Novels Review

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(More customer reviews)There are 3 bands that I always wanted to love when I was growing up: The Strokes, No Knife, and Alkaline Trio. All three bands had something unique that I really enjoyed, but they all left me wanting something more.
The Strokes I loved for their guitar play. It was unique and different, something I hadn't truly experienced before. But they took some creative directions that I grew bored of quickly (overuse of vocal distortion comes to mind), and I never really fell in love with their music. I wanted to love them so bad, but it was just little things that bothered me about their style that I couldn't totally get lost in.
No Knife I loved for their sheer technical genius. While it was difficult to follow sometimes, I appreciated what they musically explored. However, almost all their songs would take a route that I just couldn't quite get in to. They would start out a certain way, really catch me, then totally take a turn and ruin it. I could appreciate their music, but that was as far as it went.
Alkaline Trio is one of my guilty pleasure bands I love to listen to. Simple, catchy, and sing-out-loud-in-your-car sort of songs that are just fun. Their songs would start and end the same way, not many surprises, and were easy to let yourself go with. But I always wished they took a more mature route with some of their music. They have always been a talented group, and I always wished they explored some of their songs a little more.
Enter The Burning Hotels. Simply put; they are the band I've always wanted. Their music is a throw-back to my early years, with a mature, grown-up sound that always surprises me, and never leaves me lost. They have a technical style that is so beyond any of the other pop-rock bands, yet maintain that sing-out-loud sort of style that I can't wait to listen to every time I get in my car. Every time I listen to one of their songs, I get completely nostalgic. Their songs often start one way, and end another, but it all totally fits. Listening to a sample, you would miss some of the amazing surprises they put into each song.
I can not recommend this band enough. I haven't been this excited about music in a long time. Some people will say they are a rip-off of other bands or don't have their own style yet, but I completely disagree. They may have taken cues from other bands, but The Burning Hotels are one of the only bands I've heard in a long time that got it right from start to finish. Every single song on this cd is awesome.
As a side note, if you want a good overall example of their music, download "Silhouette" and see if you like it. It starts off sort of generic then totally changes and becomes this whole new song. Also, "One to Five" and "Where's My Girl" are some personal favorites as well.

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Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (33 1/3) Review

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(More customer reviews)Let me first say this: I am incredibly biased. ITAOTS is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I have many memories inextricably tied to it. I would argue, however, that appreciation of the album is not even a prerequisite to enjoy the book. Kim Cooper has compiled a beautiful account of a group of friends who, through good fortune, a wealth of talent, and most of all an undying belief in the power of music, created one of the most powerful records ever set to tape.

Obsessively detailing recording techniques, the origins of the songs, and the background of all involved, Cooper interviews all principles (except for elusive singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum, though I maintain that this only adds to the power of the book), creating a complete and fascinating story. She has a novelist's eye for the necessary detail and for plot development, and we become incredibly attached to the hugely intelligent and friendly Elephant 6 clique that helped the album to fruition.
This book is obviously a must-read for all interested in the Elephant 6 Collective or Neutral Milk Hotel, but at the same time it is too good to remain within those crowds. That would be like preaching to the choir. We have here an inspirational document of the continuing power of music, something that should be on required reading lists in every music program in every school. This here is proof that all outcasts and misfits who have found solace in the healing properties of music can succeed beyond their wildest dreams.
Jeff Mangum may or may not produce an album again, but ITAOTS is good enough for now. This book is not only a worthy tribute, but an accomplishment in and of itself. Congratulations, Ms. Cooper, you have written a masterpiece.

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Of all the recordings to emerge from the Athens-via-Denver collectivecalled Elephant 6, Neutral Milk Hotel's second album is the one that hasworked its way under the most skins. Magnet magazine named it the bestalbum of the 1990s, and Creative Loafing recently devoted a cover storyto one fan's quest to understand why band leader Jeff Mangum dropped outof sight soon after Aeroplane's release. The record sells steadily toan audience that finds it through word of mouth.Weird, beautiful, absorbing, difficult, In The Aeroplane Over the Seais a surrealist text loosely based on the life, suffering andreincarnation of Anne Frank, with guest appearances from a pair ofSiamese twins menaced by the cold and carnivores, a two-headed boybobbing in a jar, anthropomorphic vegetables and a variety of immatureerotic horrors.Mangum sings his dreamlike narratives with a dreamer's intensity, hiscreaky, off key voice occasionally breaking as he struggles to completeeach dense couplet. The music is like nothing else in the 90s indieunderground: a psychedelic brass band, its members self-taught, forgingpolychromatic washes of mood and tribute. The songs stick to one narrowkey, the images repeat and circle back, and to listen is to be absorbedinto a singular, heart-rending vision.

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