According to an article at Pitchfork, there is a book about Neutral Milk Hotel (a band) in the works. Oddly enough I just managed to get my hands on their first album On Avery Island just recently. A few months back the venerable Mr. Cooper implored me to listen to the positively riveting and mind-blowingly awesome second album In an Aeroplane Over the Sea after he himself was given a copy by a generous friend.
The circuitous route by which Neutral Milk Hotel caught my ear is really only a small facet of the strange story of Jeff Mangum’s short career with his Neutral Milk Hotel band. In an Aeroplane… was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and then he essentially fell off the face of the earth. Much like the sudden rise subsequent disappearance of the band, both albums are noisy, powerful and ultimately deep and terribly sad. There is part of me that wants to hear more and part of me that revels in the hope that music like that is never made again. That said, I’d love to read more about it all…
1 Comment
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
As a painter I feel that the album Aeroplane over the sea is very inspirational, with it’s ability to induce imaginative free-association visuals, and it’s exciting energy and drama. I wish I was a musician, so I could let it inspire me to make sounds as thoughtful, and yet so loose and free. Perhaps the album’s reputation will take time to sink in and spread, and it’s influence will be felt years from now. I think it already has. My brother is a huge fan of Wilco, and I am anxious to show him that In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was made years before Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Not to suggest that Jeff Tweedy borrowed from NMH or that he isn’t incredible. Infact, Tweedy probably never heard the album. Maybe Neutral Milk Hotel was simply one of the first band’s to rethink the bounderies of pop-rock in a way that made it a new genre. I don’t know. Maybe it’s late and I’m sleepy and delusional. All I know is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is certainly one of my favorite albums, if not my favorite. And I liked your comment about hoping that music like this is never made again. Being influenced by it and making a personal reaction would be good, but trying to emmulate it might detract from it’s beauty and just result in watered down, forced noise. (Forced Noise? Jeese, it is late.) The album is so unique, it’s a great example of a highlight of any art form, in this case, pop-rock. Thanks.