9.

Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Airplane Over the Sea
Speaking of trumpets … In The Airplane Over the Sea is hands down one of the best records to have come out of the 90s. That record is sort of in the centre of the indie nest, but there’s so much about what Jeff’s doing that is contrary to what indie was doing. Indie was all about real reserve, and we’re probably purveyors of that as much as any other band. But we always tried to use our real voice and not a lot of people do that. Jeff does, and he’s good. There’s no pretence, there’s nothing holding him back. There’s no “Oh I gotta check the colour of my corduroys”. He’s purely playing, and singing really great songs. And anybody who plays and sings would be stupid to not listen to that record and realise the guy is nailing it, he’s singing and playing the shit out of it. You spend a little time trying to do that and you realise how great he is. The songs, the imagery, the stories…