So Proud!

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride (2008)

It's no secret that The Mountain Goats are not only one of my favorite bands, but one of the best bands making music these days. Led by John Darnielle, the prolific, nasally singer-songwriter of the band, the Goats write albums that sweep across huge arid Texas plains, in volatile homes owned by warring lovers, and just about anything else.

Heretic Pride, however, is entirely non-linear. As a matter of fact, the songs don't connect at all. They're all just songs. Beautiful songs. Folky in their meanings and intentions (songs about kung fu movies, love, horror story writers, serial killers, desperation, etc), full on rock in their delivery (awww yeah), these songs are just fantastic. One of their best albums, one of my favorites from the past few years.

Here's a song to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:



Recommended Tracks: Sax Rohmer #1, Heretic Pride, Lovecraft In Brooklyn, Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident
Genres: Rock, Indie, Folk
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?dyl3x3qmezm

A Stunning Return To Form!

Sorry about that break, guys! Jeez, it's been a while. Let's get right into it, shall we? This is a good one, you guys.

The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas (2002)



John Darnielle recorded fourteen songs that take place in the arid searing landscapes of Western Texas using just an acoustic guitar and a boombox. This is the final album he made on a boombox before switching over to the polished studio sound. The music itself is, quite simply, a kind of modern folk. John's nasally voice is so full of raw power and emotion, and the buzzing of the recording equipment in the background mix well with the acoustic guitars.

The album twines, intertwines, and unwinds at the ends through the seven characters and the two houses. Good luck trying to figure out who is who, much of it is cryptically (and purposefully) attributable to any of the characters that pop in and out of the album, but in all honesty, it's not a problem. Every character that appears is so beautifully rendered and voiced that it doesn't make any difference who is singing. Every song makes me feel so tender and raw, listening to this album just makes me want to hail Satan forever.

Recommended Tracks: The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton, Color In Your Cheeks, The Mess Inside, Absolute Lithops Effect
Genre: Folk, Indie
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?k2zmnnymizn

To Love Or Die In Tallahassee

When people ask how you can get into a band like The Mountain Goats, it's not too difficult to come up with a quick answer. John Darnielle has written and recorded over 500 songs, some recorded on a primitive boombox in one take, just so he wouldn't forget how to play it. However, in 2002, after the beautiful All Hail West Texas (to be uploaded later), some genius decided to give Mr. Darnielle and his Mountain Goats a record deal on 4ad, and this is the stunningly good album that came out, this is the album I recommend first.


The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (2002)

If you were to ask someone about the Mountain Goats, they'd probably say "he writes a lot of songs about traveling and a lot of songs about a couple that is married but hates each other and wants to kill each other." The cd Tallahassee is entirely about that couple. Every song seems to outline bitter hatred that exists between them, but the explanations are out of, well, love. Darnielle doesn't mourn this couple's hatred, instead, he celebrates them; he created them so that they couldn't help but beat up on each other, get drunk, beat up on each other more, have make up sex, and then hate each other. It's their way of loving each other, it's the way they live.

What makes this album so great is the fact that life literally flows from each song. Between the scathingly powerful "No Children," the beautifully soft-spoken "International Small Arms Traffic Blues," and the cathartic power of "See America Right," Tallahassee is one of the most beautiful and enjoyable records I've ever heard and is the cd that got me into The Mountain Goats altogether. Honestly, if you can, reading the lyrics alongside the record gives a nearly literary value to the cd; it plays out like a book and it is just awesome. Again, this is easily one of the best bands making music today and one of the best records I have ever heard.

Recommended Tracks: No Children, See America Right, International Small Arms Traffic Blues, Have To Explode, Oceanographer's Choice
Genres: Indie, Rock, Folk
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?jayzmtvcyod

Final Thursday EPs (For Now)

Okay, I don't have nearly enough good EPs to keep this up, so they'll just be sprinkled intermittently whenever I can't think of what to put up. Awesome! Let's finish off that Mountain Goats kick and I'll round it out with ex-folk-punk band Rosa! Acoustic EP Day!! Woo!

The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice - Moon Colony Bloodbath (2009)

The humorous title of this most recent Mountain Goats release hints at murder and space travel, but hardly delivers on either. Instead, you get a story that builds over the course of the album. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats and Vanderslice trade vocal duties and create a very cohesive, warm, yet dark album. The music is almost entirely just acoustic guitars and voices, with each frontman performing a half of the album. The final song, when the bloodbath on the moon happens is the absolutely fantastic. The build up to it is stunning. Definitely a must-hear for anyone interested in either band.

Genres: Folk, Indie
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?m1jy2zidqmz


Rosa - I Mississippi You (2005)

This one isn't an EP, but it's only about 26 MB, despite having 12 songs, so it's tiny, but it's so very, very good. Not very many people have heard of Rosa, and the ones that have either listen to them all the time or are searching for them on the internet to this day. They sound like four kids who are just writing songs about whatever they care about. Passionate, playful, and rocking, these lo-fi, acoustic songs sound like they were recorded in a garage that, while being planted down in Tennessee, it dreams about houses in California. Listening to Rosa makes me feel like running away from home, hopping on a train to anywhere, and never looking back. The music sounds like if a couple punks decided they wanted to play folk-country, and that is so awesome with me.

Genres: Folk, Punk, Country
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?dkmzyzicnkz

Thursday EPs: The Mountain Goats!

The Mountain Goats are fantastically prolific; ever since taking on the moniker in 1991, John Darnielle has recorded and released well over 500 songs. It's difficult to know where to start with a back-catalog of that size. So, instead of posting his full LPs (there'll be a time for that), here are a few EPs from 2008. Next week, I'll do a few other Mountain Goats EPs (believe me, I have plenty).


The Mountain Goats - Satanic Messiah EP (2008)

This cd, despite having an evil looking cover, contains no electric guitars at all. Instead, it's almost entirely piano; an instrument that rarely takes center-stage in Mountain Goats songs. Its music is smooth and calm; two songs are about death metal bands, one is about a religious revolution, and the final song is about an Ethiopian riot over high taxes. This cd is probably the most tender of all of the Mountain Goat releases and it certainly has some of the best songwriting I've ever heard.

Recommended Track: Gojam Province 1968
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?dtmgllmgejm




The Mountain Goats & Kaki King - Black Pear Tree EP (2008)


I saw this combo together on the The Last Best Night Of Your Life Tour in November and it was simply stunning. Kaki King is a very talented guitarist and a great singer, and when she works with the songwriting genius of John Darnielle, you get King's complex style with Darnielle's complex literature in one place. Between half-serious songs like the title track (Blossoms black and sweet as Texas crude) and serious ones like Bring Our Curses Home, you get the full spectrum of what The Mountain Goats are capable of.

Recommended Track: Thank You, Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?jqy2xmwdmmi

Genres for both: Indie, Folk

There you have it! Two Mountain Goats EPs for Thursday, two more for next Thursday! See you tomorrow, dudes.