Transcendental Youth

By their third or fourth album most bands have used up most of the creativity that fueled their early work, but for the Mountain Goats’ 14th album, “Transcendental Youth,” still packs as much of a punch as their first album. The Mountain Goats formed in the early 1990s and still are around today with lead singer John Darnielle as the core member.

While their folk rock sound hasn't changed much, their early lo-fi home recordings that focused on Darnielle's childhood and teenage experiences are a far cry from the polished "Transcendental Youth." On this new album, which came out in July, 2012, Darnielle experiments with new music genres. A few of the tracks such as the title track include horns that give the album a jazzy feel. Almost every Mountain Goats’ album has told a loose story, ranging from a slowly dissolving marriage in “Tallahassee” to a group of junkies living in a house together in “We Shall All Be Healed.” Not all their songs are this depressing though, trust me.

Before playing one of their most popular songs “No Children,” which is arguably the most bitter break-up song of all time, at a 2010 show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Darnielle jokingly reassured the audience, “This song doesn’t really relate to my life because I’m in a healthy relationship and have been for a long time.”

That’s one of the reasons that makes the Mountain Goats so great. Darnielle is a brilliant lyricist whose songs tell the stories of gangsters, high school metal heads, gladiators, pop singers, high school football players, and sometimes even his life. It doesn’t matter that the Mountain Goats’ songs are usually five chords at the most and feature just guitar, bass, vocals, keys, and drums, Darnielle’s lyrics make each song unique.

While “Transcendental Youth” features more instruments and has a crisp studio sound than other albums, when you hear Darnielle’s gruff, distinctive, voice on the opening track “Amy AKA Spent Gladiator 1,” a song he wrote after the death of British singer Amy Winehouse, you know it’s the Mountain Goats. The album is about a group of people living in the Pacific Northwest. Like much of the Mountain Goats’ previous work, it focuses on the outcasts and misfits of society, a group it appears Darnielle associates with greatly.

The album has some strong points, such as the title track “Transcendental Youth,” a slow reflective song which as the last song on the album features Darnielle singing with at least a little hope for the future. “Harlem Roulette,” song about fame and what comes with it features the great sing-a-long line, "The loneliest people in the whole wide world are the ones you're never going to see again.”  
    As a whole though, the album isn’t as strong as the Mountain Goats earlier work. The stories Darnielle tells aren’t as memorable as in “Tallahassee” or “All Hail West Texas” and the horns aren’t enough to make some songs blend together in a sea of blandness.

I was still excited to see the Mountain Goats when they came on tour last year. It was crucial for the Mountain Goats to play a show in Portland on tour for “Transcendental Youth,” seeing that it is the background of many songs on the album. The show took place on Dec. 16 at the Aladdin Theater, a venue I had seen them at two years previous.

At the first show I was stuck up in the balcony because of Oregon’s silly alcohol laws, but for some unknown reason I was allowed to be on the floor for this show.

I took a spot at the front of the stage and started talking to the other Mountain Goat fans around me. It immediately became clear that everyone there loved the Mountain Goats just as much as I did. I talked to two teenage boys from Idaho who had driven all the way from Boise just to come to the show.

From the opening song, “White Cedar,” which is about a bus stop on NE 33^rd Avenue in Portland, to the encore “Transcendental Youth,” the audience sang along. These were obviously devoted fans. Even though the Mountain Goats don’t have a huge following, it is definitely a cultish one.

The band who played the show consisted of Darnielle, Peter Hughes on bass, and Jon Wurster on drums, as well as a small horns section. This minimalist take was a nice breath of fresh air to other recent live shows, which seem to try to feature as many musicians and instruments as possible.

The Mountain Goats played almost all of “Transcendental Youth” as well as older crowd favorites such as “Up the Wolves.” Before almost every song, Darnielle gave a little story about it. This Darnielle was different than from two years ago. At that show his stories had been long and very prepared. He seemed much more lighthearted and many of the stories were about his young son. 

Even though “Transcendental Youth” isn’t the strongest Mountain Goats album, it still sounds like the Mountain Goats. The songs are creepily relatable and it’s hard not to sing along.  Just like any other Mountain Goats album, it’s the perfect thing to blast in your parent’s old sedan on a lonely Saturday night when you have no one else to talk to. 
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In other news sorry about the lack of posts recently- I've been crazy busy studying for finals AND my tripod broke so no fashiony posts. I hope to be able to pick this blog back up now it's second semester and I'm not (as) busy. 
 

Fashion? Maybe? Possibly? Yes?

So the craziness of school/applying to college/having a job has made this blog a very sad place. One of my New Year's goals (which I've always hated because I never keep them) is to keep up this blog and expand to other things besides music. Since August I've worked at a used clothing store called Buffalo Exchange. It's totally changed my mindset about fashion and I've learned so much about the industry.... I've also spent a lot of money on clothes. Oh well, c'est la vie.

I feel there's this really fine line between commercialism and art in the fashion industry and specifically in fashion blogging. Showing off clothes and outfits can so quickly go from art to "look what I got". I am a little hesitant to add more fashion and style to this blog because I don't want to loose it's integrity (do blogs have integrity?) I hope to show, and maybe even inspire, by posting outfits. For years I've been inspired by blogs like The Style Rookie  and Fashion Pirate. When I read these blogs (which is pretty much daily) I'm always taken aback by the incredible style these bloggers have. They take their clothes and create works of art (I know that sounds super cheesy, but is there a better way to say it?). I love fashion and clothes, but spend my days with people who buy all their clothes at Forever 21. So maybe the internet is the place for me? Anywho, here's my first outfit post:

I like this outfit because it feels professional with the vintage lavender skirt and detachable collar (which I made from just cutting the collar off of an old shirt), but I'm also wearing a Beavis and Butt-Head t-shirt, fish-nets, and spiked Jeffrey Campbell's. I've really liked the look of combining fun graphic tees with more fitted and "serious" pieces.


Shirt- Buffalo Exchange

Collar- DIY from old thrifted shirt

Skirt- Buffalo Exchange

Tights and Socks- Sock Dreams (a really sweet socks/tights store in Portland)

Shoes- Jeffrey Campbell Stinger Spike from Sole Struck

"Love This Giant" Disappoints, But I Can Still Say I Saw David Byrne with St. Vincent Live

Weird collaborations happen all the time in music. Some of them are incredible, like Queen and David Bowie with “Under Pressure” or just wrong, like Rihanna and Chris Brown post break-up with “Birthday Cake.” (Really Rih-Rih, I expected so much more from you.) While not all collaborations work, they still can produce interesting music that expands the genres of the musicians.

I was ecstatic when I found out that two of my favorite artists, seminal New Waver David Byrne and newcomer guitarist Annie Clark, (aka St. Vincent) were joining forces. I knew this combination had the possibility to be the next “Under Pressure” or to be chaos. Byrne and Clark are two very distinct and very different artists. Byrne rose to fame during the 1970s with his group The Talking Heads. The band experimented with a variety of genres ranging from New Wave, punk Americana,funk, and world music. They gained some commercial success and are considered an influential group in the history of rock and roll. 

Clark, on the other hand, has only become famous over the past few years. She creates indie/art pop rock under the pseudo name St. Vincent. She is most known for her unique guitar playing that combines robotic progressive rock riffs with almost robotic melodies. She released her first album, “Marry Me,” in 2007 and has released two more since then. 
While she has gained some commercial success, she is not nearly as well known as Byrne. 

This was why I was excited, but surprised about the Byrne and Clark collaboration. I imagined that Byrne would play the role of the “old rock mentor” to the much younger Clark. When reading interviews with Byrne and Clark prior to their album’s release, it appeared that this was truly a collaborative process between Byrne and Clark. Byrne described their relationship as similar to that of the beauty and the beast with Byrne being the beauty and Clark being the beast. 

Their collaboration, an album entitled “Love This Giant,” finally came out in September. While there were a couple strong songs, the album as a whole was a disappointment. Both artists are known for their theatricality in both their music and stage performances. This usually creates music that is exciting and tells a story,though this magic is not there in “Love This Giant.” The songs feel almost flat and lackluster. The music is a mush of Bryne’s and Clark’s musical genres and nothing stands out. 

Almost every song on the album also features an eight-piece brass band, which creates a lot of tension in the music. While this is definitely an interesting sound, it seems repetitive when it is featured on every song. 

Despite my feelings towards the album, I was excited to see Byrne and Clark perform, just to be able to say that I saw David Byrne and Annie Clark in concert, together. The show took place at the perfect venue− the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland. I knew that the beautiful old building would be a great place to hear them play. 

Even though I wasn't crazy about “Love This Giant,” I really enjoyed Byrne’s and Clark’s performance. The eight-piece brass band that performed on the album toured with them. While they were performing, the brass band members would travel around the stage in synchronized dances - sometimes in circles around Byrne and Clark and other times approaching them slowly, like carnivorous animals, from both sides of the stage. When performed live, the brass sounded fuller and gave life to the music instead of taking away from it. 

One of the best parts of the show was getting to see Byrne and Clark perform each other’s songs. They did Talking Head classics such as “Burning Down the House”and “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” and the St. Vincent songs “Cheerleader” and “Surgeon.” 

At about halfway through the show, Clark admitted she never imagined she would ever play with Byrne. She told the story of how she first heard his music when she was only a young child and he was already a successful musician. It just goes to show you that any musical collaboration can happen, some just shouldn’t.

T-Shirt of the Day: Meiko

Band: Meiko

Have I Ever Seen Her Live: Sadly no, she only ever has played 21+ shows.

Favorite Part of the T-Shirt: Meiko's t-shirts are always super cute- be it a rocket blasting off from the moon or a dinosaur saying her name.

Favorite Song: "Reasons to Love You"

Summer Releases

With the school year back in full spring I bring to you three summer releases by local bands. The music ranges from punk to indie-rock to more electro influenced, but the best part about all the releases- each can either be listened to or downloaded online for free.

Our First Brains- Bummer Jams 2012

            Somewhat of a super group, Our First Brains consists of a bunch of friends who have played music together for years. For their first release, which came out this last summer, they decided to put together something that provided the “much needed bummer jams to satisfy all of your catchy punk pop desires.” WithBummer Jams 2012 they have done just that. The band combines their punk-pop soundwith various sound-bits such as couples bickering and what sounds like old radio broadcasts. The lyrics of the songs range from love to heartbreak and most songs have a punk sound that would be perfect coming from someone’s garage on a hot July night. The last song of the EP, “Attention Spans, They Die,” is the only acoustic song on Bummer Jams 2012and gives off that feeling of reminisce we all get at the end of the summer.

Where can I listen to it: while the band has sold out all their limited edition tapes of Bummer Jams 2012, you can still get it on their band camp page ourfirstbrains.bandcamp.com, where you can download it for free!

BiploarBear- Green, Blue, Red

            BiploarBear’s new EP has the band experimenting with a new, more rocking sound. Drums and distorted guitar lines are featured prominently, such as in the song “Carolina.” Singer Teal Bluestone’s voice also takes on rock, almost punk, tone, making her more Karen O than Romy Madley-Croft (of the indie rock band the xx). For the band this was one of the most time-consuming songs because of its difficult harmonies and bridge. Besides changing up their sound a little,this was also the first album the band recorded in a professional studio, which gives Green, Blue, Red a more polished feel to it. Their classic indie-rock tone is not lost in the album,though. In the sweet “SongSongSong,” which features drummer Henry Brentlinger and Bluestone sharing vocals, simple drum beats and minimal guitar are much more reminiscent of their past work than other songs on the album. Bluestone believes this is their most diverse album so far, with each song different than the one before.

            “There really isn’t a specific theme in the music of the songs,” said Teal, although when asked about the theme of the album as a whole she said she believes that it emulates the idea of summertime, something that will be greatly missed as the rain comes.

Where can I listen to it: on their Facebook page, which you can view here.

Electric Sheep- Tuesday in the Clouds

After four years of being together Electric Sheep finally put out their first album, “Tuesday in the Clouds,” right as the band was disbanding. Various members of the group had to leave because of college, so Tuesday in the Clouds was their last hurrah as a group. It’s sad the band only recorded one album becauseTuesday in the Cloudsis truly great. Inspired by indie rock bands like Grizzly Bear, Electric Sheep’s songs change from complicated electro-focused masterpieces to low-fi bridges.  Usually the songs feature just drums, guitar,and vocals. While this dramatic change could be awkward if not done right, Electric Sheep makes these transitions smoothly and makes each song a story in itself. Their music would be work perfectly for a stressful school night when you need something smoothing to get you through your calculus homework.

Where can I listen to it: on their soundcloud- soundcloud.com/electricsheep.

T-Shirt of the Day: OK Go

Band: OK Go

Have I Ever Seen Them Live: Yes- technically three times. They did a little acoustic show that a friend of mine organized at School of Rock in Portland a couple years ago, then they played that night at the Hawthorne Theater, and then I saw them a couple months (years?) later at Oregon State University.

Show Highlight: Getting to meet them was really sweet, but seeing my good friend freak over meeting her all time favorite band? Even better.

Favorite Song: Some of my friends and I played "You're So Damn Hot" for a friend for his birthday- it was pretty amazing. "Invincible" is also a really great song.

T-Shirt of the Day: Kimya Dawson

Band (Artist): Kimya Dawson

Have I Ever Seen Her Live: Yes! One time at the Old Town School in Chicago circa 2008 and then around 2010 in Portland at Backspace.


Favorite Part About the Show: At the Portland show we all sat on the ground and it was just her and an acoustic guitar. It was really intimate and lovely.

What I Love About the T-Shirt: It's hard to see because the wall behind it is orange, but the t-shirt is bright red. The picture of Kimya and the sheep is adorable too. Kimya was also the one who sold it to me- which was pretty awesome.

Favorite Song: "Loose Lips" is one of the most brilliant songs ever written.

Funny Story: A couple months ago I found out about Tallahassee Turns Ten and thought it was super cool and I submitted a cover of "Game Shows Touch Our Lives" by the Mountain Goats. I found out my cover didn't get in and I was really sad, but then I found out Kimya's cover did instead and I was TOTALLY ok with that.