Current Events > The Mountain Goats/JD appreciation topic

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Fuck it, I'm getting drunk in my back room, here's a Mountain Goats topic.

The songs I like the most from The Mountain Goats are always gonna be tied to Moral Orel one way or another. I got my fill of No Children as a kid, but Old College Try has stood the test of time - and infinite replays - and I think it deserves a lot more credit. Everything about it - as a song acknowledging the failure of your relationship, where the singer nonetheless vows to take that relationship to its twisted, wicked end - is incredible.

https://youtu.be/1sXTLkjF8bI
The most emotionally resonant song in my life is an unreleased track called From TG&Y. I've never been all that grimy, hanging out under bridges and huffing spraypaint and the like, but I know how it feels to have any potential dreams crushed before you ever get a chance to act on them. There's this focus on living around people and circumstances you can't escape from, and trying to hold onto what little goodness you have before you let it all get taken away.

https://youtu.be/wRc9BNJmXwk
One of my favorite Mountain Goats songs is Your Belgian Things, and I don't think I really grasp the meaning behind it. I think it's about a person left in the wake of their partner's suicide. Lines like "I guess, I guess / but Jesus what a mess / one way in, no way out" and "there's guys in biohazard suits / mud caking on their rubber boots / they're trying to keep your pretty things from danger" suggest that whatever happened and however the narrator is going about it, something has gone awfully wrong.

That, combined with the fact that John Danielle sings about the subject of the song fondly, makes me think he's narrating the aftermath of a suicide committed by someone he loves. It doesn't help that he evokes the name of a deceased friend when he sings it live.
https://youtu.be/DCSpyMJRnNQ

The first hi-fi Mountain Goats record was produced by John Danielle and Franklin Bruno. Tallahassee is such a unique beast because neither Peter Hughes or Jon Wurster had joined the band yet - it was John and Franklin Bruno. Over the years, I've reconciled his hi-fi production with his lo-fi recordings beforehand, and I think how Tallahassee varies from his later albums is in the band he uses. There's a lot of that early indie structure mixed with some masterful production.

My understanding is that every post-Tallahassee album involves the rest of the band - Peter Hughes joins the band on the album after this, and Jon Wurster joins later on around Life of the World to Come. But Tallahassee - an opus according to some - is John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno.

Some fans don't know this, but John Danielle and Franklin Bruno have an entirely separate project together that they dig out every now and again. They perform as The Extra Glenns, with their last RP being credited to The Extra Lens.

I wanted to bring attention to this because their music has a very uniquely touching sound to it compared to the Mountain Goats. There's a brashness and experimental quality to some of it, some really catchy riffs and fun sounds like in this song:

https://youtu.be/OCvxGd9bJpg
And there's the same gentle-sounding social commentary that defines some of John's most well-known work, backed up with some biting social commentary and interpersonal complexity in the narrator of the music. This song about amateur wrestling to stay alive, produced years before Beat the Champ came out from The Mountain Goats, is one of the most touching songs in John Darnielle's back-catalogue.

https://youtu.be/1NFtOMEa__Q

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The only one of theirs that I know is Up The Wolves, but I like that one. Been meaning to listen to more for ages.

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Tom Clark posted...

The only one of theirs that I know is Up The Wolves, but I like that one. Been meaning to listen to more for ages.

Oh boy, the album that comes off of is a treat.

There's a song called No Children that captures a similar revolutionary tone, like "I'm gonna throw this out and I'm gonna seize control of the narrative and every wrong that has been committed against me". Except No Children is a self-destruction anthem, whereas Up the Wolves is more of a vengeance song about getting one up over the people who made you feel so small in the past.

You might also like the song Damn These Vampires, but that's just me.

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TMG is my favorite band and so many of their songs have a deep personal meaning to me that there are entire sections of their catalog that I cannot listen to regularly because they make me get so melancholy. Particularly the latter half of The Sunset Tree but especially Love Love Love

https://youtu.be/Qv3-vANWwcU


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l HOPE YOU DIE
I HOPE WE BOTH DIE

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MrMallard posted...

Oh boy, the album that comes off of is a treat.

There's a song called No Children that captures a similar revolutionary tone, like "I'm gonna throw this out and I'm gonna seize control of the narrative and every wrong that has been committed against me". Except No Children is a self-destruction anthem, whereas Up the Wolves is more of a vengeance song about getting one up over the people who made you feel so small in the past.

You might also like the song Damn These Vampires, but that's just me.

I'll check them out, thanks for the recommendations.

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Didnt they do music for Moral Orel?

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ultimate reaver posted...

TMG is my favorite band and so many of their songs have a deep personal meaning to me that there are entire sections of their catalog that I cannot listen to regularly because they make me get so melancholy. Particularly the latter half of The Sunset Tree but especially Love Love Love

https://youtu.be/Qv3-vANWwcU

Or of my favorite tmg songs ever is Pale Green Things. The way it finishes the album, the way it recontextualizes the entire thing and the weird hollow feeling you get when you hear that his stepfather died te December before this album was recorded - it's unmatched as an album closer.

I agree completely on your feelings regarding the latter half of The Sunset Tree. Song for Dennis Brown, Love Love Love and Dinu Lupatti's Bones are probably my favorite Sunset Tree songs next to Pale Green Things, and it's an incredibly strong lineup to that final song.

In recent years I've found this live radio recording where John lays out some of his feelings on love and how they relate to his stepfather before he plays Love Love Love. And I find myself agreeing with him - that the Greek interpretation of love, which is of this wild destructive force which can and will destroy a lot of goodness to reach its end goal of being recognised and expressed, is worth considering as opposed to the Romantic ideal of love as a good, kind and benevolent force.

https://youtu.be/jxfPXp9IEMo

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fan357 posted...

Didnt they do music for Moral Orel?

They did:

https://youtu.be/JNuU3_wnpmg

I can't find where they play Old College Try on YouTube, but they use that song and Love Love Love in the third season.

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I don't have much to write right now, but Goats are one of my favorite bands and is my wife's all time favorite.

We have pretty much everything in vinyl aside from Zopilote Machine, which I'm planning on getting her for her birthday or Christmas this year.

I've probably seen them more than any other band/artist, the only other one that I may have seen more would be John Vanderslice. I'm assuming you already are familiar with him from their work together. Moon Colony Bloodbath is the jewel of my record collection.

It's hard to pick out a single album as a favorite. All Eternals Deck is a really good one for me. If I'm being honest with myself though, it's probably Sunset Tree. It's the album that hot me into them and the only album that I could recite every word of no problem. I think Pale Green Things is one of the first songs to ever make me cry.

Heel Turn 2 and Damn These Vampires go back and forth as my favorite bstand alone track. And Sax Rohmer. And Lovecraft In Brooklyn. And Broom People. And Oceanographers Choice....and....you get it.

I met John in an empty staircase once before a concert. I didn't know what to say. So I just said "Thanks" and kept walking and he said "Thank you too". And that was that.

I guess I had more to write than I thought.
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JlM posted...

I don't have much to write right now, but Goats are one of my favorite bands and is my wife's all time favorite.

We have pretty much everything in vinyl aside from Zopilote Machine, which I'm planning on getting her for her birthday or Christmas this year.

I've probably seen them more than any other band/artist, the only other one that I may have seen more would be John Vanderslice. I'm assuming you already are familiar with him from their work together. Moon Colony Bloodbath is the jewel of my record collection.

It's hard to pick out a single album as a favorite. All Eternals Deck is a really good one for me. If I'm being honest with myself though, it's probably Sunset Tree. It's the album that hot me into them and the only album that I could recite every word of no problem. I think Pale Green Things is one of the first songs to ever make me cry.

Heel Turn 2 and Damn These Vampires go back and forth as my favorite bstand alone track. And Sax Rohmer. And Lovecraft In Brooklyn. And Broom People. And Oceanographers Choice....and....you get it.

I met John in an empty staircase once before a concert. I didn't know what to say. So I just said "Thanks" and kept walking and he said "Thank you too". And that was that.

I guess I had more to write than I thought.

That's pretty awesome. I've only seen him once, being Australian restricts my access to my favorite artists, but it was a great show. The played lien three or four songs from Goths a couple months before it came out.

There really is such a wide berth of content to take to in regards to the Mountain Goats. Songs of all types and moods. I hope you get that Zopolite Machine vinyl for the missus.

Just wanted to post this Moral Orel AMV - not Mountain Goats relatedz bit probably one of the most enduring pieces of fan content I've ever seen.

https://youtu.be/OokJP_c2cCw

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For a while I was a little bummed that I didn't make a better effort to talk to him, but a couple of years later I actually saw him again, literally in the same stairwell.

But this time there was another fan in front of me. He started bowing to John and really freaking out, and John, visibly uncomfortable, kept begging the guy to stop. I felt relieved that my interaction was simple.

Also, if you haven't listened to the I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats podcast, I recommend it, although I assume you have. The vinyl pressing of the songs from it is one of the crispest, clearest, best sounding records I have.

They played a really heavy version of Family Happiness at one show that sticks out on my brain. I've asked John if they could do it again but he doesn't really recall what I mean. Kind of a bummer. I occasionally look in hopes of finding a bootleg of that show.

No Children, while not our actual wedding song, was one of the first songs played at our reception and and resulted in some very confused faces. Lol.
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Is it just a coincidence that they have a new album out tomorrow?

anyway yeah they rule

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JlM posted...

No Children, while not our actual wedding song, was one of the first songs played at our reception and and resulted in some very confused faces. Lol.

we love that song but found it a little too wedding inappropriate so we scoured their discography and came up with Going to Port Washington which we had on our cocktail hour playlist

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IfdfcvC8yQo

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TheGoldenEel posted...

Is it just a coincidence that they have a new album out tomorrow?

anyway yeah they rule

I knew Dark In Here was coming out, but not that it was coming out tomorrow. I'm just drunk and sad.

JlM posted...

For a while I was a little bummed that I didn't make a better effort to talk to him, but a couple of years later I actually saw him again, literally in the same stairwell.

But this time there was another fan in front of me. He started bowing to John and really freaking out, and John, visibly uncomfortable, kept begging the guy to stop. I felt relieved that my interaction was simple.

Yeah, I sent some very... ehh messages to his Tumblr account once upon a time. I think for me, it was that he was able to capture that self loathing and desire to die. I got way too chummy with the serious themes of his works.

It's for the best. Our experiences and values vary from our favorites artists more than we think, and it's probably a better decision to interface with the music as opposed with trying to impart our own shit onto our favorite artists. That's a degree to which the believe that "death of the author" is a reasonable stance, but it doesn't apply universally.

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TheGoldenEel posted...

we love that song but found it a little too wedding inappropriate so we scoured their discography and came up with Going to Port Washington which we had on our cocktail hour playlist

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IfdfcvC8yQo

Oh man, that's a good deep cut.

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Btw tc have you ever listened to the Front Bottoms

they dont sound exactly alike (definitely more pop punk leaning) but they share a lot of similar qualities and I like them for a lot of the same reasons

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2QcyoYnoVqE

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-1rzsT2t2YY

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YxZ5B1lVXPc

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I drank nearly a whole bottle of gin last night, all I had left was a glass I didn't drink before I went to bed.

I wasn't expecting to like as many of the music recs in this topic as I did.

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MrMallard posted...

You might also like the song Damn These Vampires, but that's just me.

Such a good song.

Lately Ive been listening to the Ballad of Bull Ramos: https://youtu.be/fRZHsqvoJMM

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Last bump, I'm farting around at home listening to a Mountain Goats playlist

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