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During the 1990s a genius of pop music came out of the musically depressed
lands of Louisiana: no, not Britney Spears, but Jeff Mangum, the man behind
Neutral Milk Hotel, soon destined to become one of the leaders of the
pop renaissance with Apples In Stereo and
Olivia Tremor Control.
Neutral Milk Hotel debuted with three cassettes,
Invent Yourself A Shortcake (Elephant 6, 1991),
Beauty (Elephant 6, 1992),
Hype City Soundtrack (Elephant 6, 1993)
and the legendary single Everything Is (Cher Doll, 1994), a catchy
refrain set to a simple rhythm.
The fuzzy guitar made people think of a disciple of
Jesus And Mary Chain, a perception
that the hazy sound on the album On Avery Island (Merge, 1996)
did little to change.
Despite the memorable hooks of Song Against Sex and Naomi,
despite the
quirky arrangements a` la Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks (trombone, xylophone,
organ), halfway between the Salvation Army and classical music, the
standout tracks are the feedback-heavy instrumental Marching Theme and
the dadaistic/psychedelic tour de force of
Pree-Sisters Swallowing A Donkey's Eye.
Better production (and a real band) on In the Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge, 1998)
radically changed the perception without radically changing the melodic
content and presented Mangum as a modern Tom Rapp
covering Buddy Holly
(but also Frank Zappa's Freak Out).
The King Of Carrot Flowers and Two Headed Boy
are heavenly lullabies.
Neutral Milk Hotel's multi-instrumentalist
Julian Koster released the single
Please Hear Mr Flight Control (Elephant 6, 1998) and the album
First Imaginary Symphony For Nomad (Merge, 1999) under the moniker
Music Tapes, an album which is a sort of gigantic, mad collage in the vein
of the Fugs' Virgin Forest with notable parts for singing saw and bowed banjo.
Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel and
Julian Koster ofthe Music Tapes assembled a supergroup of
mermbers of Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, and Of Montreal
to record Major Organ and the Adding Machine (2001).
After Second Imaginary Symphony For Cloudmaking (2002), basically a
soundtrack to accompany a spoken-word narrative,
Koster delivered another cartoonish survey of a whole musical century,
Music Tapes for Clouds & Tornadoes (Merge, 2008),
a work that now
turned sound quality into a co-protagonist by
recording all the songs on vintage equipment of yore.
The overture, Saw Pingpong and Orchestra, is a drunken singalong that
sounds like an
orchestral version of the Holy Modal Rounders.
No less demented is Tornado Longing For Freedom, a banjo-driven lament
that sounds like an insult to yodeling country singers.
A bit more sober are Majesty and especially
The Minister Of Longitude,
the sort of street fanfares with catchy refrains that Koster excels at.
The accordion-derailed litany Freeing Song By Reindeer and the pretentious aria Cumulonimbus (Magnetic Tape For Clouds) with banjo and cello
sound like parodies of moronic Beatles songs.
Somehow Koster decides to devote six full minutes (an eternity by his standards)
to the Hawaian-tinged requiem Song For Oceans Falling, replete with
trumpet and theremin adagio.
Koster does not invest enough time into the arrangements although the
jovial instrumentals Nimbus Stratus Cirrus (Mr. Piano's Majestic Haircut)
and In An Ice Palace display a rare genius.
Neutral Milk Hotel's drummer Jeremy Barnes formed Bablicon.
Live At Jittery Joes (2001 - Orange Twin, 2005) was a Jeff Mangum solo acoustic live set.
A Hawk And A Hacksaw is the solo project of Neutral Milk Hotel's drummer Jeremy Barnes, originally from New Mexico and now resident in Britain.
A Hawk And A Hacksaw (2004) and
Darkness At Noon (Leaf, 2005), with the eight-minute Laughter In The Dark, are devoted to ethnic folk with
the kind of drunk attitude that Tom Waits could
concoct.
After relocating back to New Mexico, Barnes recorded
The Way The Wind Blows (Leaf, 2006), that featured
klezmer violinist Heather Trost, a collection that continued the pan-ethnic
program with merely a more profound tone.
The chamber instrumental The Way The Wind Blows pivots on a
touching violin and accordion melody.
Fernando's Giampari is an exuberant post-modernist fantasia on
klezmer and assorted folk dance music.
Other pieces are more directly related to this or that folk tradition.
Notably, the six-minute In The River for horns, organ, violin and accordion sounds like a Slavic funeral march.
The musicianship even increased and the tempos were even more frantic on
Deliverance (Leaf, 2009), for example in Kertesz.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Antonio Buono)
Durante gli anni Novanta, un genio della pop music emerse dalle terre musicalmente depresse della Louisiana: no, non Britney Spears, ma Jeff Mangum, l’uomo dietro i Neutral Milk Hotel, presto destinati a divenire una delle guide della rinascita pop con Apples In Stereo e Olivia Tremor Control. I Neutral Milk Hotel debuttarono con tre cassette, Yourself A Shortcake (Elephant 6, 1991), Beauty (Elephant 6, 1992), Hype City Soundtrack (Elephant 6, 1993) e il singolo leggendario Everything Is (Cher Doll, 1994), un accattivante ritornello guidato da un semplice ritmo. Le chitarre sfocate fanno pensare a dei discepoli dei Jesus And Mary Chain, una percezione che il suono caliginoso dell’album On Avery Island (Merge, 1996) riconferma. Nonostante i memorabili ganci di Song Against Sex e Naomi, nonostante i bizzarri arrangiamenti à la Brian Wilson e Van Dyke Parks (trombone, xylophone, organ), a metà tra i Salvation Army e la musica classica, i brani migliori sono lo strumentale heavy di feedback Marching Theme e il tour de force dadaista/psichedelico di Pree-Sisters Swallowing A Donkey's Eye.
Una migliore produzione (e una vera band) su In the Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge, 1998) cambiano radicalmente la percezione senza cambiare radicalmente il contenuto melodico e presentano Mangum come un moderno Tom Rapp che esegue cover di Buddy Holly (ma anche del Frank Zappa di Freak Out). The King Of Carrot Flowers e Two Headed Boy sono ninnananne paradisiache.
Il collaboratore di Mangum, Julian Koster, pubblica il singolo Please Hear Mr Flight Control (Elephant 6, 1998) e l’album 1st Imaginary Symphony For Nomad (Merge, 1999) sotto la sigla Music Tapes, un album che è una sorta di collage folle e gigantesco nella vena di Virgin Forest dei Fugs.
Live At Jittery Joes (2001 - Orange Twin, 2005) è un set acustico dal vivo del solo Mangum.
A Hawk And A Hacksaw è il progetto solista di Jeremy Barnes, batterista dei Neutral Milk Hotel, originario del New Mexico e poi residente in Gran Breatagna. A Hawk And A Hacksaw (2004) e Darkness At Noon (Leaf, 2005) è ispirato al folk etnico con il genere di attitudine ubriaca inventata da Tom Waits. Dopo essersi ritrasferito in New Mexico, Barnes registra The Way The Wind Blows (Leaf, 2006), che ospita il violinista klezmer Heather Trost, una collezione che prosegue il programma pan-etnico, con un tono solamente più profondo. Lo strumentale da camera The Way The Wind Blows fa perno su un toccante violino e su una melodia di fisarmonica. Fernando's Giampari è un’esuberante fantasia post-moderna di musica klezmer e di assorta danza folk. Altri pezzi sono più direttamente collegati a questa o quell’altra tradizione folk. In particolare, In The River per corni, organo, violino e fisarmonica suona come una marcia funebre slava.
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