I'm not really sure why I like these guys so darn much. They don't do anything super original or anything. Except write damn awesome great songs and release great records. This is a band that, in today's music atmosphere, is nothing but a cult band, but if it were thirty years ago when record labels actually marketed music written by adults for adults instead of children's music for children and perpetual adolescents then The Mountain Goats would probably be huge.
There are a lot of Indie Rock bands that sound very similar to The Mountain Goats. The sound is basically Singer/Songwriter-ish with a very solid backing band. At times, head Goat John Darnielle's lyrics and arrangements remind me of a less apocalyptic Nick Cave. I guess what i'm trying to say is that he's a storyteller first and foremost. I've read reviews about TMG in the past and they're always described as Lo-Fi. Now, I haven't heard a lot of their early records (they've been together since 1991 and Heretic Pride is their 15th(!) record) but this record doesn't sound raw or Lo-Fi at all. Produced by kindred spirit John Vanderslice, the record has a very nice clean and clear minimal production that fits the music perfectly.
In fact, I don't even want to call this Indie Rock because it really isn't it just gets put in the Indie Rock ghetto because any decent non-blatantly commercial guitar music like this gets stuck with the Indie Rock tag. I think I like this band so much because they just make great, timeless music. Fuck The Shins, THIS is music that will change your life.
No comments:
Post a Comment