Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”

November 30, 2009 • By Antonio Freyre

In_the_aeroplane_over_the_sea_album_cover_copy

Neutral Milk Hotel
“In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”
Merge

You know that awkward, quirky neighbour that looks like Michael Cera in Juno and walks around with his plastic neon shades and his Lomo Camera taking pictures of the flight of plastic bags in the wind and listening to a Johnny Hobo basement recording? Yea, well he has nothing on these guys. Dear Reader, these are the fathers of hipsterism. Fathers of hipsterism, this is the reader. The now defunct act from Ruston, Louisiana, Neutral Milk Hotel, presented us their second effort, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, on the summer of 1998, a year in which smoking was banned from all California bars and Frank Sinatra was dying from a bunch of heart attacks induced from getting laid too much. The obvious answer to this was to create a lo-fi pseudo-indie rock album with stolen cover art and an orgy of ethnical instruments.

The album opens with The King of Carrot Flowers pt. One, a title that is as confusing as the lyrics it contains, which are just an omen of things to come. The opening guitar strumming and off-tune vocals get you in the mood for some Bob Dylan worship, with an accordion coming into play a few minutes after. The scent of generic hipster music is in the air. You close your eyes as the track starts introducing a little ambient noise, which can only prepare you for the full-on noise rock that is The King of Carrot Flowers pt. Two and Three. Why part two and three are the same track, we can only wonder, but the variety of sounds that this album includes starts becoming more notorious as the track goes on. The third-and title-track is a really catchy acoustic song that includes a “singing saw”. Yes, a “singing saw”. Don’t ask what it is, don’t google it, just enjoy the soothing sounds of a saw that sings. Its swirly voice gives the track an eerie playground context, and is just the beginning of an album that includes instruments like flugelhorn, zanzithophone, uilleann pipes and the over-used shortwave radio noises that have now invaded every artsy album. These guys were not kidding when they gave their band such a random name. This album is a complete clusterfuck of weird ideas that somehow end up working together really well. Everything is catchy, everything makes you feel happy of wearing this “Vote for Pedro” shirt and these really tight jeans that kinda-show-your-package-but-not-really.

The album continues with songs like the fuzzy Holland, 1945 and the mellow Oh Comely, and even reaches an Untitled instrumental track. Yes, a song without both a title and lyrics. If this isn’t art, i don’t know what is. The album concludes with “Two-Headed Boy Pt. Two” which is obviously about the second head of the kid from the fourth track. The “deepness” of these guys is obviously too much for anyone to handle.

Overall, they managed to create an original sound, even with a really bad production, that is both intellectual and catchy. The flow in this album is close to perfection and it has a great balance of calm and heavy, which can only make your day better. If you ever thought that short film you made with the poster made out of newspaper cut-outs and pen drawings of the characters was interesting, you definitely have to check these guys out and shit a brick at what good artsy music all about.

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31 Responses to “ Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” ”


  • brandon -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    you guys are on the ball

  • BB -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    Holland, 1945!!!

  • Alex -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Wow, I was halfway through listening to this album when I saw that Buddyhead reviewed it. I don’t care what anyone says, this album is one of my faves.

  • Jack Morrow -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    This is the best album ever. Cool review too

  • Jack Morrow -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

    also lost sucks

  • Anoop Singh -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    If you don’t like this album then don’t a tork 2 me.

  • Rob -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    This is the worst album review I’ve ever read.
    I wish your writers wrote honestly instead of trying to copy Travis and Meathead’s sense of humor, which is honestly hilarious AND informative.
    I haven’t heard this album yet, and I could probably give people a better description than this motherfucker did.

  • Jack Morrow -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    Well you know what they say, “semen stains the mountain tops”, and this is the semen staining the absolute mountain that is this album. Seriously, just listen to it.

  • Bob Vila -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    You guys are about 10 years late on reviewing this album. This is one of my favorites of all time! He didn’t even mention the Anne Frank connection. Jeff Mangum had a reoccuring dream about Anne Frank and that kind of inspired the album. The reviewer obviously didn’t do much research. This is an album I needed a few listens for it to sink in. Do yourself a favor and get this album! When you first listen Mangum’s voice will sound kind of annoying, but it will grow on you, I promise. I know all the hipsters like it too, but that doesn’t mean its not worth listening to.

  • Jack Morrow -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    On Avery Island is definitely worth a mention too, not as good as aeroplane, but still some amazing tracks on there. Also lost sucks

  • Anoop Singh -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    On the contrary, as the phoenix rises from it’s own ashes, Neutrol milk hotulzz Rises above the other philth that is plaguing today’s mainstream music. Also lost sucks

  • slothman gonk -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

    it’s actually a christian rock album. how else do you explain the lyrics like

    i love you, jesus christ

    jesus christ i looooove youuuu

    not that there’s anything wrong with that….

  • killdare -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    best album (next to yank crime and in utero) of all time! i have been listening to this non stop recently.

  • Chaz -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    Top 5 no doubt. No one fucks with Jeff!!!!!

  • ryan -- Nov 30th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

    I always thought this was one of those rare albums that kinda becomes an instant classic. To its credit, I think everyone I’ve ever talked to about it has a story, a memory, some kind of association that the songs conjure up. Sure, any piece of music can (and/or should) do that. By all accounts, this one just seems to amplify those feelings. Certainly does for me.
    Anyway, not to sound like a jerk, but fisting an album review with ironic hyperbole isn’t the most effective way to degrade and distance yourself from the hipster crowd.

  • Sputnik Shanks -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 2:23 am

    I got this album early on in highschool and didn’t really ‘get it.’ But a year or so later and it was the greatest thing ever. Good memories, man.

  • James B -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 5:22 am

    I got this album early on in highschool and didn’t really ‘get it.’ A year or so later, I still didn’t ‘get it.’ Good memories, man

  • Ldopa -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 10:40 am

    this is a hilariously lame review. so its a hipster dorkus album ..but you like it ? is that what ur saying? just give up the fucking superior attitude and stop dancing around the fact that this album is awesome and you like it . your pathetic attempt to distance yourselves from “hipsters” is so fucking see through its sad yet its so stereotypically buddyhead. just keep it real

  • Sudeaux -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 10:54 am

    Instead of this smokescreen review on a classic we’ve been loving for ten years, why not be honest and say this is the first time you’ve listened to this album and that even though the hipsters dig it, you do, too.

  • the synthetic grin -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am

    Wow, the bandwagon might need some new wheels.

  • Nigel Davenport -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    #
    brandon — Nov 30th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

    you guys are on the ball

  • 89vision -- Dec 1st, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Haha, this is why I love Buddyhead, because more often than not I end up kind of laughing at myself.

  • hard -- Dec 2nd, 2009 at 12:03 am

    out of all that elephant6 shit:
    olivia tremor control>neutral milk hotel

  • Bob -- Dec 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 am

    Um, this review would have been nice if it was done 10 years earlier and without the hipster aspect in it. Any amount of research, no matter how small, would have shown that NMH isn’t a hipster band at all, nor were they trying to start what is the current hipster trend. They were just dudes making music and it fell together as Aeroplane.

  • Infamous E -- Dec 3rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    You pisshead ,You may be entitled to your opinion but at least know what your talking about first.

    Elephant 6 are NOT hipsters! ,

    Eat shit and listen to MGMT you swisscheese fucking motherfcuker

  • joey -- Dec 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am

    hah. like everyone’s already said, why the hell are you reviewing this record now? everything’s already been said here.

  • Ben -- Dec 4th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Wow!

    Now that’s some good shit talk! Classic. And being somewhat of a connoisseur of fine shit talk myself and having just discovered this site (in the past 20 minutes), I really have to thank you for breaking this album (among other things) down in terms I can truly understand.

    Because although this album is widely regarded as a classic by the “in” crowd, I have only had it recommended to me by pompous twit bags. So i steered clear of it for all these years, in fear of making the same grave mistake as i did in that record store all those years ago, armed with ten dollars and a recently recommended SLINT album (OH THE HORROR!!!!)

    Plus I don’t see why more critics don’t review albums from the past. Who gives a fuck i we already have our own opinions of these albums, or if the reviewer is just now hearing it for the first time (OMG Buddyheadiz soooo 2000 and late). But I get what he’s saying and FINALLY feel compelled to check out this ethnic instrument hipster orgy.
    Thanks

  • Infamous E -- Dec 5th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    it’s a good review considering you were one years old when it came out

  • Antonio Freyre -- Dec 5th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    exactly, ben has it right

    i reviewed this because buddyhead didnt have a review for it and because its usually recommended by the hipster crowd, which stops a lot of people from giving it a chance, but in reality its an album that everyone should hear at least once

  • Panda Knife Fight -- Dec 8th, 2009 at 3:59 am

    Theyre a poor mans Guided by Voices but not horrible Ghost is a great song.

  • Brique -- Dec 16th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    “You know that awkward, quirky neighbour that looks like Michael Cera in Juno and walks around with … his *****Lomo Camera***** taking pictures of the flight of plastic bags in the wind and listening to a *****Johnny Hobo***** basement recording?” Yes, me? I’m listening.

    “If you ever thought that short film you made with the poster made out of newspaper cut-outs and pen drawings of the characters was interesting,” Well it wasn’t! :[

    I was with you for all the “lolwutdafuck” impression you had. I’m a dumb person too. I’ll never understand wutdafuck it all really means, but I’d try to say something besides lolwutdafuck. Nowadays folkies definitely walk a thin line, sometimes leaning a little badly into the “hipster” side. But sorry, Hipsters are wary of anything as confusingly honest as Neutral Milk Hotel. If this album were cynically ironic instead, then they’d flock to it harder than they currently do. There’s a fundamental difference!

    This was more of a track-by-track analysis on it being “weird”. I’d say the album is harsh and lush at the same time, and you’re right; it’s worth anyone’s time, but whether or not they even know wutdafuck they just heard is entirely up to them. I do like that you reviewed it this late. Gives a nice look into what the album did to record geeks that survived the 11 years after its release.

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