I am very sceptical torwards the whole "indie/alternative" thing. I found about, say, 10 bands who I think are absolutely great, but in general I find the majority to be overrated. And many of the most acclaimed ones would go in the overrated category for me. That said, the 2nd album by Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favorites. What's great is that this album has such incredible melodies, but yet it also creates a musical world which is completely different from anything else I've heard. It's folk-rock, psychedelia, punk, and this sort of Alice In Wonderland 1920's vaudeville factor. When I say it's psychedelic, it is psychedelic in it's own way... this music is not colorful, nor is it spacey, this music is simply bizarre and otherwordly but in a dimly-lit way. The cover is a perfect portrayal of the sonic tone within: Let me explain what I mean when I said is had punkish qualities; this has nothing do with punk, nothing at all, yet songs like Holland 1945 and King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 are both fast fast fast and played with all of punks ingrediants, but none of the attitude. All the songs, as I mentioned before, are incredibly strong melodically. The lyrics are strange and often sexual in a very twisted way, mostly in innuendos. The music is usually pretty based in folk, but very loud though acoustic, and there is a ton of fuzz and distortion surroundung the instruments, plus there is often this very deep wind instrument very prominent (I can't tell you which instrument it is, sorry) which gives it even more of a vintage quality. Favorite songs for me are the title song, King Of Carrot Flowers Pts. 1 & 2, Holland 1945, Ghost and Communist Daughter. The other half of the album is every bit as good, and I would easily and without reservation give it 5 stars because not only is it a completely unique experience, I find every song to be excellent and the whole thing just draws me in completely whenever I listen to it. There are tons of details about the album I haven't mentioned, but if you are even the least bit interested and would even consider getting it, get it. PS. I find that alot of the time, this album is quite similar to 1969 album Corky's Debt To His Father by Red Krayola member Mayo Thompson. It has a very similar atmosphere, I find.
Yes indeed, I agree too. Their first album "On Avery Island" is not without it's charms either. Shame he decided to call it a day with this creation - Any idea what Jeff Mangum is up to nowadays? Haven't heard the Mayo Thompson album you speak of, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye out for it now!
I find that album (the one this thread is named after) to be an incredibly overrated and overall unenjoyable album.
That really deep wind instrument is like, some really awesome electric woodwind instrument that the record label invented, I THINK. I can't find anything about it on Wikipedia but I've read about it before. Awesome group. Song About Sex and Aeroplane bring back memories..
