Red Mosquito

cutuphalfdead wrote:

durdencommatyler wrote:I''ll throat punch any motherfucker who tries to say terrible things about Alex.

Terrible doesn't have to mean bad, friend.

I just like threatening throat punches, though.

Gods' Die wrote:

Kaius wrote:If one song could sell me a trip through one of their albums, which one would it be?

Get on the Aeroplane. No question. Don't even book any flights on any of their other stuff until you've internalized this one.

Yep. Side one, track one, hooked me. That song, The King of Carrot Flowers Part I owns my soul.

revelatory experience. the band was energized, mangum's voice was commanding, and the crowd was spellbound. i wouldn't have been too surprised if they just churned out a rote setlist without any vigor, but they were having a lot of fun. if any of you are on the fence about seeing them, get tickets. you won't regret it.

don't expect stage banter. other than saying "thank you so much," and bowing, between most songs, mangum's only comment to the crowd was, "did someone say banana? [unintelligible] tomorrow's saturday, isn't it?"

Alex wrote:revelatory experience. the band was energized, mangum's voice was commanding, and the crowd was spellbound. i wouldn't have been too surprised if they just churned out a rote setlist without any vigor, but they were having a lot of fun. if any of you are on the fence about seeing them, get tickets. you won't regret it.

don't expect stage banter. other than saying "thank you so much," and bowing, between most songs, mangum's only comment to the crowd was, "did someone say banana? [unintelligible] tomorrow's saturday, isn't it?"

We saw him on his solo tour. His voice and acoustic guitar completely commanded the room, it was an amazing show...I'm pumped for their stop in Denver.

Saw them last night. Oh my god.

One thing I really believed was that a reunion tour of middle aged people with no new music to speak of, that basically plays up to the popularity of a record made 16 years ago, could not possibly help but injure the mystique and otherworldly quality that record has. How could it possibly do otherwise? It exists beyond place, beyond time. A reunion show? I felt like I was trading a little of that magic in for an experience.

But fuck no. The mystery and impossibility was layered on by the moment. The band looked like misshapen group of homeless people, asylum escapees, and minstrels. Magnum looked like someone who had disappeared for fourteen years. Time had done nothing to overperfect their craft or to stilt their behaviors. The drummer still played to an energy he believed the songs had, but that was beyond anybody else's conscious recognition. The entire band was constantly singing along joyously despite not being mic'd. People wandered the stage in a continual run of instrument change, sometimes grabbing three different ones in a single song. Bowed saw. Concertina. Horns like the finest Tennessee honey. And none of it quite perfect.

No pause between songs, except to grab a drink of water. It was like they didn't dare stop, or the wheels might come off. I've never seen a band so fascinating to watch...so reckless and unafraid yet completely alive within each song.

Neutral Milk Hotel was, for the longest time, like an archaic myth. Aeroplane was a message from somewhere else, an artifact from a culture that never existed. I was certain I was going to have to let that go in order to see them in concert.

I had it backwards; I'd only heard half the myth.

this is an album I keep meaning to listen to again.

I'm glad you enjoyed the show

In which an overhyped recluse whose singular creative achievement is 10 songs he wrote 16 years ago manages to steal the heart of a man who doesn't believe in live performances. That's why I love RM--because magic happens here.

McParadigm wrote:Saw them last night. Oh my god.

One thing I really believed was that a reunion tour of middle aged people with no new music to speak of, that basically plays up to the popularity of a record made 16 years ago, could not possibly help but injure the mystique and otherworldly quality that record has. How could it possibly do otherwise? It exists beyond place, beyond time. A reunion show? I felt like I was trading a little of that magic in for an experience.

But fuck no. The mystery and impossibility was layered on by the moment. The band looked like misshapen group of homeless people, asylum escapees, and minstrels. Magnum looked like someone who had disappeared for fourteen years. Time had done nothing to overperfect their craft or to stilt their behaviors. The drummer still played to an energy he believed the songs had, but that was beyond anybody else's conscious recognition. The entire band was constantly singing along joyously despite not being mic'd. People wandered the stage in a continual run of instrument change, sometimes grabbing three different ones in a single song. Bowed saw. Concertina. Horns like the finest Tennessee honey. And none of it quite perfect.

No pause between songs, except to grab a drink of water. It was like they didn't dare stop, or the wheels might come off. I've never seen a band so fascinating to watch...so reckless and unafraid yet completely alive within each song.

Neutral Milk Hotel was, for the longest time, like an archaic myth. Aeroplane was a message from somewhere else, an artifact from a culture that never existed. I was certain I was going to have to let that go in order to see them in concert.

I had it backwards; I'd only heard half the myth.

I could read your posts all day long

but I think now that I would also like to hear this band

Kevin Davis wrote:In which an overhyped recluse whose singular creative achievement is 10 songs he wrote 16 years ago manages to steal the heart of a man who doesn't believe in live performances. That's why I love RM--because magic happens here.

well, I do hear that the room noise is particularly audible at a live show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcgyKo7vbm4

thank you

nice lyrics, but im not sure what the fuss is about.

i do plan to give this whole album a listen or two during spring break in two weeks. someone guide me in

I listened for the fist time about 2 weeks ago, and it has been in frequent rotation since. It's definitely getting better with each listen.

Kevin Davis wrote:In which an overhyped recluse whose singular creative achievement is 10 songs he wrote 16 years ago manages to steal the heart of a man who doesn't believe in live performances. That's why I love RM--because magic happens here.

It's true.

Totally! Except the overhyped part.

We're seeing them tomorrow night. McParadigm is right about this record's place in music's canon. This record doesn't exist within any era. Feels like it's always existed. It's a magical record. It also takes a lot of brain power to try to decipher all the metaphors working within each song simultaneously. How one sentence can mean 3 distinctly different things at once so many times throughout the record sounds like an impossible feat, but Mangum pulled it off so well. I also don't find any of this headiness pretentious. One of my favorite records of all time and I feel so lucky to see them play some of the songs.

I don't think there has been another record released in my lifetime whose appeal is so profoundly mystifying to me.

hearing this makes me feel a bit better about my previous reaction to this years ago