Check out the “Tallahasee Turns Ten” Final Tracklist!

tallahasseeturnsten:

1. Tallahassee - Youngest Son
2. First Few Desperate Hours - Your Heart Breaks
3. Southwood Plantation Road - Mooner
4. Game Shows Touch Our Lives - Kimya Dawson
5. The House That Dripped Blood - Hallelujah the Hills
6. Idylls of the King - Miracles of Modern Science
7. No Children - Bullfighter Jacket
8. See America Right - Jeffrey Lewis
9. Peacocks - Houses
10. International Small Arms Traffic Blues - Tiger Waves
11. Have to Explode - Perry Owen Wright
12. Old College Try - Kevin Brown
13. Oceanographer’s Choice - Great Gray Buildings
14. Alpha Rat’s Next - Andrew Jackson Jihad

Anonymous asked: What's your favorite album by The Mountain Goats?

Tallahassee. I recently purchased it on vinyl.

Summer Albums Project #1: The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

Year: 2002

Genre: Indie folk, contemporary folk

The Mountain Goats is the long-running project of singer/songwriter John Darnielle, who has written and recorded under that name since 1991. In the past twenty years, Darnielle has released a nearly insurmountable collection of records and cassettes, the majority of which were recorded under incredibly lo-fi circumstances. Before Tallahassee was released in 2002, Mountain Goats albums were recorded on cheap 4-tracks and boomboxes, almost exclusively with Darnielle singing and playing acoustic guitar alone. Tallahassee, which was also the first Mountain Goats album released on the relatively large-scale independent label 4AD, saw the Goats expanding to the full band that the name “The Mountain Goats” had always implied. Although a number of songs on the 14-track album still feature Darnielle (mostly) by himself, the album benefits from the contributions of various other musicians. Hints of strings and delicate piano plinks slither their way into even the most personally affecting Darnielle songs on here, but are never intrusive enough to detract from what is important. This is one of the things I really like about Tallahassee. Darnielle’s own lyrics and distinctive voice have always been The Mountain Goats’ strongest assets, and on Tallahassee, the band serves only to back those assets up. On both the more rocking tunes (namely, “Southwood Plantation Road” and the electrified “Oceanographer’s Choice”) and also the more subdued numbers, such as the gentle “Game Shows Touch Our Lives” and the heartbreakingly gorgeous opener “Tallahassee”, Darnielle’s own strengths are only accentuated by the additional instrumentation.

Production-wise, Tallahassee is a significant step-up from the previous Mountain Goats album All Hail West Texas, also released in 2002, as well as the rest of Darnielle’s earlier work. The tape hiss is gone, and the acoustic guitars in particular sound crisp and clear. Yet it still retains some of that raw, lo-fi edge that Goats records were known for. The harsh, distorted harmonica on “The House That Dripped Blood” and the punkish jeer of “See America Right” are perfect examples of this. It strikes a perfect balance between the hopelessly lo-fi early Mountain Goats recordings and later albums like The Sunset Tree, which is overproduced to the point where the message is often lost amongst the complex orchestral instrumentation. 

Honestly, I don’t know why it took me so long to listen to this essential mid-career Mountain Goats release. Although it doesn’t match All Hail West Texas on a song-for-song basis, and lacks anything that hits as heavily as “This Year” from The Sunset Tree, I actually enjoy this more than both of those records. This is the sound of a brilliant songwriter freed from the constraints of his own less-than-fantastic musical ability and set free in the studio environment. Thankfully, he doesn’t go too crazy… It would take another record or two for that to happen.

Incidentally, I haven’t written much about Darnielle’s lyrics on this record, aside from mentioning that they’re great. To tell the truth, I haven’t had enough time to analyze the story of Tallahassee, but it seems to document the tale of a failed relationship. This is not nearly as boring as it sounds! In Darnielle’s hands, this played-out topic is made interesting once again, or at least that’s what I think. What do you think? Why not download Tallahassee and give it a couple spins for yourself? I’m certainly glad I did.

Download HERE

This was the first entry in my Summer Albums Project, which you can read about HERE. Stay tuned for another one tomorrow!

Introducing: Summer Albums Project

Hey everybody!

So, the Summer is here. In addition to the summer Mix CD compilation that I have made and will be mailing out soon (send me your address in my ask box if you want a copy), I have some other plans that will hopefully add some spice and excitement to this blog during the lazy summer months. Today, in an effort to clear up space in my downloads folder and in the hope of expanding my musical horizons, I am starting something called The Summer Albums Project. 

The concept of this project is simple. Every day, to the best of my abilities, I will listen to an album that I’ve never heard before. I will then write a relatively short review on that day’s album, and provide a download link for anyone who might be interested in listening to it too. These albums will be chosen mostly at random, and many of them will be culled from my oversized downloads folder, which is filled with albums that I downloaded at some point but never got around to listening to. Some of these albums are by artists that I’ve listened to before, but never fully explored. Others are albums by bands that I’ve been wanting to check out for some time. Some of the albums I downloaded so long ago that I don’t even remember who they’re by or what they sound like.

As I said before, the Lewis and his Blog Summer Albums Project will start today. The first album that I’m going to listen to will be Tallahassee by The Mountain Goats. Stay tuned for that! Once this project has gotten started, those interested will be able to view all Summer Albums Project entries in one place HERE.

-Chris