i had a dream.

this is a true story.

A couple nights ago, I had a dream about the NAP. Specifically, someone commented that our posts were too long and self-indulgent. This in turn spawned hundreds of comments. These comments, as was the standard, were published in booklet form, on a daily basis. I remember being flattered because Deerhoof commented, as did Goldfrapp. (I don't actually like what I've heard of Goldfrapp's music, but I find her attractive in that Weimar Republic decadent/indolent kind of style that would be impossible to deal with in real life but it's not like that's an issue anyway because there's nothing real life about it. See also: most Fassbinder female protagonists.)

But that's not the point. The one comment that I recall ever-so-slightly in detail from this daily booklet was by Kilian, who trenchantly pointed out why each of our posts are so long. I forgot most of them, but for mine he said "DD always writes about what he's thinking about trying to figure out what he's going to write about instead of writing about something."

I don't know how objectively true that is on a post-by-post basis (and if it's not, don't blame Kilian, blame Dream Kilian, but anyway), but it definitely made me rethink my post this week, which was going to be on The Mountain Goats.

The Mountain Goats (who are always John Darnielle and sometimes other people, most currently and regularly Peter Hughes) have historically, as I think I've mentioned before, been My Favorite Band. I've followed them for over a decade, re-routed road trips and crossed state lines to see them play, sought out obscure releases, interviewed him in copious detail, put on a show with them, put him up at my house, forced them on anyone who would come into ear's length, put together a 3xCD compilation for someone who wanted a "best of" because I couldn't tighten it further, etc. ad infinitum.

(That interview, by the way, single-handedly coerced me into checking Mos Def's "Fear Not Of Man", which is on this week's podcast and is definitely awesome.)

But explaining why The Mountain Goats are my favorite band and defending against naysayers and - most pressingly to me right now - dealing with my frustrations with his latest album (described in detail, by the man himself, at that link) are things that would be thinking about trying to figure out what I'm going to write, instead of just writing the fucking thing, because often writing is how I think.

My only advice is this: it's not just all about the lyrics, but it all comes from the lyrics, so if you habitually don't listen to lyrics in music, you should probably bail here.

For the rest of you, I offer you some (arguably too much, but hey) evidence in favor of The Mountain Goats, starting with a song recorded in a great Chicago venue, here's "No Children" from the highly recommended TALLAHASSEE:


While we're on the Chicago tip, a song about Chicago sports (at a show Justin was at, if I'm not mistaken), badly framed but anyway, here's "Cubs In Five" from NINE BLACK POPPIES:


In addition to being an amazing song, this is from a show that my ex-girlfriend (and still very good friend), who I introduced to The Mountain Goats, decided to cross the Tasman Sea to attend, so I'm including it despite its PixelVision qualities (that other pixelated blob sharing a mic, by the way, is John Vanderslice) because it's the awe-inspiring "Palmcorder Yajna" from WE SHALL ALL BE HEALED:


This one is bad fidelity, but it's the song that got me into The Mountain Goats, illustrates the near-fanatical fervor that some fans have for his work, and bizarrely features him wearing a Batman costume, so here's the old classic "Going To Georgia" from ZOPILOTE MACHINE:


Are you sick of these yet? If not, my second favorite Mountain Goats love song ever, after "Twin Human Highway Flares" (which isn't on YouTube near as I can tell) is "Going To Queens" from SWEDEN:


And its sad counterpart about love dying is "Minnesota", from my favorite album, FULL FORCE GALESBURG:


And finally, a professional-style video for a great song even though the video itself is kinda cheesy and not quite in sync, this is "This Year" from the powerful THE SUNSET TREE (with the intro from that same album's "Dilaudid" weirdly edited on to the beginning, but so and anyway):


Do I expect anyone to watch all of these? No more or less than I expect them to read a heavily footnoted interview about obscurant trivia of a band. But hope never dies, as it says on a wall at KTRU.