Posted by Avanhizzle in Hand Me Down tuesdaY | 3 Comments
Hand me down tuesdaY (wednesdaY ed): Neutral Milk Hotel & Arcade Fire covered
MP3: King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2&3-Neutral Milk Hotel
Mp3: King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3- The Apples in Stereo
Mp3: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)- Arcade Fire
Mp3: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)-Times New Viking
Man, REAL emotional attachments to music are becoming harder and harder to come by in a world where the volume of music that enters my headspace increases at astronomical levels and can go out just as fast as they came in. Sure, I still catch a head cold from some of the stuff I shake hands with, but it has been far too long since I had a rabid scream along commute that didn’t involve songs off of Arcade Fire’s Funeral or Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I have ranted, raved, and annoyed people with chatter about these two albums that have surely cemented their place on my desert island must haves list. They are brimming with emotion, death, and a bevy of sing along songs that one minute have you losing your voice as you belt out the words in screams so loud tears roll and blood vessels break, while the next minute you find yourself shadowboxing in an empty alley. These records aren’t messing around. Period.
They end up on today’s Hand me down tuesdaY because a couple of months ago Merge Records released a compilation of songs recorded for albums on the label that had been reworked and recorded by other artists. Funeral & In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, both on Merge, had songs chosen. While I’ll admit that I was extremely apprehensive about these numbers, I did my best to hear them with an open mind. I thought that neither could do the original justice but….
The Apples in Stereo had the honor of covering Neutral Milk Hotel’s “The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 3.” While the song isn’t horrible, it’s definitely got a different feel. It’s more melodic and methodic. Phoned in? After the first couple of listens I guess that I’d compare it to a Disney version of the holocaust. Sure, the two bands have history with one another, but this cover fails to capture most of, if not all of, the emotion overflowing in the original. Ok. Right. I deified the original, but, the song is part of a two song suite and The Apples leave off the synapse shattering Pt. 2. I can still remember the first time I heard Jeff Magnum’s declaring “I love you Jesus Chr-iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-st. Jesus Christ I love you yes I do” While I was originally weirded out by it, the ferocity, fire and brimstone that followed completely made sense. Neutral Milk Hotel’s should maybe never be covered again. Check it out for yourselves….
The second, “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), recorded by Times New Viking, is a pretty fair rendering. It seems that TNV tried to set the confusion and cloudy subject matter present in the lyrics to music. It’s busier than the original, sounding like a bedroom demo recorded over the original. Over and over again. The multi layered instrumentation adds an awesome amount of texture to the song and while the lazy vocals fail to invoke spit on your windshield sing along-abiltity, they still add a nice touch. A song that was already extremely thought provoking has become even more so. Tough one to choose. Do you take the Ween-ishly Daniel Johnston-y cover version over Win Butlers strained heartache? You tell me.
Buy: Neutral Milk Hotel / Arcade Fire / Score: 20 Years of Merge
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I agree with the trouble in emotionally connecting with music now-a-days. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It could be a number of things contributing. Music culture has created an immediate gratification stigma, that often only allows my mind a couple of days to live with an album, or worse a couple of hours. Bands come in come out, some hyped beyond belief. Maybe this whole blog thing has jaded us as well, ha! seriously tho.
There have been some pretty great albums that came out this year… and the best thing about good music, is that it creeps up on you. The stuff that you thought was down-right listenable a year before can nightman you and shake your core for the next 5.
Anywho, about the music… I dig Apples in Stereo but I think your right, both covers seem to strip the emotion. Disney version of the holocaust? Hilarious! The AIS version is night and day, almost trying to hang a disco ball over the NM Hotel.
Arcade Fire? Maybe uncoverable? Although, they may be a gothic Bruce Springstein cover band themselves. Cheers! Nice work hizzle.
I agree with the trouble in emotionally connecting with music now-a-days. I'm not sure exactly what it is. It could be a number of things contributing. Music culture has created an immediate gratification stigma, that often only allows my mind a couple of days to live with an album, or worse a couple of hours. Bands come in come out, some hyped beyond belief. Maybe this whole blog thing has jaded us as well, ha! seriously tho.
There have been some pretty great albums that came out this year… and the best thing about good music, is that it creeps up on you. The stuff that you thought was down-right listenable a year before can nightman you and shake your core for the next 5.
Anywho, about the music… I dig Apples in Stereo but I think your right, both covers seem to strip the emotion. Disney version of the holocaust? Hilarious! The AIS version is night and day, almost trying to hang a disco ball over the NM Hotel.
Arcade Fire? Maybe uncoverable? Although, they may be a gothic Bruce Springstein cover band themselves. Cheers! Nice work hizzle.