Explore
 Lists  Reviews  Images  Update feed
Categories
MoviesTV ShowsMusicBooksGamesDVDs/Blu-RayPeopleArt & DesignPlacesWeb TV & PodcastsToys & CollectiblesComic Book SeriesBeautyAnimals   View more categories »
Listal logo
All reviews - Music (5) - Games (1)

The Life I Wish I Had

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 27 December 2006 05:01 (A review of Animal Crossing)

This game restored my faith in everyday fishing and kindliness to neighbors. Oh Admiral, of course I'll get you your watch from Bubbles!


0 comments, Reply to this entry

The Best Album You've Never Heard

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 27 December 2006 08:19 (A review of Fifth Column)

Fifth Column is an album that somehow slipped through the human race except Sweden apparently. Almost every song on it is catchy with great hooks and lyrics. There's a song and here and there that could have possibly been left off to strengthen it, but it's seriously close to being a perfect album. I fall in love with it more and more after every listen.

Give it a chance. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Actually I'm demanding it. LISTEN TO IT. It's lo-fi pop folk at it's best. It's magic.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

90's Lo-fi Pop Greatness

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 26 December 2006 07:58 (A review of Are You Sleepy?)

After every listen, The Gerbils Are You Sleepy gets better. The Gerbils have even become my second favorite Elephant Six band now because of this album, sneakily slipping right by the beloved Olivia Tremor Control.

It may not be the most clean recorded album, but it's got enough of the greatest pop songs of the 90's such as "Glue", "Grin", "Fluid", and "Crayon Box" on it. It's lo-fi, psych pop at its best. The only song I found weak on the album would be "Wet Host", which is just a slow paced instrumental song slapped right down in the middle of the album. It only disturbs the poppish flow of the album, but it's really not that bad of a song at all.

Scott Spillane, who has recorded with Neutral Milk Hotel as the trumpets on the masterpiece In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, has a voice that may be an annoyance to some people, like a higher and more harsh Jeff Mangum type voice, but all I can say is that I love it. It's unique in its own way, and you could tell right away if it was him. There's beauty in even the strangest of voices, and it is proven with Spillane. In fact, I may even love his voice as much as his lion mane-ish beard (if you haven't seen it, find a picture of it).

I love how popular Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel have gotten, but c'mon people, don't forget about the other Elephant Six bands that have existed over the years. The Gerbils are just as good as the Olivia Tremor Control, and possibly even better.

The more I listen to this album, the closer and closer it gets to me giving it a perfect five out of five stars. It hasn't gotten there quite yet, but in the near future it may get it and it would really deserve it as well. I recommend this album to anyone who wants to hear not only a great E6 album, but just a great album in general.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

A Beautiful Horrorshow

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 26 December 2006 07:55 (A review of Song to Comus: the Complete Collection)

Aside from this being the complete collection, I'm just going to review First Utterance for right now:

First Utterance is an album unlike any other that has surfaced magically upon this planet earth. No other album can surpass the height of creepiness that this album has already set.

Comus' band name was named after the 17th century John Milton's poem of Comus, in which its main theme was of a creature named Comus who seduces virgin maidens is also part of the the album's basis for songs such as "Diana" and "Song to Comus". If themes of demonic creatures taking away the pureness of young virgins wasn't enough, Comus also has songs on this album that deals with things such as murder in "Drip Drip" and even mental illness in "The Prisoner".

Roger Wootton has very haunting and unique vocals on this album that could bring shivers slowly down the back of your spine. He sings with power and emotion as if he really was the creature Comus and is trying to bring us into his cave in which he has resided his whole life. After Wooton brings you into his cave, the rest of the band members are there, just waiting to violate anything decent about yourself and devour you whole using nothing but dull forks and their dirty hands. While they feast on you, Bobby Watson, only sixteen I believe when the album was released, adds on to Wootton's already creepy singing with her powerful, but yet so soothing, voice to ease your pain while you're dying fast in the band member's mouths and stomachs.

The album should be widely appreciated and more known, but it probably wouldn't appeal to most people, which is a shame really. Anyone who likes any form of folk music must listen to this near perfect masterpiece.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

P.S. This Album Rocks My World

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 26 December 2006 07:39 (A review of Electro-Shock Blues)

Electro-Shock Blues is my favorite Eels album and one of my favorite albums of all time. From start to finish it is great. Every time I go through a sad time I usually listen to this album or Radiohead's OK Computer, but that's a little obvious.

Electro-Shock Blues starts off with the dark and sad "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor" written about E's sister's first failed suicide attempt. I think it might have even been written by E's sister and he used it, which makes the song that more creepier if you think about it. Either way, it is one of the highlights of the album and great introduction to an album that shows you won't be smiling much longer.

Other highlights of this album are "Going to Your Funeral Part I", "Electro-Shock Blues", "Last Stop: This Town", "Climbing to the Moon", and the somewhat optimistic last song "P.S. You Rock My World". My favorite song on it thought has to be the beautiful acoustic songn"Dead of Winter", which is probably about his mother dying of cancer and him trying to figure everything out.

The only problem I had with the whole album is the song "Hospital Food". I didn't like the song at all. It's not that bad of a song, but the album could have gone on without it. It's the only song I ever skip and I skip it practically every time I listen to the album. It is very misplaced and lumped in the middle like the ugly child born into a family of supermodels.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

The Reason Why We Were Given Ears

Posted : 17 years, 3 months ago on 26 December 2006 07:32 (A review of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is a brilliant album. I don't see how anyone could not enjoy the hell out of it. This album is the epitome on that you don't need great musicianship in order to create a masterpiece. All it takes, as Mangum powerfully shows, is putting all of the possible heart you have inside of yourself into the album you're creating.

This is the album that made me want to actually pick up a guitar and make my own music. That's right, not even Radiohead possessed me to do that. Even if Neutral Milk Hotel only has simple three/four chord processions in their songs, it still inspired me greatly. Maybe it's because I knew that one day I would at least be that good at the guitar.

Within a couple listens the album found its way into my heart. It has become my second favorite of all time right behind Radiohead's OK Computer. Almost every single song that is on the album is practically a perfect song. In my opinion, nothing is weak at all. People might not like the whole "I love you Jesus Christ / Jesus Christ I love you", in "King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 2 and 3" but I love it. It's so oddly used and genius. Mangum once said in a concert that everyone has their doubts about Jesus but "it's still nice to sing about him once in a while". It's true. Yes, it is. Even if it's just for a laugh. Don't argue.

"The King of Carrot Flowers Pt. I" and "Two-Headed Boy" are two of my personal favorite songs ever. Ever since the beginning of listening to the album they were. But most recently, "Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2" has become my favorite song on the album. Mangum saves the best for last and sings his heart out. If you can't feel anything when he sings it, then you might as well be an android. "Untitled" is one of the best songs to dance to and just be happy while listening to. Before that song, I never knew that it was possible that bagpipes could seem so very... very cool.

"In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is such a beautiful song. Beautifully produced as well. Singing saws should have been in style by now and used more often because of this album, but then most indie people who know NMH would just say you're copying them, even if they weren't the first band to use one. "Holland 1945" is the best fuzz folk song I've ever heard with some of the purest screaming vocals. It leads me to think that Mangum truly does love Anne Frank deep down inside.

The WWII world with Anne Frank as the basis in Jeff Mangum's mind for this album is just simply genius. People may find the whole Anne Frank thing silly, but sometimes just the simplest and silliest things can be more beloved than the difficult and sad-hearted.

Mangum doesn't really plan on making another album using the name Neutral Milk Hotel, but he really should get this band back together and make another great album. But who knows, maybe in a couple years he'll bounce back without us knowing and blow us away. Another album by Mangum may never top In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, but I'm sure no one would care. ItAOtS is a radiant album that should be listened to by all.


0 comments, Reply to this entry