So I finally got round to doing another podcast. Can you tell I had two large, strong coffees at lunchtime? Because I certainly can...
This review first appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post.The Mountain Goats
Get Lonely
4AD
***
Over his last two albums, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats has dealt with some fairly harrowing autobiographical themes: teenage drug addiction, and his relationship with an abusive stepfather. Now, with his tenth release, Darnielle adopts the equally harrowing voice of an abandoned, heartbroken lover, teetering on the brink of madness. The result is quite possibly the bleakest “break-up” album ever made.
Over a series of understated, deceptively gentle, largely acoustic arrangements, Darnielle’s high, cracked voice relates a series of scenes which see his protagonist lurching from bad to worse, in a kind of numbed-out, post-traumatic daze. In “Wild Sage”, he stumbles along the roadside, before falling over and lying there, bloodied and immobile. At other times, he simply wanders around his home, displaced and desperate, not knowing what to do next. By the album’s closing track, “In Corolla”, his despair has reached its ultimate, tragic conclusion.
Although these twelve songs certainly exert a grim fascination, it is difficult to imagine anyone actually playing this album for pleasure. In particular, if you’re looking for music to help you through your own break-up, then you are strongly urged to stay away.
Labels: albums, eveningpost, popmusic
At home with Mike and K, part 94: How to make the perfect Melon Martini.
Gordon wanted to know K's recipe for Melon Martini. Always happy to oblige! (Plus it's a nice easy post for an indolent day off, the odd six-and-a-half mile hike notwithstanding.)
This will serve two people, with a modest top-up.
Ingredients:1 canteloupe, juiced. (Ah, yes. You do need a juicer.)
2 double measures of frozen vanilla vodka. (We use Finlandia.)
(You can always substitute gaia for canteloupe: it's certainly good for body, but K prefers canteloupe for colour, and for the heady fragrance which it gives off.)Instructions:Place at least four or five ice cubes into a cocktail shaker.
Add the juice and the vodka.
Shake
vigourously, in order to get a good foam on top.
Pour into two cocktail glasses. (Go on, all the way up to the rim.)
Chink.
Slurp.
Smirk.
(Not that I'll be enjoying one again in the immediate future, as I've just gone on the wagon for a short while.
Mens sana in corpore sano, and all that.)
