As a report from Onion radio news recently pointed out, 1998 was 10 fucking years ago. I find it quite unbelievable.

I thought today, how about taking a look back at the albums released in 1998 (10 fucking years ago.) Well I’ve done just that and I’ve picked out three of my favorites to talk about here.

Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel’s second (and to this point, last) album was an easy choice for me to include here as it’s one of my favorite albums ever and I’m quite sure my favorite album of 1998. This is not a unique opinion to have, as you can see over at RateYourMusic.com where it’s currently the #1 ranked album of ’98.

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I like this album so much and in a lot of ways it’s not like most of the music that I really like. It’s more stripped down musically than I usually care for and a lot more emotionally bare than I can usually bear. But there’s something captivating about these songs that makes it impossible for me to resist. Something that is timeless.

The lyrics are obscure and weird without sounding like they are trying to be that way. It’s a sort of natural weirdness that’s hard to find. The recording is “lo-fi” but not in a gimmicky way. In fact I’m not sure I’ve ever heard acoustic guitars sound as forceful as they do on this album. Never do I hear these songs and think that they are not recorded the way they were supposed to be recorded. The instrumentation is often quite unusual, but never in a forced way. It’s just one of those albums where every decision made seems perfect. It sounds effortless. Like the songs & arrangements were not slaved over but that they somehow arrived perfectly formed from some other world, some other time.

I do not know anything about the songwriting & recording process for this album (and I don’t want to know, I like the mystery of the album) but that may be completely off the mark. They may have tried a million different ways of recording the songs and nitpicked over every detail of the recording and production. But what is important is that it doesn’t sound that way which is why it has such an incredible energy.

Jeff Mangum’s lyrics, voice, and energy are the focal points of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea but the unusual instrumentation & song arrangements are key to it’s appeal as well and in fact the two instrumental tracks (“Fool” and “Untitled”) are among my favorite moments on the album. The untitled track in particular is one of the most fantastically cool instrumentals I’ve ever heard. It’s definitely got that insane psychedelic carnival in Scotland (with the bagpipes of course) sound nailed.

Air – Moon Safari

Moon Safari is many people’s favorite Air album. It’s actually not mine. I prefer 10,000 Hz Legend as it’s less easy listening and more weird & challenging and ultimately more rewarding. But that being said, Moon Safari is an excellent album and one of my favorites of ’98.

My favorite songs on the album are the instrumentals like “Talisman” and “La Femme D’argent” (which was incredible and far better on the album when I saw them live a few years back.) “Sexy Boy” is maybe their most well known song but it’s not among my favorites.

“You Make It Easy” is another one of my favorites on the album. Space pop indeed. As with many of the more “pop” Air songs, the song is alright on it’s own (but nothing too special) but it’s the production and arrangement that really makes it interesting. I also like “Kelly Watch the Stars” a lot even if the bass line reminds me of NSync or the Backstreet Boys.

Sparklehorse – Good Morning Spider

Sparklehorse doesn’t seem to get as much recognition as I think they should. They’ve released four albums and to my ears this one (their second) is their best.

Good Morning Spider is perhaps a bit too sprawling and it can feel quite slow but there are a lot of rewarding moments if you allow yourself to slow down enough to take it all in. I like the production on this album a lot. A lot of interesting uses of static/noise and unusual stereo placement of the instruments & sounds. It gives the album a feeling of distorted beauty. It’s definitely a “headphones album.” You probably won’t really get it unless you’ve got your eyes closed and your headphones on.

A lot of the songs are slow and pretty but they also tend to be filled with a special kind of strangeness that keeps them interesting but they may sound somewhat boring if you’re not paying close attention to the details.

There are also some moments of rock n roll most impressively during “Happy Man” which is part of the “Chaos Of The Galaxy/Happy Man” track which is definitely one of the highlights of the album for me.

Become A MusicByDay.com Music Blogger.