Not that great, is it.
It is good, even very good, but having bought it a couple of days ago at the assertion of everybody I know, and listened to it about seven times I don't understand its position as The Best Indie Album Evar. Musically there are lots of interesting things going on but in between them it slips into The Shins very-slight-don't-really-notice-don't-really-care-what's-going-on territory. Lyrically it irritates me more often than not, with Mars Volta-isms like "semen stains the mountaintops" that sound WELL DEEP but, y'know, mean little. Also, my housemate came in whilst the guy was blatting "JESUS AAAAI LUHUUUUUUVE YOU" and said "thought you didn't go in for that kind of thing?"
So thanks, Neutral Milk Hotel. You didn't impress me and now my friend thinks I'm a God squadder. 7/10.
Not the best review I've read...
"Not that great, is it. It is good, even very good"
Give it time...
Also you do know that
The Shins and the Mars Volta came AFTER them so they sound like NMH not the other way round?
great
so what you're saying is, this band who I feel are overrated, have spawned other bands who are hugely, ridiculously overrated?
Well
If you're going to moan, get it chronologically correct
some people
dont like Ys either. always remember: no souls.
Also remember:
They're right.
touche
That Jesus bit...
Try and hear it as 'I Love you...Jesus Christ I love you'. Might make it more pallitable for you...and then you can explain it away to you friend.
or dont hear it like that
and stop acting like a twelve year old marilyn manson fan... 'woah god is totally uncool! jesus was a dick!'
yeah...^^^ what he said.
fuck off.
I didn't say I hated it because he mentioned Jesus, I was noting something funny that happened whilst I listened to it. Just because I don't agree with you about two artists doesn't mean you have to start throwing around petty insults.
who's the second artist?
Jesus Christ?
Ya know I prefered his solo stuff to when he was with the Apostles.
i didnt know
you didnt like ys.
and calm down!
you care what your housemate thinks?
I wouldn't have thought it of you.
Brilliant album - one of my favourites. Doesn't really sound like The Shins do who I also love and don't know what is meant by your word-word-word ad infinitum mood comment. If you missed the meaning, tragedy and beauty in this record then there really is no hope for you :P
By the by it's Aeroplane
I'm glad you said that because I thought it was
and I've never heard it.
I hate the word 'Airplane' comparatively. 'Aeroplane' rocks.
one of my favourite albums ever
you are entitled to your opinion, but your opinion is wrong
yup
youre right and everyone who loves it is wrong
...
The indie sacred cow that people love to hate. Or something. This album seems to divide opinion vehemently and passionately. I suspect those who hate it do so partly because it's so highly revered and they fail to see why it is so. I think it's so highly thought of by some because Jeff Magnum's vividness in his wordplay gives it extra emotional depth and gravitas. The music is a mere accompaniment. Sometimes the listener becomes enraptured by a record lyrically and conceptually which others don't see in the same way. I think that's why some people shrug their shoulders when they hear the record because taken on face value - the tunes, it doesn't appear to suggest genius.
you just made me throw up.
give it time.
It's my favourite album of all time
so I can't agree
am a bit bored of it now though
it took me ages
to really get into it. I'd rate it 9/10 now.
once more...
...as mentioned several times already, give it time... once it's in your head, it's an album you can live inside for days on end.
yeah, certain lyrics can sound nonsensical at first, but several others really hit home on every listen... and the more you do listen, the more you find little hidden phrases / quirks that again will squirm their way into your head for good...
You can't honestly
HONESTLY compare TMV and The Shins to NMH?
Your friend is also a complete fool who has failed to take on board the album concept
NONONONONO
this album is incredible, I can't even comprehend any other view.
once again:
OH MY GOD, just had to post AGAIn saying how wrong these views are.... or well, at least how much i disagree with them.
I'm off to listen to it right now. its been done an injustice.
how WRONG other people's opinions are!
No, my friend "failed to take on board the album concept", as he came in just at that point and left shortly thereafter. It reminded me mainly of the Shins a)because the vocalist irritates me slightly and b)other people raved about it and I don't "get" it. The thing is, I think I do get it, it's just not grabbing me. Eh. I'll give it time.
I was only joking when I said you are 'wrong'
as backed up by my later statement. 'or well, at least how much i disagree with them'
But yeah it is one of the great albums of ever in my and many other peoples opinions... the lyrics are deep, the music simple yet sublime, and just AAHHHH.
Its about a jewish family during the war that jeff mangum dreamed up mostly, wikipeida it, there's a really in depth thingy about it all.
I honestly don't comprehend how people don't like it.
as for
"The music is a mere accompaniment.......
the record...taken on face value - the tunes..doesn't appear to suggest genius."
i was interested in hearing this album but your comments really put me off ! if i want nice words i'll read a book. music has to touch me on, like, a musical level. or am i weird ?
"semen stains the mountaintops"
isn't meant to sound 'well deep', is it? it's just another way of describing how the snow looks when it settles over the hills. i'm not going to go into a big rant about how much i love jeff mangum and neutral milk hotel, because it's all been said a zillion times before and i'd just sound pretentious as fuck - but it is my favourite album of all time, and it's all fucking beautiful, and that's it.
fair enough
but that is an awful way to describe snow on mountains, mostly because it doesn't look anything like semen stains. He mentions it again in the next song I think, which leads me to believe he has an obsession with the stuff, poor fellow.
i thought it was about coming on someones titis
me too
not really, its about whatever the hell Jeff Mangum wants it to be, and fuck knows what that is
.
actually,
its about whatever you want it to be.
never heard it
but i read from a reputable source that the production is terrible
Any (non rabid) comments?
the only way production
can be bad is if something is overproduced. this does not fall into that category
what a load of smegma
of course things can be badly produced, just like things can have bad lyrics or bad songwriting. Are you saying something along the lines of "they meant it that way so it's valid"?
Srsly, explain yrself
He's being indie
THANKYOU
people who complain about 'bad production' are idiots. Most notably with the new animal Collective album: 'the production was so bad i couldn't hear the album' - ibeg of you, what were you listening to, cos i heard it fine.
actually
you're the idiot here
"cos i heard it fine"? Are you fucking joking me? Just because it sounds "fine" to you doesn't actually make it so. Just because you don't recognise or care about it doesn't mean it's unimportant. Seriously, you remind me of some tard i was talking to recently who responded to me talking about bad lyrics by saying "ha! You actually listen to lyrics? Why?"
And below, where you say "it's meant to sound like that, so it's not ever bad production". JESUS H CHRIST. That's like saying "no music is bad at all as long as that's what they were trying to do". And no, i don't believe art is all relative in terms of qualitative judgements - some things are just NOT GOOD
Utter cockrot
and
Strawberry Jam sounds really fucking horrible
Are you more of a hip-hop fan?
what the hell is that supposed to mean?
oh i see, it's because i've rated Sean Paul a 9. How very witty of you
And yes, i am a hip hop fan: at least production actually matters to them.
Am i "more of" a hip hop fan? Well, i couldn't really say. I'm definitely more of a Sung Tongs fan
Well
it's just that production has more value in hip hop music. It wasn't a barbed comment or a slight at your ratings. I remember seeing you post in a thread about hip hop so really I know you are a fan and I just wanted to make this point.
I like hip hop. I like good production in hip hop. I like soul music, I like hearing elements of soul music cleverly sampled in hip hop music. I don't necessarily think production value is as important in indie music, or at least what you might call bad production could be a means used by the artist to present what they want in the music, i.e. a lo-fi ethic might be used to capture the live essence of a band on record at the expense of glossy production.
ok, that's cool
sorry if i was a bit aggressive
I do agree with what you're saying, and lo-fi certainly isn't something i'm against, but bad production can definitely exist in indie music and can often make a big difference to how much i enjoy something. Strawberry Jam being a prime example
No worries
I can see how a question like 'are you a hip hop fan' without any realy explanation as to why I should ask such a question could be seen as an antagonistic thing to say. It sucks that there aren't many decent hip-hop artist profiles on here to rate. It's all very indie orientated
chill out
In my opinion you are a fool for spening that much time explaining my idiocy!!!
Thanks very much for your careful explanation, but that is my personal view on production. Now fuck off.
it only took me about a minute actually
your "personal view" was so easy to deconstruct that a minimal amount of effort was required. Kudos on trying to defend yourself, but in the future just accept you've been pwned and leave it.
Now YOU fuck off
You heard right
the production is horrible. This is my visual representation of it:
_______________________________________
I like the album but I find it hard to understand some of the shit, say, Strawberry Jam has got for its production when people readily listen to NMH.
i'm also pretty underwhelmed by this album
but my opinion is probably irrelevant because i haven't made a proper effort to get into it, and it seems to be one of those albums that you really have to make an effort with.
after a few casual listens, i don't have any particular desire to go back to it, but maybe one day i'll give it another spin and it'll click.
Well, I may as well be blunt:
I think ITAOTS is one of the best albums ever recorded. Lyrically and musically I find it incredibly touching and if you know anything about the evolution of the record you'd know that the production and the way the record plays were entirely intended.
As many a reasoned voice will say, 'each to their own', but it does nark when people use the opening lines of 'King of Carrot Flowers...' as a stick with which to beat the album. Firstly, Jeff Magnum has explicitly stated on more than one occasion that these lyrics are directly about Jesus and NOT to be interpreted as 'I love you...Jesus Christ, I love you...' Where is the problem? Are people such blinkered bigots that they can't appreciate the feeling in that delivery and well, the balls it must have taken , as an 'alternative' artist, to get up on stage / in the studio and say those words.
Why is it that some afford instantaneous disrespect to any artist who divulges any religious leanings unless they are of the wafty spiritual non-committal type? It doesn't happen with authors or other artists so why musicians? Oh, and no, I'm not religious myself before any accuses me of being a 'God squadder'.
Pretty much agreed.
Great concept, moments of lyrical greatness, moments of brilliant noisy mayhem snuggle up alongside crappy standards of musicianship and essentially quite uninteresting songs (musically at least). Performed like he means it, which is great, but also performed without any kind of subtlety or nuance, which makes it pretty irritating to listen to by the end.
In short, I'm conflicted about it, because on the one hand I find bits of it really, powerfully moving, but on the other it epitomises the musical laziness inherent in almost all modern self-produced "lo-fi" / "indie-rock". Such is life I guess.
thank you.
I was beginning to think I was alone about this as I was about British Sea Power's second album.
That's a bloody awful album, and no mistake.
I can't believe
I had to wait two days for someone to say that.
Sorry, I missed this thread first time round
(well, I saw it, but I couldn't be arsed to type 'I disagree, I love ITAOTS LOLZ!' as my ability to argue in depth about this sort of stuff appears to have been eroded).
Anyway. Yeah. What I said up there.
yeah but it's not, is it?
It's a lovely summer album with moments of lambent glory. A bloody awful album does not have Oh Larsen B, How Will I Ever Find My Way Back Home and True Adventures on it.
and I think
people don't like it because it's not Decline... MK II.
Think its kind of brilliant
but wouldnt class it as one of my favourite albums ever.
It has an amazing "feel" and flow, one of the best ive heard on an album. Lyrically everything works well, even if it doesent mean much, it sounds like it does, which is cool. The instrumentation is good, the way its produced to sound distorted and all that is brilliant. It is just brilliant, but doesent deserve its place as the holy grail of indie albums.
9/10
Once upon a time...
I've had said it's absolutely the greatest album of all time.
Now I'd say it's still one of my favourites, I've just over played it a little.
There would be a lot of reasons to dislike it- the off key vocals, the possibly misleading lyrics, somewhat dirty production. But i love all of those things about it.
But i did think it was about average at first, then I stuck with it for 2 weeks or so and all of a sudden it just clicked into place and i fell in love with it.
And it's a bit pedantic, but isn't it 'aeroplane'? like the english spelling rather than the american, not that it's important.
it is good
In my opinion it is 'good'. some so-so moments but some amazing ones. also his voice used to really really grate on me, to the point where i couldn't even bring myself to listen. but now i've just about come round.
and if you think the production poor then don't listen to 'on avery island'
...
i don't think the production is poor exactly, just quite unusual with the distorted bass being so high in the mix all the time, i still love it, i just think robert schneider has done better engineering/ production work on his own albums.
some of avery island is every bit as good as this album, some of it falls a bit flat.
i think the production is irrelevant
its meant to sound like that, so its not ever bad production, its just a case of whether you like how it sounds or not.
I agree to an extent about 'avery', but you have to remember that aeroplane has a proper NMH band, and it is far more purposeful.
.
to me its the pinnacle of good production and always imagine it as a milestone for anyone to recreate in the studio, rob schneider permformed miracles on that album, that wont be done again for a long time....read that little book you can buy in fopp about the story of the album, makes you realise even more the work that went into it and the strange production techniques that make it the classic it is...i cant listen to holland 1945 without a tingle down the spine
schneider
is pretty much a studio wiz, so it sounds exactly how they would have wanted it to sound...
giving this album 7/10
is like giving the number 10 7/10.
I was lucky enough to hear the album before I'd read any reviews about it, or had anyone raving to me about just how amazing it was so I had an open mind when I listened to it. One of the few albums I've put straight back on after listening once through.
This album is a classic, no doubt about it.
Dan
Why can't more DiSers be like Dan? He is unpretentious, has good taste, and his comments are always rational. Right on, dude!
i agree
the great bits are really great but theres some pretty ordinary stuff on it aswell. People seem to be in love with the concept and everything that surrounds the record more than the record itself.
I think it definitely helps
if you discover the album on it's own without the hyperbole. That way with every listen you pick up on the bits everyone's been mentioning here but in your own time and then...*click*...you love it. And will defend it tooth and nail to anyone who doesn't.
A couple days
is not enough time to appriciate this record, I still love it more and more on each listen & it took me at least a dozen listens to fully appriciate it.
It's PRETTY good
but I don't think it's THAT good. 7/10 for me as well.
Production
Every instrument on that album was distorted a bit. Notice the drums especially.
It is a totally valid choice and a great one if you ask me. Can you imagine Pavement's Slanted and Chanted well produced?? It would be shit.