Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Kim Cooper Page B
Authors: Kim Cooper
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might have been otherwise inclined to put them on. They had the potential to be total rock gods, but blew us all away by being, in the end, just some guys—which wound up being the most inspirational thing in the world.”
By spring 1997, Jeff had written the entire new album. The musicians knew the songs from playing them, but as the recording date grew nearer, Jeff gave them demos, too. The only song not included was the still untitled “Holland, 1945,” which he would finally play for the band in Robert’s studio in Denver.
Jeremy remembers how the songs “sat in my head for months before the recording. I would ride my bike around Chicago and listen in my mind—especially to ‘Ghost.’” During the spring rehearsals, Jeff seemed incredibly excited about what was happening. “He would crank the stereo up and bang along on broken cymbals, and shout. Inevitably he and Scott would end up wrestling to the floor and hurting each other. I think we all had a feeling about the songs, and the sound of the band.”
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
sessions
Since recording
On Avery Island
, Robert Schneider had moved his recording equipment from Kyle Jones’s house into a more versatile space, his friend and Apples bandmate Jim McIntyre’s residence. This was an old storefront fish market and processing plant at 1170 Elati Street, near the corner of 12th Avenue and Speer Boulevard, converted into a studio and living space. It was boarded up in front and looked like an abandoned building, which was good camouflage for a recording studio. It has since been demolished.
Robert paid half the rent in exchange for access to every room save Jim’s bedroom; in turn, Jim could use the studio when Robert wasn’t. They built a control booth with a Mackie 8°Bus Console next to the tiny living room/studio, which with its high ceiling and plaster on every surface sounded terrible, but Robert honed his engineering skills figuring out how to use its limitations. The space was decorated with paintings by Steve Keene, and inhabited by Jim’sfour old indoor cats, who visiting musicians had to be sure not to let outside. Steve’s paintings, which were created for an Apples in Stereo video, were wall-sized tapestries, including one illustrating his imaginary version of what a recording studio might look like, with numerous tape machines hooked up to a spaghetti snarl of switches, dials, pipes and ducts better suited to an air conditioning system than any earthly studio setup.
Instead of a yard, the studio faced out onto a big parking lot where Jeff would stand and practice his songs, enjoying the echoes that bounced off the building. Across the alley was the Musician’s Union, so the sounds of jazz ensembles and horn sections would sometimes bounce back
Robert’s work on
Aeroplane
overlapped with his production of a record for his friends Martyn Leaper and Rebecca Cole, otherwise known as the Minders. The couple lived in a small apartment behind Pet Sounds Studio, and were intrinsically entwined with the Neutral Milk Hotel circus. Work on
Hooray for Tuesday
(SpinArt, 1998) had begun before the Neutral Milk Hotel crew came to town, was put aside during the
Aeroplane
sessions and picked up again after Jeff and crew left town. This album was the culmination of all Robert’s ambitions as a producer and engineer, and inevitably informed his other work. “It was a labor of love for me. I really wanted to make that record perfect, the perfect psychedelic pop,
Revolver
kind of record, from 1966.”
Hooray for Tuesday
wasn’t the only other project in the air: Jim McIntyre was completing his debut Von Hemmling single, “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” in his bedroom, and whenever his parts weren’t needed for Neutral Milk Hotel recording Julian Koster was at Andy Gonzalez’s house, recording theMusic Tapes’ “Television Tells Us” and “Aliens.” When Julian was at Pet Sounds, Andy borrowed Julian’s Fostex to record the first
By spring 1997, Jeff had written the entire new album. The musicians knew the songs from playing them, but as the recording date grew nearer, Jeff gave them demos, too. The only song not included was the still untitled “Holland, 1945,” which he would finally play for the band in Robert’s studio in Denver.
Jeremy remembers how the songs “sat in my head for months before the recording. I would ride my bike around Chicago and listen in my mind—especially to ‘Ghost.’” During the spring rehearsals, Jeff seemed incredibly excited about what was happening. “He would crank the stereo up and bang along on broken cymbals, and shout. Inevitably he and Scott would end up wrestling to the floor and hurting each other. I think we all had a feeling about the songs, and the sound of the band.”
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
sessions
Since recording
On Avery Island
, Robert Schneider had moved his recording equipment from Kyle Jones’s house into a more versatile space, his friend and Apples bandmate Jim McIntyre’s residence. This was an old storefront fish market and processing plant at 1170 Elati Street, near the corner of 12th Avenue and Speer Boulevard, converted into a studio and living space. It was boarded up in front and looked like an abandoned building, which was good camouflage for a recording studio. It has since been demolished.
Robert paid half the rent in exchange for access to every room save Jim’s bedroom; in turn, Jim could use the studio when Robert wasn’t. They built a control booth with a Mackie 8°Bus Console next to the tiny living room/studio, which with its high ceiling and plaster on every surface sounded terrible, but Robert honed his engineering skills figuring out how to use its limitations. The space was decorated with paintings by Steve Keene, and inhabited by Jim’sfour old indoor cats, who visiting musicians had to be sure not to let outside. Steve’s paintings, which were created for an Apples in Stereo video, were wall-sized tapestries, including one illustrating his imaginary version of what a recording studio might look like, with numerous tape machines hooked up to a spaghetti snarl of switches, dials, pipes and ducts better suited to an air conditioning system than any earthly studio setup.
Instead of a yard, the studio faced out onto a big parking lot where Jeff would stand and practice his songs, enjoying the echoes that bounced off the building. Across the alley was the Musician’s Union, so the sounds of jazz ensembles and horn sections would sometimes bounce back
Robert’s work on
Aeroplane
overlapped with his production of a record for his friends Martyn Leaper and Rebecca Cole, otherwise known as the Minders. The couple lived in a small apartment behind Pet Sounds Studio, and were intrinsically entwined with the Neutral Milk Hotel circus. Work on
Hooray for Tuesday
(SpinArt, 1998) had begun before the Neutral Milk Hotel crew came to town, was put aside during the
Aeroplane
sessions and picked up again after Jeff and crew left town. This album was the culmination of all Robert’s ambitions as a producer and engineer, and inevitably informed his other work. “It was a labor of love for me. I really wanted to make that record perfect, the perfect psychedelic pop,
Revolver
kind of record, from 1966.”
Hooray for Tuesday
wasn’t the only other project in the air: Jim McIntyre was completing his debut Von Hemmling single, “My Country ’Tis of Thee,” in his bedroom, and whenever his parts weren’t needed for Neutral Milk Hotel recording Julian Koster was at Andy Gonzalez’s house, recording theMusic Tapes’ “Television Tells Us” and “Aliens.” When Julian was at Pet Sounds, Andy borrowed Julian’s Fostex to record the first
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