Most women would agree, size does matter!

In the animal kingdom, too, we have been convinced that size is good. The bigger and stronger males are known to sire stronger offspring ensuring their survival and fitness. In the case of mammals and birds, especially, it has been seen that the females choose males that can contribute to the overall fitness of the offspring. But in studies in the recent years, it has been discovered that there may be a downside to this. There may be advantages for females to go for the smaller males – size does matter, but not necessarily be biased towards the bigger males. Being big and strong, may no longer be the norm in the animal kingdom.

In mountain goats, it is always an advantage to be big and strong, and of course, possess a good coat of fur for warmth. The big males are essentially bullies, shoving the smaller ones to get the females. It has been reported that the bigger and stronger males do produce male offsprings that have high fitness, but the female offspring are smaller and weaker than those sired by smaller males. If this is true for mountain goats, then there is a strong possibility it may hold true for other species as well. This puts the onus on the females to chose well and may well begin a selection for the smaller males. If the sex ratio in the population gets skewed, the species may well die out. To maintain this balance, females are endowed with a genetic quirk that enable them to chose smaller males when the population is biased towards the males.

Female birds are known to be very choosy as to who they mate with, and this is true for the female mammals as well. If it comes down to ensuring that their offspring are fit and survive to pass on the genes, then size will matter, and not necessarily favor the bigger and stronger males.

Apologies for the darkness in this pic, but at least it's appropriate.

A pattern seems to emerge every time I attend a concert at the Wonder Ballroom and attempt to review it here. Step One: Drink red wine. Step Two: Promptly forget to take notes. Step Three: Wake up too late to shower. Step four: Curse pattern. So forgive me as I try to piece together the details from the Mountain Goats and Final Fantasy show last night. At least, I think it was last night. It feels like eons ago.

Some (hazy) observations:

Owen Pallett is dreamy! To bring the subject back to the music, his live act is a lot like Andrew Bird’s but without the whistling. And both men are dreamy!

John Darnielle brought up the brief period of time he lived in Portland, as he references in “Genesis 3:23.” During one of the numerous anecdotes to the audience, he mentioned a storage unit on NE Broadway. Later, he performed a song with Owen Pallett on the violin that name-drops the Burnside Bridge. As evidenced by the fact that Darnielle no longer lives here, his time in the city was not spent happily. The “Genesis” song describes a point when the songwriter was “doing the things that train wrecks do—crashing into things.”

Selections from The Life of the World to Come were heavily represented. Since Darnielle and the band are touring in support of the album, that makes sense. The album’s Biblical cues have been discussed at length, and like much of Darnielle’s work, a lot of the verses pack tightly-wound punches. All the same, I’m not connecting with the newest addition to the Mountain Goats’ canon as readily as I did with Tallahassee and The Sunset Tree. It may simply require a quiet hour and attentive ear. But I kept wanting to blurt out “No Children!” and “Dance Music!” between songs. Fortunately for everyone around, I exercised restraint (mostly – at least one of those titles slipped out once). Another stroke of luck – the Mountain Goats finished the regular set with “This Year” and concluded the encore with an unembellished rendition of “Love Love Love.” Needless to say, I loved it.

• “Isaiah 45:23″ ~ Mountain Goats ~ The Life of the World to Come ~ 4AD

Ok, so there are some songs that make you cry, right? “Let It Be” is one of those for me, as is “Imagine.” That’s why, even though I love love love those songs, I don’t listen to them very often.

But, have you ever just loved the experience of listening to music so much that it just made you want to cry? Maybe I’m just overly emotional, but that’s what The Mountain Goats are doing to me.

Two nights ago, I liked tMG a lot. I’d listened to probably 30-40 songs of theirs, and I definitely had a few favorites memorized. I definitely liked them enough to spend $20 on their concert in Seattle, but was unfamiliar with them enough that I would have second-guessed getting that ticket if I knew that it would really turn out to be over $30.

I didn’t think John Darnielle was particularly attractive.

I even have to confess that I didn’t like his voice all that much most of the time.

Also, one of my two favorite songs was pretty much their most famous single, which always makes me feel like a bad fan, because I always feel like I should know more obscure material, especially if I like the band enough to go to one of their concerts. It’s like how die-hard Jason Mraz fans (such as myself) hate it when people who only know “I’m Yours” go to his concerts. I want to tell them to sit down, shut up, and listen to Curbside Prophet.

Anyway, there’s also a ton of tMG history that I am still not familiar with. Like John Darnielle’s time in rehab… or even his age. I don’t know if it’s weird that I don’t want to go to someone’s concert without knowing this stuff first, but it’s true. I felt especially bad going with someone who knew everything and was just about as mesmerized as a person could be.

I’m not really sure whether to make this long story short or not.

There’s so much that I could say… about the openers, the crowd, the songs, the performance, John Darnielle, my friend’s bordering-on-religious experience (he’s probably so euphoric that he won’t eat for days…), about how they played my absolute favorite tMG song, “Love Love Love.” And actually, he played my other favorite song also, “This Year.”

Here’s the setlist:

[band]
1. 1 samuel 15:23
2. letter from belgium
3. isaiah 45:23
4. cotton
5. romans 10:9
6. love love love
[john]
7. orange ball of peace
8. sign of the crow
9. woke up new
10. thank you mario, but our princess is in another castle
11. 1 john 4:16 [w/ final fantasy]
12. going to fucking bristol [w/ owen pallett on violin and john on vocals; no guitar]
[band]
13. hebrews 11:40
14. hast thou considered the tetrapod
15. psalms 40:2
16. against pollution
17. this year
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18. ezekiel 7 and the permanent efficacy of grace
19. no children
20. the best ever death metal band in denton
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21. see america right

And ever since I saw this concert, I don’t really know what to do with myself. Granted, it’s only been about 24 hours, and I’ve kept very busy, but still. It was an amazing show… and I don’t really know whether to laugh, or cry, or just listen to their music continuously, or hold off on listening to it to savor the memory, or what.

Some moments last forever, and some flare up with love, love, love.

release date: October 6, 2009

I’ll be straight up with you, right here, right now: the only thing wrong with this album is that there are so many good Mountain Goats albums out there already. This is the seventeenth Mountain Goats album. I’ve had my soul churned by the scathing, insightful voice of singer John Darnielle so many times before that it’s hard for me to jump into this album blindly. For example: I had open-heart surgery in 2007, and for the first month afterwards every time I tried to get out of bed, the chorus of “This Year” (from 2005’s The Sunset Tree) would play through my head incessantly; it’s a harrowing experience to hum “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me” repeatedly to yourself like that. Sorry, but as good as The Life of the World to Come is, I don’t plan on having an experience like that with this album.

For those of you that don’t know, The Mountain Goats is really just one guy and some friends that record something between conventional singer/songwriter songs and indie rock. It’s hard to classify, but there’s one universal element to the music – Darnielle’s urgently bleating voice, complemented by some truly incredible wordcraft. The past couple Mountain Goats albums have been a little too restrained, but The Life of the World to Come has a few hot-burners, so it’s all g.

If you’ve never heard The Mountain Goats, I recommend The Sunset Tree. If you’re already a fan, you won’t be disappointed with this one.

Guess what happened to me at the Mountain Goats concert?  You’ll never guess!

But first, how bout a little context?  Last week during a meeting of The Handcrafts and Afternoon Tea Society for Refined Ladies,* The Erstwhile Flaneur issued this good-natured beat-down of the content here at Hyperbolic Obsessive: 

“Your blog posts are basically a catalogue of people you want to hump,” she said matter-of-factly as she sewed up the tentacles of a sparkly purple octopus costume she later wore—with heels and pearls—to a Halloween party. **

And, honestly, how could I respond to such an incisive summary?  She’s right. So I laughed and said, “I know.  I fall in love every day.” 

At the time it was meant as a joke.  I listed various people at the top of the Bite My Lip & Try to Stay Calm list, and we all sipped our spiked cider and had a laugh.   But now that I think about it, I’m wondering if I wasn’t unwittingly precise. 

I read books and fall in love.

I go to see movies or watch TV shows and fall in love.

I go to the Farmers’ Market to buy cider from Gorgeous Cider Dude*** and fall in love.

I go to concerts….and fall in love. 

Oh, don’t act surprised. Of course I  fell in love—again!—when Cooking with Two Dudes, JLK, and I went to see The Mountain Goats play at The High Noon on Friday.

John Darnielle, screamin' it up

The concert itself was surprisingly balls-out; despite the usually spare, sad-bastard acoustic arrangements on the Mountain Goats’ albums, they rocked out.  And since I was hanging with the press and an uber-fan, we were smashed up against the stage and singing along the whole time, which is, incidentally, the only way to see a concert at High Noon, a venue where concert-goers habitually spend a decent amount of money to TALK THROUGH THE WHOLE SHOW.  LOUDLY.  WTF?

Anyway, I’d never been to a Mountain Goats show, and had imagined John Darnielle would be kind of scary and intense, with a poison-rapier wit, if he had any humor at all.  But the dude was smiling—like, just-won-the-lottery smiling— throughout the entire set.  It was a little weird trying to reconcile Darnielle’s joyful sincerity with the content of his music.  Cooking summed up the off-kilter effect brilliantly in her online review for the Cap Times’ 77-Squared, which you can read here:

The band finished off with a downright giddy performance of the group’s most relentlessly bleak song, “No Children,” a song Darnielle introduced as being “like an aspirin, but for the venom that has come to define the way you feel about the person you love.” From this songwriter to this crowd, that constituted a laugh line, after which the band sent us all out with a joyous sing-along of the lines, “I am drowning/there is no sign of land/You are coming down with me,/ hand in unlovable hand.” It was quite possibly the unlikeliest feel-good concert ever.

“The Mountain Goats,” she says, “make the world’s most dysfunctional make-out music,” so perhaps it was only fitting that I should fall hard at their concert.  But I didn’t fall in love with a Goat—oh no. 

I fell in love with a geek. A tall, pale, skinny geek with a violin and a penchant for role-playing games who was the opening act.   And is also gay.****

His name is Owen Pallett, and his band—which is basically just him, his violin, and looping machines—is called Final Fantasy.

It’s named after a video game. 

And his EPs are full of songs titled after kinds of magic used in D&D. 

I knew this, and I also knew Pallett had done some work with Arcade Fire.  I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the contrast, but you know—it’s just the opening act, right? Right. 

And then he walked out on stage, and I turned into that Indoor Kid from Wet Hot American Summer; I was all, “Alexa!  We need a Druid, and you’ve cast a Level 5 Charm Spell on me.” 

I like to say that my heart is capacious, but shit—who knew it had room in it for D&D?  I mean, how capacious are we talking here?  Ocean liner?  Aircraft carrier?  Could I love a serial killer?  A golf-playing, Republican accountant? It seems there is nothing I can’t find perfectly charming so long as the person doing it comes in an Owen Pallett-shaped package.  

I kinda wanted to lick the sweat off his temples

The sweet spot for this particular crush hit this afternoon, while I listened to about 3,720,457,027,301 looping plays of “Many Lives 49 MP” and dug up this video of Pallett’s solo rendition of Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go,” a song which has never failed, in any of its incarnations, send crazed little fractures through my brain.

This is probably unhealthy.  But…I like the feeling of falling in love.  Even if it’s for just a few hours at a concert.  I like the crackling awareness of everything around you that comes with being minutely aware of another person.  I like feeling that sudden center open up around someone, and how it can make so many other things seem…contingent.  

I like it so much, in fact, that I manufacture it in my head when it isn’t extant in my life.

 And, really…what better raw material to begin such an obsessive project with than the tense, emotional frisson of a concert?  Of course I fall in love at concerts!  When I am in an audience, I’m there to be seduced.   That’s kind of how it works, isn’t it?  You fall in love with the person on stage—or some alluring edit of them—so that you can open up enough to accept what they’re expressing with their art.  If I wasn’t a little in love every time I went to see a show, everyone who ever took a stage would probably look like an idiot to me.  And I’d miss out on discovering the next wing of rooms in my capacious heart.

Minor awesomeness seizure

*Read: Stitch ‘n Bitch with cake and booze.

**Lest you think I say this with any judgment, allow me re-iterate:  I went to the same party as a sparkly vampire. 

***I must say, though, I defy you not to fall in love with Gorgeous Cider Dude.

****This has never, ever stopped me from having a sweet, dead-end crush.

The Mountain Goats (TMG) opened their fall tour Nov. 4 at the Ladies Literary Club in Grand Rapids Michigan. The venue is an old theater–the building itself is a registered historical landmark–that Calvin College bought and turned into a concert venue. TMG was the third concert I have seen there (Andrew Bird and Rosie Thomas’s Christmas concert were the other two), and I have been impressed with the atmosphere and acoustics each times. The musicians are on the theatrical stage, which helps draw you in to the performance and gives the whole experience a classy-hipster feel.

The opening act for the tour is Final Fantasy, the recording name of violinist-singer Owen Pallett. Pallett creates dense, multiple violin loops which he then sings and plays over. The effect is similar to Andrew Bird’s “Anonanimal,” though Final Fantasy’s rhythms and song progressions are less conventional and accessible than some of Bird’s recent work.

I hadn’t even seen a picture of John Darnielle, singer for The Mountain Goats, before the concert, so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of his stage presence. From the TMG songs I’ve heard, my mental picture was of an introspective, somewhat defensive and distant guy who would have difficulty connecting with the crowd. I also thought he might be balding and slightly overweight.

But no, Darnielle looks rather fit, and instead of being reserved onstage, he more often had difficulty containing his joy and energy. It felt kind of like those reunion tours with bands who used to hate the business (and each other) but have reformed because they realize how much they enjoy making music. They might not look as young and cool as they once did, but they don’t care. I don’t think Darnielle ever looked really young or very cool, and I’m almost positive he has never cared. He often seemed surprised at how good his band sounded. My sister-in-law said she thought he must have been hard to keep under control as a child.

All of the energy in the performance was counterbalanced by the lyrical weight of TMG’s songs, which have often dealt with desperation and abuse, and their new album, The Life of the World to Come, adds martyrdom and theodicy to the mix. He introduced one song by saying, “Now I’m going to play a song about someone getting tortured to death,” and it was not the song I was thinking of. Every song title on the record is a Bible verse, which led Darnielle to joke that he hopes a song from it become a big hit so everyone will shout out, “Deuteronomy 2:10!” at concerts.

Darnielle mentioned during his introduction to “Hebrews 11:40″ that he wrote the song on a tour stop in Salt Lake City, because he was thinking about Mormons and how important the resurrection of the body is to them. He’s Catholic himself, he said, so he can kind of go either way on the “get your body back forever/never see it again” question.

One of my favorite new TMG songs is a bonus track from the new record, “Enoch 18:14,” so I was both surprised and please that he played it during the set. The song’s chorus:

You and your brother
You both escaped the curse
So you can’t comprehend what it’s like

made me think it was about his very difficult childhood, which he wrote about in detail on The Sunset Tree, but Darnielle said that the song was actually inspired by a video game called Ruin Sphere, and that the chorus comes directly from one of the game’s cut scenes.

The Goats record I know (and like) best is Heretic Pride, and I was a little disappointed he didn’t play more songs from it–I was especially hoping for “Autoclave,” “Sax Rohmer #1,” or “Lovecraft in Brooklyn”–but when you have as many good songs as Darnielle (he’s been recording since the early 90s), it’s inevitable that someone’s favorites won’t get played. His duet with Owen Pallett on two songs early in the set was also a highlight. Overall, I wished the concert would have lasted longer, which is always a sign it was a good show.

Danske poeten Henrik Nordbrandt har “hyllat” november så här:

Året har 16 månader: november, december, januari, februari, mars, april, maj, juni, juli, augusti, september, oktober, november, november, november, november.

Min hyllning är en rykande färsk spellista för Spotify. Som garanterat räcker alla november ut.

Klicka här: La Cienega – Folk & Rock – Nov. 2009

**bit of a multiple personality-esque post…just how it goes sometimes..**

I’m a music head… and I don’t mean it like some tatted up hipster you meet at a show (you know who you are—shut your face and listen to the performer…your friends  in billysburg don’t care what show you’re at)….anyway…it all started back when I was 8 and my folks bought my twin bro and I a Steinway baby grand for hannukah.

A whole lotta things changed after that. My piano teacher, Bertha F. Lang, was a legendary pianist (who never let you forget it). While I was under her tutelage for only 9 years, her lessons still (loudly) ring in my head to this day. She taught me how to hear music. She gave me written,  take home assignments (in addition to 2 hr/daily practice) that other kids didn’t have to do with their other teachers (this went on for 9 years). And of course, being the ever-loving unrepentant radical child that I was, I gave her a ton of pushback when it came to putting in this ‘extra’ work. But in my typical bratty fashion, I dragged my feet and did the work anyway. Little did I know then, she was planting the seeds for not only how I breakdown and listen to music today, but how I deal with authority and tackle uncomfortable stuff in my life.

I think about her more often than not. I am grateful for the fact that I can still sit down and tear up some Chopin (or at least read it and then teach myself how to find my way back to it once again)….or hear a melody walking down the street. There are certain pieces that still bring me to my knees as though I’m hearing them for the first time all those years ago….she taught me through (strictly) teaching the classics and in-turn, trained my ear to respect and hear the present and everything else in between.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I chose to slip into that slight diatribe on my musical upbringing to discuss MY new favorite fall show, GLEE!

BRILLIANT! Someone @ Fox deserves a raise.

Yes, of course, who doesn’t love Christopher Guests’ funny lady, Jane Lynch..she’s HIGHlarious. But on a more impressive note, when was the last time the majority of a TV ensemble were legit thespians?? It takes way more talent to be a stage actor than tv/film and this show is bridging that gap. Jocks and musical theatre heads unite!

What rules most about the show is its dead-on portrayal of the campy absurdity of how these glee/theater club types really are in high school. Driven, idealistic, sycophantic.

It would be remiss of me not to add that  my skin still crawls at the thought of the old glee club/theater club director at my high school (RHS, figure it out). He was no Mr. Schue..and all the hs rejection  probably prematurely threw me into a life of drugs & scandal (insert frowny face here) – I kid.  If you’re not anti-television (like a good little shit talker), you should tune in.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I finally got my hands on the new Mountain Goats album,

so far, so good. I continue to really dig these guys. John Darnielle is one of the last few touring musicians around who is a true wordsmith. He’s a writer that thas taken on many different narratives from album to album. Each track on this new album (The Life of the World to Come) is inspired by a single verse of the christian bible…which, for my jewish ass, is an education. I’m really looking forward to these guys coming through dallas in the next few weeks. Get your tickets here.

See you at the ROCK show. Oh…Drive By Truckers play HOB (house of blues) Dallas tomorrow night.

LET THERE BE ROCK! Fingers crossed that they play it!

Our gorgeous 13 year old son went to Sydney to sing in the Schools Choral Festival at The Opera House, so my husband and I decided to go to the beach at Byron Bay and enjoy the early morning sunshine.

Unfortunately the northerly winds beat us to it, and even though there was a very strong wind blowing there was still a lot of activity going on: people paddling kayaks furiously against the wind, scuba dive boats going to Julian Rocks, sunbathers, people enjoying a morning walk, desperate surfers – but it was perfect weather for the kite flyer’s!

View of Mt Warning and Border Ranges from Cape Byron Walking Track - Kayaks in foreground

We decided to park at Wategoes Beach at the bottom of The Cape, and take the Cape Byron Walking Track and climb uphill to the lighthouse. It’s always nice to be reminded how friendly people are when sharing a beautiful walk and fantastic scenery. It’s like being on holidays for the day – I’d recommend it to anyone!

Sometimes when you are lucky there may be a pod of dolphins frolicking near by, or in the Whale Watching Season you may spot a whale. My legs were in a bit of shock at first, but it was worth the fantastic views and seeing how they’ve improved the track since I last traversed it years ago. The walking track is part of the Cape Byron Headland Reserve. Click here for more information

It used to be a goat track – which reminds me – there are no mountain goats on the headland anymore. Does anyone remember seeing the mountain goats on the steep cliffs years ago. I think they were taken away because they were not environmentally friendly!

For more information about Cape Byron Walking Track click here

Cape Byron Lighthouse

Byron Bay is always a fabulous day out, and take the tip about parking at Wateoges Beach if you prefer to save yourself the $7 fee to park at the lighthouse – and have a good workout too!

To view a travel site about Byron Bay with lovely photos click here

I’m not a particularly religious person, so spinning newest Mountain Goats release The Life for the World to Come brought about some pretty mixed feelings for me. On one hand, I love what I know about the Goats and that bittersweet, edgy sound they offer. On the other, this album is so immersed in Christianity that it can feel a little daunting for a listener not up-to-date on his or her Old Testament.

This is a distinct album, both for the Mountain Goats and for folk-rock in general. Though the Goats have spiritual ties in previous albums, there’s none so blatant as here, with each track named after a Bible passage and religious references sometimes phrase for phrase right out of the texts.

These songs are the summations of the past few years of Darnielle’s life and how he has reacted to his share of the deaths and challenges and beauties. He turned to the Bible to seek what he needed and in turn created this album, sincere and reflective and, honestly, deeply soothing.  These are songs about looking forward and transcending spiritually, and his comfort in this music is seeps out to the listener.

A seven-year fan of the band and friend of mine suggested looking up the biblical passages in correlation with the songs. As previously stated, I am not what anyone would call a practicing Catholic, but curious, I dug out a Bible and settled into the album.

Some might be skeptical of such a pious CD. I know I certainly was at first take. Stylistically, this album still has everything all walks of Goats fans love. Darnielle’s storytelling is as spot on as ever, with vivid descriptions of witches hiding in the bramble and hearing angels in the last days of life.

Life of the World opens with mood-setter “1 Samuel 15:23,” a barebones acoustic track that exemplifies Darnielle’s subtleties as a musician as he sings as a sought-after, generous holy man who advises to plant grapes in the netherworld.

One of more rocking tracks on the album, “Psalms 40:2,” is a song about being saved and traveling on again with spirit.  “He brought me up also out of an horrible put, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings,” reads the passage in my $5 King James translation. “He has fixed his sign in the sky,” sings Darnielle in righteous intensity. “He has raised me from the pit and made me high.”

In “Genesis 3:23” Darnielle sees a home he can no longer go back to, paralleling the casting out of Eden from the Book of Genesis. Though some of his songs blatantly compare his story with the religious counterparts, others are trickier to sort through.

The CD as a whole may be softer than previous releases, but many of the tracks have the feel of the quieter tracks on Heretic Pride with a piano-driven, lighter (note: musically, not content-wise) sound. For the first few listens, if not forever, there is a necessary pause, a lapse in action to just listen and appreciate the intricacies of the lyrics.

The stronger tracks burst forth from the overall slow pulse of the album. I would not call the The Life monotonous by any stretch, but the instrumentation and simple vocal styling becomes a murmur of sound in the back of your mind if you don’t stay completely focused on the CD. It’s beautiful, of that there is no question. But it’s not flashy, and its inconspicuousness may be its downfall for less-than-devout Goats fans who need something a little grittier to hold their attention.

“Mathew 25:21” is about Darnielle’s mother-in-law who has passed on, and also about car wrecks and plane crashes and the unimaginable pains of losing somebody despite a belief in what comes next. It’s his mastery of the craft of lyrical composition that pulls this all together so poignantly. And this is what makes this album worthy of praise.

And so goes the album. It’s not what I expected from the Mountain Goats, but it fits and it works and it appeals to some markedly different part of me than what I thought it would. The fun, stubborn, going-down-fighting tracks that got me through the first two years of college have transformed to heartrending songs that, really, make me want to go to church again.

It’s a serious listen, but it’s worth the soul searching for the caliber of music created here. Even if you aren’t the churchgoing type, The Life of the World to Come is still a solid bet in the world of the Mountain Goats. It may not be musical fodder for parties, and it may not replace Heretic Pride in your catalogue, but it will make you appreciate the world around you a little more than before.

–Liz

Stars are visible in Pottstown tonight (!!) A doe & two fawn crossed through my headlights only to collide with the swing set near the entrance of my neighborhood. Now, I’m at home, waiting for my herbal tea to steep, hoping that I can get some sleep before going to breakfast with Jamie & Kristen in the morning.

I feel fake grown up today. I have a horizontal drivers license on which I am wearing pearl earrings. I’ve had the Louise Gluck poem– “Here are My Black Clothes”– beating through my head all day (nothing relevant), as I paid too much for new black shoes, a black wool sweater. I own my first purse that shines, that doesn’t brag a skull or polka dots. Luckily it is filled with my knit kid gloves

to warm the naked lady ring, which is suddenly missing. I can’t remember which bathroom I left it in. I don’t want suburbia, you can have that, but the stars are nice, as are the deer & the friends who have help me through hundreds of wine bottles of winter depressions

who have watched me pretend to dislike baseball, even as I watch it. Devised a way to deal with my overanalysis when I can’t stop myself.

Tonight Kristen said this Christmas will have to be different, that we have to find a way to keep me happy– perhaps its premature to be concerned (of course it is!) & this is a year for breaking patterns

for all of my siblings. So adult, so fatherless, finding similar paths to sustainable happiness. At the mall today, my brother suggested he might want to meditate for the next few years, become some kind of non-Christian minister or life coach– he has grown into someone so admirable, & I love when we’re at home at the same time & can hear him play the guitar from upstairs.

& I have also been listening to the Mountain Goats The Life of the World to Come (by Grace’s recommendation !) & I can’t stop thinking about that phrase out of the context of prayer: & the life of the world to come. Amen. Fresh beauty to it when it stands alone. & mystery, mystery as faith intended (maybe?)

Also, videos of Flemish giant rabbits. & the Phillies…

…my hair smells delicious right now. I love haircuts, scalp massages when my sinuses are throbbing.

This tea is good for sleeping. I miss Devin this evening–  it’s specifically him I want to cuddle with, his ribs I want to tap like a xylophone…

I love this poem…I’m not sure if I ever want to feel this way again:

Joie:  ho hum. work shmirk. sick and tired. etc.

outfit details: polyester black and white 4 leaf clover dress is vintage; blue tights are hue; blue jade necklace was bought at a street fair when i lived in the czech republic; blue plastic bracelet is by guess; black suede fur-lined booties are michael kors and damn, those things are so comfortable it’s akin to wearing bunny slippers at the office.

song inspiration: ‘this year’ by the mountain goats – freakin. love. this. band.  they play lofi punk.  or maybe angry folk, i don’t know.  but anyway, this song personifies feeling beaten into submission with your only refuge being your stereo and your defiant fists challenging the universe for what it’s thrown at you. the brilliant album it’s found on, the sunset tree, is my go-to for when i am feeling a bit down and draggy and not myself.  and check out the blood running down john darnielle’s face in this video.  blood running down face = pretty cool.

Tickets were scarce for this evening of sublime and twisted songwriting, we sent photographer Minh Le along to capture the performances.

Sondre Lerche

John Darnielle (Mountain Goats)

by jason

In discussing The Mountain Goats’ biblically-themed album The Life of the World to Come, appropriately enough, I feel I should confess a few things. First of all, I am a hard-core, take-no-prisoners fan of the Goats. When I got to meet John Darnielle, Praised Be His Name, I was so start struck that I cut the conversation short rather than make an ass out of myself. Secondly, I am not a Christian, and Christian Contemporary Music, or actually, any contemporary religious music, annoys the piss out of me.

These two facts should, I think, cancel each other out and allow me a relatively unbiased review. I hope.

So…the album. I remember reading the review that Under the Radar gave the album, and I thought to myself, “those pretentious pricks gave the album 5 out of ten ‘blips’ because it’s a religiously-themed album.” Then, I received the album on vinyl through the mail, and I listened to it eagerly the first chance I got. And, unfortunately, I have to agree with those “pricks.”

It’s not a bad album. Really, it’s not. It’s just…bland. On the first few listens, I really hoped that it was not the themes of the album that bugged me, and I hoped that, taking into account my disappointment in 2007’s Heretic Pride that has been slowly growing since I got over the initial hype, I wasn’t becoming That Guy. You know…the one who says “Yeah, they’re good, but their early stuff, from before you heard of them, was better.”

Neither is the case. I’ve put my finger on what bothers me the most. The Goats have in the past made their reputation with their edgy, sarcastic lyrics, sometimes set to music that contradicts the meaning. That’s what is missing from this album…the edge.

I mean, Darnielle seems, for the most part, happy on this album. Don’t get me wrong; I won’t begrudge someone for being happy. I’m not That Guy either. But there’s a point where this optimism ceases to be uplifting and just becomes boring.

It’s not all disappointing. I am a sucker for a concept album, and the concept here is that these are things Darnielle has learned from the Bible. Interesting concept? Check. Also, this album feels like an album, rather than a collection of songs, like the aforementioned Heretic Pride (and I know that was also technically a concept album, but it didn’t feel like one…). So as a whole, it has those things going for it.

Also, some of these songs are beautiful. “1 Samuel 15:23” is great, and would have also sounded at home on the Black Pear Tree EP (An awesome EP, btw). “Psalms 40:2,” which they performed on The Colbert Report, is as edgy as the group gets on this album. “Genesis 30:3” is probably my favorite track, is almost heartbreakingly beautiful, as is the final track, “Ezikiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace.”

The main problem is that the other songs, for the most part, seem like bland, adult contemporary stuff. Especially the not-so-blatantly-religious “Genesis 3:23,” which just rubs me entirely the wrong way, from the repeated “I used to live here” chorus to that annoying keyboard riff. It might be my least favorite Mountain Goats song.

So, my recommendation? If you are a fan of The Mountain Goats, give it a listen. If you like Christian Contemporary, try this album. If you have never heard the Mountain Goats, pick up Tallahassee, The Sunset Tree, or, if you are lucky enough to find a copy, All Hail West Texas. But don’t let The Life of the World to Come be your first exposure to the Mountain Goats, unless this album really sounds like it’s your thing.

5.5 out of ten stars.

John Darnielle is not a rock star.  Bespectacled, middle-aged, unrepentantly unremarkable in appearance, he has forged his reputation without recourse to fancy tricks.  He’s not even a great musician – his guitar style is very simple, he misses chord changes, his piano-playing is far from flub-free.  No, the reason Darnielle has a sold out Ruby Lounge singing almost every word of most of his songs back at him is the quality of his writing.

Once he twigs that his devotees can sing Up The Wolves just as well as he can, he laughs, pulls away from he mic and lets them do it.  Afterwards, smiling, he says, ‘I used to dream that maybe if I became a good songwriter, British people would sing my song back to me in a pub’.

Obviously whip-smart, Darnielle’s frenetic rhythm guitar and intensely rapped vocal is matched by a hugely enjoyable line in banter. Tonight, he fits in plenty of older numbers for the hardcore fans, as well as a selection from the excellent new album, The Light of the World to Come.  His total command of his audience means he’s able to deliver the brilliant, high-tempo relationship-breakdown blast No Children alongside the difficult, tender, genuinely moving Matthew 25:21, a song that manages to address losing a loved one to cancer without sounding trite, histrionic or schmaltzy.  This song, more than any other aired tonight, reveals the depth of intelligence and emotion behind the writing.

Darnielle’s more extrovert, splenetic side is hugely entertaining and has gained him his ultra-loyal band of followers, but the sheer class of the songwriting on Life of the World to Come serves notice that he is an artist in his prime, deserving of a much wider following.  For now though, it’s just extremely encouraging to see such a literate, unconventional and brave songwriter connecting with a fanbase that makes up its lack of numbers with the bookish ardour of its faith.

After another song is delivered back to Darnielle by the fans without a missed lyric, he stops and says, ‘you guys are obviously way awesome’.

It could have been stagecraft, but I think he genuinely meant it.

Link to free mp3 download of Genesis 3:23 from the new album – which could well the best free download anyone gives you this year.

so the Mountain Goats were on Colbert last week. my internet connection at school is too slow for me to post it, but I’m home for the weekend so here it is!

John Darnielle and Colbert are too cute together. my favorite line: “Who is God to mess with the free market?” oh Colbert, you get me every time. (did I mention one of my majors is Econ?)

also featured: why the band is named the mountain goats, John Darnielle getting called arty, and John Darnielle’s crazy performing face.

The new album uses the titular Bible passages as the merest inspiration, a canvas upon which Darnielle paints very contemporary–yet timeless–portraits of grief, despair, resignation…and inexplicable faith, hope, and love. An example of this is the bouncy “Genesis 3:23″ in which the original verse (”therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken”) provides a proper motif for a more contemporary exile story of a man who breaks into the house where he grew up to confront the ghosts he has carried with him since he left.

Break the lock on my own garden gate
When I get home after dark
Sit looking up at the stars outside
Like teeth in the mouth of a shark

Continue reading….

PREVIEW: Download Animal Collective’s “Brother Sport” MP3.

Both Stereogum and Pitchfork commented today on Animal Collective’s latest plans, namely a random, coverless album that’s cropped up on Amazon.com. It’s called Fall Be Kind and is available for pre-order for a mere $11.83. Currently that’s all that anyone knows about the release. In other news, the experimental film that the band’s been working is nearly ready for release. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Best Albums of the Year So Far]

Stereogum also premiered a new Ida Maria video today. Ida Maria re-released her song “Oh My God” from the album Fortress Round My Heart, this time with vocals from the legendary Iggy Pop. Stereogum took issue with Iggy Pop’s baritone vocals supporting acts like Jemina Pearl, Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and The BPA, not to mention on his own jazzy releases. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Iggy and The Stooges Get Nommed]

Did you miss the Mountain Goats on “The Colbert Report” last night?  Watch their performance of “Psalms 40:2″ here on Colbert’s website. Colbert had a field day with the Mountain Goats’ biblically inspired latest album, The Life of the World to Come. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: 20 Watts Reviews The Mountain Goats’ The Life of the World to Come]

For all the European Pavement fans out there disappointed by their NYC reunion, do not fret.  Pavement are scheduled to headline All Tomorrow’s Parties on May 14-16 in Minehead, England, Pitchfork reports.  [Previous 20 Watts Coverage: Editor’s Pick #180: Pavement’s Reunion]

Brooklyn’s own Viva Radio has announced the release of a compilation including the likes of The Dandy Warhols, Jay Reatard,The Fiery Furnaces, Growing, Amazing Baby, and Sebastien Tellier, reports Filter. Entitled The Best of Me + You Vol. 1, the album was recorded between 2007 and 2009 in their Brooklyn studios and will include interviews and songs from some of the station’s guests. To make the offer even more enticing, the disc is available for purchase along with a limited edition Me + You t-shirt. We’re sold!

Filter also reports that Berkeley-based indie rockers the Morning Benders will play several shows with Grizzly Bear and Girls during their Fall tour. The Benders hooked up with Grizzly Bear on the production of their latest album, Big Echo, which was  co-producer by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. The album is set to drop in March 2010 on +1 Records. [Previous 20 Watts Coverage:Editor's Pick #172: Grizzly Bear's "While You Wait For The Others" (Feat. Michael McDonald)]

– 20 Watts Staff

If my prayer be not humble make it so
In these last hours if the Spirit waits in check help me let it go
And should my suffering double let me never love You less
Let every knee be bent, and every tongue confess

And I won’t get better but someday I’ll be free
‘Cause I am not this body that imprisons me

I read the magazines somebody brought
Hold them to my failing eyes until my hands get hot
And when the nurse comes in to change my sheets and clothes
The pain begins to travel, dancing as it goes

And I won’t get better but someday I’ll be free
‘Cause I am not this body that imprisons me

If my prayer goes unanswered that’s alright
If my path fills with darkness and there is no sign of light
Let me praise You for the good times, let me hold Your banner high
Until the hills are flattened and the rivers all run dry

And I won’t get better but someday I’ll be free
‘Cause I am not this body that imprisons me

The Mountain Goats fortsätter att välja oväntade vägar i sitt skapande. På nya albumet The Life of the World to Come som släpptes igår är det den smala vägen som gäller. För efter temaalbum om drogmissbruk och långa sångcykler om orter ger bergsgetterna oss denna gång tolv bibelcitat i indiefolktappning. Hur ett bibelcitat som Samuel 15:23 eller Ezekiel 7 korrelerar till låtarna med samma namn är jag fel man att svara på. Men vackert är det.