Albums Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
The National - Boxer
Bjork - Homogenic
Source (purchased/given/borrowed/the wife's): purchased/ purchased/ purchased
Date Purchased:
Original Review (s): - n/a
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - the scenesters probably champion this album but likely don't get it. it's the true music snob that decrees this one of the best albums ever made. Quite frankly, when I first heard it, I hated it. I put it away for a couple years before the disc saw some play again, suddenly, in the year 2000. It was then I finally understood it and I spread the love amongst my fellow music aficionados, they too falling under its sway. I don't pull it out very often, since it's a heartbreaking work of disturbing imagery and delicate nuance that demands attention and interpretation. This album will never be passive listening, and I routinely prefer listening to things that fade into the background, you know, the whole soundtrack of our lives thing. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is no soundtrack, it's a stand-alone work of art. Or so I recall.
Boxer - There's been all of a year since the National released this album and if my music tastes have not deviated at all, I can assume that I'll still think this is one of the best records to come out this decade. In an era where the music blogosphere cycles through and tires of new talent more quickly than the porn industry, The National are so bloody talented enough that they're going to be around for a long, long time.
Homogenic - Oh, I loved Bjork for a good decade. I rebelled against her at first, having seen one of her Debut videos on Muchmusic and hearing a girl I liked/ disliked- because- she- didn't- like- me say how big a fan of hers she was. The funky hairdo, the bizarre vocal stylings, the pinchable cuteness was all just too much. But somewhere along the way she nabbed me, then deep into electronica and hip-hop, Bjork provided the gateway into alternative music, herself embracing trip-hop and jungle (dating Tricky and Goldie will have an influence I suppose). But it was Homogenic that Bjork reached her apex. Working with the producer Mark Bell, they crafted joint electronic and symphonic landscapes for her voice to explore, and it's results were equally serene and intense. I tired of Bjork, her antics and her music earlier this decade (it was instrument-free, all vocals of Medulla that did it) the and I'm wondering if the albums I used to so enjoy still retain their sway over me. This, being the strongest of them, will likely provide the best gage.
The National - Boxer
Bjork - Homogenic
Source (purchased/given/borrowed/the wife's): purchased/ purchased/ purchased
Date Purchased:
Original Review (s): - n/a
Thoughts/Memories/ Remembrances: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - the scenesters probably champion this album but likely don't get it. it's the true music snob that decrees this one of the best albums ever made. Quite frankly, when I first heard it, I hated it. I put it away for a couple years before the disc saw some play again, suddenly, in the year 2000. It was then I finally understood it and I spread the love amongst my fellow music aficionados, they too falling under its sway. I don't pull it out very often, since it's a heartbreaking work of disturbing imagery and delicate nuance that demands attention and interpretation. This album will never be passive listening, and I routinely prefer listening to things that fade into the background, you know, the whole soundtrack of our lives thing. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is no soundtrack, it's a stand-alone work of art. Or so I recall.
Boxer - There's been all of a year since the National released this album and if my music tastes have not deviated at all, I can assume that I'll still think this is one of the best records to come out this decade. In an era where the music blogosphere cycles through and tires of new talent more quickly than the porn industry, The National are so bloody talented enough that they're going to be around for a long, long time.
Homogenic - Oh, I loved Bjork for a good decade. I rebelled against her at first, having seen one of her Debut videos on Muchmusic and hearing a girl I liked/ disliked- because- she- didn't- like- me say how big a fan of hers she was. The funky hairdo, the bizarre vocal stylings, the pinchable cuteness was all just too much. But somewhere along the way she nabbed me, then deep into electronica and hip-hop, Bjork provided the gateway into alternative music, herself embracing trip-hop and jungle (dating Tricky and Goldie will have an influence I suppose). But it was Homogenic that Bjork reached her apex. Working with the producer Mark Bell, they crafted joint electronic and symphonic landscapes for her voice to explore, and it's results were equally serene and intense. I tired of Bjork, her antics and her music earlier this decade (it was instrument-free, all vocals of Medulla that did it) the and I'm wondering if the albums I used to so enjoy still retain their sway over me. This, being the strongest of them, will likely provide the best gage.
Re-Review - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea -- When the opening, fuzzed-out chords of the "King of Carrot Flowers Part 1" started up, my first time listening to this album in I don't know how many years, I got shivers up my spine. In my brain the words of the song flowed verbatim with Jeff Magnum... so deeply seeded they've placed themselves, and the tragedy is I still have little to no idea what they mean. I'll leave the interpretation to those who have more time and care far more than I do, but what it comes down to is Magnum is a fierce storyteller, more on the Kafka or Burroughs angle than, say, Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen. There's a sense of urgency and paranoia to the lyrics, even when they're being tender. A song like "Two-Headed Boy" or the title track have moments of fumbling, youthful romance that is far more intense than it is pleasurable. The production values are intentionally thin, full of distortions and fuzzed out amplification and a complete unrefined sensibility creating a chilling sense of intimacy. Even when music is upbeat, which it strives to be half the time, the lyrics present moments that are a little dark and disturbing ("Holland, 1945"), but that's the appeal of Neutral Milk Hotel the juxtaposition of the deep and the dark with highly innovative song structures and an almost jubilant presentation. There are elements of Celtic pub chants in the recesses of many of the album's songs, which lends a rhythmic element which I think is what any listener will immediately respond to, the horns and the guitar strumming providing something familiar amidst the erratic lyricism. A decade later, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is every bit as challenging and rewarding as it was when it first appeared. It's sensibility is unrivaled and I don't think anyone would attempt to repeat it. A work like this comes from a deep, dark place which shouldn't be returned to with any regularity, despite the enlightening results it achieved. There's not wonder Magnum has sparsely been heard from since. Just listening to a track like the epic 8-minute "Oh Comely" will wear you down, nevermind actually having the mind to write a song like that.
Boxer -- Perhaps it's sad to say, but there aren't a lot of albums in my 500+ collection that I can listen to at any time and get into it. With most music or artists you need to be in a mood to listen to them, but with the National, and this goes even moreso for Boxer than any of their prior albums, I can press play and instantly be sucked in every time. The lyrics can vary from poetic to vulgar, abstract to impeccably clear, yet never lose power or impact. Boxer's tracks, in comparison with their prior masterwork, Alligator, moves along at a brisk clip, lasting an average of three and a half minutes each, and always seeming to be over much sooner than the listener is prepared for. That's the power of this band: they keep you wanting more with each individual track. It's potent, beautiful and infectious, at times depressing, at times joyous, but always affecting. I've said it before (and if I didn't I meant to), The National is the best band of the '00's, a benchmark of consistent quality (if not incrementally so) that no other artist has met.
Homogenic -- Sweeping and bombastic, haunting and surreal, Bjork's Homogenic hit's the highest peaks of the artist's career, easily surpassing Debut and Post in power, unity and creativity. This album is the realization of what Bjork was trying to achieve with prior works, the tracks working powerfully individually, but combining for a strong whole, an album that ebbs and flows like the tide, but never separates from the main body. Subsequent albums from the artist just couldn't reach the same peak that Homogenic did, so the artist delved into conceptual ideas (soundtracks or all-vocal) that while intriguing don't please or stimulate quite as well as this album did. Like the Icelandic pixie herself, the merging of dense electronics, forceful vocals and vibrant orchestration create curious beauty with a percolation of alien aesthetics underneath. Of Bjork's entire repertoire, this would be the first (and perhaps only) album that I'd come back to.
Neutral Milk Hotel have been MIA for well over a decade. Pitchfork prays to the music gods every night for their invariably disappointing return.
The National kick ass. They're touring this year with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse, which, frankly, is a crazy awesome bill.
Bjork is on tour for her 2007 album Vespertine, with a Live-In-Session album due this spring/summer.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): all keep.
Jeff Magnum: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (live)
The National: Fake Empire
Bjork: Bachelorette
Boxer -- Perhaps it's sad to say, but there aren't a lot of albums in my 500+ collection that I can listen to at any time and get into it. With most music or artists you need to be in a mood to listen to them, but with the National, and this goes even moreso for Boxer than any of their prior albums, I can press play and instantly be sucked in every time. The lyrics can vary from poetic to vulgar, abstract to impeccably clear, yet never lose power or impact. Boxer's tracks, in comparison with their prior masterwork, Alligator, moves along at a brisk clip, lasting an average of three and a half minutes each, and always seeming to be over much sooner than the listener is prepared for. That's the power of this band: they keep you wanting more with each individual track. It's potent, beautiful and infectious, at times depressing, at times joyous, but always affecting. I've said it before (and if I didn't I meant to), The National is the best band of the '00's, a benchmark of consistent quality (if not incrementally so) that no other artist has met.
Homogenic -- Sweeping and bombastic, haunting and surreal, Bjork's Homogenic hit's the highest peaks of the artist's career, easily surpassing Debut and Post in power, unity and creativity. This album is the realization of what Bjork was trying to achieve with prior works, the tracks working powerfully individually, but combining for a strong whole, an album that ebbs and flows like the tide, but never separates from the main body. Subsequent albums from the artist just couldn't reach the same peak that Homogenic did, so the artist delved into conceptual ideas (soundtracks or all-vocal) that while intriguing don't please or stimulate quite as well as this album did. Like the Icelandic pixie herself, the merging of dense electronics, forceful vocals and vibrant orchestration create curious beauty with a percolation of alien aesthetics underneath. Of Bjork's entire repertoire, this would be the first (and perhaps only) album that I'd come back to.
Neutral Milk Hotel have been MIA for well over a decade. Pitchfork prays to the music gods every night for their invariably disappointing return.
The National kick ass. They're touring this year with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse, which, frankly, is a crazy awesome bill.
Bjork is on tour for her 2007 album Vespertine, with a Live-In-Session album due this spring/summer.
Rating (keep/sell/undecided): all keep.
Jeff Magnum: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (live)
The National: Fake Empire
Bjork: Bachelorette