MetaChat - I Get It.

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21 December 2008

I Get It. Finally. I'm trashed, and Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Under The Sea is blaring. I get it. I really do. I get it. It makes you want to harrow your cheeks, right? OK, I get it. It's SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL.

I guess. Sometimes I just wanna slap him.

post by: BitterOldPunk at: 04:58 | 25 comments

Really? Really? REALLY?

THIS is supposed to be the future?

Who emasculated rock'n'roll?

I like it, but, really...

posted by BitterOldPunk 21 December | 05:00

I don't really get why Neutral Milk Hotel is so revered. It's all too breathlessly sincere and whiny for me.

posted by octothorpe 21 December | 08:03

It's honest and bold. From a critical standpoint, the composition of the album coheres. It's one of the last real 'albums' as opposed to 'collections of songs.'

I can't listen to it constantly because it sort of demands that you go along on the emotional journey.

But it's really very good.

I wouldn't say he emasculated rock'n'roll. He's one artist among many. People play the music they want to play, and people still play rock'n'roll. I'm also not sure why this qualifies as not masculine - becuase the emotion is a little scarily present?

I'm not sure how 'masculine' any of it ever was, anyway. Pop music of all kinds, rock included, is a pretty huge exercise in camp -- playing musical instruments and singing for a living has a hard case to make as a stereotypically 'masculine' activity.

posted by Miko 21 December | 08:57

But... but... Neutral Milk Hotel isn't rock and roll, is it? Wikipedia call it an "American indie folk band", which sounds right to me.

I like rock and roll, and I like Neutral Milk Hotel, but those two circles don't intersect on my personal venn.

posted by taz 21 December | 09:00

It's beautiful because it lets you inhabit someone else's dreams for awhile. Still one of my favorites.

posted by BoringPostcards 21 December | 09:35

I guess I misunderstood. I though BOP was having a spiritual moment, and booze and NMH were simply the vehicles. He was 'getting it', it is SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. The person he wanted to slap? His own personal god, because even though it is SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL, life is still REALLY FUCKED UP.

posted by msali 21 December | 09:45

The first time I heard Neutral Milk Hotel I liked them enough to buy the record. It wasn't great, but some songs made mix discs and I enjoyed them enough. But then as the reverence for them starting to build I noticed that I seemed to be liking them less. I always feel guilty when I let a band's fan's hype and fans sway me away from a record, but now when I hear them I think the songs are nice, but nothing that special.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 21 December | 10:43

I'm with BOP. I never got what the big deal about these guys was either.

*boogies to Texas Tornados*

posted by jonmc 21 December | 10:58

I never actually heard of them until a post in Metafilter this year about the tenth anniversary of the album but then I don't keep up with new music much.

Until this morning, I had misread their name and thought that it was "Neural Milk Hotel", which I think is a much better name.

posted by octothorpe 21 December | 11:10

They're one of my favorites. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is what I listen to when I'm painting - it's one of the few albums that takes me way away from where I am and keeps me rooted at the same time.

posted by mygothlaundry 21 December | 11:10

To me, NMH is like chocolate. I can recognize that it is good chocolate but I still don't like chocolate.

posted by Ardiril 21 December | 11:19

AJ Roach performing a cover of 'Ghost' by NMH is one of the greatest things of I've ever heard. Aeroplane Over The Sea does make me think that the songwriter has some really, really weird sexual hangups, though.

But, yeah, not rock at all.

posted by stet 21 December | 11:58

octothorpe, me too!

posted by kellydamnit 21 December | 12:01

jonmc you better be sitting down while boogie-ing, young man.

posted by chewatadistance 21 December | 18:15

this album used to scare the living shit out of me - it was like listening to a madman unravelling and you couldn't get out of the room.

But after a few listens, it's grown to being one of my favorite albums. You really do have to accept it on it's own terms, and underneath all the truly scary sentiment and delivery lies a perfectly lovely sound.

Poor Jeff Mangum, though - even his Elephant 6 brethren are concerned about his mental health, and that's saying something.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 21 December | 18:20

Yeah, I've tried to get Neutral Milk Hotel many times, and failed each time. I can sort of get them from a distance if I squint, but every time I get close in, it's just too much and I inevitably move on to something else.

Now, the New York Dolls last night: THAT was something I could get into! First time I've ever seen them, and they were fucking impressive. RAWK!

posted by scody 21 December | 18:22

This is one band I feel I *should* like, but never have.

Same with Of Montreal. Can't dig it.

posted by loiseau 21 December | 18:25

For the clueless (like me).

I really like it, but rock 'n' roll it is not. I'd put it solidly on the folk side of music. The only check mark against it is that his voice is a bit nasal.

I noticed the first and last verses would be a nice reading at a funeral. Weird, maybe, but that's what I thought.

A nice cover.

posted by deborah 21 December | 18:38

Scody, I saw the Dolls last summer, they were just awesome but then I think that I love any music from New York in the seventies.

posted by octothorpe 21 December | 20:05

I finally decided I'd digested all the new music I'd gotten this year, and was getting bored, so I struck out this evening with the intent of finding me some new music on the internets. Though I rarely visit this site (I dunno. What is my problem?) for some reason, it was my first stop on the Quest.

This was the first music post I saw, so I had me a listen to a bit of this here Airplane song. In case it's like one of those art things I don't get because I'm too stupid (The whole canvas is WHITE! GEDDIT??) , I'll hesitate to insult this band, but only momentarily.

Where's the music, these days?

posted by Devils Rancher 21 December | 22:50

Devils Rancher - for my money, all the music is on the Secretly Canadian label. Great variety, all their bands are catchy as hell, and it's definitely a label that you can buy from without knowing a band first, in my opinion.

I don't work for 'em, don't know any of the bands personally, have no ties to them other than I find out about a band I like, and lo and behold - it's Secretly Canadian label music.

Go forth and enjoy - some bands on S.C. you may like:
- Music Go Music
- Magnolia Electric Company
- Antony and the Johnsons
- Danielson
-I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness

posted by Lipstick Thespian 21 December | 23:41

Oh, man, label me a fanboy. I was barely aware of this guy's music, but this post made me curious, and then I found some stuff on youtube -- and I've been crying all night. Literally. There are few songs that don't bring me tears. Ghost is my favorite so far.

posted by treepour 22 December | 01:51

Thanks for the tip, LT -- I shall intrepidly go!

posted by Devils Rancher 22 December | 08:21

Kind of sounds like a guy whining through clenched teeth.

Guitar sounds nice and full, though.

posted by ikkyu2 22 December | 14:04

I don't know much about NMH, but I do know this:

1. Holland 1945 is probably the perkiest song ever written about genocide and definitely the only one with a Mariachi band. It makes me want to dance. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want a burrito real bad.

2. The first verse of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea is really, really great to faux-waltz with a baby to--lots of spinning and hugging.

posted by jrossi4r 22 December | 15:40

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