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

Because We Need This, Oh, So Bad

This is a crisis, you guys. I feel bad putting this full album up, as these guys are just barely getting started and are in need of some honest lovin'. If you download this cd and like it, I recommend seeing them live if they happen to be in your area or even buying it from Saddle Creek when it comes out (tomorrow). So yeah, this cd has been my latest obsession, I've been listening to it nonstop for the past few weeks. Just realy great.


The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns (2009)

The Rural Alberta Advantage came up from the depths of a terrible homesickness. Singer/songwriter Nils Edenloff moved from his hometown in wilds of Alberta to the crushing, crowded cityscape of Toronto. In an apartment, he penned love songs for his hometown; songs about the icy north in Canada, love, lost love, bridges, and anything else that reminded him of home.

His voice bleats like John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, the drums flail about in syncopations that resemble the genre of Drum And Bass, and the lyrics hit closer to home than you'd like to believe. Each song lives and breathes and leads into the next; the album goes from quiet introspection to noisy punk rock whenever necessary. Overall, this album is great for anyone who liked The Weakerthans, Ted Leo, Cursive, or The Mountain Goats, but I'd say check it out regardless, because it's just a cool cd.

Let's try this: here's a sample video!



Recommended Tracks: Don't Haunt This Place, The Dethbridge In Lethbridge, Luciana
Genres: Indie, Folk
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?nyzkym2jzim

The Weakerthans Make Me Weakintheknees

So that Mountain Goats cd down there is really just so so so good. You guys should pick it up. It's got hardly any downloads yet and it really bums me out.

Also, you may have noticed a decline in postings (you probably didn't), and that's because, well, I don't want to run out of albums. This blog will only be active 3-4 days a week now, instead of 5. Sorry. Onto the album!!

A lot of people downloaded that other Weakerthans album (But I Can't Remember The Sound), so I figured I would put another one of their albums up for everyone. Again, you guys, this is my all time favorite band. They're just fantastic.



The Weakerthans - Left And Leaving (2000)

This is the album that changed everything for me; I remember it very well, when I finally decided to listen to it (I had been listening to Reunion Tour on repeat and figured it was time to put something new in). I was in the car, riding from some town in Pennsylvania back home, and put the headphones in. By the title track, I was completely unable to contain myself anymore. Their lyrics were always spot on, their music was always fun and enjoyable, and the mixture of the punk ethic with the indie sound comes out as beautiful as I would hope. This is more than just a collection of songs.

Between the fast pop-punk of Watermark, to the practically spoken-word Without Mythologies, even leaving room for some country twang in My Favorite Chords (probably one of the best songs ever written), The Weakerthans always do it exactly right. Literally every single track on here is emotionally charged, perfectly worded, and musically coherent to the song. One moment that really stuck out for me is the chorus of Aside ("Leaning on this broken fence, between past and present tense") and how it related to the album title. Just genius and just beautiful. The album ends with "neon lights and slinking purple skies," and [left and] leaves you with a need to put it on repeat. Honestly, this is just a fantastic album and I couldn't recommend it higher. They're seriously my favorite band for a reason, and I guarantee that, eventually, I'll have all of their albums up, and you should get them all!

Recommended tracks: Aside, Watermark, This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open, Left And Leaving, Exiles Among You, My Favorite Chords (okay, yeah, I know. They're seriously all awesome)
Genres: Indie, Punk, Folk, Rock
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?ymymjq5q14t

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

True Colors

I downloaded this cd on a whim a few months ago, knowing only two songs by the band. Every time I hear it, I just get a huge smile on my face. They sound like three dudes in a recording studio, having a lot of fun as they wrote and recorded some fantastic songs.

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow & Blue (2008)

Luke Lalonde, Mitch Derosier, and Steven Hamelin are a power trio in the most fun way. Yeah, they play guitar, bass, and drums, respectively, with Lalonde taking on lead vocals, but they also incorporate pianos, accordians, and more backing vocals than necessary. The music is catchy and nearly dancy, but very minimalist, relying more on syncopated and truncated rhythms and virtuosic playing than wall-of-sound production. The instruments, when played in headphones, nearly sound like they're spaced apart by the producer, and that's part of the charm; it makes what I declare a Sonic Sandwich: The drums and bass are spaced far to the sides, the guitar is right in the middle, leaving the area in between for vocals. Okay, you guys don't care.

So the songs bounce around; the drums are tom and cymbal heavy, the basslines walk up and down the fretboard, and the guitar is jangly as a set of car keys in a blender. The voices yell and stomp and croon beautifully with backing vocals often taking on a call-and-response form or simply harmonizing with Lalonde's playful vocals. Overall, this album is just a lot of fun and it's what I want to listen to over the summer just to have a good time.

Recommended Tracks: Barnacle Goose, Hummingbird, Hedonistic Me, Kurt Vonnegut
Genres: Indie, Folk, Pop, Rock
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?yutyyz5mjnn

No, Seriously.

I am having a ceremony tomorrow for how awesome I am. So I'm too busy to write a review, so here's a quick little something for you.

The Clash - London Calling (1980)

Fuck you, if you don't have this album already, then fucking GET IT. Like, NOW. I don't care what kind of music you listen to, whether or not you've written off this band, or any of that stuff. You NEED this album in your collection because all of your favorite modern bands exist solely because of this album.

Honestly, it's probably one of the best cds ever made and don't be embarrassed if you don't already own every collector's edition of it or whatever, but definitely check it out because it's seriously seriously great even by today's standards.

Recommended tracks: Rudie Can't Fail, Spanish Bombs, Wrong 'Em Boyo
Genres: Rock, Punk, Ska, Reggae, Folk, Indie, Awesomeawesome
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?zmwxyzkzga2

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.

It's Good To Be Home From Time To Time

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (2006)

When I first heard Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly's music, I was walking alone at 1 AM, not sure where I was going. I decided to play it on my iPod out of desperation for any kind of music on my walk to anywhere. The album feels like a soundtrack to your night; the guitars are fingerpicked, mostly, Sam Duckworth's voice is higher-pitched but not obnoxiously so; he's a beautiful alto-tenor that sounds like he maybe used to be a punk singer, but ended up doing acoustic indie folk music instead. He's pretty much the only member in this cd; he plays guitar, trumpet, keyboards, programs the drums, and sings. The whole album sounds like what you want someone to tell you when you're in a bad mood; the lyrics tell you that everything will be okay and that it'll all work out and you can't help but agree.

The best part of the album, I would say, is the way it varies so little, while changing so much. The songs all have the same instruments on it; acoustic guitars, drum machines, keyboards, vocals, some have a little trumpet, whatever. Nothing jumps out as being out of place; each one, you might say, is a chronicle. Each song another chapter, therefore saying so much without trying to outshine any others. It's generally a great, great cd and the way that each song seems compounded by the next one is just fantastic. I recommend it to anyone looking for some kind of mixture between acoustic indie pop and punk rock; what you end up with is just beautiful.

Recommended songs: Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (Part Two), I-Spy, Lighthouse Keeper
Genre: Indie, Folk, Punk
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?y0tdz2idlm2

Tuesday Guest Post: Sufjan Stevens (Washington Irving'd/Irving Washington'd)

Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Feel The Illinoise! (2006)


So I asked my friend Donald to write a review for Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Feel The Illinoise! Unfortunately, what I got was a three page essay about the album. Because I don't have the time or the patience to go through and edit such a triumphant and beautiful review, I've come up with a solution. In spirit of Yossarian, I will only give you the adjectives. The full review will soon be available on his own website here.

So, without further ado, here are the adjectives that Donald saw fit to describe Sufjan Stevens' (in my opinion) best cd:

Dazzling, awe-inspiring, smooth, mercurial, crowning, ambitious, critical, pseudo-Christian folk, legitimate, Salinger-esque, powerful, historical, cultural, small, fascinating, quirky, calm, effervescent, subdued, young, serene, quasi-chronological, beautiful, monument to grandeur and glory, lamentful (this one isn't a word, Donald), brooding, triumphant, faint, upbeat, syncopated, blossoming, poetic, personal, haunting, harrowing, graphic, serial killing, hidden, unsuspected, intimate, urban, local, thematic, fertile, magnificent, good, great, minimalistic, strumming, plucking, soft, passionate, haunted, soul-bearing, heartfelt, subdued, ethereal, prevailing, touching, Christian, religious, Christ-like, hard-edged, surreal, otherworldly, introspective, chilling, razor sharp, atmospheric, chilling, religious, haunting, jazzy, Brubeckian, dreamlike, storied, expressionistic, mystically repetitive, percussive, calamitous, HE PLAYS NEARLY EVERY INSTRUMENT USED ON THE ALBUM, seemingly oversaturated, brilliance.


I generally agree with each of those words. This album is absolutely beautiful and it is THE ALBUM that got me into indie rock; the way it melds history and modern culture is absolutely brilliant and the way the album sounds is perfect. This album was the crossover point for me between punk and whatever I am today, and it is definitely in my top 10 favorite albums of all time. If you'd like to read the full review, it is/will be up at http://www.wjgroundruledouble.weebly.com and I highly suggest reading the full thing. Thank you very much, Donald! I hope you don't mind my butchery. I thought it was funny...

Genres: Indie, Folk, Rock, Pop
Recommended Songs: Chicago, John Wayne Gacy Jr., They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhh!
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)download.php?jnunzzmmnvw

Sometimes You Can't See The Horizon Between The Ocean And The Earth

Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros - Streetcore (2003)

Joe Strummer, rest his soul, died unexpectedly of heart complications in December 2002. You might remember him as the lead singer of The Clash, one of the greatest bands to ever make music. A few years before he died, he was touring and playing with his band, The Mescaleros. They recorded this, their best cd, Streetcore, throughout 2002. In 2003, it was released, and it being Strummer's last record is just the ultimate sadness.

This final cd is so world-wise and sounds like if London Calling were an indie record instead of a punk one. The music is very full sounding, has a lot of instrumentation other than the usual rock quartet sound. The songwriting is exquisite, this record is just a must. Joe Strummer was a classic figure, and this album is what I would consider the culmination of his life.

The most moving part of the whole album, easily, is the last song on it, Silver And Gold. Hearing Joe Strummer sing that about his ambitions and then add that he's "got to hurry up before [he grows] too old" is just too much knowing that this album was releast posthumously.

Oh, and if Long Shadow sounds like Johnny Cash, it's because Joe Strummer wrote it for Johnny Cash to sing... but then Cash died, as well. Its appearance on the record is a nod from deceased musician to deceased musician. Just a great cd.

Genres: Rock, Folk, Indie, Punk
Recommended Tracks: Coma Girl, Get Down Moses, Arms Aloft, Silver And Gold
Link: http://www.mediafire.com(SLASH)?mlnwyuzzmby