Coming of age, as I did, in the ’90s, I had to rely mostly on pre-Internet mechanisms for music discovery during my formative years. Where we lived, this largely meant the magazine rack at the supermarket, the local “alternative” radio stations and MTV. And while MTV rarely showed music videos even in those days, there were a handful of shows on the network, “120 Minutes” being chief among them, that served as gateways to new music and largely unknown artists. It was through “120 Minutes” that I first discovered the Eels’ “Novocaine for the Soul,” a music video that ushered in both a longstanding love affair with the Eels and a penchant for wearing horn-rimmed glasses that has continued to this day.
So, as you might imagine, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Eels mastermind Mark Oliver Everett (aka “E”) for PopMatters. Though it pains me to say this, at this point, I’ve resigned myself to the fact that E’s best work is behind him (a fact that I’ve written about on here in the past), though that’s not to say that his current work is without merit. In fact, his most recent release, Tomorrow Morning, might just be the best Eels record in 10 years. I chatted with E about Tomorrow Morning, his unlikely success in the music industry and his love for Neil Young—you can read the interview here.
In my humble opinion, the Eels are one of the most underrated indie rock acts of the last decade or so. Taken together, the one-two-punch of Electro-Shock Blues (1998) and Daisies of the Galaxy (2000) provide one of the more thoughtful, sincere and affecting meditations on love, life and death in recent memory. Unfortunately, head Eel Mark Oliver Everett has seemed creatively tapped out ever since (with the exception of the very enjoyable memoir that he penned), though I’ve long held out hope that he would eventually find his way again as a songwriter. Well, I’m happy to report that after nearly a decade, a return to form finally seems within reach for the Eels. “Little Bird,” the first single from the band’s forthcoming End Times bears all the hallmarks of a great Eels song; if I didn’t know any better, I might have assumed that it was a leftover from the Daisies sessions. Give the track a listen and read my brief write-up at PopMatters.
