On Avery Island

by Neutral Milk Hotel

Overview

Like their Elephant 6 labelmates and kindred spirits Olivia Tremor Control's Music From the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle, Neutral Milk Hotel's debut, On Avery Island, is an inscrutable concept album, a chronicle of an insular world told in a remarkably universal language. A fuzzy masterpiece of experimental lo-fi recording, the album wraps its ragged pop songs in ribbons of loops, marching-band squawks, and Casio noodling; the opener, "Song Against Sex," is as much a manifesto as a kickoff, a self-propelled marvel hopped up on rapid-fire wordplay and a stunningly ramshackle melody punctuated by bloated trombone moans. Throughout the record, Jeff Mangum's wheels threaten to fly off at any time -- his songs are cryptic and crazed, his ideas fast and furious, and together they force the home-recording concept out of the basement and into a brave new world. ~ Jason Ankeny

Product Details

Release Date:	03/26/1996
Label:	Merge
UPC:	0036172940325
Rank:	20026

Tracks

1. Song Against Sex
2. You've Passed
3. Someone Is Waiting
4. A Baby for Pree
5. Marching Theme
6. Where You'll Find Me Now
7. Avery Island/April 1st
8. Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone
9. Three Peaches
10. Naomi
11. April 8th
12. Pree-Sisters Swallowing a Donkey's Eye

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Neutral Milk Hotel   Primary Artist
Jeff Mangum   Organ,Xylophone,Multi Instruments,Tape,Bells,Casio,Drums,Guitar,Vocals
Hilarie Sidney   Multi Instruments
Lisa Janssen   Fuzz Bass,Multi Instruments
Aaron Reedy   Multi Instruments
Rick Benjamin   Trombone
Robert Schneider   Organ,Fuzz Bass,Xylophone

Technical Credits

Jeff Mangum   Composer,Cover Design
Lisa Janssen   Composer
Rick Benjamin   Composer
Robert Schneider   Composer,Horn Arrangements