This is an incredible album:
Neutral Milk Hotel, "In the Aeroplane over the Sea." This, my friends, this is about as punk as I get.
I should say that I am relatively out of touch with music these days, so you have to imagine the happiness in my heart whenever I walk into Krakatoa and the baristas are playing this CD. I'm all, "dude! I HAVE this!" and somewhere, somehow, my indie fairy earns her wings.
I vividly remember buying this album, probably late 2004, at the old Second Spin records in PB (no longer standing). I had read something about the band that caught my eye, so I blindly bought the album without listening to it, even though Second Spin used to have that little listening station in the front. As I paid for it, the deliciously scrawny indie rock clerk said, direct quote, "This is an amazing album." Not only did this serve to validate my purchase, but it kind of validated my taste in music. Another pair of indie fairy wings!
I didn't love the CD at first. It was too raw and punk and uncomfortable, and I was too into Iron and Wine or Sufjan Stevens so I wanted all my music to be silky smooth. Cat Power was as edgy as I got. But, NMH grew on me. Holy hell, did it grow on me.
And thanks to You Tube, you too can listen to some of it without spending money. And you can stare at the album cover the whole time. This song is "Ghost," which is one of my favorite songs on the CD. I mean, there are so many quintessential "In the Aeroplane..." songs, including the title track itself and Two Headed Boy, and maybe because of this, songs like Ghost kind of get overlooked.
But you should also listen to "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," too, because it is incredible. All secrets sleep in winter clothes with one you loved so long ago.
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