Come on in, we haven't slept for weeks

You know those bands that grow on you? For me, no band personifies this change better than The Mountain Goats. I started listening to them in 7th grade, and only to a measly three songs. I'm not sure how I heard about them or what drew me in but something just held me.

The first song I ever heard by them was "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton". For the most part this song is pretty representative of the band. Lead singer John Darnielle started the band in the early 90's, recording with a very lo-fi sound (That he used up until 2002ish). I knew when I heard this song that this band was something special but I don't think I had the capacity to understand this at the time. When I was in 7th grade it was 2005 and The Mountain Goats had come a long way from the Lo-fi sound that I was used to, but I was a little behind the times.

I'm not sure I understood "The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton" at the time, all I knew was that it was the story of a high school metal band and that it ends with the lyrics "Hail Satan" (Not sure why but this felt so scandalous when I first listened to it).

The main message of the song is that when someone has a dream, you can't stop it by putting it down, our dreams live on no matter what. "When you punish a person for dreaming his dream don't expect him to thank or forgive you," Darnielle says it better wouldn't you say?

Anyway, here's the song, I won't tell you much more about the band because I want people to discover this band for themselves, they are truly amazing and definitely worth exploring more. I'll start you off a little though...

"The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton" by The Mountain Goats from All Hail West Texas (2002)

"This Year" by The Mountain Goats from The Sunset Tree (2005)

"Color In Your Cheeks" by The Mountain Goats from All Hail West Texas (2002)

— S

I've got a brand new pair of roller skates

One of my campers from this past summer introduced me to a band called The Hilltop Hoods, an Australian rap group. What was really amazing about this was the fact that my campers are 9 and 10 years old (man, they are growing up faster every year).

Anyway, one song onto which I was instantly hooked was "The Nosebleed Section" which is a great listen anyway, catchy lyrics and an even catchier song that they sample. I got a little curious, because I had never heard the song it was sampling but it was literally stuck in my head all day.

After a long search I found "People In The Front Row" by Melanie Safka. She sings with kind of Joni Mitchell lo-fi sound that I'm always drawn to. I hadn't heard of Safka before but instantly reconized her voice on the track "Brand New Key" which is also a jam, its actually a pretty innocent sounding song with some pretty sexually charged innuendos. Both are great, and, thanks to the majesty of the Intertubes, are posted below:

Brand New Key (Live) - Melanie Safka

More Later,

— S

P.S. (Her blonde hair streak at age 63 is kind of foxy, just saying...THEN & NOW)