Comments on: na: the mountain goats

By: hail satan! at 17 dots

hail satan! at 17 dots — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:15:54 +0000

[...] Hear ye, hear ye: download The Mountain Goats’ All Hail West Texas right now. I’ve freaked out about the Mountain Goats in this space before, so I’ll spare the overall hard-sell and skip straight to my endorsement [...]

By: ihatewesley

ihatewesley — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 02:12:50 +0000

I guess I came a little late to the Mountain Goats party, too. I was introduced to them through the Atom and His Package album, Redefining Music, on which he covered 3 MG songs (Seed Song, Going to Georgia, Alpha Desperation March). Tallahassee was the first album I got around to buying, but I really think Sunset Tree and All Hail West Texas (which I don’t think is on emusic) are my favorites. I think The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton, off of the latter album, has gradually become my favorite MG song.

Oh, and even though I like Mountain Goats better than Atom and His Package these days, Atom’s albums are still well worth owning, too!

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:49:56 +0000

Yeah, as an above commenter pointed out, Tallahasse is about the ‘Alpha Couple’ the dysfunctional vodka swilling stars of the Alpha series. The ‘Going To…’ series is based around another character entirely.

By: Autoclamp

Autoclamp — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:51:59 +0000

My first introduction (later than most of you) was “No Children” from Tallahassee. I have followed 4AD’s releases pretty closely for about twenty years, and I heard this song on a sampler flash-site. I must have listened to that song 20 times in a row; I had literally never heard anything like it.

The rest of Tallahassee also blew my mind, and is still my favorite of theirs/his.

I remember thinking at the time, “wow, what a weird band for 4AD to sign!” But I think 4AD fans have been saying that every few years ever since Throwing Muses and Pixies joined when 4AD was of the premier goth and atmospheric rock music labels in the world. A few albums in, I think it has been a strangely good fit.

By: dsr

dsr — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 05:07:19 +0000

My favorite MG song changes daily, but right now, I’m partial to “Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod” off of The Sunset Tree: “And then I’m awake and I’m guarding my face / hoping you don’t break my stereo / because it’s the one thing that I couldn’t live without / and so I think about that / and then I sort of black out.” Looking forward to checking out the “new” titles here. Sort of softens the blow of Epitaph leaving.

You guys should do a “20 best Mountain Goats songs” in the tradition of your previous lists with Pavement and Spoon.

By: Douglas

Douglas — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:26:42 +0000

I think I ordered the first Ajax single, back in the days when Ajax mail-orders were my favorite part of the month, and was pretty impressed. Then I got the Transmissions to Horace tape–contained in its entirety on Bitter Melon Farm–and I was totally sold. “No, I Can’t,” followed by “Alpha Desperation March”–WOW. (I’ve always wanted to hear a version of “No, I Can’t” sung by a woman, which would give it a very different sort of tone…)

In the division of his comedy songs: I’ve always loved “Seed Song,” now compiled on Protein Source.

Secret favorite Mountain Goats album: Sweden. Was just talking with a friend today about what a total killer that album is.

By: joe

joe — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:46:36 +0000

Interesting – i’ll have to confirm. i e-mailed John when Tallahassee first came out, so I’ll go back and check my notes!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:11:23 +0000

Not to try to out-indie geek you or anything, but I always thought Tallahassee was about the couple from the Alpha series, not the going to series. Sometimes they overlap, but I think most of the going to titles are independent…

By: Mr B

Mr B — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:54:32 +0000

I love Tallahassee from start to finish, one of my favourites. I can’t remember where I heard it but I had a mp3 dub of it that kept on getting repeat plays on my computer and when I was back in Australia on holiday I went to my favourite record store Big Star and bought a copy.

I used to play it at work a few times and some people really liked it and some couldn’t get their ears around his voice. I like it, very distinct like CAlvin Johnson but in a totally different pitch mind you.

I keep on missing him live when he comes to London too… dang!

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:05:23 +0000

I don’t know that I’d heard them much before I first saw them play in Ames, Iowa (where John was living at the time, I think). A tiny on-campus bar & grill with a stage elevated about 6 inches above the floor.

John Vanderslice, who I had also not heard much before, opened.

A fantastic show. Tiny and intimate, just like the early Goats albums.