Customer Reviews

1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Length - 41:39

Complexity mired in dreamy obfuscation palled by chamber pop excursions shadowed under alienated childhood experiences renders 1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad, an incredible, emotive collage of musical palpitations and transcendental imagination. The seemingly terse 41 minutes of aural estrangement is, in fact, a very long, spirally road traversing the aforementioned realms of sadness and despair with an eerie optimism. To coalesce efflorescent pop with a concept as in-depth and bizarre as the one created by the Music Tapes is nothing short of a miracle. This album is an incredible accomplishment in terms of music and art, a genuine work of pleasing melodies and offsetting stories held together by a remote, yet radiating warmth and compassion. People inured to mainstream, by-the-book music will likely be unresponsive to this record, so I implore you, like the previous reviewers, to keep an open mind and an open heart while experiencing this. Let it seep in, and you will have a new appreciation for this other-worldly music. (In addition to the album, the magnificent packaging includes a comic book, a strange cardboard standup piece and a list of other 1999 summer/fall merge records releases)

I am a sucker for the odd ball side of music. Elephant 6 just happens to be possee of people who manage to cater to my aural desires.
I have owned this album for a couple of years and after a slow start have finally conceded defeat.

Music tapes won.

I reckon I tried not to like this album , it was weird and alien track 12 and 13 seemed to go on too long at first . But what they do is lull you, meander along over stay their welcome for good reasons, to set you up for the emotional finale .
The first time i heard the album the end of it made me teary .No joke , and I was never a real superman fan , I much prefered batman.
The sounds fit together almost seemlessly ( which is a huge effort) the tunes are as catchy as hell and the sound collages are a delight . The album gets a cofident 5 stars.

This is a very enjoyable record from the resident oddball of the Elephant Six collective- current Neutral Milk Hotel member and ex-Chocolate USA leader Julian Koster and his gang of misfits known as the Music Tapes. The album opens with the sounds of what one can conclude to be Koster's favorite instrument - the singing saw. From there, numerous odd sounds and random noises such as wax cylinder pops clutter the record, making it at times seem like more of a sound collage than an actual album. Things are made more clear when you read along with the accompanying comic strip. Once you get to a certain point, though, the strip ends and all you can do is listen- the album's conclusion is both heartbreaking and amazing. Julian Koster is among the most underrated songwriter/storytellers that you're likely to come across in this era of music. It's just a shame that this masterpiece will be completely overlooked by the majority of music listeners. Nice packaging, too. :)

This is one of those lofi masterpieces, where the use of seemingly beatup analog recording equipment makes for a luscious and incredible sound, best heard at high volume with pretty good speakers - that way you can hear the details. If you get a chance to listen to it, the best tunes are tracks 1, 6 and 12.

Although 5 star ratings adorn even the most average recordings across this site, this is an album that truly deserves such a rating. "1st Imaginary Symphony" is far and away the most impressive release from the Elephant 6 collective. There is just so much here that the listener risks becoming fixated on a certain element (the incredible artwork, use of recording technology to create a specific mood, the story) and missing the best part of the album, the music! These songs are catchy beyond belief and the way they fit in with the story is absolutely amazing! What a fun, heartfelt and totally unforgettable record!

To go into detail about the last three tracks on this album would be a heinous crime to anyone who hadn't experienced their odd effect. Some might find them an exercise in pure absurdity, but coming at the end of this album of carefully pieced together loopiness, they're poignant and life-affirming. Neither people nor the aliens have to follow a destiny that's predetermined. Nomads, tv sets, sailors, clapping hands - it feels like a children's book, but what a wonderful one Julian Koster has put together and what a great moral: children don't have to follow the lead of a parent that doesn't have their best interests at heart. And if you have trouble seeing that message amidst the sampling and saw playing, there's a comic strip enclosed to help you out.

This album is catchier and more song-orientated than many reviews would let you believe - there are hooks and memorable melodies in droves, both vocal and instrumental. After listening to this album for 7+ years, what is beginning to impress me is how much work went into its creation, both the production and the songs themselves. It sounds like a mess, at first, but the big revelation to be had here is that there is not a single stray note on the whole thing. It's a tightly composed, immaculately realized vision. In fact, its often brilliant orchestration makes a strong case for the use of the word 'symphony' in its title.

One of the best songs is "Nomad Tell Us," which features a surprisingly sophisticated arrangement, with elements such backing vocals, hand claps, and furiously strummed distorted banjo interweaving to make something truly gorgeous. And that's just the first part of a song that soon turns into a jaunty if somewhat sinister piano shanty (melodic backing vocals still intact).

Many sources, such as the misguided review here on Amazon, make it sound a bit more random and sound-collage orientated. However, the the album is more like a radio show of sorts. There are a couple link tracks that aren't really songs, but they are short and flow seamlessly into the next track without becoming boring. And the whole thing tells a coherent and interesting story (helped along by the comic book that comes with the album).

Some similar albums: Alien Lanes by Guided by Voices, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel, and Lincoln by They Might be Giants.

Found these folks after I found Neutral Milk Hotel, so I may have already been sold, but there are no albums out there that I've found since that display so little fear in taking a wrong turn now and again, to trust a truly great idea to build itself out of the "ocean of strangers". To open up and find itself without regard to whether or not in the end it is pulled off. It's just damn lucky that they did in fact create something that is wonderful and meaningful and becomes more so only when we open up ourselves. All this could have been said much better, however i have the flu. Right now I'm just upset that they don't have any new stuff to help me out of my flu boredom.

This album was like a childhood regression. Cute and simple. However, you'll find darker moods hidden behind the jingle-jangle: /I am the father/This is my castle/These are my fists/. The television song is one to listen for.

A complete witch's brew of the old and new, the hi and lo-fi and a tremendous amount of thought and feeling combine to make a wondrous album. Lots of scratches, high voices and occasional screeching make for a really gentle, and at times uproarious, album, a bit like Daniel Johnston but somehow more European. A great buy, you will not stop listening.