Pitchfork

If you read Pitchfork regularly you probably know that this year was the tenth anniversary of the release of Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. We marked the event with Jeff Mangum interview materials provided by Pitchfork's Mike McGonigal, as well as by having some musicians talk about how this wonderful and one-of-a-kind record inspired them. There were many other tributes. In February of this year, an event called Tomatoes & RadioWire took place in Brooklyn, at which 11 short films were screened, one for each track on Aeroplane. Now all eleven of those films have been gathered together on the Tomatoes & RadioWire website.

As T&R curator Kirk Wells explains in a piece on the site, he first heard the record three years ago during a long drive headed south (lucky bastard) and was inspired to make short animated films based on the tracks. Realizing that he would never have the time or energy to do everything himself, he enlisted the help of other filmmakers and, three years later, Tomatoes & RadioWire was born. Particularly inspiring watching these is the range of interpretations; from flash animations that use imagery from the lyrics (Wells' "Communist Daughter") to live Super 8 footage that conjures the vibe of the song ("King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1" by Casey DeLong) to silly goofs that don't go where you'd expect (Travis Wheeling's piece for the title track). Quality varies, to be sure, but this is a worthwhile project with its heart in the right place and it's definitely worth exploring. Bravo.

Videos:> Tomatoes & RadioWire

[In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is out now on Merge]