Neutral Milk Hotel made an impressive debut with On Avery Island. Somewhere between Smog and Guided by Voices, the record succeeds in blending surrealist lyrics and Sgt. Pepper–like instrumental coloring with punk-rock urgency and nearly gothic atmosphere. 

 Triumphant brass and quavery organs dress up passionate acoustic-guitar strums, irresistible melodies, and lyrics that rarely feel obtuse even when they’re nonsensical. As a whole, Aeroplane is a fragile, creaky, dignified, and ballsy record – one that has spawn its own passionate cult. 

 Everything Is, which reissued Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1995 European-only EP plus a previously unreleased track from the same period, features material that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on On Avery Island.