Odds, sods and two headed boys...

While munching on yesterday afternoon's marmite toastie I had the pleasant surprise of finding out the 'heap has made the final shortlist for best music blog in the Irish blog awards. I'm honoured. I'm happy enough just knowing people bother to read this. Anyways lots of my favourites made the list, but I'm still baffled as to how the mighty thrillpier was overlooked. LoLo of LoLomix fame is up for nomination too for her brillo photography journal, currently featuring loving shots of the baldy human spider that is Billy Corgan.

In news relating to my favourite record, I've noticed that many blogs are marking the tenth anniversary of 'In the airplane over the sea' by Neutral Milk Hotel. Indie rock tastes are fickle, but that record stands proudly like a huge groaning pier that has weathered the ebbing seas of hipster shit that came and went in its wake. I gave it a spin today for the first time in months, just to remind myself of its power, and found myself transported, stirred and awed. Anyone who has had the misfortune of listening to me after one or five too many will know that I could fill buckets with the amount of shite I'm capable of talking about that album, as I have done right here on the heap. But in fairness neither my grasping words nor anybody else's could ever do it justice. It exists on its own, outside of people's descriptions of it. Its almost physical, like an unchanging place you pay a visit to every now and again. And what a troubling and thrilling place it is, with its two-headed boys, burning apartment blocks, bombs, Christmas trees and whirling planets held together by Jeff Magnum's enduring and emotive vision.

MP3: Neutral Milk Hotel-The King of Carrot Flowers Part 1

MP3: Neutral Milk Hotel-Holland 1945