Page 31 - the NOISE August 2012

b Ugh
bb Eh
bbb Solid
bbbb Gold bbbbb Total Classic
The Mountain Goats; Amps for Christ/Woods
The Mountain Goats
Hot Garden Stomp/the Hound Chronicles
Shrimper
jjj
bass heavy riffs echo Echo and the Bunnymen and Richard and Tim Butler’s band.
“Take Back the Night”is slightly better, maybe. And, if nothing else, ASNAU could use the track to soundtrack their annual march. The clueless college kids will love the crap out of this. It has a stomping U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday” thing going on. God, this band sucks. How was I so misled? — FC
Amps For Christ/Woods S/T
Shrimper
jjj
While looking for the label that put this gem out, I stumbled upon the Pitchfork review and while I normally don’t check that website, I decided to see what they thought of this. Also, they would know more about the bands and stuff, and if I decided to use that kind of infor- mation, I could just copy and paste.
They’re lukewarm on it.
Now I’m not as familiar with Amps for Christ as I should be, given this sample. Noise and beauty collide into awesomeness in a way that seems both self-produced and mature. Incred- ible String Band and Pentangle come to mind, if Neil Young collaborated with them. “Roto Koto in C Major” has an Alice Coltrane feel to it, and the track the two bands do together, “From Oatmeal to Buttermilk” is even more in that world jazz vein. It makes me want to smoke copious amounts of locally grown well-loved ganja. Did you see Darjeeling Limited?
Woods are way more straightforward hokey western world indy-rock trying to sound other- worldly. They not only sound way more West- ern, but more earthling. They’ve got their vocal melodies going on. It’s low budget CSN meets
This is a reissue of The Mountain Goats sec- ond and third albums. Like all of John Darni- elle’s early output, (John Darniele is sole CEO of Mounain Goats inc.) these hundred songs were recorded on some sort of boombox and sound like it, which is what most people who love the Mountain Goats fell in love with. So it’s not quite a hundred songs, but they go rolling by and it starts to feel like it. This is kind of more of a historic document than anything, if historic documents are painfully charming. The signa- ture sound is well-established at this point. If you’re not sure what that means, find out, but start elsewhere. The “second side” of Hot Gar- den start to get really brilliant. “Feed This End” and “15-1” are the first tracks to transcend the lo-fi delivery and stand out. There are a lot of other really good songs here, holy smokes, but the uninitiated should maybe start with Dar- nielle’s full band stuff and go backwards. It’s a
groovy journey.
The Fresh and Onlys
Yes or No b/w Take Back the Night 7”
Mexican Summer
jj
— FC
I thought these guys were a rock n roll band. This is some Killers had a hatechild with U2 bullshit. I dislike “Yes or No” very much. I mean it could easily be on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack as like a throwaway but I’d rather just throw on the Furs when a new wave mood strikes. These vocals just don’t have the charm, even if the
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thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news magazine • AUGUST 2012 • 31