever bothered to listen to it. So one day I downloaded the songs and burned them to CD and listened in my car on my commute to work.
I went into that first listening with a bad attitude, fully expecting to hate it because Pitchfork loved it and they've steered me wrong so many times before. Long story short it blew me away. I loved it instantly (not instantly...the songs don't hold up on their own but as a collection they enhance each other perfectly. I only loved it after I heard the complete album).
The funny thing is when I downloaded the album I didn't include Two-Headed Boy Part 2 for some reason, and I eventually heard that song for the first time months later. It was like I rediscovered the whole album again. That song wraps it up and caps it off perfectly.
posted by rocket88 at 8:42 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I went into that first listening with a bad attitude, fully expecting to hate it because Pitchfork loved it and they've steered me wrong so many times before. Long story short it blew me away. I loved it instantly (not instantly...the songs don't hold up on their own but as a collection they enhance each other perfectly. I only loved it after I heard the complete album).
The funny thing is when I downloaded the album I didn't include Two-Headed Boy Part 2 for some reason, and I eventually heard that song for the first time months later. It was like I rediscovered the whole album again. That song wraps it up and caps it off perfectly.
posted by rocket88 at 8:42 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
As far as their appeal is concerned, I lump them in with the Mountain Goats in that they're the kind of band that will, very likely, either ram itself into your soul within a few minutes of hearing them for the first time, or they just become another band whose sound you may or may not like, but nothing particularly special (or, if it is special not particularly personal.)
I know exactly when and where I was the first time I heard NMH and then the second time I heard NMH. I called in favors I didn't have the right to call in to get tickets to see Mangum and later NMH themselves. I got diarrhea after a Mangum show because I ate a shitload of White Castle burgers at 12 AM outside of Jersey City because I had rushed to get to the show and didn't eat beforehand and I regret nothing.
posted by griphus at 8:47 AM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
I know exactly when and where I was the first time I heard NMH and then the second time I heard NMH. I called in favors I didn't have the right to call in to get tickets to see Mangum and later NMH themselves. I got diarrhea after a Mangum show because I ate a shitload of White Castle burgers at 12 AM outside of Jersey City because I had rushed to get to the show and didn't eat beforehand and I regret nothing.
posted by griphus at 8:47 AM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
...a willingness to break silence if the price was high enough...
Perhaps the indie financial threshold for selling out is pretty low, but other than a few of the gigs like Cochella, no one in the band was walking away with pockets full of cash from most of the shows.
Mostly I got the impression that they were really enjoying playing music together that they knew was important to the people in the audience (though seeming a little surprised and flattered at the music's longevity).
“I’m sure the shows were great,” says Cahoon. “But my friends and I always joked that a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion show would be the most obnoxious show ever. Thousand of young people shouting along to every word so loudly that you couldn’t hear the band.”
I was actually struck by how little singing there was. It was a really enjoyable experience - there was much less talking, loud drinking, staring at phones, etc. than most recent club shows I've been to. It was mostly people shutting up and watching a band they enjoyed together.
posted by Candleman at 8:53 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Perhaps the indie financial threshold for selling out is pretty low, but other than a few of the gigs like Cochella, no one in the band was walking away with pockets full of cash from most of the shows.
Mostly I got the impression that they were really enjoying playing music together that they knew was important to the people in the audience (though seeming a little surprised and flattered at the music's longevity).
“I’m sure the shows were great,” says Cahoon. “But my friends and I always joked that a Neutral Milk Hotel reunion show would be the most obnoxious show ever. Thousand of young people shouting along to every word so loudly that you couldn’t hear the band.”
I was actually struck by how little singing there was. It was a really enjoyable experience - there was much less talking, loud drinking, staring at phones, etc. than most recent club shows I've been to. It was mostly people shutting up and watching a band they enjoyed together.
posted by Candleman at 8:53 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
This article is such utter bullshit.
ah ha, you stupid hipsters like a thing, how do you like a thing so much when it's just so obviously not that awesome? I am much cooler than you, I don't listen to this stuff because it's not that great. yeah I've heard it, it's okay... it's just not really that cool to me, y'know? I mean there are better albums, I could probably list a bunch that are better, is all I'm saying
posted by koeselitz at 9:00 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
ah ha, you stupid hipsters like a thing, how do you like a thing so much when it's just so obviously not that awesome? I am much cooler than you, I don't listen to this stuff because it's not that great. yeah I've heard it, it's okay... it's just not really that cool to me, y'know? I mean there are better albums, I could probably list a bunch that are better, is all I'm saying
posted by koeselitz at 9:00 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
The popularity of that record baffles me. A friend-girl gave me a copy back in the day, saying it was the second-best album ever next to OK Computer. Boy, was I psyched! After listening to it once, I assumed she was playing a joke on me. I thought she'd given me the worst album she knew of on purpose.
I just. Don't. Get that type of music.
posted by ELF Radio at 9:06 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just. Don't. Get that type of music.
posted by ELF Radio at 9:06 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
It could just be a really good album too you know :-)
/me is a fan what can she say?
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:06 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
/me is a fan what can she say?
posted by Annika Cicada at 9:06 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I just. Don't. Get that type of music.
Cool story.
posted by Maaik at 9:09 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
Cool story.
posted by Maaik at 9:09 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I thought she'd given me the worst album she knew of on purpose.
I just. Don't. Get that type of music.
Funny, I think the exact same thing about OK Computer.
posted by Huck500 at 9:11 AM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
I just. Don't. Get that type of music.
Funny, I think the exact same thing about OK Computer.
posted by Huck500 at 9:11 AM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
Y'all. Come on. Put it away.
posted by Maaik at 9:12 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Maaik at 9:12 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I like Jeff Mangum. Sometimes you just sense these are the sounds of a kindred spirit who might be more likely to understand the complexity and pain too many humans go through. Don't know it's true, just a feeling. Made me feel less alone in painful times. Hope he's well.
posted by xarnop at 9:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by xarnop at 9:23 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I just heard "In the Aeroplane ..." on the radio on my way to work this week and I can still understand why there are people can love it but it's just one of those things that I don't get personally. Must be one of the cilantro type things.
posted by octothorpe at 9:24 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 9:24 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I went through a brief period of Elephant 6 obsession in the late 90s, in the sort of late/just post college years. There were a lot of great bands that were part of and affiliated with that scene and it's always shocked me that it was NMH and not Olivia Tremor Control ("Black Foliage" in particular) that became the object of such intense cult-ish emotional attachment.
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
posted by thivaia at 9:25 AM on May 11, 2016 [18 favorites]
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
posted by thivaia at 9:25 AM on May 11, 2016 [18 favorites]
koseelitz: ah ha, you stupid hipsters like a thing, how do you like a thing so much when it's just so obviously not that awesome? I am much cooler than you, I don't listen to this stuff because it's not that great. yeah I've heard it, it's okay... it's just not really that cool to me, y'know? I mean there are better albums, I could probably list a bunch that are better, is all I'm saying
Obviously, you didn't intend to imply that was a quote from the article. But did you, uh, read the article? Because actual quotes from the article read more like this:
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:26 AM on May 11, 2016 [10 favorites]
Obviously, you didn't intend to imply that was a quote from the article. But did you, uh, read the article? Because actual quotes from the article read more like this:
My very first paycheck from the Round Table Pizza I worked at in high school went to an Etsy shop that made custom Vans with the In The Aeroplane Over The Sea album cover delicately painted on each shoe. It is, without a doubt, the most embarrassing purchase of my life. It was my favorite record; they were my favorite band; I spent years digging through the internet, trying to find answers to questions that Mangum never really asked.This article is absolutely not a kneejerk you are wrong about the thing you like piece. It's a reflection on how this band and their most famous record have a seemingly ever growing legend and it's hard to pinpoint why and how this started.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:26 AM on May 11, 2016 [10 favorites]
Also, while a bunch of Elephant 6 fans are around, does anyone else remember The Glands? I don't think they were officially part of the collective, but I'm pretty sure they were part of the extended family and they surely fit the vibe. They were criminally underappreciated, but songs like "Welcome to New Jersey", "When I Laugh", and the wonderful "December, 1963" ripoff "I Can See My House from Here" stake out a kind of weird E6 offshoot sound that loves CCR and AM radio gold as much as psychedelia. Highly recommended.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:30 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
My friend Jordan introduced me to Aeroplane around 2002, and I introduced him--fittingly, in the context of this article--to the Flatlanders' More a Legend Than a Band. I felt really proud that he loved it. Now I can't think of NMH without remembering Jordan.
posted by Beardman at 9:34 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Beardman at 9:34 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
DirtyOldTown: “This article is absolutely not a kneejerk you are wrong about the thing you like piece. It's a reflection on how this band their most famous record have a seemingly ever growing legend and it's hard to pinpoint why and how this started.”
Yeah, I read it, and maybe I'm not being entirely fair – it isn't exactly a hatepiece. But still, the framing is hopelessly vague to the point of being meaningless. "How did the legend get so out of hand?" it asks. What legend? What does "out of hand" even mean? Apparently "out of hand" means "Pitchfork thinks it's better than Pavement, and Rolling Stone publishes glowing reviews of it." There is some fair personal stuff, to the tune of I was really into it once, and now I'm embarrassed by how much I deified this stuff even though I still think it's pretty good, but – well, I ultimately think that's all there is: a personal reflection. If we could go to famous people mentioning the album and saying it's, like, better than The Matthew Passion or something, we could say things are really out of hand – but as it is, as far as I can tell, all we've got is something like more and more people listen to this album and say it's really great.
I just – I don't know what the "legend" is, and I don't know how it's possible to say it's "out of hand." This is the kind of talk that might be warranted when discussing, say, the impact of Wagner in middle Europe in the late 1800s – there were a ton of people who lived that shit like it was a religion – but Aeroplane? Eh, I'm not entirely sure. People just sometimes really like some music.
posted by koeselitz at 9:35 AM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I read it, and maybe I'm not being entirely fair – it isn't exactly a hatepiece. But still, the framing is hopelessly vague to the point of being meaningless. "How did the legend get so out of hand?" it asks. What legend? What does "out of hand" even mean? Apparently "out of hand" means "Pitchfork thinks it's better than Pavement, and Rolling Stone publishes glowing reviews of it." There is some fair personal stuff, to the tune of I was really into it once, and now I'm embarrassed by how much I deified this stuff even though I still think it's pretty good, but – well, I ultimately think that's all there is: a personal reflection. If we could go to famous people mentioning the album and saying it's, like, better than The Matthew Passion or something, we could say things are really out of hand – but as it is, as far as I can tell, all we've got is something like more and more people listen to this album and say it's really great.
I just – I don't know what the "legend" is, and I don't know how it's possible to say it's "out of hand." This is the kind of talk that might be warranted when discussing, say, the impact of Wagner in middle Europe in the late 1800s – there were a ton of people who lived that shit like it was a religion – but Aeroplane? Eh, I'm not entirely sure. People just sometimes really like some music.
posted by koeselitz at 9:35 AM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
I'll be your friend!
posted by asterix at 9:41 AM on May 11, 2016 [17 favorites]
I'll be your friend!
posted by asterix at 9:41 AM on May 11, 2016 [17 favorites]
(I also think the stuff about how NMH being "mortal men" and "cashing in" and all that bullshit is – pretty dumb youthful idealism. If we ever thought anything different, we were silly to. Of course they're normal people. And asking for money to play music – even deciding you don't really want to make any new albums – that's not weird, or some betrayal of some higher hopes or something – it's just normal life, and it's fine. I guess that's what the article is trying to get to? But it sort of tries to tug those heartstrings on the way, like it's some tawdry thing going to a reunion show. I guess I just don't have those heartstrings anymore.)
posted by koeselitz at 9:42 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by koeselitz at 9:42 AM on May 11, 2016
The popularity of that record baffles me. A friend-girl gave me a copy back in the day, saying it was the second-best album ever next to OK Computer. Boy, was I psyched! After listening to it once, I assumed she was playing a joke on me. I thought she'd given me the worst album she knew of on purpose.
This was honestly how I felt about it at first as well. When I was in high school I discovered that good music existed, largely thanks to internet-stalking nickd. I downloaded Aeroplane after he mentioned it, and, like you, I did not get it at all. It sat there in my downloads folder, where every once in a while I'd stumble across it and give it another listen because it was supposed to be this amazing thing. And then, eventually, years later, it clicked and I became a true believer. (My first MeFi post was actually Aeroplane-related.) I saw them live last year and it was an absolute blast.
posted by Mr. Pokeylope at 9:44 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
This was honestly how I felt about it at first as well. When I was in high school I discovered that good music existed, largely thanks to internet-stalking nickd. I downloaded Aeroplane after he mentioned it, and, like you, I did not get it at all. It sat there in my downloads folder, where every once in a while I'd stumble across it and give it another listen because it was supposed to be this amazing thing. And then, eventually, years later, it clicked and I became a true believer. (My first MeFi post was actually Aeroplane-related.) I saw them live last year and it was an absolute blast.
posted by Mr. Pokeylope at 9:44 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
i do!! and more importantly THE GERBILS!!!!
posted by burgerrr at 9:50 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
i do!! and more importantly THE GERBILS!!!!
posted by burgerrr at 9:50 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
anyway i love NMH and all, but i'm most thankful that being a fan got me really involved in the e6 townhall message boards in high school, because i made some of my longest-lasting internet friendships there
posted by burgerrr at 9:51 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by burgerrr at 9:51 AM on May 11, 2016
→ and more importantly THE GERBILS!!!!
Fuck yeah. "Are You Sleepy" is just the perfect little lo-fi album. And it's got Scott & Jeremy of NMH on it too. RIP Will.
If one of NMH's second cousins recorded a bluejay throwing up with a flip phone, I'd buy that — even if I had to buy it on Elcaset import from Uzbekistan.
posted by scruss at 10:00 AM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
Fuck yeah. "Are You Sleepy" is just the perfect little lo-fi album. And it's got Scott & Jeremy of NMH on it too. RIP Will.
If one of NMH's second cousins recorded a bluejay throwing up with a flip phone, I'd buy that — even if I had to buy it on Elcaset import from Uzbekistan.
posted by scruss at 10:00 AM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
also: e6 townhall represent!
posted by scruss at 10:01 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by scruss at 10:01 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
god i saw the e6 holiday surprise tour a few years back when it came through oakland and they all played "glue" and i cried and cried and cried and it was amazing
posted by burgerrr at 10:03 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 10:03 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
When Aeroplane came out, one of my housemates was a music critic for our college newspaper, so he would get advance CDs of all the new albums. When he got Aeroplane, he let me borrow it, as he said he was still digesting On Avery Island and didn't want to listen to the new one until he was ready. I ended up burning both albums to Sony MiniDisc (ah, the 90s!) and played them on constant rotation for the next several months. Aeroplane is the better album, but I still have a soft spot for "Song Against Sex", which is a super fun tune to belt out once you've learned all the words.
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:09 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:09 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I've heard multiple people say they only want to be friends with people who like Aeroplane. I haven't heard that about anything else. I think that's a sign something is a little wrong. That said, I really liked it the first time I heard it, and I am happy to meet other people who like the music I like, so I suppose I'm part of the problem.
posted by michaelh at 10:10 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by michaelh at 10:10 AM on May 11, 2016
Re-reading this piece, I think it's a thoughtful enough piece of writing and whatnot, and it's kind of interesting to ask how this thing happened where so many people love this record/band so much, maybe to the point of ridiculousness, but like koeselitz I do get this vibe of... I dunno, are we really going to frame playing shows as selling out now? Or just if they're shows with enough of an audience to be an economically viable undertaking for performers in their 40s or something?
Regardless, I'm glad this got posted. It reminds me of a bunch of music that's been important to me one way or another.
I support talking about Beulah.
posted by brennen at 10:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
Regardless, I'm glad this got posted. It reminds me of a bunch of music that's been important to me one way or another.
I support talking about Beulah.
posted by brennen at 10:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
I met a girl online, and she came over to my apartment in one of our epic blizzards that dumped feet upon feet of snow in the city. We made out, and she brought over Aeroplane to play. She split the next day, but she left the CD with me. I couldn't have ask for a better way to get introduced to this album.
Hanging out in Denver, I was buddies with the trombonist who did a solo on a song off of On Avery Island (husband of my art studio mate). I was kind of starry-eyed over that, but he was just a dude. He worked at the musical instrument repair shop and rented out violins to grade school kids and things like that. I remember that the albums were incredible, and Mangum seemed so near to my little universe - yet so far away. It added to the appeal. I bought guitars to learn Mangum's songs. Em C Am D G is mostly all you need!
When I finally saw him live (billed as Jeff Mangum), he looked exactly as he had before, and his singing sounded exactly like the records - it was incredible. And yeah, I sang along to everything. Everyone did. We were all in tears. Finally! Cathartic.
Aeroplane is just a great album. "Leave them wanting more", is great advice, yeah? Well, they did it. If there's never another Mangum album: fine by me.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:22 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hanging out in Denver, I was buddies with the trombonist who did a solo on a song off of On Avery Island (husband of my art studio mate). I was kind of starry-eyed over that, but he was just a dude. He worked at the musical instrument repair shop and rented out violins to grade school kids and things like that. I remember that the albums were incredible, and Mangum seemed so near to my little universe - yet so far away. It added to the appeal. I bought guitars to learn Mangum's songs. Em C Am D G is mostly all you need!
When I finally saw him live (billed as Jeff Mangum), he looked exactly as he had before, and his singing sounded exactly like the records - it was incredible. And yeah, I sang along to everything. Everyone did. We were all in tears. Finally! Cathartic.
Aeroplane is just a great album. "Leave them wanting more", is great advice, yeah? Well, they did it. If there's never another Mangum album: fine by me.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:22 AM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Mangum's Live at Jittery Joe's also has this great Phil Spector cover which should be mentioned at every opportunity.
posted by Maaik at 10:27 AM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by Maaik at 10:27 AM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
There are a handful of things that interest me about this article.
First off, I think the time/place hypothesis is about the closest anyone has gotten — lots of people talk about this being their first transformative indie album, but it came out at what is kinda the tail end of the Golden Age of Indie — for folks who had been around a little bit longer, Aeroplane wasn't a bolt from the blue. I had just started writing for publications about music then, and while Elephant 6 was kind of a big deal collectively, NMH was just part of that.
Second, it highlights one of the reasons that I felt more uncomfortable about writing about music after a while: I think that really engaging with music (or film or art in general) takes a lot more time than most critics give it, to the point where most of the criticism is really just a first listen or first read. You shouldn't be talking about the Best Albums of 2015 until 2020 or so — you just haven't had the time to sift through, to relisten, to think about things with a broader context. I recognize that this is sort of at odds with the general poptimism I agree with, but I think poptimist criticism is best when it's not trying to argue that something is the best of a past time period — it's about what's happening right now, the immediacy of feeling, which is part of what makes art great, but not all of it.
Third, I think that it's kind of weird to see as someone who came of age at that weird Gen X/Willenial cusp, right as "indie" was really crossing over to become VW commercial music. The attitude that the author positions as the consensus, that this is a LEGENDARY album, made by a LEGENDARY band, led by a LEGENDARY man, feels at odds with the ethos that a lot of indie lived by, that ordinary people can make great things. That you don't have to be a legend to put out this music — the iconoclasm of punk still works when removed from aggression and nihilism. I dunno, the thought that these were just some guys who made music resonates because that's how I've tended to interact with all musicians and celebs, and it's at odds with a lot of the apparatus of the music and entertainment industries. I don't really care about the details of most musician's lives, or artists' or writers', etc. I care about the work they produce, and I may have questions or opinions about that, but the general theory of publicity for anything now is that people want a narrative to connect with outside of the work. It's something that was really a theme in the legend-building days of '70s rock journalism, and I think that the rise of social media and advice most bands get about promotion — letting fans connect with a "personal" relationship — has brought it back in a way that I feel alienated from. (That this also extends to how brands are handled — that every beer, cheese and baby wipe has to have a "story" or "relationship" with its customers tends to creep me out a lot too.) I also think that's something that was overlooked in the article — I think part of why Aeroplane has become a "classic" is because of the Anne Frank narrative behind it, which connects an otherwise more generic indie album with a greater historic import — it's not just good, then, it's "profound."
posted by klangklangston at 10:45 AM on May 11, 2016 [22 favorites]
First off, I think the time/place hypothesis is about the closest anyone has gotten — lots of people talk about this being their first transformative indie album, but it came out at what is kinda the tail end of the Golden Age of Indie — for folks who had been around a little bit longer, Aeroplane wasn't a bolt from the blue. I had just started writing for publications about music then, and while Elephant 6 was kind of a big deal collectively, NMH was just part of that.
Second, it highlights one of the reasons that I felt more uncomfortable about writing about music after a while: I think that really engaging with music (or film or art in general) takes a lot more time than most critics give it, to the point where most of the criticism is really just a first listen or first read. You shouldn't be talking about the Best Albums of 2015 until 2020 or so — you just haven't had the time to sift through, to relisten, to think about things with a broader context. I recognize that this is sort of at odds with the general poptimism I agree with, but I think poptimist criticism is best when it's not trying to argue that something is the best of a past time period — it's about what's happening right now, the immediacy of feeling, which is part of what makes art great, but not all of it.
Third, I think that it's kind of weird to see as someone who came of age at that weird Gen X/Willenial cusp, right as "indie" was really crossing over to become VW commercial music. The attitude that the author positions as the consensus, that this is a LEGENDARY album, made by a LEGENDARY band, led by a LEGENDARY man, feels at odds with the ethos that a lot of indie lived by, that ordinary people can make great things. That you don't have to be a legend to put out this music — the iconoclasm of punk still works when removed from aggression and nihilism. I dunno, the thought that these were just some guys who made music resonates because that's how I've tended to interact with all musicians and celebs, and it's at odds with a lot of the apparatus of the music and entertainment industries. I don't really care about the details of most musician's lives, or artists' or writers', etc. I care about the work they produce, and I may have questions or opinions about that, but the general theory of publicity for anything now is that people want a narrative to connect with outside of the work. It's something that was really a theme in the legend-building days of '70s rock journalism, and I think that the rise of social media and advice most bands get about promotion — letting fans connect with a "personal" relationship — has brought it back in a way that I feel alienated from. (That this also extends to how brands are handled — that every beer, cheese and baby wipe has to have a "story" or "relationship" with its customers tends to creep me out a lot too.) I also think that's something that was overlooked in the article — I think part of why Aeroplane has become a "classic" is because of the Anne Frank narrative behind it, which connects an otherwise more generic indie album with a greater historic import — it's not just good, then, it's "profound."
posted by klangklangston at 10:45 AM on May 11, 2016 [22 favorites]
the general theory of publicity for anything now is that people want a narrative to connect with outside of the work.
Yeah, but isn't that how it's always been? Beyond music, humanity craves narrative. We are storytellers. It's how we make sense of the world. I agree that whatever tall tale is attached to brand X baby powder or whiskey or automobile is marketing, but it's definitely not something that started even in this century, let alone decade.
posted by Maaik at 11:02 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but isn't that how it's always been? Beyond music, humanity craves narrative. We are storytellers. It's how we make sense of the world. I agree that whatever tall tale is attached to brand X baby powder or whiskey or automobile is marketing, but it's definitely not something that started even in this century, let alone decade.
posted by Maaik at 11:02 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Yeah, but isn't that how it's always been? Beyond music, humanity craves narrative. We are storytellers. It's how we make sense of the world. I agree that whatever tall tale is attached to brand X baby powder or whiskey or automobile is marketing, but it's definitely not something that started even in this century, let alone decade."
First punk, then indie as a continuation of that, was largely based on an iconoclastic rejection of that. While different in a lot of ways, the New Criticism of the '60s and '70s attempted to do that for literature.
And the emphasis on creating a quasi-personal narrative for products isn't new, but the extent to which it is expected has increased along with the rise in social media. While brands have always claimed to "care" about their customers, before e.g. twitter, they weren't expected to respond to the level they are now. Likewise, a lot more advertising focused on the purported quality of the product, rather than the production narrative.
Saying that it's how it's always been is like saying that there have always been artisanal products. Which, yeah, sure, but the emphasis and prevalence has increased, and that matters, especially when dealing with a genre that included a major strain of rejecting the trappings of stardom. Similarly, "selling out" has been a conflict for a long time, but it's particularly salient within punk and punk offshoots, and that's undergone a huge shift in the last couple decades too.
posted by klangklangston at 11:11 AM on May 11, 2016
First punk, then indie as a continuation of that, was largely based on an iconoclastic rejection of that. While different in a lot of ways, the New Criticism of the '60s and '70s attempted to do that for literature.
And the emphasis on creating a quasi-personal narrative for products isn't new, but the extent to which it is expected has increased along with the rise in social media. While brands have always claimed to "care" about their customers, before e.g. twitter, they weren't expected to respond to the level they are now. Likewise, a lot more advertising focused on the purported quality of the product, rather than the production narrative.
Saying that it's how it's always been is like saying that there have always been artisanal products. Which, yeah, sure, but the emphasis and prevalence has increased, and that matters, especially when dealing with a genre that included a major strain of rejecting the trappings of stardom. Similarly, "selling out" has been a conflict for a long time, but it's particularly salient within punk and punk offshoots, and that's undergone a huge shift in the last couple decades too.
posted by klangklangston at 11:11 AM on May 11, 2016
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
That fucking snare crack and horn riff after the intro of Emma Blowgun's Last Stand is the BEST THING EVER. I still do air drums with my hands every time I hear it and I've probably listened to it 1000 times without exaggeration.
posted by dudemanlives at 11:11 AM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
That fucking snare crack and horn riff after the intro of Emma Blowgun's Last Stand is the BEST THING EVER. I still do air drums with my hands every time I hear it and I've probably listened to it 1000 times without exaggeration.
posted by dudemanlives at 11:11 AM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
Oh yeah totally. I remember when I cared about selling out, and then I remembered that my favorite bands had to like pay bills and stuff.
posted by Maaik at 11:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Maaik at 11:14 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah like a lot of people I always thought On Avery Island was the better record and was confused by the cult of Aeroplane, which was just another record. Out of the E6 stuff of that period, Black Foliage was the one that seemed full of mystery and codes to me.
When I listened back to the bonus material that came out on that NMH box set a few years ago, it was interesting to me that you could kind of hear the pivot in Mangum's writing. The early EP tracks are dense and full of that great E6 texture, but then you can almost hear that point at which he turned off and started writing these really linear, direct, hyper-verbal, stream of consciousness strummy acoustic songs with very little embellishment. And people clearly just lose their shit for that second category.
posted by anazgnos at 11:35 AM on May 11, 2016
When I listened back to the bonus material that came out on that NMH box set a few years ago, it was interesting to me that you could kind of hear the pivot in Mangum's writing. The early EP tracks are dense and full of that great E6 texture, but then you can almost hear that point at which he turned off and started writing these really linear, direct, hyper-verbal, stream of consciousness strummy acoustic songs with very little embellishment. And people clearly just lose their shit for that second category.
posted by anazgnos at 11:35 AM on May 11, 2016
I just – I don't know what the "legend" is, and I don't know how it's possible to say it's "out of hand." This is the kind of talk that might be warranted when discussing, say, the impact of Wagner in middle Europe in the late 1800s – there were a ton of people who lived that shit like it was a religion – but Aeroplane? Eh, I'm not entirely sure. People just sometimes really like some music.
I think there's a mystique around Jeff Mangum, the guy, which is part of a legend of the making of the album. But the album itself is... a fairly deservedly acclaimed album. (Though for me it's really couple of songs on that album that stand as, like, all-time great songs and elevate the whole thing.)
posted by atoxyl at 11:36 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think there's a mystique around Jeff Mangum, the guy, which is part of a legend of the making of the album. But the album itself is... a fairly deservedly acclaimed album. (Though for me it's really couple of songs on that album that stand as, like, all-time great songs and elevate the whole thing.)
posted by atoxyl at 11:36 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I grew up in central Mississippi in the 80s and 90s, but the most awkward attempt at religious conversion I've ever experienced was by a girl in Portland, OR, who loved NMH.
posted by echocollate at 11:42 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by echocollate at 11:42 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Funny, I think the exact same thing about OK Computer.
Not trying to be that guy - this is strictly personal opinion - but I was just thinking every time a Radiohead album comes out I read all these reviews that make it sound like this incredibly musically adventurous work and then I listen to it and it... sounds like a Radiohead album? (I think I like Greenwood or Yorke solo music better actually.)
posted by atoxyl at 11:43 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not trying to be that guy - this is strictly personal opinion - but I was just thinking every time a Radiohead album comes out I read all these reviews that make it sound like this incredibly musically adventurous work and then I listen to it and it... sounds like a Radiohead album? (I think I like Greenwood or Yorke solo music better actually.)
posted by atoxyl at 11:43 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
tangentially related is the marriage of two of my favorite things: belle & sebastian and elephant 6. the "dirty dream #2" video features a number of e6 folks, including scott spillane, will c. hart, julian koster, jeff mangum (supposedly), etc.
when i googled it just to make sure i wasn't misremembering, i got a result for a thread in the townhall that included one of my posts from 2007 woooo talk about a time warp
posted by burgerrr at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
when i googled it just to make sure i wasn't misremembering, i got a result for a thread in the townhall that included one of my posts from 2007 woooo talk about a time warp
posted by burgerrr at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
I came to Aeroplane later than a lot of my friends. I like it fine enough, there are a few absolutely sublime tracks, but I was kind of a snob about so much indie rock back then. It wasn't even until sometime last year or two that I realized I saw NMH open for Superchunk right around Aeroplane but the only thing I recall is them as just another opening band in a long line of generic opening indie rock bands I saw in the 90s. Superchunk was amazing, like they have been every show I've seen.
posted by ndfine at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by ndfine at 11:47 AM on May 11, 2016
"Emma Blowgun's Last Stand" is so good. "Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut" will instantly pull me out of any bad mood. I'm not sure whether that or "Lay Low for the Letdown" has made it on more of my mixtapes/cds/playlists over the years.
I've listened to all of "Handsome Western States" while checking back in on this thread and have just put on "When Your Heartstrings Break" so yeah, its a great day to binge Beulah!
Oh and the Gerbils were fantastic.
(And to think I was just recently having nostalgia for the E6 mailing list! I seem to recall during my time there, they were always having some sort of drama/under threat of constant siege by Guided By Voices fans)
posted by thivaia at 11:48 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've listened to all of "Handsome Western States" while checking back in on this thread and have just put on "When Your Heartstrings Break" so yeah, its a great day to binge Beulah!
Oh and the Gerbils were fantastic.
(And to think I was just recently having nostalgia for the E6 mailing list! I seem to recall during my time there, they were always having some sort of drama/under threat of constant siege by Guided By Voices fans)
posted by thivaia at 11:48 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I ran into a crowd exiting a Jeff Mangum concert in Toronto a few years back. So many Death From Above 1979 T-shirts in one place...
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 11:52 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 11:52 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
The horror. Did you survive?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:55 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 11:55 AM on May 11, 2016
well, i'm just another person that doesn't get it, i guess - i'm not even sure i get elephant 6 in general
but growing up in the 60s, i have a rather different standard for "psychedelic"
posted by pyramid termite at 12:04 PM on May 11, 2016
but growing up in the 60s, i have a rather different standard for "psychedelic"
posted by pyramid termite at 12:04 PM on May 11, 2016
Mangum's Live at Jittery Joe's also has this great Phil Spector cover which should be mentioned at every opportunity.
Oh shit I think we played this at the wedding too.
posted by griphus at 12:16 PM on May 11, 2016
Oh shit I think we played this at the wedding too.
posted by griphus at 12:16 PM on May 11, 2016
I think one of the most valid reasons for me that it's risen to the stature it has, is that everyone who professes a love for it, typically loves it so very, very much, and yet somehow has the most difficult time talking about why exactly that is. I mean, maybe people aren't good with their words in general, but I have started seeing that as a sign that a piece of creative work has tapped into a vein of great humanity: it rings true to a lot of people, even if we can't particularly identify why or how that is.
And even if it's all wanton, wish-fulfillment, emotionally indulgent folk-psych-'screamo' for indie kids, perhaps that increases its appeal, in knowing that not everyone loves it; 'cause, gosh, when you're at the reunion show, surrounded by people who know all the lyrics about as well as you do (perhaps some friends with you, perhaps totally solo), hearing this pair of albums that made such a formative impact on you a few years back, performed live, you realize that it's not a flash in the pan, it's something else entirely; that you're lucky to be privvy to something that you find so brilliant, and perhaps you're even excited by the polarity at its essence. It's an out-group togetherness, if I may. They're not my favorite band; this is my all-time favorite record.
It's their style, their sound; Jeff Mangum's hoarse voice, the trumpets blaring, the fragments of noise; the feral strums on simple chord progressions; the depth of lyrics, teeming with emotion, framed prosaically, almost in the vein of stream of consciousness (and the diction! so adjective, all verbing through the noun); gosh, and the great vulnerability; the all-or-nothing give-it-here ensconcing of being at the very edge of a breakdown and striving to keep living within that very same attitude because it's what you have to do to get by sometimes. It's beautiful. It's the not-knowing about what happens after death, and finding resilience about that in the words we can share while we're alive, counting all beautiful things: to be (anne)frank, this had become one of my tenets of existentialism even before I even learned about what existentialism was, freshman year of college. This was my coming-to-terms with myself outside of one era of life, halfway into another. And I have a feeling it's gonna keep growing on me.
posted by a good beginning at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
And even if it's all wanton, wish-fulfillment, emotionally indulgent folk-psych-'screamo' for indie kids, perhaps that increases its appeal, in knowing that not everyone loves it; 'cause, gosh, when you're at the reunion show, surrounded by people who know all the lyrics about as well as you do (perhaps some friends with you, perhaps totally solo), hearing this pair of albums that made such a formative impact on you a few years back, performed live, you realize that it's not a flash in the pan, it's something else entirely; that you're lucky to be privvy to something that you find so brilliant, and perhaps you're even excited by the polarity at its essence. It's an out-group togetherness, if I may. They're not my favorite band; this is my all-time favorite record.
It's their style, their sound; Jeff Mangum's hoarse voice, the trumpets blaring, the fragments of noise; the feral strums on simple chord progressions; the depth of lyrics, teeming with emotion, framed prosaically, almost in the vein of stream of consciousness (and the diction! so adjective, all verbing through the noun); gosh, and the great vulnerability; the all-or-nothing give-it-here ensconcing of being at the very edge of a breakdown and striving to keep living within that very same attitude because it's what you have to do to get by sometimes. It's beautiful. It's the not-knowing about what happens after death, and finding resilience about that in the words we can share while we're alive, counting all beautiful things: to be (anne)frank, this had become one of my tenets of existentialism even before I even learned about what existentialism was, freshman year of college. This was my coming-to-terms with myself outside of one era of life, halfway into another. And I have a feeling it's gonna keep growing on me.
posted by a good beginning at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2016 [6 favorites]
To quote D.Boone,
"this is Bob Dylan to me."
(Actually, for lots of my generation D.Boone is 'Bob Dylan to me.' And for me personally, throw in Lou Reed and a handful of others. I came to NMH through an FPP here and it's a mighty mighty album that I've shared freely but as an album it is also a display of a kind of mania. And it's poetic as hell. But that mania itself is as haunting - "All Delighted People" by Sufjan Stevens strikes me as analogous. So going back to the album I feel I'm partaking a bit in that mania, which is familiar enough ground that I can relate to it and bring to it a full set of personal luggage, steamer trunk to hat-box. The music asks me to listen, though it knows it's out there, listen because maybe also there will be something important.)
posted by From Bklyn at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
"this is Bob Dylan to me."
(Actually, for lots of my generation D.Boone is 'Bob Dylan to me.' And for me personally, throw in Lou Reed and a handful of others. I came to NMH through an FPP here and it's a mighty mighty album that I've shared freely but as an album it is also a display of a kind of mania. And it's poetic as hell. But that mania itself is as haunting - "All Delighted People" by Sufjan Stevens strikes me as analogous. So going back to the album I feel I'm partaking a bit in that mania, which is familiar enough ground that I can relate to it and bring to it a full set of personal luggage, steamer trunk to hat-box. The music asks me to listen, though it knows it's out there, listen because maybe also there will be something important.)
posted by From Bklyn at 12:57 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
That fucking snare crack and horn riff after the intro of Emma Blowgun's Last Stand is the BEST THING EVER. I still do air drums with my hands every time I hear it and I've probably listened to it 1000 times without exaggeration.
Back when I DJed, that song was a mainstay of my sets.
posted by acb at 12:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Back when I DJed, that song was a mainstay of my sets.
posted by acb at 12:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
When you stop identifying with the narrator/child character in King of Carrot Flowers (Pt. 1) and start identifying with the parents...
posted by unknowncommand at 1:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by unknowncommand at 1:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
I accidentally put this entire album on my coffee shop playlist, and when that one song where he just warblingly screams JeeeEEEEeeeEEEEEzuUUUUHHH-UUUUUS CHRIIIIIIiiiiiiiiIIIIIIST came on, you have never seen me dash across the shop so quickly to skip to the next track.
The worst part is, my evangelical boss then started trying to talk to me about Jesus.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:11 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
The worst part is, my evangelical boss then started trying to talk to me about Jesus.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:11 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
griphus: That same recording of My Dream Girl Don't Exist has haunted me for over a decade, too, and is responsible for at least half of what I feel about NMH.
posted by jjwiseman at 1:27 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jjwiseman at 1:27 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I think one of the most valid reasons for me that it's risen to the stature it has, is that everyone who professes a love for it, typically loves it so very, very much, and yet somehow has the most difficult time talking about why exactly that is.
I agree--and i think perhaps one of the reasons people find it hard to articulate is that a lot of the emotional charge is delivered by the engineering choices made by Robert Schneider. (Full disclose, he's a pal). Unless you're a sound engineer, it's hard to develop much intuition about that aspect of a recording. It's the sonic equivalent of transparent--you don't see it. The sound palette created by the engineer, to the naive ear, is often just this neutral field that the song flows through, having no affect on the salience of the music. But if you load Aeroplane into any run-of-the-mill audio workstation program (like Pro Tools), you'll see how freakin LOUD it is. It was really unusual for the time. And because Schneider (and NMH) were working with analog gear, overdriving the hell out of it in a very tasteful and cunning way, the recording conveys a feeling of urgency, of something about to fly apart in all directions.
I'm not trying to take anything away from the music. (Full disclose, I love it.) But I've always thought that the engineering on that record is remarkable, and yeah, is responsible for some of its peculiar power.
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:30 PM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
I agree--and i think perhaps one of the reasons people find it hard to articulate is that a lot of the emotional charge is delivered by the engineering choices made by Robert Schneider. (Full disclose, he's a pal). Unless you're a sound engineer, it's hard to develop much intuition about that aspect of a recording. It's the sonic equivalent of transparent--you don't see it. The sound palette created by the engineer, to the naive ear, is often just this neutral field that the song flows through, having no affect on the salience of the music. But if you load Aeroplane into any run-of-the-mill audio workstation program (like Pro Tools), you'll see how freakin LOUD it is. It was really unusual for the time. And because Schneider (and NMH) were working with analog gear, overdriving the hell out of it in a very tasteful and cunning way, the recording conveys a feeling of urgency, of something about to fly apart in all directions.
I'm not trying to take anything away from the music. (Full disclose, I love it.) But I've always thought that the engineering on that record is remarkable, and yeah, is responsible for some of its peculiar power.
posted by Zerowensboring at 1:30 PM on May 11, 2016 [12 favorites]
"but growing up in the 60s, i have a rather different standard for "psychedelic""
not every band can be the carrie nations
posted by klangklangston at 1:45 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
not every band can be the carrie nations
posted by klangklangston at 1:45 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I knew a guy in Beulah--from him I learned that even a somewhat-nerdy-looking guy in a somewhat-popular band had groupies, and a somewhat-astonishing number of sexual partners.
posted by jjwiseman at 1:47 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by jjwiseman at 1:47 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I ran into a crowd exiting a Jeff Mangum concert in Toronto a few years back. So many Death From Above 1979 T-shirts in one place...
Oh, what a nostalgia bomb - Aeroplane and You're A Woman, I'm a Machine were very much part of my first-year-of-undergrad soundtrack.
posted by blerghamot at 2:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, what a nostalgia bomb - Aeroplane and You're A Woman, I'm a Machine were very much part of my first-year-of-undergrad soundtrack.
posted by blerghamot at 2:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
And because Schneider (and NMH) were working with analog gear, overdriving the hell out of it in a very tasteful and cunning way, the recording conveys a feeling of urgency, of something about to fly apart in all directions.
This is very astute. One of those things I noticed subconsciously, but it didn't fully register how much that overdriven wild analog production stands out for me.
posted by naju at 2:08 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
This is very astute. One of those things I noticed subconsciously, but it didn't fully register how much that overdriven wild analog production stands out for me.
posted by naju at 2:08 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
i have a rather different standard for "psychedelic"
May I suggest Olivia Tremor Control. If the songs ain't psych enough for you, skip to the Green Typewriter sequence.
posted by Zerowensboring at 2:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
May I suggest Olivia Tremor Control. If the songs ain't psych enough for you, skip to the Green Typewriter sequence.
posted by Zerowensboring at 2:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
There’s this attitude that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is still holding something back.
This article is sort of weird because it doesn’t seem to actually bother establishing that this attitude exists. It establishes that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea has become a cult, super-popular album, that was under-rated at time of release. (Though, really Pitchfork giving it an 8.7 and initially slotting it as the 85th best album of the 90s seems like far less of an oversight than those by the other mentioned critics.) It mentions that the band has a Know Your Meme page. But there’s very little provided in the way of fans demanding more feedback from the band. I’m willing to believe those demands exist - you’re just not showing me them.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:31 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
This article is sort of weird because it doesn’t seem to actually bother establishing that this attitude exists. It establishes that In The Aeroplane Over The Sea has become a cult, super-popular album, that was under-rated at time of release. (Though, really Pitchfork giving it an 8.7 and initially slotting it as the 85th best album of the 90s seems like far less of an oversight than those by the other mentioned critics.) It mentions that the band has a Know Your Meme page. But there’s very little provided in the way of fans demanding more feedback from the band. I’m willing to believe those demands exist - you’re just not showing me them.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:31 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Neutral Milk Hotel works and connects because it's off. Jeff doesn't have a perfect voice; he has a rich and expressive one. The music is a little wild, the lyrics more so. They're also mystical and layered rather than straightforward or obvious; they're also open enough to be ripe for people to build their own meaning in, making it a very personal work. The songs are also varied; there are a lot of access points to the record.
Most of these features that drive devotion (in some) also push others away. People like different things, yeah?
I also love the Olivia Tremor Control, but they were nowhere near as direct. They had few song-songs - and a couple of the ones that came to mind were actually Circulatory System, ha - and there's a lot less nakedly personal to connect with. But they were a fantastic band and their reunion shows were amazing.
Oh, and if one asks me, On Avery Island has the best songs, but In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the better album.
posted by mountmccabe at 4:34 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Most of these features that drive devotion (in some) also push others away. People like different things, yeah?
I also love the Olivia Tremor Control, but they were nowhere near as direct. They had few song-songs - and a couple of the ones that came to mind were actually Circulatory System, ha - and there's a lot less nakedly personal to connect with. But they were a fantastic band and their reunion shows were amazing.
Oh, and if one asks me, On Avery Island has the best songs, but In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the better album.
posted by mountmccabe at 4:34 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am an Elephant 6 cult member. The cry-singing along with NMH is very real for me (and I HATED the 33 1/3 book about that album DO NOT READ.) But I super miss OTC, still mourn Bill Doss, wish for good health for Will Hart. I'm still waiting for Robert Schneider to finish his degree and release more music. You want to talk about Beluah? What about Dressy Bessy? 8 Track Gorilla? Let's talk! More pop!
posted by armacy at 4:39 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by armacy at 4:39 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
I still rather enjoy The Essex Green. I recommend them if you like the more laid-back/poppy/pastoral end of the genre.
posted by pipeski at 4:51 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 4:51 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
True story: I had to take dancing lessons to learn the box step so my wife and I could dance to "In The Aeroplane over the Sea" at our wedding, in like, 1999. It always felt to me like our marriage and family were intimately bound up in that record. Sigh.
posted by saulgoodman at 4:52 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by saulgoodman at 4:52 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
yes! dressy bessy! the essex green! i was always a ladybug transistor fan too. my favorite ultra weird e6 band though was major organ and the adding machine
in other e6-related news, i just got a notification that a name i didn't recognize had accepted my facebook friend request and i was like who the hell is that?? and went to unfriend them and then i realized it was kevin barnes and he had just accepted my friend request from probably 10 years ago
posted by burgerrr at 4:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
in other e6-related news, i just got a notification that a name i didn't recognize had accepted my facebook friend request and i was like who the hell is that?? and went to unfriend them and then i realized it was kevin barnes and he had just accepted my friend request from probably 10 years ago
posted by burgerrr at 4:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [8 favorites]
(Full disclosure: Still live in Chapel Hill (more or less). Still have friends at Merge)
posted by thivaia at 5:35 PM on May 11, 2016
posted by thivaia at 5:35 PM on May 11, 2016
I'm loving the Elephant 6 love in this thread.
posted by naju at 6:16 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by naju at 6:16 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
On Avery Island was soooooo much better.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 7:41 PM on May 11, 2016
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 7:41 PM on May 11, 2016
then i realized it was kevin barnes and he had just accepted my friend request from probably 10 years ago
Sweet! That would have been right around the time Of Montreal put out their last decent record.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:06 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sweet! That would have been right around the time Of Montreal put out their last decent record.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:06 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
That would have been right around the time Of Montreal put out their last decent record.
I think one might check one's math. Lousy with Sylvianbriar came out three years ago.
posted by Zerowensboring at 8:59 PM on May 11, 2016
I think one might check one's math. Lousy with Sylvianbriar came out three years ago.
posted by Zerowensboring at 8:59 PM on May 11, 2016
I'm loving the Elephant 6 love in this thread.
And yet no-one has even mentioned Apples in Stereo yet. So let me redress that. And mention that Robert Schneider just might be the nicest man in pop music (still got great memories of him being so nice to everyone when we ran into him in the crowd after his set at the Mangum ATP, all smiling and hugging anyone who wanted to be hugged...)
posted by Pink Frost at 9:11 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
And yet no-one has even mentioned Apples in Stereo yet. So let me redress that. And mention that Robert Schneider just might be the nicest man in pop music (still got great memories of him being so nice to everyone when we ran into him in the crowd after his set at the Mangum ATP, all smiling and hugging anyone who wanted to be hugged...)
posted by Pink Frost at 9:11 PM on May 11, 2016 [5 favorites]
I was super into Merge Records and the Elephant 6 collective right at that time, and I have the best flashbulb memory of piling into a car to drive from Lewiston, Maine to Boston to see NMH. Aeroplane had just been released, I don't think I had even heard it until my friend popped it into the car cd player on the way to that show. We saw them at the teeny tiny Middle East Upstairs, when you could still smoke inside, and Jeff Mangum bummed a cigarette off my friend. In those weird proto-internet days we had no idea what the band looked like and were kinda shocked when we saw the cigarette guy walk up on stage. Saw them again when they came back to town after Aeroplane had gotten a bit more press in the college rock charts, they were playing the Middle East Downstairs by then, and that show blew my mind, their energy was unbelievable. Then they disappeared. I actually prefer On Avery Island as an album, if I can get away with saying that without being too much of a jerk, because Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone can still make me happy cry. I couldn't bear to see them for the reunion tour because those early show memories are among my absolute favorite indie rock shows ever.
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH
And yet no-one has even mentioned Apples in Stereo yet
I always thought Apples in Stereo and Beulah would be way bigger than NHM. They're pop magic! Now I'm remembering how much I loved Beulah, I'm going to have a really enjoyable late 90s/early 00s E-6 listening session later today. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart is such a fantastic song.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:19 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH
And yet no-one has even mentioned Apples in Stereo yet
I always thought Apples in Stereo and Beulah would be way bigger than NHM. They're pop magic! Now I'm remembering how much I loved Beulah, I'm going to have a really enjoyable late 90s/early 00s E-6 listening session later today. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart is such a fantastic song.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:19 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
AND STILL NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT BEULAH.
I am about a day too late for this to be remotely witty, but whatever: I will, I will, you know I surely will. Because all you need is a pretty song.
Back to the Essex Green: Cannibal Sea is my secret favourite Elephant 6 album in many ways, even though In the Aeroplane holds a special place in my heart regardless.
posted by chrominance at 6:52 AM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
I am about a day too late for this to be remotely witty, but whatever: I will, I will, you know I surely will. Because all you need is a pretty song.
Back to the Essex Green: Cannibal Sea is my secret favourite Elephant 6 album in many ways, even though In the Aeroplane holds a special place in my heart regardless.
posted by chrominance at 6:52 AM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
Apples in Stereo have provided the official soundtrack to two breakups of mine. I still have trouble listening to Fun Trick Noisemaker all the way through, which sucks because it's really great. Hilarie Sidney's voice is just indescribably wonderful.
posted by dudemanlives at 7:17 AM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by dudemanlives at 7:17 AM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
Maybe this is old news to anyone else, but can i just say "EEEEE!!!!!!!!!"
posted by goHermGO at 7:17 AM on May 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
Work continues on the new album, with a projected fall release. But first, the band stuck its toes back in the water with a reunion show in May...The Return of Sasha Bell and the Essex Green
posted by goHermGO at 7:17 AM on May 12, 2016 [5 favorites]
If you are reading this far, you will be interested in this documentary when it comes out: https://www.facebook.com/e6documentary/
posted by armacy at 8:50 AM on May 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by armacy at 8:50 AM on May 12, 2016 [7 favorites]
i LOVE apples in stereo. i saw them a few years back, maybe a year or so before bill doss died (rip). when i was about 18 or 19 and still active on the townhall, robert posted about being in san jose for a math conference and wondered if anyone had a weed hookup. i was out of town while he was in sj, but i put him in touch with my friend max who was even more of an e6 fan that i was and max got to spend a few days hanging out with robert, who was nice enough to bring him to the conference and they went to a movie together and he was just generally an all-around awesome dude i guess
posted by burgerrr at 9:11 AM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by burgerrr at 9:11 AM on May 12, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh crap. I was revisiting The Glands (mentioned above) and it turns out Ross Shapiro, the frontman for that band, died in March. Really nice little piece about him on NPR, though.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:14 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:14 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
"And yet no-one has even mentioned Apples in Stereo yet. So let me redress that. And mention that Robert Schneider just might be the nicest man in pop music (still got great memories of him being so nice to everyone when we ran into him in the crowd after his set at the Mangum ATP, all smiling and hugging anyone who wanted to be hugged...)"
They're surprisingly short. Before I knew what they looked like, they asked me for directions to our town's used record stores, then I got a promo of their album like a week later and it came with a photo of them that made them all look normal sized.
"I always thought Apples in Stereo and Beulah would be way bigger than NHM. They're pop magic! Now I'm remembering how much I loved Beulah, I'm going to have a really enjoyable late 90s/early 00s E-6 listening session later today. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart is such a fantastic song."
Beulah played a free show in the back room of short-lived The Gypsy Cafe in Ann Arbor and it was kinda awkward because the room wasn't really big enough to have a band in, so I totally thought they only did super-soft acoustic stuff for years. I'm still not as wild about them as the rest of the E6 bands, but at least now I know that they have a kick drum and sometimes electric guitars.
posted by klangklangston at 1:19 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
They're surprisingly short. Before I knew what they looked like, they asked me for directions to our town's used record stores, then I got a promo of their album like a week later and it came with a photo of them that made them all look normal sized.
"I always thought Apples in Stereo and Beulah would be way bigger than NHM. They're pop magic! Now I'm remembering how much I loved Beulah, I'm going to have a really enjoyable late 90s/early 00s E-6 listening session later today. If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart is such a fantastic song."
Beulah played a free show in the back room of short-lived The Gypsy Cafe in Ann Arbor and it was kinda awkward because the room wasn't really big enough to have a band in, so I totally thought they only did super-soft acoustic stuff for years. I'm still not as wild about them as the rest of the E6 bands, but at least now I know that they have a kick drum and sometimes electric guitars.
posted by klangklangston at 1:19 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
I teach intro to poem-writing to college students, and I sometimes put lyrics from ITAOTS in the packets of contemporary poems I give my students, tucked in between, say, Matthew Dickman and Rae Armantrout, or Anne Carson and Tyehimba Jess, or Robert Creeley and Kay Ryan or or or or or.
It's not exactly perfect poetry (and, frankly, much of it doesn't hold up at all without the music), but stuff like this
Plus, then it gives me the excuse to fire up the AV equipment and play some of the album.
posted by dersins at 1:21 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's not exactly perfect poetry (and, frankly, much of it doesn't hold up at all without the music), but stuff like this
Your father made fetuses with flesh licking ladies,can make for a great opportunity to talk about the ways in which we can use the sounds of words to evoke or intensify emotion, or how the rhythm of something doesn't have to be the kind of metronomic iambic pentameter you learn in high school in order to be beautiful and musical on the page, or to look at the different effects of internal rhyme vs. end-rhyme, or slant rhyme vs. true rhyme, and how all of those ways of rhyming don't need to seem cheesy and old-timey.
While you and your mother were asleep in the trailer park.
Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums,
The music and medicine you needed for comforting.
So make all your fat fleshy fingers to moving,
And pluck all your silly strings, bend all your notes for me.
Soft silly music is meaningful magical,
The movements were beautiful, all in your ovaries.
All of them milking with green fleshy flowers,
While powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines.
Plus, then it gives me the excuse to fire up the AV equipment and play some of the album.
posted by dersins at 1:21 PM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
dersins, I'm interested to know whether any of your students recognize the songs as they are written down, before they are played as music? College students now would have been pre-primary school when these albums came out.
if you come to it at the right time and place in your life you're hooked forever, but if not you're never quite going to understand.
I feel this way about AFI, as well as Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude.
posted by chainsofreedom at 2:33 PM on May 12, 2016
if you come to it at the right time and place in your life you're hooked forever, but if not you're never quite going to understand.
I feel this way about AFI, as well as Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude.
posted by chainsofreedom at 2:33 PM on May 12, 2016
dersins, I'm interested to know whether any of your students recognize the songs as they are written down, before they are played as music? College students now would have been pre-primary school when these albums came out.
I teach at a large, urban public university, and the student population definitely skews to the non-traditional--they're older on average, few of them live on campus, and many (perhaps even most) are working part- or full-time; occasionally, as I have learned somewhat to my chagrin, they work as bartenders or servers in bars I go to in order to have a drink or two while I write feedback on their work.
My current poetry students, for example, range in age from "college student age" up to 60-something, and the bulk of them seem to cluster in their mid 20's or so.
I also tend to have a fair number of students who write music/are in bands, and, this being Portland, that often means indie rock types.
Though I have only ever once had a student actually say "hey I know that-- it's Neutral Milk Hotel," I have no idea how many of them may have recognized it--or Jeff Mangum's name--but not said anything.
posted by dersins at 2:49 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I teach at a large, urban public university, and the student population definitely skews to the non-traditional--they're older on average, few of them live on campus, and many (perhaps even most) are working part- or full-time; occasionally, as I have learned somewhat to my chagrin, they work as bartenders or servers in bars I go to in order to have a drink or two while I write feedback on their work.
My current poetry students, for example, range in age from "college student age" up to 60-something, and the bulk of them seem to cluster in their mid 20's or so.
I also tend to have a fair number of students who write music/are in bands, and, this being Portland, that often means indie rock types.
Though I have only ever once had a student actually say "hey I know that-- it's Neutral Milk Hotel," I have no idea how many of them may have recognized it--or Jeff Mangum's name--but not said anything.
posted by dersins at 2:49 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
I would guess there's a higher chance of younger people knowing/liking Neutral Milk Hotel than older people who were around during the era. It's part of the weird second/third wave of interest and product of mythologizing that we're talking about.
posted by naju at 3:13 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by naju at 3:13 PM on May 12, 2016 [2 favorites]
True he likes The Breeders
He thinks Green Day's pretty swell
But what about The Bartlebees and Neutral Milk Hotel?
posted by plasticpalacealice at 4:25 PM on May 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
He thinks Green Day's pretty swell
But what about The Bartlebees and Neutral Milk Hotel?
posted by plasticpalacealice at 4:25 PM on May 12, 2016 [6 favorites]
/has never listened to "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea"
/finds it on Apple Music
/hits play
/20 seconds in, hits checkmark to save album
/27 seconds in, downloads to iphone to listen in car later
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:11 PM on May 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
/finds it on Apple Music
/hits play
/20 seconds in, hits checkmark to save album
/27 seconds in, downloads to iphone to listen in car later
posted by Celsius1414 at 2:11 PM on May 13, 2016 [5 favorites]
Check back with us after a few listens, Celsius1414. I'm curious to see how big of a punch it still packs for new listeners in 2016.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:24 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:24 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
You're on the tip of the iceberg, Celsius. Even if In the Aeroplane doesn't hook you completely as it does many people, there are so many other bands from that weird 90s psychedelic bubble that I'm sure you'll find something you'll love. Some really good suggestions above.
posted by pipeski at 2:28 PM on May 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 2:28 PM on May 13, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oh fuck do I ever wish I could hear "King of Carrot Flowers" and "Two Headed Boy" for the first time again.
posted by dersins at 3:55 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by dersins at 3:55 PM on May 13, 2016 [2 favorites]
And "Holland 1945." And "Oh Comely" and-- oh fuck it, I just wish I could hear the whole goddam record for the first time again.
posted by dersins at 3:58 PM on May 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by dersins at 3:58 PM on May 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
After a few listens, the tl;dr of it is that it's an outstanding album, albeit with a couple of reservations.
(Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with other Neutral Milk Hotel or Jeff Mangum music apart from hearing the names before and maybe other songs, so I have virtually no context for the album apart from itself.)
The collection of tracks is thematically consistent and intriguing, providing a Great Album (how I miss those being more common!) where you want to dig deeper into the lyrics and ideas behind them. A work of art, in other words, that I can imagine as accompaniment to important moments of life. (Whether the lyrics stand up to analysis, I didn't dig further to find.)
Overall, I adored the rawness and the organic nature -- each instrument sounds like it is being played by a human, even "artificial" ones like the theremin, with accompanying texture and emotion in every note. And pretty much every track begs to be sung along with on a road trip.
Which brings me to my reservations. As I say, the rawness is lovely and appealing, and the production seems done with a mostly light hand to let that quality come through.
There were a handful of moments, however, where I could've done with more aggressive sound engineering -- mostly when the singer starts taking his voice where it has no business going. :) Not a bad thing to do necessarily and a tool that can provide emotional heft when handled well in the booth. But those occasional moments turn wincingly painful at volume when they didn't have to be. (Compare "The King of Carrot Flowers" versus "Two-Headed Boy" with it done well in the former and needing work in the latter.)
In general, his singing is a bit of a tightrope walk with occasional jarring transitions between emotions and some distracting vocal fry in certain spots later in the album. Again, that rawness is appealing, and maybe with more expertise from Mangum and attention from the producer, the painful-sound moments could have been compensated for.
Coincidental to the discussion above, "OK Computer" is one of my favorite albums ever, though I also came to it later than most people. I can't say this album approaches that one musically or emotionally for me, but I totally get why it might for other folks. Thanks for turning me on to it!
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:33 AM on May 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
(Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with other Neutral Milk Hotel or Jeff Mangum music apart from hearing the names before and maybe other songs, so I have virtually no context for the album apart from itself.)
The collection of tracks is thematically consistent and intriguing, providing a Great Album (how I miss those being more common!) where you want to dig deeper into the lyrics and ideas behind them. A work of art, in other words, that I can imagine as accompaniment to important moments of life. (Whether the lyrics stand up to analysis, I didn't dig further to find.)
Overall, I adored the rawness and the organic nature -- each instrument sounds like it is being played by a human, even "artificial" ones like the theremin, with accompanying texture and emotion in every note. And pretty much every track begs to be sung along with on a road trip.
Which brings me to my reservations. As I say, the rawness is lovely and appealing, and the production seems done with a mostly light hand to let that quality come through.
There were a handful of moments, however, where I could've done with more aggressive sound engineering -- mostly when the singer starts taking his voice where it has no business going. :) Not a bad thing to do necessarily and a tool that can provide emotional heft when handled well in the booth. But those occasional moments turn wincingly painful at volume when they didn't have to be. (Compare "The King of Carrot Flowers" versus "Two-Headed Boy" with it done well in the former and needing work in the latter.)
In general, his singing is a bit of a tightrope walk with occasional jarring transitions between emotions and some distracting vocal fry in certain spots later in the album. Again, that rawness is appealing, and maybe with more expertise from Mangum and attention from the producer, the painful-sound moments could have been compensated for.
Coincidental to the discussion above, "OK Computer" is one of my favorite albums ever, though I also came to it later than most people. I can't say this album approaches that one musically or emotionally for me, but I totally get why it might for other folks. Thanks for turning me on to it!
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:33 AM on May 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
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posted by ryanshepard at 7:45 AM on May 11, 2016 [27 favorites]