"Tabula Rasa (a clean slate)" is a 4-page graphic short story based on a dream i had a few years ago, just as my inevitable mid-life crisis was kicking in. it was cathartic working on it over the years, chipping away whenever there was time. i felt the story became a sort of metaphor/riddle that my brain concocted, and seemed to challenge me to do something productive with. i suspected that once the story was finished, and if i could get it to look just how i imagined, than it might signify the end of the crisis. and it did.
It wasn't an accident that James Gunn burst into the public consciousness as the writer/director of Guardians of the Galaxy. For years, Gunn has proven himself to be a fearless storyteller, highly individualistic, and full of spirit and emotional honesty. These were all elements that helped endear Guardians to millions of fans around the world. In fact, these roots dig all the way back to 2000, years before his directorial film debut, with the publication of his first and only novel, The Toy Collector. Without any hyperbole, it's a brilliant piece of work.
As far removed from the epicness of Guardians as is humanly possible, The Toy Collector is a painfully honest factual-fictional account of Gunn's own life experiences. Any protective skin has been stripped away and Gunn leaves all of his nerves fully exposed to the reader, confessesing thoughts and past actions normally locked up tight in the darkest hole in the brain. His openness is unexpected and refreshing. The James Gunn in The Toy Collector is an emotionally damaged hospital orderly who sells stolen pharmaceuticals to fund an all-consuming toy robot obsession. The toys of adulthood - sex, drugs, and alcohol - are poor substitutes for the plastic relics of his youth. As Gunn desperately tries to escape adulthood and reclaim his lost childhood, his chemical-fueled self destruction threatens to destroy anyone unlucky enough to be caught in his orbit.
Be warned, The Toy Collector is not pleasant, by any means. In fact, it's pretty unrelentingly fucking brutal. The book is a powerful ride through almost purely distilled emotions with nothing held back. There is laugh out loud pitch black humor, gratuitous violence, bright wide eyed childhood innocence, graphic sex, and soul shattering sadness throughout. The Toy Collector is told in a non-linear narrative that randomly skips through Gunn's timeline, flashing from his despondent 20-somethings to his childhood and teenage memories. Occasionally we dive straight into the surreal blur of pure childhood playtime, where imagination and reality magically meld as kids work through their kinks with their action figures. Gunn's writing is vivid and the words effortlessly flow from the page. It's a fascinating read.
The Toy Collector is merciless right up to the very last sentence, with barely a single thread of hope for Gunn's redemption to hold on to. But now that the real-life Gunn has created a film that has embedded itself in the imagination of kids and adults around the world, there is an added dimension to this book. The Toy Collector is an important prologue to James Gunn as a writer and filmmaker, and reveals his raw, beating heart in a way that his movies will never be able. And in a way, Guardians is a hopeful epilogue to the James Gunn of The Toy Collector... that he eventually earned his hard fought redemption by making peace with adulthood, but only by keeping one foot firmly in the imagination of his youth. By keeping the two alive and close, Gunn was finally able to create something beautiful, rather than tear it down to the ground like he always did before.
Check out an excerpt from the book on Google Books HERE
The Toy Collector is long out of print, but buy a used copy or the e-book HERE.
commune 1 |ˈkämˌyoōn| noun 1 a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.
commune 2 |kəˈmyoōn| |kəˈmjun| |kəˈmjuːn| verb [ intrans. ] 1 ( commune with) share one's intimate thoughts or feelings with someone or something, esp. when the exchange is on a spiritual level
For the uninitiated, GOAT is a shamanistic psychedelic music collective from Arctic Sweden who just might be the best band around right now. A steadily growing number of hypnotized devotees would agree. Since they emerged from the ether two years ago, few bands (if any) have been burning hotter, pushing further, or digging deeper than GOAT. They have a fantastical origin story, and their rise from obscurity has been absolutely fascinating to watch unfold, but it's too long of a story to tell here. Luckily i've been doing all of the legwork and chronicling their career since their debut so you can get caught up to speed. Check it all out HERE. It's worth it.
GOAT's new album, Commune, is the sound of a frighteningly confident and talented band going full supernova. As crazy as it may seem, this album has evolved far beyond its brain-melting predecessor, World Music (which just happens to be one of the best albums of the last decade in case you weren't aware). Commune is even more diverse, performed even more masterfully, with warmer and richer production. Every raw edge has been shaped and formed to precision. Creatively, GOAT has broken through to an entirely different dimension, drawing from an even deeper well of influences than they were before... exotic sounds and styles from every remote corner of the globe, boiled down to their most primal core, and cranked to the point of spontaneous combustion. Technically, the band members have developed to a point where they can pull off just about anything their minds can conjure up. Most notable are the strong performances from the anonymous dueling guitarists--among the very best in the world, in my opinion--and the bassist, who is on a John Paul Jones-level trajectory. These elements are combined with their trance-inducing percussion and the hair-raising wails of the twin priestess vocalists to create a limitless sound unlike anything else out there. Tranced out dance music from the past, beamed in from the future. As if that wasn't enough, GOAT continues to tap deeply into something that few others are even conscious of... an ancient tribal mysticism from a time far different than our modern day technological hamster wheel culture...traveling to the spirit world and returning to relay what was found... a strong sense of community where everyone tunes into each other on a far deeper level, attempting to create something together that no one individual could ever in a million lifetimes achieve. It's a welcomed perspective in such a depressing, cynical time.
The album opens with a tolling temple bell, slowly fading in with each ring. It is a meditational introduction to clear your mind and align your focus... Commune is one of those mesmerizing, perfectly sequenced travelogue albums that will pick you up and carry you to exotic lands, if you let it. The more attention you pay, the more you will find. Headphones are a must.
"Talk To God" lifts off with hypnotic, cyclical guitar riffs that echo the sounds of the Tuareg -- Saharan desert nomads and their modern ambassadors Tinariwen, Bombino, and Terakaft. Images of vast desert expanses float in... camel caravans off on the horizon. The guitars magically weave through eachother for what seems like forever, in no hurry at all, in complete defiance of typical Western song structure. and really, that's kind of GOAT's defining trait... zoning off for waaaaaayyyy longer than most while attempting to achieve transcendence through repetition. At one point, the guitars and vocals drop out and all that is left is that sick Rickenbacker bassline and percussion gnawing at eachother. It's an eyes-rolled-back-in-the-head moment and for the rest of the track, everything warps together into a hazy mirage.
"Words" is quintessential GOAT... an ancient war drum beat, summoning a fucking colossus out of the earth... phased guitar spiraling into infinity... white hot guitar leads stabbing in and out... this is GOAT distilled to laser precision, unrelentingly driving itself into your head like a railroad spike. Live, this song will turn a crowd into a delirious mass.
Shifting gears completely, "Light Within" is a piece of Latin space rock, with a slinky samba vibe. This tune pushes out GOAT's already boundary-less sound to something far more refined than they were capable of on World Music. The musicianship is top shelf, and an attentive ear can appreciate the brilliant final mix with light touches of finger-picked acoustic guitar and vibraphone threaded throughout.
"To Travel the Paths Unknown" is a brief instrumental meditation to chill things out for a moment. Effects drip off of the guitar and what sounds to me like a strummed banjo, bringing Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western muzak to mind.
This transition leads into the serpentine funk of "Goatchild." For the first time, we hear men's voices in a mating dance call-and-response with the girls, singing about getting together for some free love. Things get steamy with layers of 70s porno wah guitar solos stacked on top of one another as the song washes out in a tantric sex blur. The goatchild is conceived. Classic.
"Goatslaves" blazes by like a comet... Everything is fused together tighter than ever before and the girls reach through the speakers and shout "Dying for Freedom/Dying for peace/Too many people live on their knees." Blistering stuff, and should rightly be the band's next single.
"Hide From the Sun" has an entrancing Middle Eastern sound, reminiscent of Turkish psych funk pioneer Baris Manco. The mood is more ominous, with an off-kilter rhythm and a savage fuzzed out guitar solo.
Named for the creator deity from Haitian Voodoo mythology, "Bondye" aims straight for the psyched out center of it all. This instrumental is based on a rhythm similar to those found in rural Thailand, recently represented to a larger audience by Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band. GOAT thrives on the merging of sounds that have never been put together before, so of course there are Gothic Americana fiddle solos flying around with more fuzzed out wah guitar to top it all off. They make a perfect fit.
The album's majestic finale, "Gathering Of Ancient Tribes," (note the acronym) brings things back around full circle to the expansive sounds of the opening track, but this is even more focused. The intensity continues to build higher and higher, and when the girls are screaming "Into the Fire!!" it sounds less like a condemnation than it is an invitation to join them in the flames. The track totally breaks open here, and all of the tension the band has built up over the course of the album is released in a mind blowing finale. The tolling temple bell from the beginning comes back around and brings the album to a silent close.
Commune, comes with considerably more interest and attention than World Music when it first appeared in 2012. Maybe even bordering on hype. With North American distribution this time around (finally) from the mighty Sub Pop, GOAT will have a unique opportunity to spread their gospel to a far wider audience than ever before. And as they have done at every step of their evolving career so far, Goat effortlessly rises to the occasion, unhindered by any outside force or pressure. They are already in uncharted waters, it will be interesting to see where they navigate to from here.
Buy the album HERE in North America via Sub Pop, and HERE via Rocket Recordings everywhere else
GOAT is in the midst of their first ever extended European tour, and if you haven't witnessed one of their rare live rituals, I highly recommend trying your best to change that. The shows are taking on mythic proportions. If you can't, here is a taste of what you are missing:
GOAT just released their first ever official video and it's fantastic. directed by Sam Macon
For those of you who weren't able to get a copy of the limited edition 7" included with the Commune vinyl, here is the bonus track, "Dig My Grave." Not only should this have been on the album, it should have been a single! oh, those tasty guitars never get old...
here is a free download to the Battle of the Sea Titans 40-page teaser comic by Head Medicine's chief pharmacist, brian "kojak" koschak, and his two young kids. all ages smash-em-up fun, you can't go wrong. enjoy!
The first volume of Brian "Kojak" Koschak's existential, voyeristic epic The Eavesdropper Cafe, originally self published in 2002, makes its triumphant return to relevancy as a FREE, HIGH RES PDF DOWNLOAD! 40-pages of decadent goodness for your viewing pleasure! includes the original 22 page first volume, bonus material, and an exclusive 7 page preview of The Eavesdropper Cafe - Book Two: Escape into Reality. Volume Three of the series is percolating and coagulating as we speak, so jump on the bandwagon now while it's still parked!
click HERE for your free high res download! if you would like to drop a donation on the tin cup, i would appreciate it. if not, please pass on the word about The Eavesdropper Cafe.
ENJOY!
a 32-page teaser for Back Alley Hero by Kojak. social satire and cultural criticism cleverly disguised as a superhero comic! dig in! download it HERE!
note: the following is taken from part two of the HEAD MEDICINE exclusive Reflections of Austin Psych Fest 2013 (read Part One HERE, and the complete Part Two HERE). I felt it was important to isolate this piece on it's own as well as within the larger context of the APF article in order to give it it's own life. enjoy. ~kojak
COOL ALL OVER
with
AL LOVER
One of the most memorable performances of Austin Psych Fest 2013 came from a guy who wasn't even officially on the bill, yet had a profoundly subliminal influence over the entire weekend's festivities. instead of performing for a sea of attentive eyes, his performance came from behind an invisible veil on the main Reverberation Stage as the roadies tore down and set up the various bands' gear. his booming, psyched out trip hop grooves provided the relentlessly badass soundtrack for the smiling, laughing audience as they milled about having the time of their lives, waiting patiently for the next band to take the stage. These sounds were a thread that strung through the festival, keeping everything moving and never allowing the mood to grow idle or stagnant. numerous times throughout the weekend i would be lost in those grooves, asking out loud, "what the fuck are we listening to??" and being almost disappointed when it would fade out to make way for some incredible band onstage as they were about to begin. it turns out these mesmerizing beats were produced live, cut up and spontaneously assembled onstage by the San Francisco producer/dj Al Lover. It was a performance that was anonymous to all but a small handful in attendance, but helped dramatically color the mood and atmosphere of the festival, more than any other single performer on stage that weekend.
Once i had a name to pin onto the sounds, i jumped head first into the Al Lover back catalog and quickly found myself falling down the rabbit hole. this dude has a ridiculous amount of music to sift through, a good chunk of which is available for free download: original recordings, remixes, mix tapes... all of it working at a very high quality level. This guy's sound is right up my alley, too... languid opium den grooves and scuzzy drunken fuck beats... a unique mix of new and classic fuzzed out, reverb drenched psychedelia with those long gone narcotic Bristol trip hop beats and the mid to late 90s mind melting cut-n-paste hip hop collage sounds of San Fran's Glue Factory luminaries like Dan the Automator and DJ Shadow. it's a perfect blend of musical ingredients, and is, in my opinion, one of the more original and fresh sounds out there. You can listen to most of Al Lover's music on his Bandcamp and Soundcloud sites, and there are plenty of treats to find when digging through his old Blogspot. i have downloaded HOURS of stuff, and i still don't think i have all of it. and, remember, it's all hot shit stuff. pay special attention to the lovingly ruthless deconstruction of Captain Beefheart's first album on Safe As Milk Replica... "Woodsist Remixed," the unauthorized remixing of artists from the Woodsist Records stable... the classic Distorted Reverberations of Reverberating Distortion, reworkings of modern psych masters... Heavy Hippies - Cheapdrugsfreelove which sounds exactly like you would think from the title... and his free mixtape downloads for Austin Psych Fest with Elevated Transmissions Volume One and Volume Two.
Head Medicine is very excited to sit down and learn more about Al Lover from the man himself.
HEAD MEDICINE: at the Austin Psych Fest this year, i was blown away by all of the between-band muzak that was coming from the main stage. the big instrumental trip hop grooves were among the most brilliant performances of the weekend, and gave the Fest a very cohesive thread that ran through the three days. can you tell us a bit about how you became involved with APF and how the mixes came together? were the tunes coming from the main stage new tracks or from your previous releases? will these mixes be available for purchase/download? i need them. all of them.
AL LOVER: first off thanks so much, i'm glad you dug them. i was curious to see how they would be received. i got involved with apf, so i'm told, through the remix of the night beats song h-bomb that i did. apparently they played it for the black angels and they dug it and reached out to me about procuring some mixes for the 2012 festival and playing the festival as well. since then i've kind of been put on as the "official" dj for psych fest i guess. which is quite an honor. most of the stuff i was playing at psych fest was live re edits and remixes of old and new psych songs done with looping, adding extra drum breaks and effects. then i would just play some regular songs here and there. i think i only played a couple of my own tracks. the mixes are not available anywhere right now, but i plan on releasing some stuff like that when i have some time in the near future.
HM: how have you been influenced by the past and present San Francisco music scene? you are an unusual concoction of the old 60's psychedelia mashed into the mid-90s DJ Shadow/Dan the Automator Glue Factory sound collage and twisted with the current psych sounds being produced. what other music has had a profound influence on you?
AL: the bay area, since the sixties has always had cool stuff going on, i try my best to soak up and research all the local music that's happened here. i grew up on rap and punk, but my dad alway had the stones playing and is a big velvet underground fan, so that had a big influence on me as well. it's funny, i remember this profoundly. when the judgment night soundtrack came out back in the days it was so cool to me to see hip hop and grunge/punk/metal being mixed together. the song with de la soul and teenage fan club "fallen" is one of my all time favorite songs. i still find myself humming it to myself on a regular basis. i rocked that tape all day everyday. edan's album beauty and the beat was a big influence on me as well as early rza production. thee oh see's have been a big influence to me as well since i moved to sf. too many to name.
HM: i am curious about your creative process(es). how do your tracks materialize? what kind of digital/analog equipment are you using? how spontaneous vs. pre-planned?
AL: up until very recently everything i did was made on an mpc 2000 xl, i just got ableton though so the mpc has been collecting a little dust unfortunately. that is going to change soon though, it's been calling out to me. i usually start with a sample. i'll hear a part of a song and then chop it up find some drums that fit, then run everything through too many effects till it's all blown out and ruined, then i'll track it out for a mix. a lot of my favorite stuff that i've done, initially is because of spontaneous inspiration. the basic idea materializes out of nowhere then i plan accordingly.
HM: what was the inspiration behind the complete deconstruction and reassembly of Captain Beefheart's first album, Safe as Milk, into Safe as Milk Replica? any other albums you have the itch to take apart and collage back together? what are your thoughts on honoring source material vs. complete artistic reinvisioning while remixing?
AL: that was one of those things that was just a spontaneous thing. the day that beefheart died, the idea just came to me as kind of a tribute, in my own way. in my mind it was a kind of energy transference. i have heard a couple albums that i consider remixing in it's entirety but i kind of want to focus less on "remixing" and focus more on making actual albums right now. as for honoring source material, i think both are cool. i want to give credit where credit is due, especially when remixing current artists. but some things i want to keep a secret. it's a cool feeling when you are listening to an old record and you hear an original of a sample. that's one of my favorite parts of listening to old records, so i feel like keeping it hidden can be a good thing too.
HM: you have released hours worth of material and mixes online for free, and got into a bit of trouble for your free remixes of artists on the Woodsist record label. what are your opinions on piracy laws and releasing music for free? have your thoughts changed since you are now releasing formal albums on a record label and this is now a loss of income?
AL: not really, as i see it right now, artists make money from touring and licensing. i think music is to be shared, not profited from. obviously an artist wants to be compensated for his or her efforts and i respect that. when i start bring ing in large sums from record sales i'll be glad to pay royalties to other artists. it's the labels that are most concerned with this because they're a business. i am really into the idea of how folk music progressed in the past, songs getting passed down through generations, modernized and changed to fit the current conditions. i think remix culture operates on these same principles.
HM: your debut album, "space magick" will be released soon on PNKSLM. What can we expect with this record? how does it fit into the overall body of your work?
AL: it's a lot different that anything i've released. i made it as an offering to the spirit world and the ancient gods, so we'll see how people on earth dig it. HM: you have been asked to create a monthly mix series for the Austin Psych Fest called Elevated Transmissions. can you tell us a bit about this project? any hint of what you might have up your sleeve?
AL: yeah, really stoked on this ongoing project. the idea is to showcase current bands the guys at psych fest and i are feeling, promote bands on the reverberation appreciation society label and spotlight lesser known bands coming up. it was an idea they had, which i'm really stoked to be a part of, plus it helps me to discover new music which is my favorite thing to do. HM: as if you aren't busy enough, you recently announced that you are working on a 12" remix of the mighty Goat from Sweden. that's a pretty exciting project. how did that come about? who will be releasing it once it is finished? can you tease us a bit with what you have in mind for the project? i'm curious what you are hearing on "world music" that has you licking your chops and ready to dig in and slice it all up. AL: Well my buddy luke who runs PNK SLM works with them a bit and kind of had the idea. I had actually thought about it myself before hand because my natural inclination when i hear something amazing is to sample it, ha. but when he mentioned it and said he'd like to put it on wax. I figured, why not? I'm pretty sure we're gonna do a limited run of it on PNK SLM. Can't go into too much detail about it yet, but it's gonna be pretty crazy, building off the afro beat rhythms they do with a lot more layers of effects and a healthy portion of 808s.
HM: you seem to be very conscious of weaving a narrative or cinematic view through your mixes. in your opinion, what are the most important elements of a good mix?
AL: well, coming from hip hop actual "mixing" is one of the most important parts. but aside from that i think the flow of the mix, yeah the narrative, how the mix develops. it's supposed to be a journey, so that people can enjoy the ride.
HM: in an age of splintering political and social ideologies, music has been moving in the opposite direction, most notably in the psych music scene. wildly different genres and styles are seamlessly merging into a new global sound, international borders are falling away as bands and artists from all over the world are now all on the same stage, and there is a renewed interest in consciousness expansion and connection with music. your merging of hip hop and drugged out psych is a prime example of this. thoughts? AL: i think with the internet the amount of exposure to different cultures, genres, ideas and the like is inspiring people to try new combinations of ideas that they might not have thought of due to a lack of exposure before hand. it's really great, so many interesting things are happening right now due to the ability to search out and connect with new ideas online. i think the renewed interest in consciousness expansion is due to a similar exposure to new ideas and revealed truths with the internet to an extent, but i also think that humans can only exist in such an artificial, shallow, greedy environment for so long before the unconscious mind or higher self starts urning for more of a connection to nature and an pure state of being. i also think civilizations have cycles of these types of enlightening movements and we're shifting towards one now. in my opinion it's nature's way of putting us back on track and reconnecting with natural law.
HM: under what conditions should the music of al lover be played for maximum enjoyment? AL: i alway make my stuff with the idea of it coinciding with motion. i feel like it's headphone music for a bicycle ride or bombing a hill on a skateboard. loops are alway good for drug rituals too, so there's that, ha.
HM: any other projects/collaborations on the horizon? AL: yeah, so i got the 'space magick' lp coming out soon. no official date yet but hopefully before the end of the year. i have a remix project for a friend's cassette label 'headway recordings', which i'm really stoked on it's a more synth, bass heavy project, a really a new direction for me personally so that's really cool, that should be out maybe fall?
Al Lover has also recently released through PNK SLM his first official release, the Vodun Moon 7". it is in very limited quanities so contact PNK SLM for one now. follow Al on Facebook for any updates
After a blistering run through Europe's most prestigious summer music festivals, the Swedish tribal psych collective Goat have a growing number of fresh converts following in their wake. Though only a live touring entity for less than nine months, Goat's performances were among the most talked about from their respective festivals, oftentimes staking their claim amongst some of the biggest and best bands in the world (watch their full Glastonbury performance HERE and the full set from Roskilde HERE)
HEAD MEDICINE recently checked in with the band to find out more about these stunning shows. one thing is obvious after sitting down for a third time with the notoriously press-shy group: Goat lives and breathes inside its own impenetrable bubble, unaffected by the fleeting whims, tastes, or demands from the outside world. They are anchored by an unshakable self confidence and a genuine love of living in the moment, communing through music with each other and anyone who happens to be in attendance, whether it is 150 people in a small club, or tens of thousands at a major festival. Their expectations and ambitions are unusually humble. Goat will be whatever they want to be for as long as they decide. Any future success will be on their own terms.
HEAD MEDICINE: Goat's reputation continues to build after a series of high profile European festival appearances, including Primavera in Spain, England's Glastonbury, and Roskilde in Denmark. by many accounts your performances were among the best of those weekends. are things just getting surreal at this point with all of this growing attention and praise? any particularly memorable or unreal moments over the last few months that would have been impossible to imagine one year ago?
GOAT: Well, that we were gonna play any of these festivals never crossed our minds one year ago but we are happy and thankful for the opportunity to do so. It has been amazing for sure. And I also think that the US tour improved our live set and has tightened us together as a live act so that these shows afterwards have been the best we've done live so far. But I'm sure we can still find new ways to develop live also, with new material and so on. But it is not in any ways getting surreal really cause you have to understand one thing, this is not taking over our lives. We keep our minds pure and simple and our feet on the ground. We know what is important in life and we just try to have a good time and enjoy the ride. If it ends tomorrow we will be just as happy. With that said I have to admit that playing that day time show at Glastonbury seing all those people was something out of the ordinary.
HEAD MEDICINE: i would like to talk about the Glastonbury performances. the daytime show on the West Holts stage was your most high profile live show yet in front of your largest audience, many of whom had never heard your music before, and filmed from every possible angle by the BBC. be honest, did you guys feel a bit more pressure with that show? did you treat that performance the same as a small gig in a dark club, or did it require a different kind of preparation? i am curious what kind of thoughts or emotions were running through you before/during/after that performance.
GOAT: It was no difference in preparations or pressure. We can only do what we do and rely on each other. And play as good as possible. Actually we were very calm before that show as far as I remember. We discovered that there really is no difference playing small clubs then big festival stages. But it is fun to try both when we get this opportunity.
HEAD MEDICINE: later that night you performed a second set on the Hells Stage in Shangri-La, and the previous evening, you blew up the Electric Ballroom in London in front of a bloodthirsty crowd of Goat fans. what are the pros and cons to large daytime festival performances vs. smaller and more dramatic nighttime/club gigs, and a crowd who is familiar with your music vs. a mass of potential new converts?
GOAT: I don't know. For me it is the same always. I feel no difference really. And I know that it is the same for everyone in the Goat band. It is just music and for whom or where you perform it doesn't matter as long as people enjoy it. If people were not enjoying it we would stop playing live I think but for everyone it is a nice feeling when you get this spiritual exchange of energy with the people listening and dancing. That really turns us on. We were not aware of this experience until we started to play live last year.
HEAD MEDICINE: your Roskilde performance was notable for having a new member on stage playing keyboard, sax, and, harmonica. he added an entirely new dimension to Goat's live show, and i was especially impressed with the addition of a harmonica solo during a blistering rendition of "The Sun The Moon." will he be coming along on any future Goat tour dates or was this a one time thing? was he by chance the guy playing keys and sax on World Music?
GOAT: No he is not playing on the album. He is a long time participant in Goat born and still living in Greece. He travels a lot and plays with various groups around the world. He has done one show before with us at Stora Teatern in Gothenburg December last year. He will be with us when he has time or feel like it. He is great playing with, you never know what he is gonna do. The harmonica part on The sun the moon was never rehersed for example.
HEAD MEDICINE: outside of Goat's live performances, are there any new song ideas bubbling to the surface? is the band getting the itch to retreat back to the studio and cook up some new tunes or is everyone looking forward to some extended time off before considering new material?
GOAT: Yes. We will start recording in September. Everyone is really looking forward to this more creative process again.
HEAD MEDICINE: looking back, how do you feel the band has evolved over the last year since the release of World Music?
GOAT: The live group is a more tighter musical unit now and we have learned how to play our songs good and with no stress. So as a live act we are much better now then last year. But Goat as a spiritual and living community, or as a musical creative collective, hasn't changed at all. Music shall be treated with joy and simplicity, use your ears and your heart and don't give a fuck about anything else. Loose your mind, stop questioning, thinking, and all that stuff. Are you enjoying the sounds you hear? Are you experience anything? Feeling something you like? Then it is enough. That is the principle we live by when we make music.
HEAD MEDICINE would like to thank Goat once again for their time. tune in this fall when we check in on the recording of their new album. should be interesting.
HEAD MEDICINE has all of your Goat needs covered. the most complete online collection of exclusive interviews, album/live reviews, audio/video, links and more HERE
For the past 25 years, Josh Homme has been one of the most uncompromising, individualistic artists in all of music. As a supremely badass fourteen year old in Palm Desert, California, he helped found Kyuss, the cult classic desert stoner metal band famous for their debauched "generator parties" out in the desert wastelands. Out of that band's ashes rose Queens of the Stone Age in 1997, and Homme has been pushing that group into the upper stratosphere in the pantheon of legendary rock bands ever since. Just for kicks, he started up the boogie rock group Eagles of Death Metal with childhood friend Jessie "the Devil" Hughes, trading in his heavy guitar licks for the drumkit and ass-shaking happy retard beats. He is the organizer of the Desert Sessions, spontaneous recording sessions at Rancho De La Luna, a quiet studio out near Joshua Tree National Park, with some of the best guest musicians in the world. And as if that weren't enough of a resume, he started up Them Crooked Vultures, a power trio with, of all people, Dave fucking Grohl and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul fucking Jones. Basically, Josh Homme is the undisputed Alpha Male of the modern rock scene.
That is why it was so weird to hear that all of it almost came crashing down in an instant as the Hammer of the Gods flirted with the idea of taking Homme out in his prime. During a routine leg surgery in 2011, there were unforeseen complications and Homme, the indestructible rock god, died on the table. Doctors managed to shock him back to life, but he was bedridden for four long months, lost in what he has been calling in recent interviews "The Fog," an unshakable depression that almost destroyed everything he had built up. Homme contemplated retirement in order to be closer to his wife Brody Dalle and their two young children; a career in music seemed superficial when confronted with his near death experience. But Homme's wife prodded him back into his home studio, urging him to forge ahead. He reconvened with longtime co-conspirators, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo, as well as bassist Michael Shuman, and guitarist/keyboardist Dean Fertita. It had already been an unusually long time since the last Queens album, the highly underrated Era Vulgaris in 2007, and there was some determination to get in the studio and crank something... anything... out. With little preparation and limited material available to forge into an album, the sessions proved to be incredibly difficult and resulted in a sad divorce from Castillo, QotSA's drummer for over a decade. Dave Grohl climbed behind the drums once again, claiming the spot he vacated after 2002's Songs for the Deaf, and helped the band across the finish line. Ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore took over when Grohl bowed out, playing on one track and acting as, for now at least, QotSA's touring drummer. The band was joined by a wide variety of guest musicians who acted as a buffer between the frustrated band members, with Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri brought back into the fold, as well as appearances by Trent Reznor, the Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner, and Elton John, among others. All of these ingredients combine to form ...Like Clockwork, a dark and wandering record that never settles into a predictable pattern, and drags the hallmarked Queens of the Stone Age sound kicking and screaming into the future. ...Like Clockwork harkens back to the 1970's when big guitar rock was what the cool kids got stoned to and what got the girls' panties all wet, and Queens seem hellbent on awakening that sorely missed tradition. After ...Like Clockwork debuted at the top of the Billboard chart the week of its release, their mission seems to be well underway.
The first few spins through a new QotSA album always find me disappointed. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. (well, except for Songs for the Deaf, that one melted my face the first time through). Initially, Queens of the Stone Age's music is consistently out of my realm of expectations. i might want one thing, but they always deliver another. That can be a problem if you want the same material cranked out time and time again, but i enjoy the creative twists and turns Josh and Co. consistently take, so i am willing to give each album a bit more time to crack its code before it starts to sink in. Longtime Homme fans from his old Kyuss days will probably continue to be frustrated, mourning their fallen guitar god as his instantly identifiable sludgy fuzz guitar tone has all but disappeared completely. In fact, Homme seems most comfortable when Kyuss continues to fade into the shadows of his rearview mirror and he rebuilds himself into something fresh and new with each album. Some old fans drop off, some new fans climb on board, and others have been clinging on white knuckled to keep up the entire time. If you want to drink the Homme-spiked Kool-Aid, it's here and it tastes good. So take a drink, and, slowly but surely, over repeated spins, ...Like Clockwork's personality finally begins to emerge.
"Keep Your Eyes Peeled" is quintessential Queens of the Stone Age. the curtains open with a melted, hallucinatory groove and a snarling riff dripped over castillo's off kilter drum beat. this is definitely an unusual choice as an album opener... rather than bursting in and making a grand entrance, "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" crawls in through a darkened rear window like a prowler with bad intentions. these are some of Homme's darkest lyrics yet, and he makes a line like "The view from Hell is blue sky/so ominously blue/i daydream until all the blue is gone" even creepier by singing it in a sweet, floating falsetto. this is one of numerous moments throughout ...Like Clockwork (and even reaching back to Era Vulgaris), whether by coincidence or by design, where i swear i can taste the influence of 90's avant pop deconstructionists Shudder to Think. this is a great compliment, and i don't believe i have ever handed it out to anyone ever before.
If the Radio Gods have any sense whatsoever, "Sat By the Ocean" will be the feel good hit of the summer. Straight up mid 70's arena rock with a dash of "Don't Bring Me Down" and a huge glammed out Xanadu'ed chorus. Josh's best sing along classic rock pop song yet.
"The Vampyre of Time and Memory" was the first song Josh wrote after months of inactivity. "I hated it," he said in a recent interview. Well, I wasn't totally sold either. I hated it the first several times through, less so the next several times. now, i dig it. Funny enough, the live performance from the recent NPR concert from the Wiltern Theater in LA was definitely improved with the glossy studio veneer wiped away.
"If I Had a Tail" is a deceptively simple song, with Grohl's restrained 4/4 beat forming the song's spine and josh's voice carrying the melody. It's a fun, probably effortless Queens tune that ebbs and flows through the verses and choruses and leads to a big glammy finale before breaking off into a strange whispered voice outro.
"My God is the Sun" is another slab of vintage QotSA. Grohl drives the song with a drum performance that harkens back to the old Songs for the Deaf days, barreling through a mountain of thick guitars and bass. A classic.
the next track, "Kalopsia," is an odd, pill'd out, hallucinatory tune. opening with a fading heartbeat and a hospital respirator wheezing in the background, Josh pulls off some great straight faced lounge crooning over gently floating guitar lines and piano. when he sings "bye bye black balloons/see ya real soon," it sounds like he is falling deep into blissful oblivion, until a huge Ziggy Stardust chorus kicks its platform shoe through the window and he crawls his way through a thick coma fog towards daylight. an album highlight and, i am certain, will be devastatingly awesome live.
"Fairweather Friends," although loaded to the gills with guest stars, comes off to these ears as heavily overproduced, overworked, methodically radio friendly, and bland. cowritten by Mark Lanegan, the song could have used his deep baritone to give it some weight, but instead we are given a weak vocal performance by Josh. this is Queens reaching complacent middle age, with a nice house, a new suv in the driveway, and a couple of kids playing in the yard. personally, i've deleted the song from my itunes. sorry.
Any complacency is shaken off with the skanky "Smooth Sailing." Josh's Alpha Male swagger is on full display here and the whole band is in on the action, too, laying down a steamy swirl of sex on the dance floor lust. White fucking hot.
While there are other lyrical moments on the album that metaphorically talk about Josh's near death experience and the months of crushing depression that followed, "I Appear Missing" confronts the issue straight on. It's a beautiful and haunting piece, and is probably the most powerful tune on the album. "shock me awake/tear me apart/pinned like a note on a hospital gown/deeper i sleep/further down the rabbit hole/never to be found." there is a stunning, hair raising finale, with Josh's pained falsetto "with my toes on the edge/such a lovely view/i never loved anything till i loved you/i'm over the edge/what can i do/i'm falling through." absolutely gorgeous stuff.
on the title track, "...Like Clockwork," the Homme rock star bravado is completely gone. he has laid himself completely bare, wide open and vulnerable. on the album's other ballad, "The Vampyre of Time and Memory," i sense a bit of a typical Homme wink-wink-nudge-nudge, don't-take-this-too-seriously attitude (at least i HOPE so, especially with a line like "i'm alive/hooray/you're wrong again cuz i feel no love"), but "...Like Clockwork" is shockingly private and somber. the first half of the song is just Josh and a melancholic piano line, and slowly a quiet acoustic guitar and a mournful cello fade in. soon, the rest of the band comes in, notable for being the first recorded Queens performance by drummer Jon Theodore, and huge swells of strings, commandeered by UNKLE's James Lavelle, bring the record to a close on an elegant but sobering note.
So, once again, Josh Homme and his compatriots knock another one out of the park and continue to widen their legacy as one of, and arguably THEE, best and most interesting rock bands of our generation.
The first volume of Brian "Kojak" Koschak's existential, voyeristic epic The Eavesdropper Cafe, originally self published in 2002, makes its triumphant return to relevancy as a FREE, HIGH RES PDF DOWNLOAD! 40-pages of decadent goodness for your viewing pleasure! includes the original 22 page first volume, bonus material, and an exclusive 7 page preview of The Eavesdropper Cafe - Book Two: Escape into Reality. Volume Three of the series is percolating and coagulating as we speak, so jump on the bandwagon now while it's still parked!
click HERE for your free high res download! if you would like to drop a donation on the tin cup, i would appreciate it. if not, please pass on the word about The Eavesdropper Cafe.
I still find it a bit unbelievable that Goat, one of the most enigmatic and electrifying bands currently on the planet, chose to make a stop in Saint Louis, Missouri on their all-too brief introductory US tour. The fact that Goat had come to the United States at all was extremely exciting, but the thought that they were bringing their gospel so far off the beaten path and virtually to my front steps, a mere three-and-a-half hours away from me square in the middle of nowhere, was almost ridiculously unexpected. Three days prior, i was fortunate enough to witness the group give their most important performance to an American audience at one of the finest mind-expanding music festivals in the world at the Austin Psych Fest in Austin, Texas. The performance was the crown jewel of their recent trek through the heart of the country and solidified their growing international reputation as one of the freshest and most formidable live acts out there. I was still exhausted from the life-altering three-day Austin experience and the long psychic and geographic road trip there and back, but there was no way in hell i was going to miss this performance. The band had granted me a rare face-to-face interview to top it all off. As i drove to Saint Louis, i reflected on Goat's unlikely journey from their far away homeland to that night's performance and how, until just recently, they dwelled in complete obscurity but now find themselves on the furthest edge of a new musical frontier.
Fourteen months ago, Goat was hidden deep within the shadows of Sweden, privately creating a vertigo-inducing style of worldly tribal psychedelia. Only friends and family were aware of their existence. According to their own legend, Goat is the modern incarnation of a centuries old musical tradition from Korpilombolo, a tiny village north of the Arctic Circle with a mysterious past, and are followers of the shamanistic voodoo religion practiced there. Goat was formed over the years by their ancestral ritualistic rhythms and a boundary-less approach passed down by the village elders to absorb all styles of music from around the world and integrate it into their own. The band itself has no real perimeters, featuring dozens of members that float in and out of the lineup; some members are from the original commune in Korpilombolo and others are scattered around Sweden. They had never performed to a live audience outside of their village's commune. UK psychedelic record label Rocket Recordings were the first to catch wind of what was going on when they were tipped off by Hills, a band already on the Rocket roster who shared rehearsal space in Gothenburg with Goat. [read HEAD MEDICINE'S interview with Rocket HERE] Rocket excitedly released Goat's first public recordings with the "Goatman/The Sun the Moon" 7" single, and the genie was out of the bottle. Word quickly spread around the world by people with taste that something extraordinary was rising out of the tundra. Rocket Recordings commissioned an album and Goat retreated to their home studio, coming back a few months later with World Music, their debut full length record. [read HEAD MED'S review HERE] World Music was instantly recognized as a fully formed masterpiece and one of the most exciting debut releases in recent memory. After quietly perfecting their refreshing mix of heavy African tribal rhythms, psyched out guitar, and a seamless blend of virtually every great style of music from around the world over the last 50 years, international demand for live performances began almost immediately.
Goat finally emerged from the shadows with a handful of inaugural public concerts around Europe in the fall of 2012, and word began to gather even more steam when video of their incredible performances trickled online. Their outrageous and flamboyant stage presence reflected their tribal and ritualistic roots as the band members wore masks and brightly colored robes, keeping a sense of anonymity onstage while projecting an unforgettable visual for those in attendance. Goat showed a shocking musical prowess onstage, effortlessly recreating World Music for the audience while stretching the songs into new directions with long improvised jams. This was a band dramatically leaping from out of nowhere into the spotlight, fully formed and firing on all cylinders. Any awkward embryonic steps were long ago worked out. With barely a dozen live performances under their belt, Goat traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in April after a successful appearance at the Roadburn festival in Amsterdam left European fans and new converts clamoring for more. Their first performance on American soil was at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NYC (beautifully captured on tape by nyctaper), before continuing down the East Coast with dates in Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Goat then turned their sites on the Austin Psych Fest, giving one of the weekend's landmark performances amongst a line up featuring some of the finest consciousness-expanding bands in the entire world. The group changed course and headed back east for the final leg of their US tour, bringing them to this night's gig in St. Louis before eventually returning to Europe for a string of summer festival dates.
I have to be honest. As i walked up to the Old Rock House, an intimate music venue just off of downtown St. Louis, to talk with the members of Goat, i was a bit intimidated. Goat rarely grants interviews, and almost never conducts them face to face, but since i had interviewed a few members of the band via email back in January (read Goat's HEAD MED interview HERE), they were gracious enough to allow me a chance to sit down and get their thoughts on their first US tour. In today's Facebook and Twitter-obsessed culture where everyone knows everything about everybody, Goat has successfully managed to keep a dense air of mystery around themselves. No-one knows what they look like under their masks, and their mysterious background story of shamanistic voodoo worship deep in the Swedish netherworld gives them an air of impenetrable secrecy. As i approached the venues' entrance, i wasn't sure what to expect. I wondered if i would be led backstage to a dimly lit red velvet-draped room with heavy ceremonial incense hanging in the air; the band members cloaked in their ritual garb seated in the shadows on ornamental thrones. i told the doorman that i was there to interview the band. "They are all out on the patio," he said. And there was Goat and their road crew, probably a dozen unmasked smiling and laughing Swedes savoring the beautiful evening air, drinking beer with a perfect view of Eero Searanen's always spectacular Gateway Arch off in the near distance. Everyone was clearly appreciating this moment on what i would assume is one of the greatest journeys of their lives. i couldn't have imagined a less intimidating group of people. After pleasantly chatting with everyone for a bit, i paired off with one of the anonymous band members and was able to ask a few questions about Goat's tour of America and what is next for the band.
HEAD MEDICINE: Have any members of Goat been to the United States before or is this your first time?
GOAT: no, it is the first time. (to female member of Goat) well, you've been here before on some kind of journey?
GOAT-ESS: yes, with my family
HEAD MEDICINE: You have been traveling around this country for a week now, are your experiences different from any preconceived ideas you may have had before you arrived?
GOAT: not really. the people are very very nice. very nice people here. everyone is very friendly and very kind everywhere we go. we knew some people who have been here, telling us that people are kind, friendly, and open minded. and it is true, at least with the ones we have met so far. so, i don't know if we expected it, but we weren't surprised.
HEAD MEDICINE: Goat has had alot of downtime on the road recently. What has been on Goat's road trip playlist?
HEAD MEDICINE: Your first American performances were in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. What was it like playing in those cities and can you tell us about those shows; the energy that was created and the reception you received?
GOAT: well, for us, it was more or less like in europe. there were very many people, the first three places were sold out, so there were alot of people and most of them seemed to enjoy what we were playing.
HEAD MEDICINE: Did you feel that the audience was familiar with your music or did it seem that people were hearing it for the first time?
GOAT: i'm not sure. people up front were singing along with some of the tunes, but we sold alot of albums so i guess alot of people didn't already have it.
HEAD MEDICINE: This tour has taken you a bit off the beaten path to some unusual venues in Newport KY and Denton TX and tonight's show in St. Louis. Since Goat is still relatively obscure in the US, i am curious how these shows in middle America compare to the East Coast performances.
GOAT: the audience was more or less the same. nice people. in denton, it was more students... more of a student town. but, i don't see any differences, really. i really don't.
HEAD MEDICINE: What are your memories from your Austin Psych Fest performance?
GOAT: i think we all were happy with the show and how it went. we had a good sound, and we felt a good vibe from the audience. it was a beautiful location, with the river to our back. and it was beautiful to see the Dead Skeletons there before us. it was great to play there, we had a very nice show.
HEAD MEDICINE: When i first interviewed Goat back in January, the band had only performed a handful of public concerts and any future touring was questionable. Now that you have several shows behind you and it's obvious that there is a receptive and hungry international audience for Goat, how has the band’s opinion towards touring evolved?
GOAT: it's still... we don't know, but we are not going to make alot of touring. there is alot of offering going on right now, and we have taken some offers for some festivals this summer because they are comfortable and close, and some are because it's nice to travel to that place, and we do some festivals because we've never done anything like it, playing outdoors on a big stage. so it's a new experience which is fun to do. but i'm not sure if we are going to do it next year or if we are going to do any more in the future. we are trying it out now. like this tour... we tried it out and we are enjoying it.
HEAD MEDICINE: In a little more than one year, Goat has risen from complete obscurity to stealing the show at some of the world's most prestigious music festivals. With numerous European festival dates throughout the summer, the number of fans and attention will only continue to grow. Do the members of Goat find this growing success and attention overwhelming or intimidating?
GOAT: if people like our music, it is definitely nothing to complain about. it is very nice that people enjoy it and like our music. we are very happy for that. but everything around it doesn't necessary affect us that much. we sit in the van, like now, and then we go to play and have a beer and then we get home and just hang out with our families and work, so it's nothing that we walk around and think about all day. y'know what i mean? you read some reviews and stuff, but it's unreal in a way, that part of it is quite unreal. it's more of a way of thinking, we don't focus so much on that part. this is not something that we have... we are happy for it, but we have not tried to move in this direction. we just released an album and thought we might sell a thousand copies, which is fine, but suddenly it blew up and we hadn't expected that or planned for it. it just happened. we don't think more of it now, really, than we did before.
HEAD MEDICINE: When your world tour is completed in August and you return to Sweden, what comes next for Goat? are there still plans to record in the fall?
GOAT: we really love making music. we really love to record and the whole process of recording. it is more calm, more relaxed, more creative in a way than playing live. when you are creating music and just enjoying it, it's more creative in a way than performing which has it's limitations with the song that you have already created. but playing live is more energetic, which is fun, and it's nice to see when people like it and you meet new people. i think we are going to make a new album. we haven't decided anything, really, but we are going to start recording and see what happens, because we want to record. if we are happy with an album, if we put songs together into an album, than we want people to hear it. if people want to hear it, we feel that they should be able to. but we might not tour for it, we will see. or maybe less shows. it depends, maybe not everyone... this is not a band in that sense. people might feel like they want to do other things, and that's fine. we will see. we will record some stuff with the people that are involved at that time. we will see who that will be and see what happens, and if it turns out to be something that we would like to release.
As much as i wanted to continue chatting with the band, i politely thanked them and allowed the band members and crew to enjoy a few more moments of privacy before their performance began. i felt grateful for being given such a unique opportunity, and i looked forward to the night's performance more than ever, unsure if i would have the chance to catch a Goat live show again in the future. During their performance in Austin, i was on a very powerful and personal journey through the astral plane with Goat as my psychic guides (more on that at a later date), so i was excited to see another show, this time filtered through more clear eyes. i wanted to soak up and savor every minute of this. i loosened up with a couple of tall Guinness’s and took my place at the front of the stage.
The show opened with the two guitarists alone onstage slowly setting the hypnotic mood with a simple, repetitive spaced out guitar line. The bassist soon joined them and "Diarabi," the atmospheric opening track off of World Music, slowly began to unfurl. The drummer then walked on, adding dramatic cymbal washes with mallets, enhancing the tension. When the conga player took his seat and the song fully lifted off, the priestesses emerged, dancing through the crowd, and made their way to the stage. As the music swelled and surged, the women danced furiously, banging on a wide variety of assorted percussion instruments and twirling ribbons that were laid out at their feet, generating electricity that fueled the band and the audience. As "Golden Dawn" exploded and the band was washed in undulating swirls of colored liquid lights, the entire performance melted into a pure transcendental psychedelic experience, and the crowd totally flipped.
Now, i have seen many incredible live performances over the last 20+ years from some of the best bands and musicians in the world, but very few, if any, have been this visceral and electrifying, wedging themselves deep into my memory. Goat's performance had to have been what it was like seeing a young Led Zeppelin on their maiden US tour, lighting a place like the Boston Tea Party on fire and leaving its small audience stunned and mystified. Or maybe it was similar to the Bacchanalian carnival of an early Jane's Addiction performance on the Sunset Strip circa 1987. This is a band that has effortlessly lived up to every word of it's hype, and then some; an awesome and entertaining stage presence with blistering musicianship delivering one of the most unique sounds ever produced onstage. If you have the chance to witness this show and it has no effect on you, then get the fuck out and make room for someone else. i can't even imagine what it takes to get your engine cranked up.
The rhythm section formed the solid bedrock of the performance as the drummer's ferocious bass drum and the percussionists rippling conga propelled the entire machine constantly forward, while the bassist, a goddamn monster for the entire set, laid down monumental slabs of thick, rubbery grooves. Meanwhile, the guitarists tore holes in the space/time continuum with blasts of distorted guitars drenched in mesmerizing wah effects. Among the many show highlights was the extended jam on "Disco Fever." On World Music, the last half of the song warps into an LSD-soaked organ solo, but live it honed in and riffed on the Rolling Stones unheralded disco funk classic "Hot Stuff." The spaced out guitars spun around that ass shakin' groove for a solid five minutes, and it was still too short for my tastes. The Hendrix-ian "Stonegoat," a new track from a double A-side single out in June, features some of the tastiest wah guitar out there, with an aggressive drum beat driving it all off the cliff. "Let it Bleed" was slowed down juuuuust enough to allow the groove to dig one step further in and grab hold of your gut. "Dreambuilding," the flip side of the "Stonegoat" single, shows a bit of an evolution for the band. It started off as something that would have fit right in line with the first live Jane's Addiction album, and after a short drum break, cracked open to reveal a blissful, life-affirming ray-of-sunlight wah solo that raised every hair on my body. At that moment, i realized how lucky i was and that there was nowhere else in the entire world i would rather have been. "Run to Your Mama" is a frustratingly short 2:23 on World Music, its monolithic Sabbath roar begging to continue. Live, it delivered the goods and for nearly seven minutes beat the crowd into glorious submission with its dense tribal pulse and blasts of heavy guitar chords. By this point, Goat was in charge and had complete mastery over the room and its inhabitants. On record, the show closer "Det Som Aldrig Förändras" is a psychedelic swirl of organ and bass and drums, but here it was a ruthless monosyllabic pummeling, almost unrecognizable from its previous incarnation. It was a tidal wave of sound that washed over the audience for nearly ten minutes, forcing everyone in the audience to submit to its transcendental power. The mass of people were locked in a hypnotic sway, eyes collectively rolled back in their skulls. The music eventually came back around to the opening melody of "Diarabi" for its finale, and when it was over, Goat left the stage to a stunned applause. i wish St. Louis would have known to ratchet up their ovation to get them back on stage to pull out their encore, a mind blowing rendition of "The Sun the Moon," but it was not to be. the show was over and the congregation stumbled out into the soothing night air, blown out by what their brains had just soaked up for the last hour.
I'm not sure what the future holds for Goat, and do not know whether we will have the opportunity to see this extraordinary performance ever again. But i am going to remain optimistic. We need Goat. They are a reminder that all people from all corners of the globe, to the past and into the future, are connected by a collective musical consciousness. There are no genres, there are no styles, there are no boundaries. Music is a language that we all speak, and when Goat is playing, everything else in the world drops away. All of the pain and misery that beckons right around the corner is lost and all that remains is a joyful musical communion that will not be forgotten anytime soon by those lucky enough to be a part of it.
HEAD MEDICINE would like to thank nyctaper.com for capturing Goat's first US appearance on tape and offering it as a free download HERE for all. please show your support and gratitude and drop a buck or two or five in their tin cup.
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