Vinyl Vice

http://cfmartinblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/

Greetings comrads, another new segement I've decided to start, Tim's Vinyl Vice. I have this rather costly problem, whereby every time I see a record store, I NEED to investigate. Today I was downtown and wondered into BRIAN's RECORD store on Princess and came away with two AMAZING records. Of course I wanted 76 records but my already stretched student budget... Nonetheless, I came away with two of my favourite albums from the 90's, NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL's IN AN AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA and NIRVANA's NEVERMIND.

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL is the project of Jeff Mangum, an incredibly strange man who put out one of my favourite albums ever in 1998. A few months after its release, Mangum disappeared, seemingly, off the face of the earth. He was known to do a late night radio show where he would play single notes on a keyboard for HOURS. Despite Mangum's weird-ness, IN AN AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA is a fantastic album! Recorded as part of the ELEPHANT 6 COLLECTIVE, this basically home recorded. Mangum made the album after learning about the diary of Ann Frank. He fell in love with her story and the innocence she represents in the midst a chaotic world.

"The only girl I've ever loved; was born with roses in her eyes; but then they buried her alive; one evening, 1945" - Holland, 1945

The album is beautiful because of its imperfection. The twangy, slightly out of tune, beat up guitar plays off Mangum's rough and often strained vocals. I am incredibly excited to get this home and bust out the deck and blast this full volume.

http://thechroniclesofmc.blogspot.ca

Nirvana's album NEVERMIND is probably THE defining album of the 90's. I can't think of another album that better embodies the break from over-the-top 80's pop ballads and defining the decade as one of experimentation and creativity. Released in 1991, NEVERMIND has the classic NIRVANA hits, Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are probably being the most recognizable songs. But NEVERMIND is not a 'singles' album, it is a piece of art in its entirety. I mean, who hasn't run upstairs after fighting with your parents and blasted NIRVANA at full volume in a fit of teenage angst  screaming "YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND MOM!!!!". It's the albums ability to cut through the bullshit that makes this album and the entire genre so interesting.