On Avery Island

Today's Music of the Day is Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island. Naturally, I got this after having found In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, but I'll try to judge it on its own merits and not just make this a straightforward comparison blog.

On Avery Island is kind of bizarre and meandering, but has a pretty interesting sound. It's very much Neutral Milk Hotel, all fuzzy and nasal and full of crazy instruments. It does seem to have some more electronic elements than I would have expected, but nothing that would lead you to believe the lo-fi sound is at risk.

I found this album a little more difficult to get into, but rewarding nonetheless. It has some pretty good songs, though even at their most upbeat, there is nothing to rival "King of Carrot Flowers" or "Holland, 1945". "Song Against Sex", the album opener, is pretty good. I suppose if this album suffers from anything, it's being a little too reserved, as it doesn't have one certain anthem that the rest of the songs rally around.

In short, this is one of those albums that isn't bad by any means, and I actually enjoy listening to it. However, I can't say that it really connected with me, but I'll probably end up listening to it more than albums I like better in the future, for the sake of trying to figure out exactly what I think about this album.

In Other News:
I slept a little last night but I need more rest.

I'm probably going to miss Halloween just for the sake of moving. Not a big deal but still kind of sad. Hopefully the new place gets a little more sunlight.

My strategy of not buying groceries and eating everything I have, in order to minimize the moving process, isn't working out as well as I would have liked. Just a couple more days...

Jeff Mangum Update That Is Far Outdated

http://www.slate.com/id/2185219/

Yeah, pretty much. The link is completely safe but probably of no interest to you unless you like Neutral Milk Hotel, which I am willing to bet is at least one of the three people that looks at this site. The link is not recent, having been established in 2006, but it's still an interesting (albeit brief) read.

Otherwise, I probably am due to blog about In the Aeroplane Over the Sea one of these days, but not today. It seems like a fine album to blog about when I hit some kind of monumental number of blog posts. Also, it's hardly an obscure album any more, so I have doubts as to what I would say that hasn't already been said by a better writer, or at least one who is more polished.

In Other News:
I am traveling this weekend so don't flip out if you can't contact me for a couple days. Capoeira! I am on vacation tomorrow and Friday.

I'm not asking you to do anything, just please don't yell at me for a couple days. That will be plenty.