Go on a cruise with the Mountain Goats, the Weakerthans, Sloan, and many more. The Barenaked Ladies have organized a six-day trip, Ships & Dip V, on the Norwegian Jewel [pictured], with you and whole slew of artists. It’s the first week of February, starting from Miami and going to Cozumel and the Grand Stirrup […]
Search Results
Concert Notes: The Mountain Goats and Kaki King
October 21, 2008[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here] [Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA; October 20, 2008] I’ve seen the Mountain Goats umpteen times, and every show that I’ve been to has been amazing – I’ve never been to a show where I felt like John Darnielle has given less than his best. […]
The Mountain Goats: Satanic Messiah EP
October 10, 2008Woo! The Mountain Goats (and by ‘Mountain Goats,’ we mean ‘John Darnielle’) just recorded a four-song EP, Satanic Messiah. It’s available for download here; donations via PayPal or Google Checkout are encouraged ($3 for the ‘congregant’ level, $6.66 for the ‘disciple’ level, and $10 for the ‘acolyte’ level). Despite the title and Darnielle’s well-known obsession […]
Upcoming: Mountain Goats + Kaki King EP
September 8, 2008The Mountain Goats and guitarist-singer-songwriter Kaki King recorded a six-song EP, Black Pear Tree, and they just released the first single from it. Titled “Thank You Mario But Our Princess is in Another Castle,” John Darnielle describes it as being from the point of view of Toad (shown above being used as a human – […]
A Mountain Goats sampler
April 13, 2008[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here] I’ve been on something of a Mountain Goats kick recently, partly because of the recent concerts and partly because listening to John Darnielle’s songs can make anyone feel better about their personal life. I ended up putting together a ‘best of’ CD for myself, and […]
Coverage: The Mountain Goats, “The Sign”
March 18, 2008Well, I totally failed to post anything about either of the Mountain Goats shows I went to last week, so here’s a taste of what John Darnielle is like in concert – this is their cover of Ace of Base’s 1993 hit, “The Sign“. A quick YouTube search reveals that The Mountain Goats have played […]
The Mountain Goats take on Super Tuesday
February 2, 2008NPR‘s Weekend America invited The Mountain Goats to write and perform a song for Super Tuesday. In true John Darnielle style, it’s a bitterly humorous meditation on politicians as vampires, with a dash of Revelations thrown in. As he says, “Things tend to be more interesting if you take them to extremes….You could be a […]
How to disappear (almost) completely
October 25, 2010For new artists, any discussion of a band name is likely coupled with a domain name search to make sure the URL is available, since they are constantly being told how to have an effective online presence. But there is an interesting phenomenon emerging: in a world where all information is a click away, some […]
Music and mood
February 20, 2010If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this tweet about a week ago: Warning: Listening to @TheMagFields‘ “All the Umbrellas” can induce psychosomatic cardiac fracture, even in asymptomatic individuals. followed a day or so later by this: I am declaring a temporary moratorium on the Magnetic Fields, the National, and the Mountain […]
Archive of Crocodile live sets
September 21, 2009Jim Anderson, the sound engineer at Seattle’s legendary (and recently re-opened) live music venue The Crocodile, has donated five years worth of live show recordings (2002-2007) to the University of Washington’s Ethnomusicology Archives – nearly 3000 hours of music. Artists include z=z faves the Dresden Dolls, the Mountain Goats, the National, and oodles more – […]
Music, tech, and culture roundup
September 18, 2009Colbert Report to stream albums. The Flaming Lips were on the The Colbert Report on Wednesday night, and the Mountain Goats (whoo!) are scheduled to be guests in a couple of weeks. More interesting, though, is that both artists will be streaming their albums, before the official release dates, on the Colbert website. Here’s hoping […]
Songkick: social media site for concerts
June 10, 2009Songkick brings together two bright spots in the world of music: fan communities, and live music. On the one hand, it’s an evolving database of live shows, complete with dates, opening bands, and fan-uploaded media like photos, posters and (of course) ticket stubs. On the other hand, you can be a Twitter-like follower of not […]
Musicians to follow on Twitter
April 2, 2009Following musicians on Twitter is a fun way to get a peek into the life and minds of some of my favorite artists. If you haven’t seen it yet, there is a gigantic spreadsheet of musicians on Twitter. But it’s (increasingly) hard to find artists who are interesting to follow. In general, my criteria for […]
2008 roundup
January 1, 2009Now that 2008 is actually over, time for a quick round-up of some music highlights. This is a highly idiosyncratic list: it’s not comprehensive, it’s not definitive, and it’s not scientific. It’s really just about what I liked enough to spend a lot of time listening to this year. I hope that there’s some stuff […]
Upcoming: AC Newman, Get Guilty
December 10, 2008Speaking of the New Pornographers, their head honcho A.C. Newman‘s second solo album, Get Guilty, now has a release date – January 20th – and a tour schedule. He’ll be hitting Neumo’s in Seattle on February 21st and the Paradise in Boston on the March 14th (full tour schedule here). Nicole Atkins and Jon Wurster […]
Listen local: The Builders and the Butchers
September 25, 2008Portland, OR’s The Builders and the Butchers might have the most varied instrumental lineup of any band I can think of. Their Myspace page lists, in addition to the usual, banjo, mandolin, accordion, xylophone, bells and washboard (lead singer Ryan Sollee admits to something of a thrift shop instrument addiction). And they’ve been known to […]
John Darnielle plays with the Weakerthans
April 29, 2008[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here] John Darnielle (of the Mountain Goats, in case you haven’t been paying attention) made a guest appearance at the Weakerthans concert in Carrboro, NC a few weeks ago. He and John K Samson sang “Anchorless,” originally recorded by Samson’s previous band, Propagandhi. Probably a good […]
Top indie-rock albums of the last 25 years
March 27, 2008As if Rachael Ray liking Holy Fuck wasn’t bad enough, Entertainment Weekly decided to take a kick at the indie-rock can with their special supplement on The Indie Rock 25. The format – exactly one release from each year since 1984 – is pretty much tailor-made to invite disputatious responses. It’s worth checking out, if […]
Upcoming: March concerts
March 2, 2008[Click on the photo and mouse over for details.] See also: Holy Fuck, British Sea Power, Mountain Goats
Incoming! New music and upcoming concerts
January 20, 2008Three albums that I’ve been looking forward to: Just released: The new Magnetic Fields album, Distortion, which Stephin Merritt describes as inspired by Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Psychocandy, ‘Just getting to a sound that’s raw and dirty and not inaudible takes a lot of work.’ Their two nights in Boston are sold out, unfortunately, at […]
zed equals zee 