[nickTunes] 'In My G4 Over Da Sea' strikes at an indie sacred cow

Take the piss (vb, intransitive)- to tease, mock, or ridicule. Of English origin.

The last time I made a joke about JEFF MANGUM'S music, I got a death threat from a scummy hipster at North Carolina School of the Arts. He was really, really mad that his idol had become a sacred cow to be sacrified for the centerpiece of a dorky little short film my roommate and I wrote. Admittedly, we probably shouldn’t have cast the creepiest guy at the camp as the NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL frontman, and probably corrected him when he pronounced his character’s last name as “Magnum.” But in all seriousness, it was a short film about Abraham Lincoln wanting a job at a circus and Mangum turning him down. We’d figured he’d be such an obscure figure that no one would give a shit, but we were wrong. At the screening of the student films, this schmuck cornered me near the lobby exit and told me that he’d “fucking kill me for that shit” and that “I just didn’t get Neutral Milk Hotel.” I told him to piss off and die, before wishing I’d made all of the jokes hit even harder to fuck with him. The little luncheon after the screenings finished was a painfully awkward ordeal, and not just because the cocktail weenies were cold.

Until today, I spitefully didn’t listen to any of NMH’s music, and would endlessly debate with my friends about how Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a better record than In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Ex-girlfriends and I would get into shouting matches because I had the gall to suggest that John Darnielle was a better songwriter. I honestly wasn’t trying to troll, but the reverence surrounding Mangum’s music and the stories behind it (I mean, really, who goes through public education in the United States without hearing of Anne Frank) always left me incredibly cold despite the music being actually pretty alright. But then, something great happened. Someone took the piss out of that reverential legacy in an incredibly fun and silly way, and opened some good music back up to guys like me.

Let’s just face facts: NEUTRAL BLING HOTEL'S (a moniker adapted by mash-up artist PSYCHOSIS) In My G4 Over Da Sea, posted a few days ago to Bandcamp, is the best thing to happen to Neutral Milk Hotel since Jeff Mangum broke up the band because he was under pressure like Bowie and Queen. Some of it, weirdly, even feels straight up dangerous. People are acting strangely about it on facebook, too, and I guess that’s a signifier that Psychosis has done his job and done it well. This is the perfect act of loving ridicule and tribute, one that pulls the rug out from under everything and leaves the concrete stuff still standing while toppling the more feeble aspects. By pairing Mangum’s music up with the fresh beats and rhymes of artists like Kanye and Hov, we get music that makes us think fondly of the first time we heard the record and appreciate the musical skills behind the songs. Sometimes, stripping the songs down and doing away with all of the pretensions that the Crosley turntable-owning set have leveled at one artist’s feet can be the best thing that ever happened to them, and this is the best occurrence of that since the fucking Grey Album or Biggie’s first verse in “Juicy” being laid over Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” on Night Ripper. It’s taking the piss at its finest, and it's great to be able to listen to these songs again.

Plus, that asshole's probably having an aneuyrism right now. It seems there are lots of things to be happy about today.

Nick Johnston is the summer music intern here at the Boston Phoenix. Please don't send him death threats.