The Music Tapes: Music Tapes For Clouds And Tornadoes

Spun out of the wobbly orbit that once surrounded

Neutral Milk Hotel, The Music Tapes is a project commanded by Julian Koster and

an array of instruments and contraptions that he's either built, transformed,

or somehow just summoned for a sound devoted to a strange, messy magic. Parts

of Music Tapes For Clouds And Tornadoes were recorded with a "1930s Webster

Chicago wire recorder" and a contemporaneous RCA ribbon microphone, and the

self-made instruments used include the "7 Foot Tall Metronome" and "The

Clapping Hands," both of which look like giant toys from a stately old

children's book. The songs they serve are decidedly childlike and raw: In the

introductory "Saw Ping Pong And Orchestra," Koster howls over warbly strings

that lend unlikely drama to the shout-out-to-clouds line "Nimbus! Stratus!

Cirrus!", while plaintive banjo and old organs wander into luminescent songs

like "Majesty." At the core of them all is Koster's invested, angelic voice and

his singing saw—a piece of old metal he makes whir like something from

space, or just the spectral grooves of a 78.