The Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats
Background information
Origin	California, USA
Years active	1991 – Present

The Mountain Goats is the name of American singer-songwriter John Darnielle's long-running musical project. Darnielle began recording in 1991, and has become known for his highly literary lyrics and, until 2002, his lo-fi recording style.

History

Darnielle began performing under the name The Mountain Goats (a reference to the Screaming Jay Hawkins song "Big Yellow Coat") in 1991 in Claremont, California, where he attended Pitzer College and worked as a psychiatric nurse. Darnielle released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, on Shrimper Records. Many of his first recordings and performances featured Darnielle accompanied by members of the all-girl reggae band, The Casual Girls, who became known as The Bright Mountain Choir. One of this group's members, Rachel Ware, continued to accompany Darnielle on bass, both live and in studio until 1995.

The first five years of The Mountain Goats' career saw a prolific output of songs on cassette, vinyl and CD. These releases spanned multiple labels and countries of origin; many were unavailable to the majority of fans until recent reissues.

The focus of The Mountain Goats project was on the urgency of writing (Brown, "Sermon on the Mount", June, 1999.). If a song wasn’t recorded adequately to tape within days of being written it was often forgotten.

Darnielle graduated from Pitzer College in 1995. Most of what could be considered classic Mountain Goats conventions (boom-box recording, song series, Latin quotes, and mythological themes) were abandoned in favor of a more thematically focused and experimental sound. This period was marked by Darnielle's collaborations with other artists including Alastair Galbraith and Simon Joyner.

2002 saw the release of two Mountain Goats albums: All Hail West Texas and Tallahassee. These albums mark a distinct change in focus for the Mountain Goats project, being the first in a series of concept albums that explore aspects of The Mountain Goats' canon in depth.

All Hail West Texas featured the resurrection of Darnielle's early boom box recording for a complete album. Darnielle considers this album to be the culmination of his lo-fi recording style.

Tallahassee, recorded with a band and in a studio, explores the relationship of a couple whose lives were the subject of the song cycle known as the Alpha Series (see Alpha Series below for a full list of songs in this cycle).

Martial Arts Weekend, also released in 2002 under the band name The Extra Glenns, is a collaboration with Franklin Bruno on several previously unreleased Mountain Goats songs. Since that recording, Bruno has joined Darnielle in the studio along with bassist Peter Hughes, who is the second official member of the band and accompanies Darnielle on tour. These three musicians form what may be considered the Mountain Goats studio band.

In 2004 The Mountain Goats released We Shall All Be Healed. The album marked a couple of changes for The Mountain Goats. It was the first time Darnielle worked with producer John Vanderslice and the first album of directly autobiographical material. We Shall All Be Healed chronicles Darnielle's life with a group of friends and acquaintances addicted to Methamphetamine in Portland, Oregon, though the album is set in Pomona, California.

In 2005 The Mountain Goats released their second Vanderslice-produced album, The Sunset Tree. Again autobiographical, Darnielle tackles the subject of his early childhood spent with an abusive stepfather. Darnielle had previously dealt with this subject in what he often refers to as the only autobiographical song he had written before 2004, the unreleased song "You're in Maya."

In 2006 The Mountain Goats issued Get Lonely, which was produced by Scott Solter, a man perhaps best known for his engineering work with Vanderslice on various projects, including prior Mountain Goats records.

Discography

Albums

• Taboo VI: The Homecoming - cassette (Shrimper, 1991)
• The Hound Chronicles - cassette (Shrimper, 1992)
• Hot Garden Stomp - cassette (Shrimper, 1993)
• Zopilote Machine - CD (Ajax, 1994), CD/LP (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
• Sweden - CD/LP (Shrimper, 1995)
• Hail, and Farewell Gothenburg - (Unreleased, 1995)
• Nothing for Juice - CD/LP (Ajax, 1996), CD (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
• Full Force Galesburg - CD/LP (Emperor Jones, 1997)
• The Coroner's Gambit - CD/LP (Absolutely Kosher, 2000)
• All Hail West Texas - CD (Emperor Jones, 2002)
• Tallahassee - CD (4AD, 2002)
• We Shall All Be Healed - CD/LP (4AD, 2004)
• The Sunset Tree - CD (4AD, 4/26/05)
• Come, Come to the Sunset Tree - limited-edition LP (4AD, 4/26/05)
• Get Lonely - CD - (4AD, 8/22/06)

Singles and EPs

• Songs for Petronius - 7" EP (Shrimper, 1992)
• Transmissions to Horace - cassette EP (Sonic Enemy, 1993)
• Chile de Árbol - 7" EP (Ajax, 1993)
• Taking the Dative - cassette EP (Car in Car, 1994)
• Yam, the King of Crops - cassette EP (Oska, 1994)
• Beautiful Rat Sunset - 10"/CD EP (Shrimper, 1994)
• Philyra - 7" EP (Theme Park, 1994)
• Why You All So Thief? - 7" EP (split with Simon Joyner) (Sing Eunuchs, 1994)
• Orange Raja, Blood Royal - 7" EP (with Alastair Galbraith) (Walt, 1995)
• Songs for Peter Hughes - 7" EP (Sonic Squid, 1995)
• Songs About Fire - 7" EP (Cassiel, 1995)
• Nine Black Poppies - CD EP (Emperor Jones, 1995)
• Jack and Faye - EP (unreleased, 1996)
• Tropical Depression EP - 7" EP (split with Furniture Huschle) (Little Mafia, 1997)
• New Asian Cinema - 1-sided 12" EP (Yoyo, 1998)
• Isopanisad Radio Hour - 1-sided 12" EP (Yoyo, 2000)
• On Juhu Beach - 3" CD EP (Nursecall, 2001)
• Devil in the Shortwave - 1-sided 12" EP (Yoyo, 2002)
• Jam Eater Blues - 7" single (Sub Pop, 2002)
• See America Right - 7"/CD single (4AD, 2002)
• Palmcorder Yajna - 7"/CD single (4AD, 2003)
• Letter from Belgium - 7"/CD single (4AD, 2004)
• Dilaudid EP - Download only EP (4AD, 2005)
• Babylon Springs EP - Australian tour EP (4AD, 2006)

Other compilation appearances

• "Wild Palm City" (aka "Within You, Without You") on Back to the Egg, Asshole - cassette (Shrimper, 1991)
• "The Pieman" (live) on A Munchies Kinda Christmas - cassette (Sonic Enemy, 1992)
• "The Window Song" on Pawnshop Reverb - cassette (Shrimper, 1992)
• "Going to Maine" on Hard Core Acoustic - cassette (Shrimper, 1993)
• "Noche del Guajolote" on I Like Walt - 7" EP (Walt, 1994)
• "Going to Bangor" on You and What Army? - cassette (Sing Eunuchs, 1994)
• "The Window Song" on Abridged Perversion - CD (Shrimper, 1994)
• "Against Agamemnon" on Howl...A Farewell Compilation of Unreleased Songs - CD (Glitterhouse / Zuma, 1994)
• "Rain Song" on I Present This - 7" EP (Union Pole, 1994)
• "Faithless Bacchant Song" on Those Pre-Phylloxera Years - 7" EP (Box Dog Sound, 1994)
• "The Anglo-Saxons" on The Basement Tapes: Life Recordings at KSPC 1989-1995 - LP (KSPC, 1995)
• "Duke Ellington" on The Long Secret - CD (Harriet, 1995)
• "Flight 717: Going to Denmark" and "The Admonishing Song" on Corkscrewed - cassette (Theme Park, 1995)
• "The Last Day of Jimi Hendrix's Life" on Cool Beans#4 7" EP (Cool Beans, 1995)
• "Noctifer Birmingham" on Fast Forward 2 - 2xCD (Brinkman, 1995)
• "Song for an Old Friend" on The Wheel Method - 7" EP (Pottery, 1995)
• "Going to Port Washington" on The Wedding Record - 7" EP (Walt, 1995)
• "Hand Ball" and "Alpha Omega" on Our Salvation Is In Hand - CD (Theme Park, 1995)
• "Creature Song" and "Pure Sound" on Goar #11 - 7" EP (Goar, 1995)
• "Leaving Home" on Cyanide Guilt Trip - 7" EP (Cactus Gum, 1996)
• "Snow Song" on Dog So Large I Cannot See Past It - CD (WPRB, 1996)
• "Black Molly" on In Release City - cassette (Slowball, 1996)
• "Going to Kirby Sigston" on Hey Dan K. (Ajax, unreleased)
• "Please Come Home to Hamngatan" on We'll Sail Out Far ... Maybe a Little Too Far ... - 2xLP+7" (Apartment, 1997), reissued as 2xCD (Wabana, 1999)
• "Golden Boy" on Object Lessons: Songs About Products - CD EP (Inconspicuous,1998)
• "Saigon Shrunken Panorama" on Acuarela Songs - 2xCD (Acuarela, 2001)
• "Un Reve Plus Long Que La Nuit (aka November Love Song)" on Gold Kiss Gala: I'll Wed You - CD (Dark Beloved Cloud, 2001)
• "Palmcorder Yajna" on The Believer Number 14 - CD (The Believer, 2004)
• "Beat the Devil" on Comes with a Smile #25 - CD (Comes with a Smile, 2004)
• "White Box" on Down in a Mirror - A Second Tribute to Jandek - CD (Summersteps, April 2005)
• "Pet Politics" on The Believer Music Issue (album) - CD (The Believer, June 2005)
• "Porcile" on Esopus #5: Audio-Visuals - CD (Esopus, Fall 2005)
• "Cotton" on "Weeds" (TV series) soundtrack CD (Rykodisk, September 2005)
• "Wild World" on Triple J Like a Version V.2 CD (ABC Music, June 2006)

Collections (of previously released material)

• Protein Source of the Future...Now! - CD (Ajax, 1999; 3 Beads of Sweat, 2002)
• Bitter Melon Farm - CD (Ajax, 1999; 3 Beads of Sweat, 2002)
• Ghana - CD (3 Beads of Sweat, 2002)

Related bands

• The Congress (John Darnielle with Mark Givens and others)
• The Extra Glenns (Darnielle with Franklin Bruno)
• The Seneca Twins (Darnielle with Lalitree Chavanothai and Chris Butler)
• The Bloody Hawaiians (Darnielle with Joel Huschle, Mark Givens and Caroline)

Song Series

Scattered among the releases are song series: thematically interconnected ruminations on a single theme. Each EP and album is a project to be understood alone and as a part of an interrelated whole. Releases would often contain quotes, mostly in Latin, that gave hints to the theme of the piece.

Alpha Series

Songs in this category concern the same fictional couple, described as a heterosexual lower-middle-class man and woman who originally loved each other genuinely and held generally ordinary concerns for one another's well-being but whose relationship has degraded for a variety of reasons, most often a series of fights or drug and/or alcohol abuse, possibly both. Whatever the causes for their current situation, their love has not so much died as warped into the sincere, all-consuming desire of each of them to see the other drink themselves to death; thus, to facilitate this "walk down to the bottom," as described in the liner notes of Tallahassee, the couple keep whatever liquor they can afford on hand for each other and stay together.

The album Tallahassee, being entirely about the Alpha couple, begins with the pair buying a run-down house in the eponymous capital of Florida, follows their degradation, and ends with a vision of the house and both of them being consumed in flames. Other songs not found on Tallahassee, however, usually named "Alpha" in part to signify that they're about the couple, deal with similar situations, if not the same situation. The songs below, not found on Tallahassee, fit into the series:

• Alpha Aquae (unreleased)
• Alpha Desperation March (Transmissions To Horace, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina (Songs For Petronius, Nothing for Juice, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Alpha Gelida (Taking The Dative, Ghana)
• Alpha Incipiens (Zopilote Machine)
• Alpha Negative (The Hound Chronicles)
• Alpha Omega (Our Salvation Is In Hand, Protein Source of the Future...Now!)
• Alpha Sun Hat (Zopilote Machine)
• Alpha in Tauris (Zopilote Machine)
• Alphabetizing (Chile De Arbol, Protein Source of the Future...Now!)
• Fit Alpha Vi (unreleased)
• Going to Dade County (unreleased)
• Letter From a Motel (or if you prefer: Letter from the Alpha Motel (or if you prefer : Letter from the Alpha Privative Motel) (unreleased)
• One Winter At Point Alpha Privative (Taboo VI: The Homecoming)
• Spilling Toward Alpha (The Hound Chronicles)
• [Forgotten title] (Alpha Compunction) (unreleased)

Going to...

Songs in this category are generally about needing to get out of a place and/or thinking life will magically improve by moving somewhere new. The characters are not the same from song to song.

• Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina (Songs For Petronius, Nothing for Juice, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Flight 717: Going to Denmark (Corkscrewed, Ghana)
• Going to Alaska (Taboo VI: The Homecoming)
• Going to Bangor (You And What Army?)
• Going to Bogata (Nothing for Juice)
• Going to Bolivia (Sweden)
• Going to Bridlington (unreleased)
• Going to Bristol (Zopilote Machine)
• Going to Buffalo (unreleased)
• Going to Chino (The Hound Chronicles)
• Going to Cleveland (Transmissions To Horace, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Going to Dade County (unreleased)
• Going to East Rutherford (unreleased)
• Going to France (unreleased)
• Going to Georgia (Zopilote Machine)
• Going to Hungary (Tropical Depression, Ghana)
• Going to Iceland (unreleased)
• Going to Jamaica (Taking The Dative, Ghana)
• Going to Japan (Hot Garden Stomp)
• Going to Kansas (The Hound Chronicles, Nothing for Juice)
• Going to Kirby Sigston (Ghana)
• Going to Lebanon (Zopilote Machine)
• Going to Lubbock (Infidelity 7")
• Going to Maine (Hardcore Acoustic, Ghana (album)
• Going to Malibu (Chile De Arbol, Protein Source of the Future...Now!)
• Going to Marrakesh (unreleased)
• Going to Maryland (Beautiful Rat Sunset)
• Going to Mexico (The Hound Chronicles)
• Going to Michigan (unreleased)
• Going to Monoco (Transmissions to Horace, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Going to Morocco (unreleased)
• Going to Norwalk (Hot Garden Stomp)
• Going to Palestine (unreleased)
• Going to Port Washington (The Wedding Record, Ghana)
• Going to Queens (Sweden)
• Going to Reykjavik (Nothing for Juice)
• Going to San Diego (unreleased)
• Going to Santiago (Transmissions to Horace, Bitter Melon Farm)
• Going to Scotland (Nothing for Juice)
• Going to Some Damned English City (unreleased)
• Going to Spain (The Hound Chronicles)
• Going to Spirit Lake (unreleased)
• Going to Tennesee (Why You All So Thief?, Protein Source of the Future...Now!)
• Going to Utrecht (Nine Black Poppies)
• Going to Wisconsin (The Hound Chronicles)

Orange Ball Series

The title of this series comes from a book by Don DeLillo in which the sun is repeatedly described as an "orange ball".

• Orange Ball of Hate
• Orange Ball of Love
• Orange Ball of Pain
• Orange Ball of Peace

Quetzalcoatl Series

• Quetzalcoatl Comes Through
• Quetzalcoatl Eats Plums
• Quetzalcoatl is Born

Pure Series

• Pure Crystal
• Pure Gold
• Pure Heat
• Pure Honey
• Pure Intentions
• Pure Love
• Pure Milk
• Pure Money
• Pure Sound

Standard Bitter Love Songs

• Standard Bitter Love Song #1
• Standard Bitter Love Song #4
• Standard Bitter Love Song #5
• Standard Bitter Love Song #6
• Standard Bitter Love Song #7
• Standard Bitter Love Song #8

Song For Series

• Baltimore (was: Song For Prince Edward III)
• Saigon Shrunken Panorama (was: Saigon: Song For Anonymity)
• Song For Cleomenes
• Song For Dana Plato
• Song For John Davis
• Song For Mark and Joel
• Song For Roger Maris
• Song For Tura Santana
• Song For an Old Friend
• Song For the Julian Calendar
• Song For Dennis Brown
• Song For Lonely Giants
• Song For My Stepfather
• Song For God

Star Series

These songs all seem to be about spending time with a girlfriend/love.

• New Star Song
• Star Dusting
• Collapsing Stars
• Stars Around Her
• Stars Fell On Alabama

Sources

• Adams, Tim (2004). "Discography of The Mountain Goats" (http://www.mountain-goats.com/discog.html). Retrieved 19 March 2005

• Adams, Tim (2005). "Mountain Goats Discography" (http://3bos.com/label/artists/tmg/tmg_discography.html). Retrieved 19 March 2005

• themountaingoats.net staff (2004). "The Mountain Goats FAQ" (http://www.themountaingoats.net/faq.html). Retrieved 20 March 2005

• unknown author (2003). "Tallahassee Biography" (http://4ad.com/artists/themountaingoats/biography2.html). Retrieved 20 March 2005

• Nickey, Jason(2000). "Mountain Goats Biography" (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ftv8b5p4bsqe~T1). Retrieved 20 March 2005

External links

• Official Mountain Goats Site
• themountaingoats.net
• Information Site by a Previous Label
• Last Plane To Jakarta, John Darnielle's zine
• Five Tools Peter Hughes webpage with band photos and tour journals.
• The Mountain Goats on DVD
• Mountain Goats shows posted to the Internet Archive
• Standard Bitter Love Songs: A Mountain Goats Resource
• Lazy-i Interview: November 2002
• "Darnielle on the Edge of Town" considers the similarities between John Darnielle and Bruce Springsteen.
• Template:Amg
• Mountain Goats video for Woke Up New