martes, 16 de septiembre de 2008

Minutos Musicales: The Mountain Goats

Estimados,
The Mountain Goats (Las Cabras de Montaña) son una banda estadounidense de Rock Alternativo e Indie Rock y Lo-Fi (hasta 2002) capitaneada por John Darnielle y Peter Hughes (bajista).

Tienen una amplia trayectoria que comenzó allá por 1991 y que podéis ver aquí. Es curioso ver que mantienen la frescura a pesar del paso de los años. Sin duda, todo un referente para la música actual.

Taboo VI: The Homecoming - cassette (Shrimper, 1991)
The Hound Chronicles - cassette (Shrimper, 1992)
Hot Garden Stomp - cassette (Shrimper, 1993)
Zopilote Machine - CD, cassette (Ajax, 1994), CD/LP (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
Sweden - CD/LP (Shrimper, 1995)
Hail and Farewell, Gothenburg - (Unreleased, 1995)
Nothing for Juice - CD/LP (Ajax, 1996), CD (3 Beads of Sweat, 2005)
Full Force Galesburg - CD/LP (Emperor Jones, 1997)
The Coroner's Gambit - CD/LP (Absolutely Kosher, 2000)
All Hail West Texas - CD (Emperor Jones, 2002)
Tallahassee - CD/LP (4AD, 2002)
We Shall All Be Healed - CD/LP (4AD, 2004)
The Sunset Tree - CD/LP (4AD, 4/26/05)
Come, Come to the Sunset Tree - limited-edition LP (4AD, 4/26/05)
Get Lonely - CD/LP (4AD, 8/22/06) Heretic Pride CD/LP (4AD, 2/19/08)

"In 1991, Darnielle began performing under the name The Mountain Goats in Claremont, California, where he attended Pitzer College and worked as a psychiatric nurse.[1] The band's name is a reference to the Screamin' Jay Hawkins song "Yellow Coat".[1] Darnielle released his first album, Taboo VI: The Homecoming, on Shrimper Records.[1] Many of his first recordings and performances featured Darnielle accompanied by members of the all-girl reggae band The Casual Girls, who became known as The Bright Mountain Choir.[2] One of this group's members, Rachel Ware, continued to accompany Darnielle on bass, both live and in studio, until 1995.[2]

The first five years of the Mountain Goats' career saw a prolific output of songs on cassette, vinyl and CD. These releases spanned multiple labels and countries of origin; many were unavailable to the majority of fans until recent reissues.

The focus of the Mountain Goats project was the urgency of writing (Brown, "Sermon on the Mount", June, 1999.). If a song wasn’t recorded adequately to tape within days of being written it was often forgotten.

Darnielle graduated from Pitzer College in 1995. Most of what could be considered classic Mountain Goats conventions (boom-box recording, song series, Latin quotes, and mythological themes) were abandoned in favor of a more thematically focused and experimental sound. This period was marked by Darnielle's collaborations with other artists including Alastair Galbraith and Simon Joyner.

2002 saw the release of two Mountain Goats albums: All Hail West Texas and Tallahassee. These albums mark a distinct change in focus for the Mountain Goats project, being the first in a series of concept albums that explore aspects of The Mountain Goats' canon in depth. All Hail West Texas featured the resurrection of Darnielle's early boom box recording for a complete album. Darnielle considers this album to be the culmination of his lo-fi recording style. Tallahassee, recorded with a band and in a studio, explores the relationship of a couple whose lives were the subject of the song cycle known as the Alpha Series (see Alpha Series below for a full list of songs in this cycle).

Martial Arts Weekend, also released in 2002 under the band name The Extra Glenns, is a collaboration with Franklin Bruno on several previously unreleased Mountain Goats songs.[2] Since that recording, Bruno has joined Darnielle in the studio along with bassist Peter Hughes, who is the second official member of the band and accompanies Darnielle on tour. These three musicians form what may be considered the Mountain Goats studio band.

The Mountain Goats performing at the Northstar Bar on September 22nd, 2007In 2004, the Mountain Goats released We Shall All Be Healed. The album marked a couple of changes for the Mountain Goats. It was the first time Darnielle worked with producer John Vanderslice and the first album of directly autobiographical material. We Shall All Be Healed chronicles Darnielle's life with a group of friends and acquaintances addicted to methamphetamine in Portland, Oregon, though the album is set in Pomona, California.

In 2005, the Mountain Goats released their second Vanderslice-produced album, The Sunset Tree. Again autobiographical, Darnielle tackles the subject of his early childhood spent with an abusive stepfather. Darnielle had previously dealt with this subject in what he often refers to as the only autobiographical song he had written before 2004, the unreleased song "You're in Maya."

In 2006, the Mountain Goats issued Get Lonely, which was produced by Scott Solter, a man perhaps best known for his engineering work with Vanderslice on various projects, including prior Mountain Goats records. In 2007, Jon Wurster played drums on the last leg of the Get Lonely tour.

In 2007, the band recorded tracks for its next album at Prairie Sun studios.[3] Entitled Heretic Pride, the album was released on February 19, 2008.[4] It was produced by John Vanderslice and Scott Solter. Franklin Bruno and Erik Friedlander returned to the studio with Darnielle and Hughes, and they were also joined by Jon Wurster on drums and vocalist Annie Clark of St. Vincent.[4]

On February 3, 2008, The Mountain Goats released a song called "Down to the Ark" that was commissioned by Weekend America.[5]

On March 19, 2008, Darnielle posted on the band's website that their Australian tour would be canceled due to "personal health reasons".[6]

Darnielle is featured on Aesop Rock's song "Coffee" from the 2007 album None Shall Pass. Aesop Rock also released a remix of the track "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" from the album Heretic Pride."

Grupo: The Mountain Goats
Disco: Heretic Pride
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/themountaingoats y http://www.mountain-goats.com/
Canciones destacadas: Heretic Pride, Autoclave, How To Embrace A Swamp Creature, Marduk T-Shirt Mens Room Incident, Michael Myers Resplendent, San Bernardino, Sax Rohmer #1 y So Desperate