art is the new religion

This is the room one afternoon I knew I could love you

As we were standing around at Stubb's on Saturday night waiting for Okkervil River to start, I somehow got on the subject of Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea with my friend Ted from BAGeL Radio.  We agreed that it's a phenomenal, life-changing, desert-island record that's best appreciated by die-hard music fans.  And people generally hear about it through recommendations from friends; I heard about it when I first met John Vanderslice around 2001 and asked him what five records I needed to own but probably didn't. 

Sure, Neutral Milk Hotel is not a household name by any means, but Ted and I disagreed on how widely known this record is.  I feel that it's a record that most music aficionados and indie rock fans are lucky enough to eventually come to one way or another, and I pointed out that it's consistently a top seller in independent retail and on places like Insound.com (#59 today).  Ted agrees on the record's art and influence, but joked that it's the same 1,000 of us buying it over and over again.  This Wikipedia article claims In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, released in 1998 on Merge Records, has since sold over 100,000 copies, which is a lot for any record. 

So help me out - have you heard of Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

If you haven't heard In The Aeroplane Over The Sea before, I encourage you to buy it, or at least give it a listen.  I don't say this often, but it's an important record; the lyrics draw powerful images, the creativity of the instrumentation is inspiring and influential, and Jeff Mangum's voice is direct and heartbreaking.  It is a work of art.

• Buy Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea from Insound or from Amazon.

iPhone Hack

Before: FAIL.

After: iPhone FTW!

Bon Iver is breaking my heart

I've been hearing the name Bon Iver for the past two days, so I decided to check out the music online this morning. 

On first listen, it's delicate, dreamy and transports you to a new place -- if you squint your ears you could hear a comparison to a very gentle TV on the Radio.

So much music to tell you about, but SXSW is still happening so I'm going to do more listening than writing.  In fact, I'm hoping to see Bon Iver this afternoon. 

In the meantime, put on your headphones and let Bon Iver take you to where he lives:

SXSW: Motörhead at Stubb's

"Don't forget us.  We are Motörhead.  We play rock n' %$*@ing roll."

I saw Motörhead today at 3pm at Stubb's.  I ended up with a VIP wristband thanks to my friend Steve, so I watched all the madness from the balcony, far away from the inebriated rockers in the mosh pit.

When you get the chance to see Motörhead for free, you go.

car radio, i hardly knew ye

RIP car radio
8/2007 - 3/2008

My little car stereo, the one I wrote about getting last August, has moved on to a pawn shop in the sky.  Yes, apparently there are thieves, vandals and/or crackheads in Austin too - not just in San Francisco, as I'd originally experienced - and one or more of them made off with my beloved car stereo at some point last night after throwing a softball-sized rock through my front passenger window.  They left my rollerskates in the trunk though, thank goodness for small favors.

My poor little cheap Chevy Cavalier, she's been through so much.  Backed into while at a full stop, rear ended by a cab at the airport, two windows broken, two stereos stolen, hit-and-run collision on the back bumper, more parking tickets than I'd like to count.  And how could I ever forget that traumatic car-related chain of events I refer to as "Black Thursday"?  Clearly the bad car-ma followed me all the way to Texas.  Is it time to let her go?

For now, I'll be humming to myself in my car again, trying to not dwell on that pang I feel every time my right hand instinctively reaches to turn on the non-existent stereo.

That little girl is going to break that little boy's heart

The South by Southwest rock & roll and internet drama circus is coming soon to a town near me.  I've been going to SXSW for over a decade now, and it's always a very intense time.  At this point it's a convergence of past, present and future, where iterations of myself and my former lives collide in a frenzy of free beer, more music than any two ears could ever hear, and so many old and new friends all together in the same city.

One of my favorite people who I met back when I lived in Manhattan, David Poe, is arriving soon, not for the music festival but to do some of the film and political stuff he's got his hands in.  Poe's one of several people I'm excited to see, but I thought I'd share his music with you in case you hadn't heard it.

Listen to "Childbearing".  Pay special attention to the lyrics, Poe's a storyteller.

• "Childbearing" appears on David Poe's The Late Album which you can buy on Amazon.

Drink To Good Times

Oh dear, I haven't updated in way too long and now no one is reading this blog anymore.  No matter; if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, it still makes a sound.

I have so much music and inspiration I want to blog about but seemingly less and less time.

Earlier this evening I went out on run with my iPod and dialed up PJ Harvey's Uh Huh Her album, and kind of fell in love with Polly Jean all over again. It's hard not to fall for her each time I hear her.

Listen.

This is "Shame" from Uh Huh Her:

And "You Come Through":

And watch her rock a crowd of thousands with "The Life and Death of Mr. Badmouth":

Forget what I said about listening to this on my run earlier, this isn't running music.  Well, to me it is.

• Support independent retail and buy PJ Harvey's brilliant album Uh Huh Her from Insound.com.  Or if you must, you can buy Uh Huh Her from Amazon.