I've always thought of myself as a non-judgemental person. But I must admit that I do judge people by their musical tastes. Although, this doesn't always give a true representation of who a person is, I do believe that people who are deeply affected by the sounds, feelings, and imagery given to us by Jeff Mangum are very special to me. Even though I will never meet many of those people, just knowing that they exist gives me solace. I've yet to figure out what this music is really doing to me, but I hopefully have a long lifetime to understand. In a way, it's like getting a glimpse of the beauty in the unattractive, the pleasure in pain, and the feelings of connectedness while in isolation.
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Tue, February 10, 2004 - 11:47 AML.
What can I say....you obviously get it. This is one of those elements of music that transcend reason or previous social expectation. It is truly a lovely moment when music allows pain and displeasure feel as rich as beauty and love.
Thanks for your post
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Unsu...
Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Tue, February 10, 2004 - 5:08 PML, it makes me so happy to know there are more people like you out there. i first heard nmh's in the aeroplane in nov of 97, only 2 months after it came out. almost everytime i listen to it, i think about how lucky i am to have been able to spend so much time with the album. i envy everyone's first listen. i know that jeff is just a person and i don't know him "personally" but i do know that he, along with the rest of nmh, have composed and performed one of the best albums ever written. i know of 2 of the supposed concepts behind the album. the first is that it's a collection of love songs. yes. i want to live in a life where those songs are true. and the second is that it's an album about the holocaust. for these two reasons, that a single collection of songs could be about on of the most horrific events in human history and the most beautiful event in one's life simultaneously, is the reason we love it. -
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Wed, February 11, 2004 - 8:30 PMthank you heather,
that was a beautiful response.
I can still remember my first listen.
Fall of 2000.
I was at the record shop and asked
the clerk if I could listen to the cd.
I put it in, put on the headphones, and
after the first line I said "I'll take it!!"
Then I drove straight home and parked the
car.
I was so entranced I sat
in my car for the entire album. I remember
not being able to coherently judge the music.
It was so "beyond everything", I didn't know
what to think. No previous reference point.
It was somehow not music, it was something better.
Reminds me of watching Star Wars when I was about 4
years old. I thought it wasn't a movie until about 7.
It was "beyond" movie, it had eclipsed that "category".
The same goes with "Aeroplane". Obviously, I can't
say "Star Wars" and "Aeroplane" compare, but
you get the point. -
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Tue, April 13, 2004 - 8:50 AMA big thing for me about people who love NMH seems to be a sort
of synthesia type thing. We enjoy lyrics that don't altogether make literal sense. The situations that Jeff sings about are metaphysically logically but often physiclaly or chronologically impossible. And we love them. -
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Sat, April 17, 2004 - 4:43 PMwe love them because they leave us open to figure out our own interpretations of what they mean. part of it's the lyrics and part of it's the melody, put together i get a very visual picture of what the song means in my mind. "naomi" is one of my favorites for this, and "the king of carrot flowers part 1" which is a lot more literal in some ways. -
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Sat, April 17, 2004 - 8:39 PMNMH is so powerful because its a person - a human being singing from the heart - saying fuck it and declaring thier love for what they love and feel - being vurnerable and naked and singing - its extremely powerful and courageous - it resonates in us very deeply because we have the same longing - to be open and honest and true and sing yer fucking heart out even though the voice might not be what is considered by most as good and it might not even make sense - but it all resonates with something deeper than logic and sounding "good" - it gets down to what life is really truly about
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Re: What does NMH's music mean to you?
Thu, April 21, 2005 - 8:31 PMCertainly there are references to family that make me ache like nothing else....to being young and careless and out of control....to adults out of control....the layered imagery just goes so many places at once. But beyond all that:
I formed a strong friendship in 1999 with this guy who didn't know the band at all, but knew that each time he got in my car, he wanted to hear "his song". This was during my obsessive year of listening to their album continuously, so it was always in my tape deck. The song that gave him the images of peace and beauty he wanted was "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". He died suddenly a year later and, for me, a part of him will always be present in their music.
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It takes me back to the unconscious memories of my
Wed, April 27, 2005 - 1:51 PMchildhood
