Jeff Mangum surprises fans in NYC
There are few albums that come along that change your life. I have many bands to include in my life's list of major influence. But, like most music fanatics, I am able to whittle it down to a few chronologically: The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Paul Simon (thank you, Dad, for all of that) Echo, The Smiths, The Cure, Natalie Merchant, Gang of Four, all of the Elephant 6, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, and most recently, The Dandy Warhols. The most prominent influence of my adult life has been Neutral Milk Hotel (thank you, Dave, for that). If you are unaware of these guys, it's time to pay homage. They were such a lightning rod that most people missed the strike. When I first heard them on In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, I was taken back to the significance of The White Album. Every song on the album plays a part to equal the whole. There is no listening to your favorite song. Each song is a must from beginning to end, stringing one well-casted melody to the next. Therefore, listening from the first track to the last is a necessity. The tragedy is that Neutral Milk Hotel decided to no longer make music after their majestic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Nobody knows the reason for NMH's disappearance; we just know that we've all missed the genius of what may come to the future of our ears.
Last week, just like a sudden appearance of Neil Young, who turns an ordinary show into a masterpiece, NMH frontman Jeff Mangum decided to show up at NY's Knitting Factory to play with Elf Power. He slowly appeared on stage in a simple shirt and baseball cap. He crooned his usual apparatus and made fans think they'd gone to heaven.
My first Christmas wish: to own a time machine so I can catch Jeff singing last Thursday. My second wish: that Jeff rejoins NMH and shows us what his dreams are made of.
posted by tanagrame @ 7:26 PM
1 Comments:
Just put it on my wishlist! Can't wait to check it out.
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