I know we're done for. The Mountain Goats: Nothing for Juice. Where the Trip is really the Journey.....

I first became acquainted with the California's Mountain Goats through Chicago's Ajax records, the label they were releasing records through in the 1990's. I bought music pretty regularly through Ajax's mailorder service. When I got a new catalog in the mail, it was a big thing. Used to pore through it like scripture.

We heard the Owls crashing about...........

Nothing for Juice was released back in 1996 and it immediately became a deserved favorite album of mine. At the time I probably didn't really understand what lo-fi meant exactly, though I understood that cash spent in a state-of-the-art studio would not turn a turd of an album into a gem. Studio technology has also taken batches of perfectly good songs and ruined them.

Nothing for Juice would definitely qualify as lo-fi, a duet of John Darnielle and Rachel Ware at the time, with a number of songs not recorded in a studio at all. Many of them sound like live performances. But what is important here is that there are a lot of great songs here, played with heart. Intelligent, vivid, funny, poignant lyrics. Good with or without orchestra.





What initially caught my ear with the Mountain Goats was the numerous musical trips being taken. The song titles invariably were going Somewhere. Like a musical Rand McNally Atlas. In the case of Nothing for Juice, Darnielle  had us Going to Catalina, Going to Kansas, Going to Reykjavik, Going to Scotland. I was wondering if he had a goal about this, like people who want to go to every baseball stadium before they die, or Sufjan Stevens' threat to make an album about all 50 US states.

But you get the impression of people on the move, which honestly must be a big part of the life of an itinerant musician. But the journey is all about where you go, but the trek you must take to get there.





Eventually, The Mountain Goats found a much larger audience, but I still love the early stuff. On three of the songs on Nothing for Juice, Graeme Jefferies (Cakekitchen, This Kind of Punishment)sits in, and provides some bracing guitar, particularly on Going to Kansas.

I saw Darnielle perform quite a while back, at The Knitting Factory. It was definitely an interesting lineup that night. First, Alistair Galbraith, then Barbara Manning, and ending with Mountain Goats.




As Barbara Manning said, a Kiwi, a Seal, and a Goat. It was a good night for music that particular night. As far as Darnielle, it was him on a stool singing, strumming an acoustic guitar, and it was a great set. He had a about a million songs to sing even at that stage of his career. I remember him doing his version of Ace of Base's hit song, The Sign, which it seems he still performs live. I guess he wasn't joking about being a fan.

I consider this album a classic--but it might not be for everybody. I've probably listened to it more than 50 times. There are subtleties here--its not an album that beats you over the head or grabs you by the collar. But it resonates because a lot of what's done here is a continuation of what people have been doing thousands of years, long before there were recording studios, or methods to preserve live performances. Its not about what you hear, but what the music makes you feel.

And invariably, as Spring returns once again to the beautiful Hudson Valley, my thoughts return to The Mountain Goats, mainly because of the first song from their 9 Black Poppies disc. It's one of the best baseball songs I can think of (though I am a Yankee fan), but even more, it is about the indomitable spirit of hope that exist in the human spirit, with funny bits.

Happiness Is Luxury--Tunes For A Recession Mix Tape--Making Losers Happy--Xpressway Singles 1988-1991

There was a time when I was completely obsessed with New Zealand Rock. I was buying music from Flying Nun records directly. I probably would have bought a lot more, but back then it was difficult to buy things overseas. I had no idea how to get New Zealnd dollars to buy things. This was before Paypal, and before this outfits were accepting credit cards. I used to go to Pier Platters in Hoboken and go upstairs and pick through the Kiwi vinyl, of which they had an extraordinary selection. Today I wish I had bought music more blindly--I stuck to things I had heard of, mostly.

Somewhere I found out about the Xpressway label run by Dead C stalwart Bruce Russell. In a way it was an island of misfit toys for New Zealand artists who were no longer part of the Flying Nun group. After a beginning of being a diverse potpourri of worthy artists, the label was concentrating on more melodic artists. I had picked up the Peter Gutteridge tape Pure probably through a Flying Nun catalog I had and sent a later out in snail mail fashion as was popular in those days. Probably three weeks or so later I received a letter from Mr. Russell, beginning with the depressing words.

Dear Fred, Sadly, Xpressway is no more.....He went on to explain that he had founded a new label Corpus Hermeticum that would be devoted to more improvisational forms of music, in effect, going in an even less popcentric direction than Xpressway. I was disappointed as I had hoped to get some more things from their small catalog. I picked up some interesting items from CH over the years, which were fairly interesting but maybe not the sort of thing I found myself listening to repeatedly. Fortunately at least some of my Xpressway fix was sated through compilations, one of which is Making Losers Happy.

While the classic recording is the awesome Xpressway Pileup, there is much to enjoy on Making Losers Happy, which contains 14 tracks from rare singles and Eps recorded between 1988 and 1991. These recordings came out originally in batches of only 500, so this Cd is really indispensable to any fan of New Zealand music. This comp was released in the US on the musically adventurous and eclectic Drag City label out of Chicago. A great grouping of innovative artists are represented here, who create challenging music that never fails to be interesting.

The album begins strongly with a fairly tuneful (for them) Bad Politics by the Dead C, one of the great noisy experimental bands of New Zealand. A fairly grim pop tune with a nice driving beat to it. Russell, Michael Morley and Robbie Yeats have two others here also, one of which, Angel, is a favorite of mine. "Turn off the sun, and dance, forever..." A slow insular stoned out beginning descends into white noise and hypnotic drum patterns. A song of pure noisy beauty. Crazy I Know has an almost jangly pastoral quality to it. Saw Dead C at Maxwell's in Hoboken years ago, with Thurston Moore and drummer Tom Surgal doing an opening improvisatory set. They are a really interesting live band, masters of controlled feedback on stage. I recall one of the guitarists raising a huge squall by playing the guitar flat on a table similar to a pedal steel.



Alastair Galbraith is also represented, an artist that more people should know about. He collaborates with Graeme Jefferies (Cake Kitchen, This Kind of Punishment, Nocturnal Projections) on modern sea chanty Bravely Bravely and the grand, shimmering Timebomb. He also is here as a member of Plagal Grind (as was Peter Jefferies, Robbie Muir and David Mitchell), performing the album closer, the smoldering instrumental Blackout and also the elegaic Receivership.

David Mitchell of the 3d's is also here, with the jittery South Island raga Dead Dog in Port Chalmers. Dogs is a mesmeric noisy almost disco pop tune. He performs also Grey Funnel Line supporting the lead vocals by 3d bandmate Denise Roughan. The Terminals are represented by the Kiwi classic The Deadly Tango. The b side is the equally awesome and aggressively punky Do The Void.



Finally, one of my favorite artists, Peter Jefferies is here performing with Robbie Muir. What an amazing and incestuous bunch of musicians you find from this small scene. Jefferies Last Great Challenge in a Dull World is a special album for me, with great piano. On Making Losers Happy he performs the noisy invigorating Catapult. On a different tack, The Fate Of The Human Carbine is a dour sarcastic ballad with clever lyrics, quite in line with his work with This Kind of Punishment.



Making Losers Happy is a nice introduction to some of the standout artists on the Xpressway label. Once you hear this or Xpressway Pileup you will probably want to further explore the discographies of these musicians.

Through a Cobweb on the Wall--Graeme Jefferies' Cakekitchen

Watch it Climb and Fall. Like the Clock Upon the Wall.

World of Sand is a somewhat forgotten great kiwi album. This album is a tonic to those who have a stereotypical view of New Zealand music as jingle jangle sunny Byrdsy Beatley pop music, like Crowded House or The Chills. Cakekitchen is Graeme Jefferies' band, formerly of This Kind Of Punishment and Nocturnal Projections, brother to Peter Jefferies. The music is noisy Velvet Underground inspired rock interspersed with moody ballads, with Graeme's deep and dour vocals running over the top of all like aged port. An album haunted with stately eloquence.

The disc opens with Ordeal By Water a noisy dirge building to a close with huge distorted shards of guitar.The title track, World of Sand is a gorgeous sad ballad with a wonderful interplay between Graeme's acoustic guitar and the violin of the talented Alastair Galbraith. The song is a flat out classic. And it's followed by the itchy hard rocking punky Walking On Glass. A noisy filling rattling kinetic sonic workout.

Such Honesty Walks A Brittle Line

Don't Be Fooled By The Label, is a classically sounding ballad with buzzing viola with morose melodious vocals. After that comes a stunner and my personal favorite on an album of favorites, Tomorrow Came Today, a quiet mellow tune filled with evocative lyrics that crescendos to high volume guitar by the end. The songs on this album could have been used for the soundtrack to an experimental play. The songs are notable for his use of loud and quiet, often changing into something quite different at the end. This Perfect Day is almost a trance-inducing drone reminding me a little like Moroccan Jajouka music in a way. McCarthy is another 4 sinister minutes of delightful guitar squall.

I like all the songs on this record but the final song Crimson and Gunmetal is one of the highlights of the album, featuring shared vocals with Denise Roughan of Look Blue Go Purple and grandiose epic guitar riffing. Dogs and Cats is pleasant sounding pop with xylophone accompaniment. Isle of Pittsburgh is also a sunnier sounding acoustic pop. In some ways the album is a bit schizophrenic, but the mix of songs works for me. This record is a great forgotten album from the 90's--trends and scenes come and go, but good music is timeless.