So I'm compulsive about signing up for new things and then not using them. Over the more than two decades that blogging has been a thing I've probably made more

So I'm compulsive about signing up for new things and then not using them. Over the more than two decades that blogging has been a thing I've probably made more than twenty and not used them because there's something terrifying about the blank feed that could be anything. I always

Another rich vein of Mountain Goats songs: songs about Guys. This is a haunting and oppressive piece of music, one that sounds like night, the kind of night with something

Another rich vein of Mountain Goats songs: songs about Guys. This is a haunting and oppressive piece of music, one that sounds like night, the kind of night with something in it. There's a darkness in it, and some themes dealt with much more directly than in most Mountain Goats

I love a good Mountain Goats biographical, almost as much as I love a good Mountain Goats instruction song where each line is something that the song's subject should or

I love a good Mountain Goats biographical, almost as much as I love a good Mountain Goats instruction song where each line is something that the song's subject should or must do. I was in the wrong generation for Charles Bronson. I was born after his great performances (Dirty Dozen,

This is a fragment of a story turned it not a different story. An inspiration from the culmination of an old film where Lon Chaney Jr's part was rewritten to

This is a fragment of a story turned it not a different story. An inspiration from the culmination of an old film where Lon Chaney Jr's part was rewritten to contain almost no dialogue, apparently due to his recovery from surgery, with this song's title being part of his only

A couple of neat mini-genres coming together here. Mountain Goats demo tapes and extras, and Mountain Goats biographicals. This is the story - apocryphal and purposefully anachronistic - of Billy

A couple of neat mini-genres coming together here. Mountain Goats demo tapes and extras, and Mountain Goats biographicals. This is the story - apocryphal and purposefully anachronistic - of Billy The Kid, a person who is these days almost entirely fiction. There's one photo, a handful of records and accounts,

This is a ghost story. And so obviously it's beautiful. The sort of warm piano that makes you feel like you're on a show on network television that's too sentimental

This is a ghost story. And so obviously it's beautiful. The sort of warm piano that makes you feel like you're on a show on network television that's too sentimental to be a comedy and too funny to be a drama. This is a ghost story. And so it's actually

Moving away from The Life Yet To Come but staying with God, this is a small but delightful devotional. It's about loving something greater in trying times, and finding ways

Moving away from The Life Yet To Come but staying with God, this is a small but delightful devotional. It's about loving something greater in trying times, and finding ways to feel and express that love in times where the world feels loveless. While this isn't my favourite Mountain Goats

Now this is interesting. The book of Enoch is not a book of the bible. Or rather not a book of most bibles. It's not within the Old Testament as

Now this is interesting. The book of Enoch is not a book of the bible. Or rather not a book of most bibles. It's not within the Old Testament as it appears in most versions of the Christian bible, nor within the canon of Rabbinic Judaism, outside of certain faith

The unreleased demo of a song intended for an album based on bible verses is even for the Mountain Goats a fairly obscure corner, and one that this song scuttles

The unreleased demo of a song intended for an album based on bible verses is even for the Mountain Goats a fairly obscure corner, and one that this song scuttles into still further with an allegorical narrative that I don't think I have the brain to fully unpack. I feel

To my knowledge, I have only been in a room while someone died there once. It was predictably enough a hospital room, and it was not unexpected. My wife's grandfather.

To my knowledge, I have only been in a room while someone died there once. It was predictably enough a hospital room, and it was not unexpected. My wife's grandfather. Basically my grandfather. He was older, had lived a long and eventful life, and had his granddaughters by his side,

All I could think of the first time I heard this song was the Thylacine Wolf. And how unlikely it was that such a creature survived just long enough for

All I could think of the first time I heard this song was the Thylacine Wolf. And how unlikely it was that such a creature survived just long enough for us to get weird video of it, and then - entirely because of us - died out. This is a

Afraid I don't have much for this one. It's a song about going back to where you used to belong. Sort of like The Old Apartment by Barenaked Ladies, which

Afraid I don't have much for this one. It's a song about going back to where you used to belong. Sort of like The Old Apartment by Barenaked Ladies, which is the most blasphemous comparison I will make this whole year I think. Sorry, I'm drained. Multiple long days. Prepping

The core of this song is a simple and beautiful ballad. Someone living with the torments of the world finding consolation in the memory and love of someone who is

The core of this song is a simple and beautiful ballad. Someone living with the torments of the world finding consolation in the memory and love of someone who is not there. I know you're thinking of me 'cause it's just about to rain is an entirely perfect line and

This is an oblique song, and seemingly deliberately so. John likes to unpack the personal behind walls of allegory and imagery, and so allegory and imagery are what we're left

This is an oblique song, and seemingly deliberately so. John likes to unpack the personal behind walls of allegory and imagery, and so allegory and imagery are what we're left with. This gives us a second day of songs about bodies. And in particular about the yawning chasm between the

I've gone through a lot of influences that I see prominently in Mountain Gopats songs. Lots of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen, some They Might Be giants, a lot of

I've gone through a lot of influences that I see prominently in Mountain Gopats songs. Lots of Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen, some They Might Be giants, a lot of hardcore and post-hardcore. I wasn't expecting Creedence Clearwater Revival. And yet here we are. That's where we are musically. Lyrically,

This is a smoky and low key song, primarily John and his guitar with strange itinerant percussion moving through slowly. In terms of content it's a meditation on witchcraft, or

This is a smoky and low key song, primarily John and his guitar with strange itinerant percussion moving through slowly. In terms of content it's a meditation on witchcraft, or upon what is treated as witchcraft. The lead character is a healer of - as far as we know -

Going to do this for The Life Of The World To Come. These songs have associated bible verses, so let's actually read the bible verses. KJV because I'm English and

Going to do this for The Life Of The World To Come. These songs have associated bible verses, so let's actually read the bible verses. KJV because I'm English and that's the C of E bible: Romans 10:9 I've observed before that one of the areas where I feel most

There's a subtle lie that songwriters tell you, and it comes in the form of songs that tell you that you might be beaten down and defeated now but one

There's a subtle lie that songwriters tell you, and it comes in the form of songs that tell you that you might be beaten down and defeated now but one day you will rise. The lie is not in what the songs say but in the tone. It's a hope,

It's easy and not necessarily helpful to talk about eras of Mountain Goats songs. Certainly it's clear that songs with the mechanical groan of a tape recorder belong to a

It's easy and not necessarily helpful to talk about eras of Mountain Goats songs. Certainly it's clear that songs with the mechanical groan of a tape recorder belong to a particular period -unless they don't - but other indicators are vaguer. There's several albums where the songs become much more

Guys, it's fucking hot. Not just July hot, but the continuation and worsening of a literal month long heatwave. Today's been worse than it's been the last week, and we've

Guys, it's fucking hot. Not just July hot, but the continuation and worsening of a literal month long heatwave. Today's been worse than it's been the last week, and we've been huddling behind fans and air conditioners. We don't have proper AC in England, our buildings aren't built for it.