so, anyway, i had this fairly well-formed thought stream about how the recent mountain goats stuff--or rather the transition john darnielle seems to be making, resulting in new mountain goats stuff--has a remarkable similarity to the arc of nick cave (and the bad seeds, but specifically, nick cave).
what?
oh, sorry, i should probably go into detail. actually, i should be specific that there's no way the folkish yelping of john darnielle could be mistaken for the gravedigger's baritone of nick cave, they look totally different (especially since nick grew the stache), but there is a strand here to follow, honest. to wit:
i should probably start with a little background for those without a working knowledge of either protagonist.
•nick cave started out with seminal aussie punk band the birthday party, and with heroin. his raw rough lyrics and grinding music helped define a certain "eurotrash" sort of sensibility that tapped into latent post-war anger and frustrations, particularly in west germany (with die haut), but also with the post-punk transition in england and eventually, especially with the formation of long-time partners in crime, the bad seeds, an influence on more esoteric american artists, and also claimed a kinship with this country's native genres, particularily blues, particularily delta blues (especially in the case of 1985's the firstborn is dead). themes of death, god, redemption, hell, sex and violence were packed heavily into cave's output for over a decade, up until the rollickingly morbid murder ballads of 1996, a record that was funny and disturbing, and a blistering meld of traditional and folk flavors with cave's own particular black sensibilities. a mere year later, however, cave released the boatman's call, easily one of the most beautiful albums i've ever listened to. the hysteria of the past few years evaporates, and the most tender love songs fill the void, every cranny of it. somewhere between the release of boatman and its successor, no more shall we part, i saw cave perform a 'solo' set (he had a few backing musicians, but not the bad seeds, and they were very subtle), with many of the songs featuring just nick and a piano. incidentally neko case opened that show (at seattle's paramount theatre, if you care), and the combination of the two made for an indelibly potent evening. anyway, the point i thought about making *ahem* was that after a fairly straight trajectory, nick cave opened the door to this far-more melodic strain of musicianship, crooning and emoting. however, he continued to make more blistering hell-and-brimstone rock'n'roll as well, and as evidenced by his other project, grinderman, that aspect was strengthened by the divergence.
well, that seems to be the process that john darnielle (of) the mountain goats is going through as well these days.
•the mountain goats, as many must surely have heard by now, is the brainchild, little baby, deranged child, awkward teen and crazy young man of singer/songwriter (sorry, i know that's a terribly abused term) john darnielle. for many years of tmg's existence, jd has been the sole member, but the band has also held to its bosom: bassist rachel ware zooi; maniac genius franklin bruno; superchunk drummer jon worster; producers-du-luxe john vanderslice and scott solter; and of course longtime enabler peter peter hughes, who has been a mainstay of tmg's live shows and recording sessions for years. tmg began with john making home recordings and selling tapes at shows and puting ou compilations and little splits and eps. he carved out a place with brutally good lyrics and a manic yelp paced by the standard of american music: the acoustic guitar. it should be mentioned it was many years before he bought a strap.
(a shit-ton of that early stuff can be found on the compilations protein source of the future...NOW!, bitter melon farm and ghana, all put out on the entirely worthy chicago label three beads of sweat. they are an excellent primer for anyone wanting to gain an encyclopedic knowledge of american lo-fi history; i am not exaggerating).
at a near-fever pace, darnielle has pumped song after song out for years, with a deep lyrical sense of the debauched poverty and rusting ecstacy of the soul of america that is on a par with jack kerouac and tom waits, among others.
gradually though, the minimalist scratching of sweden and zopilote machine gave way to a tighter "band" aesthetic which broke through, as they say, with 2002's tallahassee, tmg's first "major label" (4AD) release, and which, for better or worse, gave the world track seven, no children, which would get my vote for most-requested-song-ever song. tallahassee was followed up by the amazing full-lengths we shall all be healed and the sunset tree, the latter of which was the first to explicitly tap into john's own past for subject matter. there was, notably, still a bit of yelpin' going on.
on 2006's get lonely, however, the typical mountain goats "sound" gave way to an emotionally charged, but sensitive and subdued suite of quiet songs which departed starkly from people accustomed to best ever death metal band in denton, going to cleveland, and especially no children. if you can track down a bootleg of jd playing the songs (some for the first time in public) at easy street in seattle (it's worth the trouble), you can hear the real raw feelings they open up, and when you combine them with the babylon springs ep, a slicker, more produced pop album that, wierdly, isn't included on a bunch of discographies, there is a similar sense of a related convergence, like nick cave's (ah-ha! you thought i'd maybe strayed too far into my own mind!). the next full-length release, this year's heretic pride, featured an integration of the recent piano-heavy work (like tianchi lake) and more "mountain-goaty" numbers like autoclave and lovecraft in brooklyn. it was, for some i know, a relief (as some freaked out about the "over-production" on babylon and the "pussification" of get lonely (neither opinions shared by me)) that the hard edge hadn't been dulled. the trend (of "growing up" maybe?) seems to be continuing, as jd's work becomes more (and here i cringe) "competent" and more diverse in their production values.
of particular relevence is 1) the performance john gave at sxsw (in 2007) where he played three non-album songs (that i know of), pinklon, ethiopians and the traditional cowboy song red river valley. (incidentally, this is one of the love-hate factors of being a mountain goats fan: john writes songs all the time and not all of them survive more than a week or so, or even a day; once on kexp i heard him play a song called the mummy's hand that he had written the lyrics to on the plane into seattle, and the chords to in the hotel that morning; it was gorgeous, and i've never heard it anywhere else. ever. he does this shit all the time, playing stuff i would KILL to have on my ipod. i mean, there's this song, tulsa imperative, that jd was annoyed with so never kept working on, but pph recorded it with his band diskothiQ and it's great!). anyway, 2) is the brand-spanking new ep, satanic messiah, four piano songs of great narrative power which were released on a ridiculously limited edition of 666 copies (apparently #666 will not be on the market, being reserved for it's earthly creator) on vinyl. thankfull, john loves you and wants you to hear the music and has set up this site: satanicmessiah.com, so you can download the album, for free if you wish, in multiple digital formats. you may also make a donation of your chosen denomination (because, as jd says, "jah knows it wasn't free to make"). your humble host donated $6.66. less commercial than rainbows, this enterprise is a little more interesting considering the considerable depth of the artist, and john's long-standing endorsement of music sharing, legal and otherwise. i found it a warm gesture. i still really want that vinyl (it's being sold only at the merch booth at tmg shows; i have little chance i fear).
what was i saying?
oh yeah, the interesting similarity between the career trajectory of nick cave vs. the mountain goats.
if you can't apply what i've been going on about to your own experience, you should go out and listen to these two mammothly influencial entities' outputs. i assure you, it will be well-worth the time.
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