The Mountain Goats...

[vi5]

I had always avoided this band (actually just one guy I think) since I thought they were in the vein of that ridiculously contrived sub genre of indie rock hipsters appropriating the sounds of rural appalachian music or something similar. I have no use for any of the Will Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Prince whatever offshoots, nor for the Dan Fogleberg-esque light rock of Iron and Wine.

But The Mountain Goats only seem to share a basic format with the aforementioned, which is an acoustic guitar and vocals. But Darnielle(sp?)'s music sound much more modern and urgent and the lyrics much more sarcastic and biting. He's almost more like a lo-fi American version of Billy Bragg. I'm glad I gave them a second listen and overcame my preconceived notions.

[RandomKoolzip]

1. Yeah, they're (he's) great.

I got into them in 1996, when Cool Beans magazine gave away a flexi disc of two MG songs. I liked them, and managed to find "Sweden" and "Hot Gardening Stomp," both of which are classics.

In recent years, I think Darnielle's muse has been quietly walking away, but at his peak circa 1996 ("Izquintli-Totzli Days," "Are You Cleaning Off the Stove,") you could easily call him a genius without being ironic. Plus he was so prolific, he actually gave R. Pollard a run for his money, which was cool. I still love those early Mountain Goats recs, but haven't bought anything new by him in a few years; the things I heard recently on the radio weren't as soaked with inspiration as the "boom-box" days.

[vi5]

2. Actually I like the better production....

It's still mostly him and his guitar but without the tape hiss. Since I just recently got into him I'm not as stuck on the lo-fi thing as some. But either way, he's got some great songs and much the same as with Pollard, I think they benefit from actually being able to be heard and fully realized as opposed to half finished thoughts put to tape out of necessity.