Comments on: On a Mission from God

By: (((withoutsound))) » Blog Archive » CTRL+ALT+XMAS

(((withoutsound))) » Blog Archive » CTRL+ALT+XMAS — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:20:58 +0000

[...] We’ve previously discussed Stevens’s ability to remain not only relevant but at the forefront of the folk revival in light of his professed Christian faith and admittedly that brief bull session could have easily spanned a weekend. [...]

By: Dashri » Blog Archive » What’s Happening at (((withoutsound)))

Dashri » Blog Archive » What’s Happening at (((withoutsound))) — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 17:54:38 +0000

[...] The Kriegsmann Files [...]

By: (((withoutsound))) » Blog Archive » A Little More Than We Could Dare To Try

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:32:05 +0000

[...] Last week’s discussion of religion and its place in art (On a Mission from God) and the resulting conversation about Jeff Mangum has had me listening to a lot of Neutral Milk Hotel the past few days. While trying to uncover exactly what Mangum is up to these days (still searching), I stumbled across a tribute album to NMH, Each Song A Little More Than We Could Dare To Try. [...]

By: Seamus

Seamus — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 01:00:09 +0000

That's a great question. Religion certainly played a big role in Mangum's formative years in Lousiana and he explores religious/spiritual themes in his music, but I'm not sure I know the answer. In the lyric sheet for Aeroplane Mangum says:

And since this seems to confuse people I'd like to simply say that I mean what I sing, although the theme of endless endless on this album is not based on any religion but more in the belief that all things seem to contain a white light within them that I see as eternal.

He clarified in an interview with Puncture Magazine in 1998, "With Aeroplane, I feel it's spiritual - but not religious." To the unitiated, King of the Carrot Flowers, Pts 2 & 3 is a religious song when hearing for the first time. It is not. It is a very spiritual song, but I think Mangum's view of religion is as he says in the Puncture interview, "If you attach man to anything, he's gonna fuck it up somehow." As to the question of why NMH is no more, I would posit that it is a creativity thing more than people ignoring him after he released an album with religious/spiritual overtones (although, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was a relatively successful album). In an interview with Pitchfork Magazine in 2002, he said:

I just feel like these windows open up for something to be honest, and they don't stay open for very long. I guess my path feels sort of different now... I don't know what's going to happen, but I certainly want to make music a bigger part of my life in the future than it has been for the last couple of years.

By: Drewl

Drewl — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 23:46:11 +0000

Do you think that’s why Neutral Milk Hotel is no more? I ask because Jeff Mangum says (I think in the liner notes to that album) that he didn’t intend to sound ironic; he just thought the phrase sounded good. I think it’s like David Axelrod’s work as Electric Prunes. His song Holy Are You is a really awesome song.

By: Sean - MySpace Blog

Sean - MySpace Blog — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

What’s on Jack Bauer’s iPod A Little More Than We Could Dare To Try Looking for a Band Name? Try Spam. Bill’s Going to Show You a Thing or Two (without)soundtrack The Kriegsmann Files On a Mission from God Go Junior, Go Senior Pineapple Guitars and Volcanic Bong Hits Brothers in Arms Yellow-legged Moonwalker… Meow