Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea ALBUM REVIEW 

Annethony Franktano

he doesn't age

Everybody gangsta until two headed boy pt. 2 starts playing

How can I form my opinion on this record if there is no score in the description smh

He somehow reviewed In the Aeroplane Over the Sea without mentioning Anne Frank once

"I don't get it, it's just hillbilly death grips" -Anthony Fantano, 2012

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII LOOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOU JEEEEEEEEEEEZUZ CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST

Although the lyrics might connote sadness and dark imagery, whenever I listen to this album it raises my mood within the first few seconds of 'The King of Carrot Flowers' without fail. There's something so comforting about this album, it's beyond description.

The ITAOTS Effect. 1st day: Hmmm, I don't really see the appeal of this album. 3rd day: Some of these are pretty catchy... 10th day: NOW YOUR EYES AIN'T MOVING NOW THEY JUST LAY THERE IN THEIR CLIIIIIIIIMB

No line hits me harder in a song then, "I wish I could save her in some sort of time machine"

I had no idea this album was so well known. In 2006/07 some guy on the internet I was friends with on a video game message board recommended it to me and I loved it. Helped me learn guitar chords. I’d always randomly burst out “when you were young you were the king of carrot flowers!” And my sisters thought I was crazy. Story of a suburban black kid in the 2000s

Just heard the song "Holland,1945" as part of a meme thing. Hooked me and this album is now my cocaine.

so this is the original meme review

OK Computer also, uses simple chords, simple progressions, simple. Except Paranoid Android. Shit's hard, yo.

"I love you Jesus Christ" "Jesus Christ, I love you" That line speaks to me on a different level man.

The comments here are either: •I LOOOVEEE YOU JESUUUUSSS CHRIIIIISSSTTTT •Making a meme out of Runthony Fastano •deep, intuitive review of why this album was a gift from God

Almost cried at the end of it. You ever listen to something and just... when it's over it leaves you empty, like when you were listening to it, you were in a moment of blissful confusion but you were enjoying it, and you were sad... but the sadness was justified- and felt right. I love this Album.

The stories aren't nonsensical at all. They are all tied together and Jeff lays it out pretty clearly, I feel. The narrator is telling the story of how he came to fall in love with the book The Diary of Anne Frank and the idea of Anne Frank herself. He tries to imagine himself as a 15 year old boy in Holland and what life could have been like. The album opens with the narrator explaining how awful his childhood was and the events that twisted him to the point that could push a person to seek refuge within the cover of a book. He falls in love with Anne Frank through the book and learns to cope with the fact that she is dead. He even points out the specific room in which he first came to love the book in the opening song! (The exclamation I love you, Jesus Christ I do! [admitting to himself that he has fallen in love]; I'll take you and leave you alone [separation of real life from his fantasy world]) I really think King of Carrot Flowers pt. 2+3 is one of the greatest love songs for a woman ever written and she isn't even living. I'm actually lead to believe that he even indicates that he played with dolls or something like that in a pretend world. He highlights that two headed boy will use pulleys and weights to create a world just for two (much like a puppet show would). He mentions that he uses his fingers to make her muscles move and how a sweet voice came out. Hell, in Holland 1945 he straight up says "the only girl I've ever loved was born with roses in her eyes." That's a direct allusion to Anne Frank. My favorite is actually two headed boy. He highlights, for example, that the boy (himself at 15) has no reason to grieve, the world that he seeks is wrapped in gold and silver sleeves (the sleeves of a hardcover book) left beneath christmas trees at christmas time for children to leave. He can always find refuge within the book. Really, the entire album is a sort of record of the narrator falling into a deep seated love and depression and pulling himself out of it at the end.

I WATCH THIS EVERY DAY TO REMIND MY HOW MUCH I LOVE JESUS CHRIST

I just discovered this album... i listen to alternative and hip-hop, but this is one of the greatest albums I’ve ever heard in my entire life. It’s absolutely fantastic. 10/10

Okay, time for me to get something off my chest: if you don't like this album...that's fine. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion, and you can't be forced to like or dislike anything. HOWEVER, I am sick of being accused all over the internet of being some hipster poseur who pretends to like ITAOTS in order to be cool, and from what I can gather, I'm nowhere near the only one. People get this idea into their head that because they hate this album, NO ONE could possibly genuinely like it, and thus they believe that Neutral Milk Hotel's entire fan-base consists of dishonest assholes. This album is not "Overrated". The "Emperor" doesn't "Have no clothes". This album affected me on a very deep level, and continues to every time I listen to it again. If it doesn't affect you the same way, THAT"S FINE, but please don't devalue me as a human being by claiming, without knowing me or anything about me, that my feelings don't count. Calling this album overrated is basically saying "This is an album thousands of people treasure and find incredible meaning in, but I didn't like it, so I guess they're wrong".

'Untitled' is unbelievably uplifting. It makes me smile instantly.

Music is not always about technicalities or complexity; its about emotion and power as well as the artists ability to show you that emotion while making it believable. some of the best songs are 3 to 6 chords with melody only pushed by the power of a singers voice. In my opinion, if you only like music that shows off the artists ability to play an instrument. Than you don't really love music; you love instruments.

Itaotsthony /mu/tano

There is a reason its the mascot of /mu/

An easy 10/10. I don't have to explain myself. I win.

I don't understand, if this album is overrated it would be highly praised/recommended yet my whole time living I've never heard anyone recommend this to me let alone talk about it.

I paused this halfway through, smoked, came back and listened to the full LP. One of the best decisions I've ever made

"a review of Neutral Milk Hotel's seminal In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" Is that a pun?

I'm a 50-year-old Scotsman. That's me in my picture, can't get more Scots than that. Anyway, this album touches me in a way that few in my life has. It really does exist on a different level emotionally than anything else I can think of. It just seems to take me to a place in time that no other record does. I really believe he felt deep emotion for the things that had hurt others and that he simply could not fix. But then again, I'm mentally ill, so...who knows.

I think what Jeff means by "filled with flames" is passionate aggression. He also says in Two Headed Boy part 2 "head filled with flames". So when he says "playing pianos filled with flames" he means that the boy in Spain is letting out his aggression on the piano. That's just my interpretation.

Hardest hitting line for me is "In my dreams you're alive a dreams you're cryyyiinnggggggg"

I swear he could release this video again and I would have no clue that it was made almost a decade ago

It's a piece of art. Pure, sincere art. The most amazing album I've heard so far in my small portion of lived life.

This album, along with Lonesome Crowded West, is my favorite

Jeffthony Mangtano

holy shit i love this album. the king of carrot flowers always makes me feel like i've been away for a very long time and now i've come home and i'm being welcomed with open arms, loving smiles, and sweet, nostalgic recollections.

I can't really like this music because my ex-best friend would always listen to this album and other similar music and complain about the problems he and his high school girlfriend were having and how much he didn't want to grow up and how he wish he could stay a teenager forever and he used music from this album and similar to fuel this. And he would always tell me that he can't think of anyone that had a harder life and it pissed me off. I honestly, truly cannot disassociate this album with the obnoxiousness of that experience.

Haha Two Headed Boy Pt. 2 is so sad

the little boy in spain playing pianos filled with flames is a reference to one of alejandro jodorowskis early movies. he also is a very surreal artist.

Sometimes certain lyrics of the album fly by me, but then I listen again and those lyrics that flew by before just hit me in the heart in ways I can’t explain.

I was introduced to this album by my girlfriend at the time a few years back and I immediately fell in love with it and almost naturally I associated it to her. After listening to it its exactly how you describe it, an emotional roller coaster. When we broke up and I tried listening to this album again I found it incredibly difficult to listen to it without thinking of her which would cause me to tear up and almost feel depressed. So I put off this album for about 2 years without listening to it in fear of going back into that emotional sinkhole. But thankfully I got over this albums attachment to that point in my life because this album will always be one of my favorites.

A hauntingly beautiful album. It's very dear and personal to me. So much heartbreak, anger, nostalgia, and anticipation strewn across sonic landscapes that evoke the bizarre and the familiar. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea is one of the few albums that is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Idk I just think opening this video with "hey everyone, Annethony Franktano here" was a bit insensitive...

thethony fooltano

"she will feed you tomatoes and radio wires" is this real life what even...

This album literally punches me in my feels. I was in 8th grade when I first started listening to this album, and in Reading class we were learning all about the Holocaust. When I read up on the album and really looked at the lyrics and discovered that a lot of it was about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, it just took the sadness of the album to a whole new level. Now when I listen to it, I just get so sad and think about the horror that happened at that time, but I can't stop listening to it because the songs are so fucking good.

Oh Comely is one of the best creation of the whole history of human kind.

This album, along with Neutral Milk Hotel in its entirety, is very much a love/hate relationship with all its listeners. It truly boils down to this: If you enjoy loud, busy, confusing music, chances are you're going to love it. But, if you limit yourself to technicalities and pure formulaic skill, you'll hate it. I hope y'all can understand what I'm trying to say here. Me personally, I love the album, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Problem is, everyone is jumping up saying their opinion is fact. That needs to change.

I think Dogs by Floyd could have been a meme like this if it was given the same attention.

Don’t let the stigma of /mu put you off. It’s really a great listen and is somehow that level of hyped. But also fully enjoyable and catchy that most albums won’t get to. From the start of the King of Carrot Flowers right until the end are consistently great. Even the darkest moments feel great

It's easily my favorite album of all time, I know every word and it hits my heart in a special way no other album does.

Anthony after watching your review I actually went out and bought this and honestly it was the best 12 bucks I have ever spent. Absolutely incredible from the instrumentation to Jeff's haunting yet romantic lyrics. Quickly becoming one of my favorites.

this is one of my favorite albums of all time

This is one of the most unique albums ever, it's very polarizing, either you love it, or you think it's a joke, either way, if you've heard, you likely have strong feelings about it. In the end isn't that part of what seperates an album from a classic?

the dude has a MASSIVE... lung capacity

Years ago back, I was hanging out with some friends, the kind of friends you are only friends with because you like to get fucked up. We had been doing dangerous amounts of cocaine all night drinking excessively. I mentioned this album thinking they may not know it, their fucking eyes lit up, we turned this on full blast and sang our hearts out every song. I wouldn't take it back for anything. I'll always remember that, 5 am just screaming 'Oh comley' with these random guys. I have made many mistakes in my life and took the consequences, but some of things I have experienced were surreal. Wouldn't change anything. This album makes me tear up everytime, so many different emotions.

Here after VSauce

evil Neutral Milk Hotel be like: *Biased Dairy-free Home*

I feel that if you don't like this album, we can't be friends.

can you PLEASE review american football? or owen-owen

When I first heard this album I was like “hey that’s pretty good” A week later: *IIIIIIIIII LOOOVE YOUUUUU JESUUUUUUUUUS CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST*

This album changed my life. It ships you in to every emotion, ones you didn’t even know you had. Especially two headed boy. The battle between the person you are in your own head and the person you display on the outside. That’s what it is to me at least. It’s the first album that really made me dig deep and experience the emotions I’ve buried for so long. Liberating and terrifying at the same time.

This is the first album I listened to that I had discovered completely on my own without the help of anyone else. The songs have gotten me through thick and thin and hold a very dear place in my heart.

When i finish the album i feel like i finished an amazing book

Wow can’t believe he rated it a 2/10

Wish he'd review the glow part 2

I will never forget the first time I heard this album. I was lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. It was late at night, I was really depressed and couldn't sleep. I happened across this c.d. and it was next to me on my nightstand so I put it in and laid back down to stare at the ceiling while I listened to it. I began this journey from the very first notes of the song and continued in this amazing, transformative adventure until the very end. From that night on, I was a devoted follower.

He didn't get older, his lights just got whiter.

Guess I have been living under a rock, since I just discovered this album two months ago. Now, I can't put it down...it's just so heartfelt and beautiful. "...God is a place we will wait for the rest of our lives...two headed boy...she is all you could need..."

Just heard this album for the first time yesterday. And I was listening to a lot of music in the 1990s, so this one just slipped me by. Absolutely beautiful album, clearly an artist who prefers the emotional to the technical. The lyrics are just the right balance of narrative and abstract. The chords (tonality) is very recognisably 90s, with it's shifting major-minor expectations that was popularised throughout grunge music. The style is not folk nor grunge, but a very satisfying and authentic amalgamation of those two genres. It's the perfect album to fall in love to, or to travel with, or to allow yourself to sink into a fug of whimsy whilst lying in a meadow. It's the kind of album that you can obsess over, it's a perfect encapsulation of 1990s music whilst also being timeless. For me the worst part is the fact that the home-made aesthetic leads to some imperfections that are quirky on the first listen but grating after a few listens. Like the fact that his Uiellean pipes are never quite in tune, or the way he pushes his voice so hard on some tracks that you get tape distortion in the vocal part. But overall it's definitely an album I'll be coming back to again and again, and it highlights sadly how few albums are being made nowadays of this musical quality.

There's a reason this album illicits such a response from EVERYONE, rather it be a harsh blind criticism or an overhyped god status. All I can say is that I've never heard a more passionate album before in my life, with all players putting their all into it, about what they're not ashamed of. Jeff's voice being the chief example of this, and his lyric content. It may be the purest thing I know in life.

I kept hearing such good things about this album, so i decided to give it a listen. I got about halfway through, only to discover that somehow my beard had grown fully out from stubble and i was now dressed in my grandfathers clothes. I looked around and realized i was now in a starbucks and this album was playing from a macbook that someone had handed me. I dunno, i said. I find this album shallow and pedantic. They threw me out of the starbucks but i kept the macbook. Then shaved.

Annethony franktano

My favorite part is We know who our *breath* enemIES AAAAAAAAAARREEEEEEEE

This Classic Review is now a classic review

A lot of people are commenting about the first time they listened to this album, but I can't relate to listening to this album for the first time and actually making an opinion. My parents were just cool af and played this in the mini van on trips and stuff while I grew up. I have been hearing this album since I was an infant basically, and still love it 20 years later. It has so many memories connected to it for me. This album is pure nostalgic. It's one of my favorite albums of all times because I can listen to it an infinite amount of times and still enjoy it due to its complexity and surreal lyricism. I have experienced this album mean different things to me during different times of my life as I aged and experienced new things. It just has a very special place in my heart.

This album to me is kind of like Bitches Brew or Loveless. You can explain to someone what the genre is, and the instruments used, but that will not prepare them for the actual experience they will have listening to it. Pitchfork must still be embarrassed about their original 8.7 review score.

Anothony turned 38 in his early 20s and then stayed there

It's poetry. Without the listener knowing it. The one that always gets me is "Two-headed Boy" Cry every time.

This album makes me nostalgic for memories that never happened

This album just has this indescribable charm to it. And all of it's flaws just make it seem so much more genuine and 'real'. It does what it wants and he sings what he wants and that's what I love most about this album. Listening to it gives me a feeling of just being free. From everything. From responsibility and leaves me without meaning, but in a good way. Certainly a 9/10 for me as it's not quite as epic towards the end as it starts off for me. But easily one of the best 90s albums to exist.

after much deliberation, I finally gave "In the Aeroplane" a listen the other day. I liked it. I don't think it's game changing or boundary pushing, but I did enjoy it. It sounded like Dylan fronting a rock band (or a more upbeat version of Fleet Foxes). I also like the way the depressing lyrics were juxtaposed with uplifting music (a la "The Smiths"). I can see why someone would enjoy it but I don't get why people jizz their pants over it or make it their life goal to besmirch it. It's simply a good, solid folk-rock record

One of my favourite albums, it reaches me on so many emotional levels. I come back to it every now and then as the years go by and it gets me every time. Love this review as well, thank you!

Both worlds work. The jokes are funny, and the album's great. I mean.. look at that album cover... How could there not be jokes?

It has such an enticing opening that it hooks you for the whole thing

I laugh at the reasons haters come up with when they try to jusify their disaproval of this album.

This album changed my life. I use to listen to it with my ex. It's been one of the constants in my life. I love it more than most things.

The vagueness is what makes it beautiful. The texture and bass notes played by the trombones at the end of the O Comely, along with the trumpet and voice, is what reminds me of the somberness of a Renaissance brass canzonetta (or like Purcell's Funeral March for Queen) but as a folk funeral dirge. I think the lyrics are about idealization; the extreme resentment of a Christian who was taken advantage of for sex, (made to sin) is trivial but an unnecessary source of misery when everything else sucks and made a bit more trivial by the juxtaposition of Anne Frank who was killed for her religion and yet she wrote in her diary, “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart." To know who your enemies are, or your real source of misery and not to be too drunk off your own automy.

Oh Comely is my second favourite song of all time. It got me into this album, it was the first song from it I learned on my guitar, it inspired so many songs I would go on to write, and it remains my favourite song from my favourite album I’ve heard (Daniel Johnson’s 1990 is a close 2nd). I learned every single song from this LP and I play the whole thing out on my guitar every month or two.

I got into NMH because of the Dax Riggs cover of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. I listened to the whole album and had never heard of them. At the time I didn't even know they had any hype, and absolutely none of my friends new who they were so I had zero biases. I found myself tearing up at many points in the album, and that says alot for me. We don't have to completely understand something to think that it is beautiful, and that's how I feel about the album.

This sounds like it was recorded on an airplane. I'm being serious.

this pops up in my reccommended 10 years later

Where has this album been in the last 19 years of my life? Seriously, I'm glad I found this.

My brother in law gave me this album as a gift about two years ago and I finally gave it a listen for the first time in early 2015. I was in 6th grade back in 98' when this album came out and had never once heard of this band in all the years since. I had no idea it was a cult/critic phenomenon, no formed bias or opinion, and no idea what I was about to discover. I was completely blown away. At first I wasn't quite sure what I was hearing...and then I was fascinated...and then I was hungry, hooked, and longing for the raw emotion that only this album seems to give you once you're aware of what music can be but never lives up to. I can understand why people are divided or confused by the overwhelming praise that this album has been given. I think this is just one of those things that either grabs you and never lets go or passes over your head without notice. Do yourself a favor and give it your full attention several times through. If nothing else, check out "Oh Comely". If it doesn't strike you as raw, emotional, and painfully honest, then Neutral Milk Hotel may not be quite what you're looking for...

It's a cool album but starting the review with "Annethony Franktano here" was a bit uncalled for tbh

I was somewhat ignorant of the hype and the jokes surrounding this album going in today. I just listened to it because I was really into the lo-fi-ness of the White Stripes a year ago, am really into the soundscapes and deep lyrics of Radiohead now, and like some Arcade Fire. This album is freakin' amazing. I love Jeff's voice. It conveys so many emotions, and the fact that you can hear him straining so hard only contributes to the music. I wish so much that there was more material to listen to.

Bro i could barley listen to aeroplane over the sea last year and all of sudden two weeks ago I'm studying and youtube puts this song next and i completely liked it. I have no idea why i ever hated it. I just ordered the vinyl. Im excited for it to come in!

I never listened to an album that made me laugh hysterically and be in so much awe at the same time. I’m not even sure what’s going on sometimes but I love it. I love how they just kind of said screw the limits of sound let’s blow this out and make it music. Amazing album.

"The call me Ishmael of Indie music" Well said!