Gronlandic Edit(or)

The original plan was for this month to be an E6 lovefest and dabble in modern psych. ("psyche" = Greek for "soul" + "manifest"!) What I ended up with, on the other hand, was a tentative sort of 10-year Elephant Six High School reunion. Some of the sounds are recognizable, but have become more mediocre and ordinary over time; others have remade themselves, and it kind of floors you how good they look now, even though you always thought they were cute when you were in school; and others are just as stunning as they ever were ten years later.

The Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
Goose: "How about terrific, terrific, terrific?"
Charlotte: "Cut that down to one terrific, and it will do nicely."
The moral being that editors know how to impress Zuckerman.

Of Montreal, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
Long title, so a short review: Swinging. Oh so swinging.

The Instruments, Dark Småland
Some of the tracks are pretty enough (almost), but I should really make a point to not be so easily enticed by the opportunity for Scandinavian keystroking.

Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea
A perfect album, by all accounts, and one that forever further enshrines Anne Frank, this time in indie rock. The meta-crescendo builds with every listen.

But I do have one gripe: who on EARTH deemed that "Neutral Milk Hotel" would be a suitable band name? Not that band name determines greatness, at all (else Save Ferris might actually make good music), and lord knows the indie rockers have a remarkable affinity for the absurd or ironic titles they so desperately want to endear you with, but this one's inanity I find unrivaled. Makes me think of a Swiss dairy co-op ...

Other albums, in a mini-tribute to the North Shore:

Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha
Fellow alum + Fat Possum = I was behooved. (And am so grateful that I was.)

Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
You'd probably be jaded, too, if you'd grown up bonking New Trier HS boys. (Not that "jaded" is the sum of this album, by any means.)