Customer Ratings & Reviews

Amazing album, though hard to choose between this one and Avery. Both are a must.

Didn't quite live up to the hype on initial listening but WAS indeed very good. Not life changing, but very very good. Maybe it will be a slow grower.

a friend of mine, Nichole, just showed me this band not a month ago. being that she is basically my "indie music consultant," i expect the newest, most unknown band names to escape her mouth - bands she probably hasn't heard because a) they don't exist, or b) there is no way someone can hear of, listen to, and be aquainted with more than a couple bands a night (bear in mind that she and i see each other daily and she is always waxing romantic about some new or schtick fad-band). finally she said a band name that i heard and was pestered by: Neutral Milk Hotel. could you say that again? did i hear that right? how pretentious can one band be with a name that seems to have been created with the sole purpose of being too indie for it's own good? so, my initial sentiments were those of disgust. but the name stuck. Neutral Milk Hotel. and the words repeated in my head until i finally downloaded "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". i can say that i was more than shocked in the fact that it was actually good, i was overwhelmed. frankly, she has recommended more than a few sub par bands in the time i've known her. but not this one. there is so much eloquence not only in the general layout of the album itself (being that it is structured similarly to that of one flowing piece with separate movements and overtures and reprises), but also in his voice. the easiest analogy: the ugly duckling - while nearly impossible to even glance at initially, once it grows and develops (in this case, in your head and after a few listens) it is something that is hard to keep from admiring. there is this constant tinge of sincerity the likes i haven't heard before. everyone has HEARD someone sad, but not with these tones, not in this fashion. it is sharp and as though as he is almost barking, but it is with this ambition to create beauty. take that set of vocal chords, pair them with the folk band that plays on the corner or in the bar every now and again, and throw in the precarious distortion of the up and coming punk band at the end of your street. and you have their sound. get on this now.