#37 Eels

I discovered the Eels a decade after their first record. I was making the move from Brooklyn to the Bay Area, and a friend in SF, who'd been an Eels fan since day one, pushed them on me. This is right when the double-album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was released. This record, along with Arcade Fire's first, are the albums that are most attached to my re-location from the East coast to the West. Something I never imagined until an opportunity presented itself, I'm now fairly certain that as long as I remain in the US, I'm likely on the West side for good. And Blinking Lights was, and remains, the soundtrack for that life change. My love for this band is almost entirely around their mid-career. I listened to their first four records but they never fell in for me. It was Blinking Lights, as well as 2009's Hombre Lobo and 2010's End Times, that grabbed me. And then I lost interest. For some reason, Eels represent a moment in time, and it was fleeting. Five years fleeting.



I still return to those records regularly. For that 5-6 period, there was no band I listened to more than the Eels. And if you want to dig deeper, Mark Oliver Everett wrote one of the best memoirs I've ever read with Things the Grandchildren Should Know. A fantastic read by a brilliant writer.

Favorite record: Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (2005)

Where are they now? As far as I know, the Eels are still together. Their last record was in 2014 which is a bit of a wait given how prolific Everett typically is. Hopefully, we'll hear something new soon. I'm now going to explore those post 2010 records...