90s Jams #95: Neutral Milk Hotel "Holland, 1945" (1998)

Returning back into "90's Jams" mode... We're starting the second half with 5 jams placing higher than 90, all of which could have placed higher, but we figured the inclusion of the songs is more important than placements when it gets past the top 50.

The intro count-off of "1945" kicks right into a shotgun blast of playful, distorted acoustic guitar, which almost makes it seem like happy travelling music. And just when we're about ready to break out the air guitar, the lyrics remind us of this album's retardedly immense weight. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (a.k.a. the psych-folk version of Shindler's List) doesn't exactly "lighten up" as much as it warps itself into different heavy shapes, like "The Diary Of Anne Frank" through an LSD lens that makes it look closer to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Somewhere around "The Earth looks better from a star," the reincarnation theme starts to make the whole experience a little too mindblowing. Production-wise, musically and (arguably) lyrically, the Elephant 6 catalog comes to a point with its most perfect moment.