Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Read Free

of the room and band members changing instruments in mid-set. This latter characteristic would resurface to fine effect during Neutral Milk Hotel’s late 90s incarnation.
    New Yorker Julian Koster, then leading Chocolate USA, a band that recorded on Bar/None, visited Ruston a number of times in the years leading up to his formally joining Neutral Milk Hotel, and was intrigued by the contrast between the rough, unwelcoming town culture and the community of loving, creative kids who nevertheless thrived there.
    He found Ruston “really sleepy, sleepier than Athens. I think it was really hard for those guys, because it was a pretty rough place in some respects, the sort of place that wouldn’t necessarily understand people that were very different. There was this really lovely group of kids that they were a part of, and sometimes being young is an empowerment. They’re able to give each other strength and encouragement.”
    For Julian, the contrast between the free-spiritedElephant 6 crowd and his own experiences within the industry was profound. Bar/None was an independent label, but it was still focused on making a profit. Julian was captivated by the belief that music should be made for love alone, and he went into his bedroom to record songs under the name The Music Tapes that he could share with his new friends. The Music Tapes was a solo project that pre-dated his touring band, and one that his friendship with Elephant 6 members encouraged him to revive.
    About these early recordings, Julian says, “My bedroom cassette world was the most important thing to me in the world then. It made my existence. It was the most peaceful, satisfying thing I knew, and there were probably hundreds of hours of recordings. They were closest in nature to ‘The 1st Imaginary Symphony.’ The recording I was proudest of was called ‘The American Foam Rubber Co Symphony Orchestra proudly presents The Silly Putty Symphony.’ I was obsessed with making tapes that felt like places, like worlds you could go and visit. I wanted to make records that were like carnival rides, roller coasters. Tape recording was my imaginary world—it was safe. That was a major part of the kindredness between us when Jeff and Will and I met.”
    All of this was in contrast to the experiences he had as a touring and recording musician in the early 1990s. “It was a shock to me that the music business was a business, and the people putting out records were business people. They weren’t people who built lives out of the magic I perceived radiating out of all those records that I loved as a kid. I’d already been thrown into that world. I guess it’s knowing there are monsters in certain places. I was able to run back and say, ‘Okay, there are monsters under these bridges, so wehave to either stay here—or if we’re gonna go up there, let’s run as fast as we can!’”
    Elf Power’s Laura Carter says, “I think everyone in Ruston had a hard time, and what pulled them out of it
is music
. You hear that essence
in
Neutral Milk—there’s conflict, and there’s shit, and the music somehow is your ticket up out of that. And that’s a good message! It’s saved a lot of kids. It’s something that a lot of people in very desperate places all can relate to, I think, and people not in desperate places, too.”
    Laura blames Robert Schneider for ratcheting up the level of competition among the friends. “These tapes are hilarious, but horrible! It’s Will freaking out, vulgar; they’re like thirteen and fourteen. And then Robert kinda blossomed and brought them
his
songs, and they were all, like, ‘Shit! This guy’s good!’ Robert being this natural, immediately his songs had multiple parts and breakdowns. It was way too advanced for those guys. He inspired them.”
    Bill Doss concurs. “I have always been in friendly competition with Robert. He’ll send me a batch of songs that’ll be so catchy and innovative that I’ll have to sit down