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music_phantom13 · 08-30-2009, 01:25 PM

And now, because the Bills Steelers game is on and I'm perfectly content muting that and I feel like listening to music, I believe I'll do another.

Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

1. The King of Carrot Flowers pt. One – 2:00
2. The King of Carrot Flowers pts. Two & Three – 3:06
3. In the Aeroplane over the Sea – 3:22
4. Two-Headed Boy – 4:26
5. The Fool – 1:53
6. Holland, 1945 – 3:12
7. Communist Daughter – 1:57
8. Oh Comely – 8:18
9. Ghost – 4:08
10. *** There's no title on the tracklisting in the album *** - 2:16
11. Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two – 5:13

9.5/10

It always amazes me how split opinions on this record are. Some people regard it as one of the best albums ever created, others hate it, and some just find it to be an average 90's indie creation. Obviously, I fall into the first of the three categories. Aeroplane is at time nonsense, at times very serious, and at times even confusing. All in all, it is a very honest record that seems to be about World War II times and concentration camps as much as it is about growing up. I remember reading in a review somewhere, maybe Pitchfork or something (I know you hate it) that this album was inspired a lot by Mangum reading The Diary of Anne Frank, which would explain the concentration camp focus. This is by far the best thing to come out of the Elephant 6 Collective group, creating a poppy indie rock sound that borrows from a whole variety of eras and genres to create a very unique sound. NMH also uses quite the variety of bizarre and unusual instruments on here (at least for the 90's) that make for quite an interesting listening experience. In fact, the insert that came with the album gives credits for guitar, organ, floortom, bowed fuzz bass, tapes, shortwave radio, drums, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium, singing saw, bowed banjo, accordion, home organ, air organ, zanzithophone, saxophone, and uilleann pipes (Scottish bagpipes). Quite the combination there.

1. The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One

The lyrics on this one are just ridiculous, something from a dream. This song makes me think about being a child with the strange dream world that is first presented, being a teenager ("As we would lay and learn what each other bodies were for"), and at the same time it is a very serious song, with Mangum singing about a father considering killing himself but barely unable to bring himself to do it. I knew I would fall in love with this album the first time I heard it as soon as the accordion kicked in on this song.

2. The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three

It deserves mentioning here that Mangum wrote a short note about this song that is mixed in with the long string of lyrics on the insert. He writes, "A song for an old friend, a song for a new friend and now a song for Jesus Christ which seems to confuse people... the theme of endless endless on this album is not based on any religion but more in the belief that all things seem to contain a white light within them that i see as eternal." This gives a great insight into the innocence that Mangum sees in the world, and explains a bit more how he can sing about death, murder, and the Holocaust on such an upbeat record. Anyway, this song is another ridiculous one lyrically, and you get your first real taste of the noise rock that continues on and off through the album about halfway through when he hits the distortion and rocks out. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is back to the acoustic guitar sound, and has some other strange whistling instrumentation accompanying the guitar (I think it's the singing saw?) A very catchy song, the title track is very innocent song about young love and not worrying about what's going to happen later.

4. Two Headed Boy

Two Headed Boy has quick, almost punk like acoustic guitar rhythm strummed by Mangum as his voice is pushed to it's limits. Another song about growing up, sort of seems to me to be talking about painful, awkward sex with lines like "Catching signals that sound in the dark, We will take of our clothes, And they'll be placing fingers thru the notches in your spine."

5. The Fool

This is a good instrumental song with a melodic horn part, cymbals, slow plodding drums, and some more sounds in the background.

6. Holland, 1945

This may very well be my favorite song, if I had to pick one. Starts off with acoustic guitar strumming, then a count by Mangum, and explodes into majorly distorted noise rock. The song is about the end of World War II, and I think the lyrics about burying her alive come from the death of Anne Frank right at the end of the war. Also, the lyrics read "With your dark brother(h.p.) wrapped in white says it was good to be alive. But now he rides a comets flame and won't be coming back again the earth looks better from a star that's right above where you are he didn't mean to make you cry." I looked this up and found out that was written to a close friend whose brother committed suicide. Regardless, this is probably the fastest, most upbeat song on the album, and is great.

7. Communist Daughter

This song uses some white noise staticy sound in the background, with acoustic guitar and a trumpet creating the main melody. The first side of the album ends with the white noise ringing and repeating to silence.

8. Oh Comely

A long song with Mangum playing a rather dark acoustic guitar part. He finally really explains what the albums been about with "I know the buried her body with others her sister her mother and 500 other families," describing the end of the Holocaust. This song carries on with the same sound for a bit longer than it maybe should, until finally in the last couple minutes it switches it up and throws in a horn. before switching to a somewhat slower acoustic guitar rhythm.

9. Ghost

This song takes us back to the noisy fuzzy sound and nonsensical lyrics. They try to fit a lot of instruments and here, and succeed rather well. The end of the song has Mangum chugging along in a punk like acoustic guitar part, some sort of fuzzy instruments making the noise sound (don't think it's a guitar), a trumpet, a singing saw, a trombone, and a zanzithophone at once.

10.

Another great song, this one is just an instrumental. But no where will you find any indie rock or pop song that makes such amazing use of two organs, bagpipes, trombone, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar at once. Surprising, right? A very upbeat noisy song.

11. Two Headed Boy Pt. Two

The final track starts off with a very strange singing saw introduction, before Mangum starts playing alone, another song with just acoustic guitar and his singing. I'm getting tired of writing this now, so that's all I'm saying about this one.

Overall, this album has a sad undertone in terms of the lyrics, and this shines through on the songs with just acoustic guitar and vocals, but the music often has a very upbeat and strange feel to it. The only reason I don't give this a 10 is because I get bored listening to Oh Comely sometimes. This would be Neutral Milk Hotel's second and final album, with the band more or less drifting apart after this. Mangum rarely plays anymore, though is supposed to be doing some sort of album this year. But despite the fact that the band never recorded anything more after this, his second album was quite the parting gift for all of us.

08-30-2009, 01:25 PM	#4 (permalink)
music_phantom13 Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 942	And now, because the Bills Steelers game is on and I'm perfectly content muting that and I feel like listening to music, I believe I'll do another. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 1. The King of Carrot Flowers pt. One – 2:00 2. The King of Carrot Flowers pts. Two & Three – 3:06 3. In the Aeroplane over the Sea – 3:22 4. Two-Headed Boy – 4:26 5. The Fool – 1:53 6. Holland, 1945 – 3:12 7. Communist Daughter – 1:57 8. Oh Comely – 8:18 9. Ghost – 4:08 10. * There's no title on the tracklisting in the album * - 2:16 11. Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two – 5:13 9.5/10 It always amazes me how split opinions on this record are. Some people regard it as one of the best albums ever created, others hate it, and some just find it to be an average 90's indie creation. Obviously, I fall into the first of the three categories. Aeroplane is at time nonsense, at times very serious, and at times even confusing. All in all, it is a very honest record that seems to be about World War II times and concentration camps as much as it is about growing up. I remember reading in a review somewhere, maybe Pitchfork or something (I know you hate it) that this album was inspired a lot by Mangum reading The Diary of Anne Frank, which would explain the concentration camp focus. This is by far the best thing to come out of the Elephant 6 Collective group, creating a poppy indie rock sound that borrows from a whole variety of eras and genres to create a very unique sound. NMH also uses quite the variety of bizarre and unusual instruments on here (at least for the 90's) that make for quite an interesting listening experience. In fact, the insert that came with the album gives credits for guitar, organ, floortom, bowed fuzz bass, tapes, shortwave radio, drums, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium, singing saw, bowed banjo, accordion, home organ, air organ, zanzithophone, saxophone, and uilleann pipes (Scottish bagpipes). Quite the combination there. 1. The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. One The lyrics on this one are just ridiculous, something from a dream. This song makes me think about being a child with the strange dream world that is first presented, being a teenager ("As we would lay and learn what each other bodies were for"), and at the same time it is a very serious song, with Mangum singing about a father considering killing himself but barely unable to bring himself to do it. I knew I would fall in love with this album the first time I heard it as soon as the accordion kicked in on this song. 2. The King of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three It deserves mentioning here that Mangum wrote a short note about this song that is mixed in with the long string of lyrics on the insert. He writes, "A song for an old friend, a song for a new friend and now a song for Jesus Christ which seems to confuse people... the theme of endless endless on this album is not based on any religion but more in the belief that all things seem to contain a white light within them that i see as eternal." This gives a great insight into the innocence that Mangum sees in the world, and explains a bit more how he can sing about death, murder, and the Holocaust on such an upbeat record. Anyway, this song is another ridiculous one lyrically, and you get your first real taste of the noise rock that continues on and off through the album about halfway through when he hits the distortion and rocks out. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is back to the acoustic guitar sound, and has some other strange whistling instrumentation accompanying the guitar (I think it's the singing saw?) A very catchy song, the title track is very innocent song about young love and not worrying about what's going to happen later. 4. Two Headed Boy Two Headed Boy has quick, almost punk like acoustic guitar rhythm strummed by Mangum as his voice is pushed to it's limits. Another song about growing up, sort of seems to me to be talking about painful, awkward sex with lines like "Catching signals that sound in the dark, We will take of our clothes, And they'll be placing fingers thru the notches in your spine." 5. The Fool This is a good instrumental song with a melodic horn part, cymbals, slow plodding drums, and some more sounds in the background. 6. Holland, 1945 This may very well be my favorite song, if I had to pick one. Starts off with acoustic guitar strumming, then a count by Mangum, and explodes into majorly distorted noise rock. The song is about the end of World War II, and I think the lyrics about burying her alive come from the death of Anne Frank right at the end of the war. Also, the lyrics read "With your dark brother(h.p.) wrapped in white says it was good to be alive. But now he rides a comets flame and won't be coming back again the earth looks better from a star that's right above where you are he didn't mean to make you cry." I looked this up and found out that was written to a close friend whose brother committed suicide. Regardless, this is probably the fastest, most upbeat song on the album, and is great. 7. Communist Daughter This song uses some white noise staticy sound in the background, with acoustic guitar and a trumpet creating the main melody. The first side of the album ends with the white noise ringing and repeating to silence. 8. Oh Comely A long song with Mangum playing a rather dark acoustic guitar part. He finally really explains what the albums been about with "I know the buried her body with others her sister her mother and 500 other families," describing the end of the Holocaust. This song carries on with the same sound for a bit longer than it maybe should, until finally in the last couple minutes it switches it up and throws in a horn. before switching to a somewhat slower acoustic guitar rhythm. 9. Ghost This song takes us back to the noisy fuzzy sound and nonsensical lyrics. They try to fit a lot of instruments and here, and succeed rather well. The end of the song has Mangum chugging along in a punk like acoustic guitar part, some sort of fuzzy instruments making the noise sound (don't think it's a guitar), a trumpet, a singing saw, a trombone, and a zanzithophone at once. 10. Another great song, this one is just an instrumental. But no where will you find any indie rock or pop song that makes such amazing use of two organs, bagpipes, trombone, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar at once. Surprising, right? A very upbeat noisy song. 11. Two Headed Boy Pt. Two The final track starts off with a very strange singing saw introduction, before Mangum starts playing alone, another song with just acoustic guitar and his singing. I'm getting tired of writing this now, so that's all I'm saying about this one. Overall, this album has a sad undertone in terms of the lyrics, and this shines through on the songs with just acoustic guitar and vocals, but the music often has a very upbeat and strange feel to it. The only reason I don't give this a 10 is because I get bored listening to Oh Comely sometimes. This would be Neutral Milk Hotel's second and final album, with the band more or less drifting apart after this. Mangum rarely plays anymore, though is supposed to be doing some sort of album this year. But despite the fact that the band never recorded anything more after this, his second album was quite the parting gift for all of us.