the open road

Alibi

2009-07-21T19:20:00.001+02:00

There's no good video or audio for this song but here's a solo live version:

Mountain Goats appreciation month #12

2009-07-20T19:13:00.002+02:00

It's been officially more than a month that I started my "Mountain Goats appreciation month" but I'll continue for a little while longer anyway since I just feel like it.
Today's song it called Alibi and is from the Babylon Springs EP. The meaning is obvious, although if you listen closely you can notice the doubting undertones (but maybe that's just me).

Alibi

I got off work just past 11
Laid one finger to the breeze
You can almost taste the action
On nights like these

Trees were bending in the wind
And you were 40 miles away
And I was headed your direction
I'd been waiting all day, I'd been waiting all day

Moon over West Covina
Was huge and white
And I was like a patient on a table
Headed toward the light
Leaned toward the center divider
Feel the wind in my hair
Keep a light up in your window
I'm gonna be right there, I'm gonna be right there
With a gleam in my eye
and an almost airtight alibi

Down by the Chemistry building
I found a quiet place to park
And I made my way down the street toward your place
Stepping lightly in the dark
Climbed the steps up to your doorway
Like a man prepared to jump beneath a train
It's real warm outside tonight
Maybe tomorrow it rains, maybe tomorrow it rains

Inside your room we shut the window
And we turned on a fan
And we lay there together in the darkness
I can keep a secret if you can
Finishing one another's sentences
Like a pair of identical twins
Your boyfriend's out of town until Tuesday
And nobody saw me come in, nobody saw me come in

With a gleam in my eye and an almost airtight alibi

Michael Myers Resplendent

2009-07-11T16:09:00.000+02:00

audio only (demo version)

Mountain Goats appreciation month #11

2009-07-10T10:01:00.002+02:00

This is one of John Darnielle's newer songs from the 2008 album "Heretic Pride". I like it for its sound and the chorus lyrics (you should really listen to it). If you take the story it tells then it's about the death of Michael Myers in "Halloween II" and/or the actor playing it. (John has this fascination among other things with horror movies and monsters.)
JB says the song is arguably "about a negative epiphany arrived at through the glory of progressive trance." I like that.

Michael Myers Resplendent

I am ready for my close up today
Too long I've let my self-respect stand in my way
Well the prom queen's caught in the high beams
And the strings keen it's a big scene

But when the house goes up in flames
No one emerges triumphantly from it
When the scum begins to circle the drain
Everybody loves a winner

I spent eight hours in my make-up chair
Waxed my chest and shaved off all my hair
Well the fire's bright and the frame's tight
Try to get right while we've still got light

But when the house goes up in flames
No one emerges triumphantly from it
When the scum begins to circle the drain
Everybody loves a winner

So Desperate

2009-07-09T21:17:00.002+02:00

audio only

Mountain Goats appreciation month #10

2009-07-08T21:13:00.000+02:00

JD wrote that is "a love song about people who're involved with each other when they probably shouldn't be."

So Desperate

We were parked in your car
In our neutral meeting place
The Episcopalian church yard
I had things I had been meaning to say
But in the dazzling winter sunlight
I could feel them melt away
And through the warm radio static
I couldn’t hear my stage directions
And the fog on the windshield obscured our sad reflections

I felt so desperate
In your arms
I felt so desperate
In your arms

We were parked near some trees
And the moonlight soaked the branches in ever deepening degrees
Had my hand in your hair
Trying to keep my cool
Til it became to much to bear
When we cracked the windows open
Well the air was just so sweet
We could hear the cars ten feet away
Out there on the street

I felt so desperate
In your arms
I felt so desperate
In your arms

Mountain Goats appreciation month #9

2009-07-01T19:35:00.003+02:00

After talking about a Mountain Goats song that's actually an Extra Glenns song I'm going to take it one step further now and talk about a cover song next.
It's an acoustic cover/mashup of "The boys are back in town"(Thin Lizzy) and "Ignition [Remix]" (R.Kelly).
As it's not a Mountain Goats song it's not about fucked up people in fucked up situations! Great, huh!

Listen to it here:

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

or here:
the Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town (Thin Lizzy)

I'm posting the lyrics anyway:

Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys who had been away
Hadn't changed, hadn't much to say
I still think those guys are great

They were asking if you'd been around
How you was, where you could be found
Told 'em you were living downtown
Driving all the old men crazy

The boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
The boys are back in town
(the boys are back in town)

You remember that chick who used to dance a lot?
Every night she'd be on the floor, shaking what she'd got
Man, when I tell you was cool, she was red hot
I mean, she was steaming

And that time over at Johnny's place
Well this chick she got up and she slapped Johnny's face
Man, we just fell about the place
If that chick don't wanna know, then forget her

G
The boys are back in town
(the boys are back in town)
the boys are back in town
(the boys are back in town)

Spread the word around
Guess who's back in town
Spread the word around

Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
Drink will flow and blood will spill
And if the boys wanna fight, you better let 'em

That jukebox in the corner blasting out my favorite song
The nights are getting warmer, it won't be long
Won't be long till summer comes
Now that the boys are here again

The boys are back in town
(The boys are back in town)
I said the boys are back in town

The boys are back in town
(the boys are back, the boys are back, the boys are back)
The boys are back in town, yeah

It's the remix to ignition

Hot and fresh out the kitchen
Mama rollin' that body
Got every man in here wishin'
Sippin' on Coke and rum
I'm like so what I'm drunk
It's the freakin' weekend baby
I'm about to have me some fun

Crystal poppin in the stretch navigator
We got food everywhere
as if this party was catered
Fellas on my left
And honeys to my right
You put em both together
And we'll party all night, yeah.

Mountain Goats appreciation month #8

2009-06-29T18:52:00.000+02:00

I have to explain a few things about this song: First of all, "officially" it's not a Mountain Goats song but rather by the "Extra Glenns" - a side project of John Darnielle. Nevertheless, John sometimes sings this one at Mountain Goats concerts as well.
Secondly, it's part of the "Going to ..." series of songs. The "Going to" series basically deals with the notion that people think going to other places will change anything, e.g. improve an relationship, when it does not. There are roughly about 45 "Going to" songs so far that John wrote.
Let's turn to the song. It actually seems very similar to "No Children" to me, maybe not as extreme (or some time before in the chronology of things). Still the idea is that it's about a dysfunctional relationship. Though in this case one where there's still some feeling that just doesn't go away.
I especially love the line "our love is like Jesus, but worse, though you seal the cave up where you've lain its body, it rises." Pure genius!
By the way: I formed the theory that all Mountain Goats songs are about fucked up people in fucked up situations! I think that summons it up quite nicely. You agree?

Going to Marrakesh

The fog is lifting from the water
the bells are sounding on the boats
and our love is a monster plain and simple
though you weigh it down with stones to try to drown it
it floats
it floats.

The day of reckoning is coming
faster than anyone here realizes
and our love is like Jesus, but worse
though you seal the cave up where you've lain its body
it rises
it rises.

I keep waiting for our love to die
the machines by its bed dim and flicker, but it won't stay dead
and it perks up when the nurses bring its medication by.

I wish our love could go the way of all flesh
but it's not right, and its not nice
to try and kill the same thing twice
would you pack your things?
We are going to Marrakesh!

Love Love Love

2009-06-28T19:44:00.000+02:00

audio only

audio only (live)

Mountain Goats appreciation month #7

2009-06-27T19:34:00.000+02:00

Another complicated love song by the Mountain Goats. I'm not going to explain all the references (google is your friend!). In fact, I'm not going to explain this song at all! Try to listen to it and find your own meaning.
However, I found this Nietzsche quote in reference to this song and found it quite fitting:
"That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil." ("Was aus Liebe getan wird, geschieht immer jenseits von Gut und Böse.")

Love Love Love

King Saul fell on his sword
When it all went wrong
And Joseph's brother sold him down the river
For a song
And Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm in his glove
some things you do for money
and some you do for love love love

Raskalnikov felt sick
But he couldn't say why
When he saw his face reflected
In his victim's twinkling eye
Some things you do for money
And some you'll do for fun
But the things you do for love
Are gonna come back to you one by one

Love love is gonna lead you by the hand
Into a white and soundless place
Now we see this
As in a mirror dimly
Then we shall see each other
Face to face

And way out in Seattle
Young Kurt Cobain
Snuck out to the garden
Put a bullet in his brain
Snakes in the grass beneath our feet
Rain in the clouds above
Some moments last forever
And some flare out with love love love

Palmcorder Yajna

2009-06-26T15:46:00.002+02:00

audio only (album version)

Mountain Goats appreciation month #6

2009-06-25T19:05:00.001+02:00

"Palmcorder Yajna" was one of the first Mountain Goats songs I heard and I initially liked it a lot for its frantic mood (almost angry) and obscure lyrics. Only later did I understand the dark undertones and real meaning of the words.
The song is from the "We Shall All Be Healed" album, as is "Your Belgian Things", and also deals with the same group of meth addicts. And while "Your Belgian Things" is about the aftermath of the mess, this one is about the climax.
A bunch of people are holed up in a motel room, maybe set up a meth lab there. Everybody is getting real nervous: "Every couple minutes someone says he can't stand it anymore."
One of the symbols used here is fire. "If anybody comes in to our room while we're asleep / I hope they incinerate everybody in it." The Sanskrit/Hindu term "Yajna" from the title is a ritual sacrifice, usually by fire. The narrator is wishing for a cleansing to resolve this whole fucked up situation.
In his dreams the narrator moves from paranoia to wishful thinking of dream fulfilment to death.
"And I dreamt of a factory,
Where they manufactured what I needed,
Using shiny new machines,
And the headstones climbed up the hills"

The recurring last line of the chorus about the "headstones climbing up the hills" is a premonition of death. The headstones could be the living dead or the as good as dead still alive, the boundary between live and death blurred.

Palmcorder Yajna

Holt Boulevard
Between Gary and White
Hooked up with some friends at the Travelodge
Set ourselves up for the night

Carpenter ants in the dresser
Flies in the screen
It will be too late by the time we learn
What these cryptic symbols mean

And I dreamt of a house
Haunted by all you tweakers with your hands out
And the headstones climbed up the hills
And the headstones climbed up the hills

Send somebody out for soda
Comb through the carpet for clues
Reflective tape on our sweatpants
Big holes in our shoes
Every couple minutes someone says he can't stand it any more
Laugh lines on our faces
Scale maps of the ocean floor

And I dreamt of a camera
Pointing out from inside the televsion
And the aperture yawning and blinking
And the headstones climbed up the hills

If anybody comes to see me
Tell 'em they just missed me by a minute
If anybody comes in to our room while we're asleep
I hope they incinerate everybody in it

And I dreamt of a factory
Where they manufactured what I needed
Using shiny new machines
And the headstones climbed up the hills

International Small Arms Traffic Blues

2009-06-24T12:40:00.001+02:00

Audio only (live)

Mountain Goats appreciation month #5

2009-06-23T10:40:00.006+02:00

"International Small Arms Traffic Blues" is another "alpha cycle" song from the "Tallahassee" album dealing with the dysfunctional couple that is also featured in "No Children". It's a short sonnet-like love poem that starts darkly, ominously with bad things about to happen.
The format and style reminds me of Shakespeare. Compare the following to the song's lyrics below:
"My love is as a fever, longing still,
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
The uncertain sickly appetite to please."

As it's made clear in the lyrics, the relationship is in a delicate state and things are about to get much worse. The funny metaphors are, as always, deadly serious and bittersweet. Nevertheless, the songs ends with the line "The way I feel about you baby can't explain it, You got the best of my love". Go figure. As Imogen Heap sings: "there’s beauty in breakdown".

International Small Arms Traffic Blues

My love is like a powder keg
My love is like a powder keg in the corner of an empty warehouse
Somewhere just outside of town
About to burn down

My love is like a Cuban plane
My love is like a Cuban plane flying from Havana
Up the Florida coast to the 'Glades
Soviet made

Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel about you baby can't explain it
You got the best of my love

This Year

2009-06-22T18:47:00.000+02:00

Mountain Goats appreciation month #4

2009-06-21T18:00:00.000+02:00

"This year" is one of the more upbeat songs by the Mountain Goats although you can easily detect the issues, namely John's abusive father who shows up in several songs. It's about breaking free from the restrains put on a kid by school and family and holding out until that actually happens. For a while you lose yourself to the road and Cathy (herself damaged goods as well - "twin high maintenance machines") but in the end you have to return home and face the "bad things to come".
What remains is elusive hope for the "feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year" - a line borrowed from the Jewish holiday of Passover that celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egypt and the return to the promised land.

I broke free on a Saturday morning
I put the pedal to the floor
headed north on mills avenue
and listened to the engine roar

My broken house behind me
and good things ahead
a girl named Cathy
wants a little of my time
six cylinders underneath the hood
crashing and kicking
aha!
listen to the engine whine

I am going to make it through this year
if it kills me
I am going to make it though this year
if it kills me

I played video games in a drunken haze
I was seventeen years young
hurt my knuckles punching the machines
the taste of scotch rich on my tongue

And then Cathy showed up
and we hung out
trading swigs from a bottle
all bitter and clean
locking eyes
holding hands
twin high maintenance machines

I am going to make it through this year
if it kills me
I am going to make it though this year
if it kills me

I drove home in the California dusk
I could feel the alcohol inside of me hum
pictured the look on my stepfather's face
ready for the bad things to come
I down shifted
as I pulled into the driveway
the motor screaming out
stuck in second gear
the scene ends badly
as you might imagine
in a cavalcade of anger and fear

There will be feasting and dancing
in Jerusalem next year

I am going to make it through this year
if it kills me
I am going to make it though this year
if it kills me

Your Belgian Things

2009-06-20T17:46:00.003+02:00

album version from "We Shall All Be Healed"

Mountain Goats appreciation month #3

2009-06-19T17:13:00.001+02:00

This is one of the quieter songs by the Mountain Goats similar to a lot of the newer material. Less aggressive than the 2 songs posted so far "Your Belgian Things" deals with loss and things coming to an end. While I always thought this song deals with the end of a relationship it's actually about the seizure of a drug lab.
The album "We Shall All Be Healed" deals with a group of meth heads and their mess of a life and "Your Belgian Things" details the removal of a friend's belongings from their house. It's not clear if the person died (there are indications that the lab might have blown up) or was jailed. But it's clear that this is the end: "I wish you had a number where you are / It's hard with no one here to help me through it". The sense of loss and displacement is apparent in every line and is exaggerated by the strange spectacle of the men in biohazard suits cleaning up the place. At the end of the song the narrator's account breaks down, overcome with emotion, with the poignant line "I guess, I guess but Jesus what a mess".
Musically the album version of the song stands out for it's use of a piano, it's sound hovering in the background. Overall the sound is quote solemn, paced - fitting for the occasion I would say.

Your Belgian Things

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll store them for you in an airplane hangar
There's guys in biohazard suits
Mud kicking on their rubber boots
They've come to keep your pretty things from danger

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They'll spend the whole day hauling them downstairs
I shot a roll of thirty-two exposures
My camera groans beneath the weight it bears

I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth

The men were here to get your Belgian things
They waltzed right through the door and went flourescent
Their boots were black and shiny and your treasures gleamed like stars
Bones from deep down in the fertile crescent

The arteries are clogging in the mainframe
There's too much information in the pipes
I saw the mess you left up in the east bedroom
A tiger's never gonna change its stripes
I guess
I guess but Jesus what a mess
One way in and no way out

The men were here to get your Belgian things
And only I was here to see them do it
I wish you had a number where you are
It's hard with no one here to help me through it

I can see you in my sleep
Playing the points for all you're worth
Walking gingerly across the bruised earth

No Children

2009-06-18T12:23:00.001+02:00

Mountain Goats appreciation month #2

2009-06-17T12:58:00.001+02:00

This is another crowd pleaser, not only because it allows you to scream "I hope you die, I hope we both die" at the top of your voice. People know this song by heart and sing along enthusiastically. The best example of this is this one live recording of a concert where John list his voice and the whole audience sang for him.
"No children" is a song that is truly unapologetically, unflinchingly nihilistic. It records the climax of a dysfunctional relationship, from the "Tallahasse" concept album that deals with a couple moving to Florida. John often calls it a "hateful little song" and tells the audience that "there will come a day when you mean it". It's the realization that along with the rest of the Mountain Goats songs this is not a joke but a heartfelt record of a relationship train wreck and that spelling it out in such detail is a catharsis "emotional cleansing" rather than a mental breakdown and crude accusation.

No Children

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town
Again in my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
Yeah I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton

2009-06-16T12:00:00.009+02:00

For those of you you actually wondered how the song sounds:

The video quality is not very good on this one but the audio is.

Just audio (as recorded on the album "All Hail West Texas").

Mountain Goats appreciation month

2009-06-15T14:02:00.005+02:00

I hereby declare this to be the Mountain Goats appreciation month!
The Mountain Goats have been my favorite Band for quite a few years now and John Darnielle is pure genius in my eyes (forget Morrissey). I managed to see them live 5 times so far and treasure those moments dearly. This month I want to present to you, my dear reader, some of the awesome, heartfelt, downright crazy lyrics of John Darnielle.
It's extremely hard for me to come up with a top 10 list of tMG songs, but among the top contenders, after weeks of debate, is always, and has always been "The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton."
It's a simple, short song that might struck some people as cheesy, over the top, maybe too comical. But the truth is that it's truly heartfelt! Much like "Summer of 69" it's a story about youth and a getting together a band. But it's also a story about crushed dreams and sticking true to what you believe in. It's a song about believing in yourself and not give a fuck about what anybody else tries to tell you you can't do. That's why it's one of the strongest, best-loved songs of tMG. John usually reserves this for the end of the concert (if he plays it at all) and when he does everybody is singing along down to the frenetic "Hail Satan!" chorus. It's a true experience to stand in a crowd at that moment.

The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton

The best ever death metal band out of Denton
were a couple of guys, who'd been friends since grade school.
One was named Cyrus, and the other was Jeff.
and they practiced twice a week in Jeff's bedroom.

The best ever death metal band out of Denton
never settled on a name.
But the top three contenders, after weeks of debate,
were Satan's Fingers, and the Killers, and the Hospital Bombers.

Jeff and Cyrus believed in their hearts they were headed
for stage lights and Learjets, and fortune and fame.
so in script that made prominent use of a pentagram,
they stenciled their drumheads and guitars with their names.

This was how Cyrus got sent to the school
where they told him he'd never be famous.
And this was why Jeff,
in the letters he'd write to his friend,
helped develop a plan to get even.
When you punish a person for dreaming his dream,
don't expect him to thank or forgive you.

The best ever death metal band out of Denton
will in time both outpace and outlive you.
Hail Satan!
Hail Satan tonight!
Hail Satan!
Hail Hail!

Immergut

2009-06-02T18:49:00.003+02:00

It's always hard to write something is retrospect when you've already started thinking about other things... But here we go:
Immergut was great! Better than last year. Almost as good as 3 years ago when I came for the first time. This year I went there with Susanne, Susanna and some other people. Vroni was sadly missed as she went to Hay on Wye this year.
The lineup looked good but not great. (I would have preferred more international bands.) But in the end the bands that I heard were excellent and I had a great time with them. The weather was good as well (although it was freezing cold at night).
It would be much too hard to recall every band I saw every day but here are some of my favorite moments:
- Ollie Schulz with his amazing "Detektiv Ärmchen" blow-up octopus.
- The Whitest Boy Alive (although they didn't quite rock)
- oldie-but-goldie Die Sterne - great to see the crowd explode to "Was hat dich bloß so ruiniert"
- Friska Viljor: out of the left field Scandinavian party machine
- Kettcar!
- The Soundtrack of Our Lives: OMG!!! The Seventies are alive and kicking. Psychedelic, out of this world, one of the great concert moments of my life!

Immergut pictures

2009-06-01T13:29:00.000+02:00

back in Berlin

2009-05-31T15:31:00.001+02:00

I'm back in Berlin after a great weekend at the Immergut Festival. Stay tuned for details band reviews and load of pictures. Right now I need some sleep...