Julian Koster | glasses glasses

Color me merry, kids: my apartment was chosen last week to be the site for one of Julian Koster’s caroling sessions. I’ve loved Koster from the moment I first encountered his hot banjo, bass, musical saw, accordian, and synth licks on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, and I’ve loved Christmas ever since the first night that I chewed on my stuffed Santa’s yellow hat, listening for reindeer hoofs out the window.

Christmas is a funny holiday. It’s a celebration of warmth, food, family, and brilliant colors that takes place in a time of cold, austere desolation (at least, in the climates where it’s celebrated properly). Carolling captures this paradox neatly, with music transcending the physical and aesthetic distance between those who are literally outside and in. As Julian wrestles the thin, reedy sound of his musical saw into a recognizable rhythm and melody, the fragile, ethereal nature of the holiday is made clear and beautiful.

A review of last year’s shows in the Village Voice does a good job of conveying the dark notes underlying (and strengthening) the joy of the season:

Whimsical doesn’t quite cut it. “This song was actually first flown by a young blind girl, actually, who mistook it for a kite and nobody in her village had the heart to tell her it was actually a song,” said Koster earnestly. “She would fly it every December, because that was the windy season in the village, and all the villagers would amass to hear the song, but she had always thought the villagers had come to see her fly her beautiful kite, and she was very proud of this,” said Koster matter-of-factly. “She died believing that, in 1902. It was passed from hand to hand ever since, and that was how Badger [Julian's dog] learned it. And it’s called ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing.’” Koster then played “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Badger warbled gorgeously.

Which in turn reminds me of my favorite (arguably applicable) Christmas-related quote from a novel:

“They’ll tell you things about Santa that aren’t true,” Calvin said. “And you have to try hard, sometimes, not to believe them. They talk about how jolly and kind and fun he is, but they miss all the other stuff, how incredible and awful he is, how furious he can be. There’s nothing in his sweetness if you don’t consider how he’s awful, too. His sleigh has steel runners that could cut you in half if he ran over you, and the reindeer are shod with hot iron, and when you look into their eyes you can see reflections of the same fire that burns at the center of the earth.”

Anyway, enough self-indulgence. I think I’m a big fan of Christmas for the same reasons that Julian is. I’ve attached .mp3s from his Christmas album below, and if you want to come over and watch the performance next Thursday, please email me for details and an invitation. Just for contrast (and because really, who can resist?), I’ve also included some Neutral Milk Hotel classics from the Koster era (though sadly not the epic Oh Comely, which is way too large for our struggling server to manage).