THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

We seem to have a bit of an "animal"-theme thing going on lately. No bears or wolves, thankfully, but plenty of wombats, monkeys, and goats. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS, that is. Which is to say: JOHN DARNIELLE & friends.

If you can make peace with the guy's none-too-elegant, trailer-park-slacker vocals, you may just find yourself charmed by his bare-boned, open-hearted odes. His upcoming album, HERETIC PRIDE, will jump up & cry "Hallelujah!" on February 19.

THE MOUNTAIN GOATS on MySPACE.

From the LP HERETIC PRIDE, 2008 >>>
[MP3] "Sax Rohmer #1"
[MP3] "Autoclave"

From the LP THE SUNSET TREE, 2005 >>>
[MP3] "This Year"

From the LP TALLAHASSEE, 2002 >>>
[MP3] "No Children"

MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE

[Lazy Blogger Alert! But I don't give a damn, shit, or hoot. I'm too effin exhausted from fretting over font styles and sizes. Today's is supposed to be "Georgia." And it's supposed to be bigger than the general, run-of-the-mill "per usual" around here. How's it look? I may or may not give a damn, shit, or hoot....]

Now, here comes this lazy blogger's lazy, cut-and-paste job:

"MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE are an acoustic indiepop band from Sheffield, centred around the original founding duo of NAT JOHNSON & KEVIN GORI, who formed the band in 2004. The band expanded in 2005 to include CATHERINE TULLY on violin, ANDY GEORGE on cello & ROB DEAN on drums."

On tour, they've supported the likes of RICHARD HAWLEY, CAMERA OBSCURA, and THE LONG BLONDES.

Nat's the singer, by the way -- and she's a "she." I'd describe her voice as "fetching." Funny thing about Brit lass singers, though -- no matter how prim 'n' pretty the pipes, one feels somehow certain that they're entirely capable of snuffing out a cigarette on your unsuspecting eyeball or twisting the business-end of a broken Guinness bottle into your unguarded groin if you cross them....

MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE on MySPACE.

MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE on tour >>>

Jan 11 2008 8:00P/Bush Hall/London
Jan 18 2008 8:00P/Boardwalk/Sheffield
Feb 9 2008 8:00P/Winchester Club at the Flying Duck/Glasgow
Feb 10 2008 8:00P/The Tunnels/Aberdeen
Feb 11 2008 8:00P/Cabaret Voltaire/Edinburgh

From the LP THE CASKET LETTERS, 2007 >>>
[MP3] [VID] "Bloodline"
[MP3] "Elizabeth and Mary"

From the LP THE BRIGHT CARVINGS, 2006 >>>
[MP3] "You Yesterday"
[MP3] "Jimmy Down the Well"

THE WOMBATS

THE WOMBATS -- the next big "Next Big Thing" out of England? Some would seem to think so. Based on their debut LP, A GUIDE TO LOVE, LOSS & DESPERATION, I ain't neither certain nor sure.

(Or maybe I'm just pissed about the way my browser has gone all bat-shit-out-of-whack today. If you happen to be a semi-regular around these parts -- does the text size and font on the site today appear "normal," or has it changed? I'd love to know how the "outside world" is seeing this....)

THE WOMBATS on MySPACE.

THE WOMBATS hawking their wares >>>

Jan 9 2008 12:00P/Jo Whiley Live Lounge ** RADIO 1 ** London
Jan 11 2008 8:00P/St Georges Hall // Lime St/Liverpool
Jan 12 2008 8:00P/Liverpool Arena ** OPENING PARTY ** Liverpool
Jan 14 2008 6:00P/HMV INSTORE/Liverpool
Jan 15 2008 6:00P/HMV INSTORE/Leeds
Jan 17 2008 6:00P/FOPP INSTORE/Covent Garden, London
Jan 18 2008 6:00P/HMV INSTORE/Birmingham
Jan 18 2008 8:00P/Barfly/Birmingham

[MP3] "Dr. Suzanne Mattox PHD"

[MP3] "Backfire at the Disco"

DON McLEAN

Herein lies a logical enough follow-up to yesterday's high-falutin' Flackery....

To his credit, DON McLEAN has spent the better part of his career downplaying the phenomenon that was/is "American Pie." I remember that a "cool" eighth-grade social studies teacher of mine at Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School played this song as part of a lesson-plan back in '83 or '84. (For the record, he also played BILLY JOEL's "Allentown" -- or was it "Goodnight Saigon"? -- which maybe puts a bit of a dent in the "cool" thing.)

Whatever the case, McLean had quite the voice. Hell, even the great ROY ORBISON thought so -- giving the thumbs-up to McLean's hit version of "Crying" in the early '80s. High praise, indeed.

[MP3] "American Pie" [1971]

[MP3] "Vincent (Starry Starry Night)" [1971]

[MP3] "Castles in the Air" [1970]

[MP3] "Crying" [ROY ORBISON cover] [1980]

ROBERTA FLACK

For me, ROBERTA FLACK represents another one of those classic voices from '70s AM radio. Instant nostalgia.

Clint Eastwood would seem to agree, spotlighting her achingly gorgeous "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in his directorial debut, "Play Misty for Me" -- the "Fatal Attraction" of its day.

I'd always thought that Ms. Flack's signature ditty, "Killing Me Softly With His Song," was inspired by her hearing "American Pie" singer-songwriter DON McLEAN perform the song "Vincent" one night at the Troubador in L.A. Well... not quite. Flack didn't write the song, for one thing. And it was, in fact, inspired by a McLean performance of his lesser-known "Empty Chairs," not "Vincent." (Now, aren't you glad we got that cleared up?)

[MP3] "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" [1972]

[MP3] "Killing Me Softly With His Song" [1973]

[MP3] "Where is the Love" [w/DONNY HATHAWAY] [1972]

[MP3] "Feel Like Makin' Love" [1974]

[MP3] "The Closer I Get to You" [w/DONNY HATHAWAY] [1978]

BONUS TRACK >>>

[MP3] DON McLEAN/"Empty Chairs" [1971]

BEST OF DECEMBER 2007

Left-click [HERE] to download the final monthly mix of 2007.

Portal to previous monthly mixes [HERE].

DECEMBER 2007 TRACKLIST >>>

01 morcheeba [w/judy tzuke]/enjoy the ride
02 british sea power/waving flags
03 lucky soul/my brittle heart
04 milburn/come away with me
05 onetwo/home (tonight)
06 radiohead/up on the ladder
07 rihanna/don't stop the music
08 badly drawn boy/promises
09 citizens here and abroad/accelerator
10 fireflies/the sky turns to black
11 sambassadeur/the park
12 punky's dilemma/shooting stars
13 the brunettes/small town crew
14 lacrosse/sunshiner
15 the kindness kind/the rain came late
16 the dandy warhols/get off
17 marianne faithfull/song for nico
18 milburn/the genius and the tramp
19 dolly parton/jolene
20 the magnetic fields/the nun's litany

TRAVIS

This New Year dawns with much ass-dragging -- on both my part and the part of the music blogosphere as a whole. Post-holiday(s) hangover(s), I presume. Literally and/or figuratively.

Today, to help fill the void, three bonus tracks from the UK collective TRAVIS. These boys are almost absurdly prolific when it comes to their b-sides. In my opinion, the three below pass muster....

(FYI: The band will be heading back into the studio in late February to begin work on their next LP. As a precursor to that, they'll be hashing/hammering out new material during a handful of intimate gigs [see below].)

TRAVIS on MySPACE.

TRAVIS hashing/hammering out new material >>>

07 February/Brighton, Concorde 2
08 February/Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
10 February/Cambridge, Junction
11 February/Bristol, Trinity
12 February/Nottingham, Rescue Rooms

[MP3] "River" [JONI MITCHELL cover]

[MP3] "Village Man"

[MP3] "Just the Faces Change"