The Mountain Goats

Happy election day friends! I hope all of you Americans above the age of consent performed your civic duty today! In honor of that, I prepared a very special post for you.

I have been a fan of The Mountain Goats now for many years it would seem. The first time I ever heard them was in 1995, I had just moved into the dorms and my friend Maggie played me Beautiful Rat Sunset. I'm still not quite sure what that is supposed to mean, but I was immediately hooked.

It wasn't until the summer of 1997 that I finally got to see him play, at Yo-Yo A Go-Go in Olympia. I fell asleep during Mecca Normal (it had been a long couple of days) but woke up just in time to see John Darnielle begin playing. I was pretty stoked.

I saw him again right after I moved to New York. It was pretty amazing to be in a tiny room and see The Mountain Goats followed by The Extra Glenns -- a sold out show that I was somehow able to sneak into.

My old roommate Lindsay and I went to see him play again at The Village Underground a few years later. Apparently people were getting pissed at me because I was drunk and responding to the things John was shouting at the crowd. How dare I?

You might be interested to know that it was initially "Treetop Song" that put the idea in my head to move away from California. A very powerful song indeed.

I have accumulated quite a substantial portion of The Mountain Goats discography over the years, but I thought this selection would be appropriate. I didn't feel like digitizing all the singles when they are otherwise available, perhaps someday if someone is interested in investing some money in my time I would be willing to do that. For now you can listen to two early cassettes that for some reason have never been reissued (I walked into Amoeba one day and they were just there, unbelievable as it may sound), as well as the three very much out of print Yo-Yo 12"s.

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, The Mountain Goats.

The Hound Chronicles (Shrimper)

1. The Garden Song
2. Going To Wisconsin
3. Spiriting Toward Alpha
4. Alpha Negative
5. The Torch Song
6. שקט
7. The Cow Song
8. Untitled
9. Going To Chino
10. Standard Bitter Love Song #4
11. Going To Mexico
12. Lab Rat Blues
13. Going To Kansas
14. The Water Song
15. Going To Spain
16. Keep It On Your Mind






Hot Garden Stomp (Shrimper)

1. Pure Milk
2. Ice Blue
3. Water Song II
4. Sun Song
5. Going To Japan
6. Are You Cleaning Off The Stone?
7. The Hot Garden Stomp
8. Love Hymn To Aphrodite
9. Beach House
10. Hello There Howard
11. Going To Norwalk
12. Fresh Cherries In Trinidad
13. Feed This End
14. 15-1
15. Thanks For The Dress
16. Tell Me On A Sunday






New Asian Cinema (Yo-Yo)

1. Cao Dai Blowout
2. Korean Bird Paintings
3. Narakaloka
4. Golden Jackal Song
5. Treetop Song

















Isopanisad Radio Hour (Yo-Yo)

1. Abide With Me
2. Born Ready
3. Cobscook Bay
4. Dutch Orchestra Blues
5. Pseudothyrum Song
6. The Last Limit Of Bhakti
















Devil In The Shortwave (Yo-Yo)

1. Crows
2. Genesis 19:1-2
3. Yoga
4. Dirty Old Town
5. Commandante