The Mountain Goats

I actually like it quite a bit, but I have never heard any of the previous material. I was jarred a bit by what I actually heard, because my expectations were something very different after seeing the "4AD" on the cover. After I recovered, I decided I enjoy it quite a bit: John's voice takes a bit of getting used to, but I love the stories he's telling on this one, and the conflict. Even if the similes get a bit out of hand, some of them are still amazing. And I still contend that "No Children" is one of the best songs of the year. The whole album (Talahassee) is both disturbing and hilarious, all at the same time.

Sweden
Zopolite Machine
Full Force Galesburg

song search:

"Going To Georgia"
"sept 19 triple x love! love!"
"prana ferox"

(Me, I love the three singles/rarities collections to bits.)

**** MODERATOR: REMOVE BELOW WHEN PROMPTED:
(i hope i never have to hear that leonard cohen cover from the last extra glenns record ever again)
****

john i love you and your crazy ass stories.

two releases last year that did it for me are Ghana and All Hail West Texas.

John, I hear you are playing Macrock this year in Virginia? Is that true?

As far as S/D, search the new one & the one before it, All Hail West Texas, & also the cassette "Yam, the King of Crops." Destroy with extreme prejudice the song where I say I never liked Morrissey, maliciously mispronouncing his name, because I have since come to my senses and am a Mozz booster of the first order

S: pretty much everything, but especially Hot Garden Stomp, Beautiful Rat Sunset, Taking The Dative and All Hail West TX (haven't heard Tallahassee yet)

D: nothing comes to mind

I heart John.

If you don't like any of that, it's pretty safe to say that they ain't your bag, etc., as that represents a wide array of styles.

And "Going to Marrakesh" and "Someone Else's Parking Lot in Sebastapol" from The Extra Glenns' MARTIAL ARTS WEEKEND.

Still digesting TALLAHASSEE. That Scrawl CD just finished playing, so I think I'll throw it in now.

John, come play in Portland sometime.

Search: yes

yay! where? also do a reminder HYPE thread the week before if possible...

there's a whole lot of similes that connect romance to terrorism-kinda stuff but I don't recall any account of actual incidents that would explain why the relationship is LIKE terrorism. I'd kinda like to hear "you shot my cat, you bastard" next to "oh, you are like someone making a bomb" cuz it can kinda sound like zeitgeist exploitation. but the uptempo drummer on that one track was great idea! And I really usually listen to an album at least twice before talkin' about it, but it seems an opportune to bring it up (and it would look weird if everybody was ravin' wildly).

jesus, I gotta go die now. sorry. this wasn't easy for me, folks, so go easy on the flamebacks.

(i.e. don't be sorry for heaven's sake we're all friends here)

In re: "a lot of terrorism similes" I must defend myself howevah: that's just one song as far as I know. And now I should stop reading this thread as it is in poor form indeed to participate in a discussion of one's own writing/music/whatevah

(quickly answering questions before scramming: I really want to go back to Dublin but there just won't be time which makes me really sad because I love Dublin a whole lot, no plans for any pre-Zopilote Machine reissues, hoping to come to Portland sometime this year, and the L.A. show is opening for Tortoise which is funny for a whole lotta reasons)

I will give another listen and see if I have the same reaction.

Thanks for being a good sport. Whew!

1. Cubs in Five
2. Family Happiness
3. The Fall of the Star High School Running Back
4. Going to Port Washington
5. Going to Alaska
6. Going to Marrakesh
7. Golden Boy
8. No Children
9. Billy the Kid’s Dream of the Magic Slippers
10. Itzcuintli-Totzli Days
11. Neon Orange Glimmer Song
12. Anti-Music Song
13. Sept. 19 Triple X Love! Love!
14. No, I Can’t
15. Orange Ball of Hate
16. Are You Cleaning Off the Stone?
17. Standard Bitter Love Song #4
18. Standard Bitter Love Song #8
19. Love Cuts the Strings
20. Seed Song
21. Water Song
22. The Window Song
23. Jam Eater Blues
24. Two Thousand Seasons
25. The Best Ever Death Metal Band from Denton
26. The Sign

...and maybe yes. Though keep in mind my extremely non-canonical vision of Mr. Dylan. ;-)

the L.A. show is opening for Tortoise which is funny for a whole lotta reasons

Yes it is. The funniest of which will be me spraying the crowd with whipped cream and silly string before Tor-Twah take the stage to forcibly loosen them up and make them laugh. Then I'll do the same to the band.

http://www.bravenewwaves.ca/bnmedia/archive_i_mgoats.shtml

I have no further contribution to make to this thread.

Okay, I'm swearing off this thread before I "bring the negativity" to Darnielle LoveFest '03.

Live it's a lot of fun (even when kicked off stage & forced to play on the pavement outside the venue). Can't wait till the forthcoming UK gigs & SxSW show, 'cos it's been a long time.

Enough already.

Loved your cover of "I saw the Sign"

horace, mostly similar, but the newest album "tallahassee" has a much more polished full band and studio production, and there are surely songs on there that you could play on the radio. john peel gets away with it, anyway, but that may not seem any guarantee of radio-friendly production. (i wasn't sure i liked it as much as the other albums i have at first but it's really grown on me.)

i say YES to "cubs in five" and "best ever death metal band out of denton" and i note that "anti-music song" is on that best-of cdr and that i kind of like it myself and never thought it implied any real dislike of morrissey, whom i quite like, on john's part. i only have a few of the albums and i can't really pick a favourite out of them, they're all good.

That really would be the best thing that could ever happen to a Tortoise fan.

I HAVE A VISION. I thank the Holy Prophet Dan for showing the way and Nicole for the encouragement.

[Likely enough I will simply do the honorable thing and leave after the Goats take their bow, thus beating the traffic -- assuming whoever I'm with wants to leave as well.]

Waiting for the band to take the stage in Savannah. I only have All Hail West Texas and the new one which I bought to familiarize myself with the songs. Savannah hardly ever gets shows, so I’m turning up for this one and reading this thread while I wait.

I had no clue Josh was an ILXer! This will be my first time spotting one of you in the wild.

That was really good. I only recognized a couple of songs, and the songs are so wordy that at times I couldn't catch enough of it to follow along, especially with the full band rocking out. But that's okay, because it sounded really nice. The saxophone jams were my favorites, along with a short solo acoustic set in the middle. The crowd was very enthusiastic and Josh is so dorky and fun; it was obvious that everybody was having a great time.

I should pick up another one of their albums. Is Tallahassee the consensus masterpiece?

Being that guy, but you mean John rather than Josh?

Josh In The Mountain Goats

Ah, yes, John.

Not my fault that he looks more like a Josh.

Devil House: A Novel was pretty good too, although I don't think the ending quite worked.

I need to dig around in his works some more, he definitely hits a lot of beats that brings me back to being a kid. Satanic panic, getting into knives, etc.

All Hail West Texas / Tallahassee is a popular "start with these albums" pairing - the last boombox-recorded album and the first full band studio album (also the first on 4AD), and both released the same year. I don't think they sound like Tallahassee now, though I'd struggle to draw a hard line when they stopped (but Matt Douglas joins after Beat The Champ would be as good as any). From that post-Tallahassee stretch it's probably The Sunset Tree as the 'big' one?

I recommend All Eternals Deck and Goths, but then again I would

I thought I was the only one for whom All Eternals Deck was a standout! Really love that one, it’s stayed with me whereas most of the post-Sunset Tree albums, I enjoy and admire them but don’t find males going back to them much. Sunset Tree for me is the masterpiece though, far more than Tallahassee (which I also love)

we shall all be healed

I spent some time listening to All Eternals Deck tonight and yeah this album goes in

I loved Devil House.

Well, this looks like it’s going on my Christmas list. https://www.roughtrade.com/product/john-darnielle/this-year-365-songs-annotated

xxxpost Cow_Art, since you liked Devil House, try Wolf In White Van---it's genius, if there is such a thing---or even if not; then it's imaginary genius, and I'll still take it. Not satanic panic, but backstory comes out of earlier Late 20th Century gaming subcultures, in an organic way, which can be pretty scary (in this case) Or maybe I should say seemingly seamlessly organic, since the backstory also might be (hell, it is, though I won't say why I say that) JD's conscious crossbreeding with a once-notorious nonfictional Metal situation---but hybrids are organisms too. The subsequent novels are more mixes of things.

Oh hell, I say it because of his first fiction that I know of: the 33 & 1/3 book Master of Reality, and what he said about that. But that's just an ancestor of Wolf In White Van, which lives its own damage.

Wolf in White Van is one of the most haunting books I've ever read. It captures the feeling of spending hours hanging out in my childhood game store thumbing through and staring longingly at janky early rpg books like Judge's Guild and early Champions expansions. All I wanted was to exit an unhappy adolescence and live in those worlds.

New album November 7. Featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda!

https://themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/album/through-this-fire-across-from-peter-balkan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cvUN_sY0zM

Had no idea they were on their own label now! When I saw the new album announcement, I instinctively went over to Merge's Bandcamp page to pre-order it and nope!

Stoked for this one!

The new album is indeed quite great, and I recommend at least one listen to it on headphones.

I also recommend this:

https://www.gq.com/story/john-darnielle-lived-to-tell

Listening to the "Full Cassette Playback" right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9VPW4lJXIU

https://www.gq.com/story/john-darnielle-lived-to-tell?utm_source=of_note&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=of-note-020-john-darnielle-hallogallo-and-john

When he was a teenager, the Mountain Goats founder never expected to make it to 21. He has since become one of this century’s best songwriters. The lessons of his survival, life, and work feel endless.

By Grayson Haver Currin

Seconding Ned, this new one really is something special. I like it a lot.

The Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle has a new book out, This Year: 365 Annotated Songs
This Year collects the band's most meaningful songs alongside annotations, references, meditations and illustrations
"It was enjoyable to try and sort of strike this balance I wanted between talking about my stuff, sharing a story here or there, but not doing something that was just talking about me," Darnielle tells PEOPLE.

Picking up my copy this weekend -- and per jon / via, glad to know I'm not alone!

Will def listen, but so far not a fan of Miranda's musical sense (those Hamilton raps, yeesh)

This is a tMG album, not an LMM one.

Yeah, but he's on there right? Not a prob, apparently.

He's really just backing vocals on a few songs and he doesn't do his usual cadence/delivery thing, so you might not even notice him if you aren't looking out for him.

Cool, thanks!

JD's year-end list---he always spots something interesting that I didn't know about---will check this Vernon Reid album, for inst:
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-mountain-goats-john-darnielle-lists-his-favorite-albums-of-2025/

Did yall see this last night?
"Cold at Night"---The Mountain Goats ft. Tommy Stinson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv53gRqjvxY

Oh man- that’s some Best Show lore coming full circle

Tommy must've had at least three GPSs going to reach the studio.

i'm going to guess, no facts at my fingertips - that this is the most standup touring act out there.

Did yall see this last night?
"Cold at Night"---The Mountain Goats ft. Tommy Stinson

📹

Stinson is playing bass in Mountain Goats orchestra standing in the back , on Colbert show the other night

That’s Matt Douglas, he’s been in the band for almost a decade, and he also produced the new one. I have met him and worked with him and I love him more than just about anyone

(xp)

Good thing you added that, otherwise I would have thought you were talking about Tommy Stinson.

Actually had no idea before yesterday that Tommy Stinson had any connection to this band.

The Mountain Goats released their theatrical concept album Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan last year, and they followed it with the one-off single "Going To Fennario" in January. Today, they join Mary Chapin Carpenter for a couple of covers that band member Matt Douglas recorded at his studio. Carpenter sings lead on a version of "Put The Message In The Box," a college-rock classic that the late Karl Wallinger wrote for his band World Party in 1990. John Darnielle takes center stage for the other song, a version of Canadian folk-pop artist Christine Fellows' 1995 song "Migrations." Here's what Carpenter says about the collaboration:

Nice. "Put the Message in the Box" is a quasi-forgotten gem.

Yes! Love that song!

Christine Fellowes is one of the great unsung, always love a shout at her

Will check those out---was thinking yesterday of Karl Wallinger---did not know, 'til just now checking his wiki, that he worked on he Lion and the Cobra---also that there was a sixth World Party album unreleased at the time of his death, maybe completed or close--

Sinead’s on Goodbye Jumbo too.

These are great. I loved MCC's 90s records, back when it wasn't exactly cool for a teenage boy to do so. Don't know if I ever heard the World Party song, but like fgti (and JD), I'm a huge Christine Fellows fan. Full album please!

Playing Auckland tonight! Just saw a photo of J0hn with Chris Knox <3 <3 <3

Was a really, really lovely show; got to hang with a very former NZ ILXor who attended the Wellington and Sydney shows as well. They played "Dutch Orchestra Blues", which made me realise I somehow never got around to hearing the New Asian Cinema/Isopanisad Radio Hour/Devil in the Shortwave EPs - that's been fun.

Ned, how's This Year: 365 Annotated Songs? In my imagination it was a coffeetable book a la Sondheim's Finishing The Hat, but spotted someone at the show with a copy and it looked more like a regular book.

It is a regular book! A large one but very readable and enjoyable, unsurprisingly.