The Double Doghouse

morning folks! we’re back today with the next Mountain Goats album, Nothing For Juice, released in 1996.

Then the Letting Go is the opening track, and even as short as it is it’s an incredibly strong opener. really dig the layered vocals with Rachel Ware here. the turn in the chorus, right on “you were giving the game away”, on Heights, is really good too. neat that the song is just Darnielle and the guitar – with the fuzz on the vocals, there’s a sense of distance to it. i like it a lot. we get another Alpha Couple song in Alpha Double Negative: Going to Catalina. neat track! i know this is a re-recording of the song, and that the original will appear on Melon Farm, so we’ll see how i feel about the rerecording then. i’m not a massive fan of Hellhound on My Trail, which is a cover of a blues song by Robert Johnson. something about the vocals here just get lost in the noise. Blueberry Frost has something chilling (heh) about the chorus that’s v compelling. neat song. Alabama Nova has some really really interesting guitar work, the way it kinda lopes through the song in starts, and then bursts out running for the chorus, with the sudden stop on “moooontgomery”. the interplay between the drifting electric guitar, the bass, and the strumming rhythm are v interesting. i like some of the visual imagery in the lyrics but i feel like this song needs like, an extra push. I Will Grab You By the Ears is a nice song. It Froze Me is extraordinarily sweet, and it forms an interesting pair with Full Flower’s extremely high energy flare up. Million is just incredibly tense. Going to Bogotá has a neat hook on the chorus. Orange Ball of Pain is nice, but i’m not sure i have a ton to say about it. REALLY don’t like the intro to Going to Kansas. extremely harsh and not in a fun way. it does mellow out into something quite a bit better but OOF. Waving at You is just heartbreaking. it’s like, sad in a pathetic way that you want to but can’t feel bad at the guy for. strong song, not sure i will want to listen to it much more, haha. i LOVE Going to Reykjavik – the song’s got a solid baseline to it, but the addition to the chorus right at the end as the song wraps up is just so so so good. i’m a massive fan of this one. I Corinthians 13: 8-10 is very very sad. Going to Scotland closes us out. it’s p solid.

faves – Then the Letting Go, Heights, Alabama Nova, Going to Reykjavik
dislikes –

i have mixed feelings on this one. there are a few songs on here that are tremendous, that i love quite a bit, but i feel like on the whole there are experiments that don’t pan out for me, and that at 18 tracks the album kind of overstays its welcome. definitely something worth diving into for the long time fans, or those that are particularly interested in this era of Mountain Goats, but one i’ll probably just pick the gems out of.

Nothing For Juice – 6/10

next up is Full Force Galesburg, released in 1997!

the beginning: Zopilote Machine | previous: Nine Black Poppies | next: Full Force Galesburg

all my reviews for The Mountain Goats