LimeWire Music Blog

Wednesday night reminded me why I live in New York, despite its “fragrant” qualities, ripoffs, and homicidal hobos: At the last second, I was invited to a live broadcast of WFMU’s “Seven Second Delay” at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade Theatre, featuring John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats. Boy, did I get more than I bargained for. I laughed my ass off for a full hour. Middle-aged co-hosts Andy Breckman and Ken Freedman were in their pajamas and completely wasted on tequila (respectively), enlisting a bona fide witch (or “Mistress of the Dark Arts,” as it were), Broadway understudies for Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, and Monk’s Tony Shalhoub (host Andy Breckman is a creator of the show) as guests. The UCB Theater is tiny, too, so I had the added bonus of watching Darnielle lose his shit a few rows away. After proclaiming Ken’s nonsensical slurring and Andy’s skeletal knowledge of the Mountain Goats “the best interview ever,” Darnielle played bare-bones acoustic versions of “1 Samuel 15:23″ from the latest album, The Life of the World to Come, and “Golden Boy,” a serious rarity from the early years, appearing on the compilation Ghana. “Cancel the show tonight,” he said, “and let’s just do a WFMU marathon.”

A wonderful soul has posted this performance on YouTube, and you can watch it below. It’s like you were there, except the aroma of margaritas doesn’t quite come through on video.

I was glad he didn’t cancel the show, of course, because my next stop (after a quick drink) was the Bell House, down in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Real World Brooklyn, holla! Openers Final Fantasywere having a few technical problems when I walked in, and I heard the same song begun at least three times. I had been excited to hear them as a result of praise from friends and promises of some fabulous violin playing, but there was no violin to be found, and without it, Final Fantasy were an underwhelming piano-driven male singing duo. Still, if JD liked them enough to bring on tour, I should probably give them another chance someday. (Ed.: Final Fantasy’s violinist hurt his hand the night before this show and was unable to perform.)

The Mountain Goats’ set relied heavily on The Life of the World to Come, but with three (!) encores and covers of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” (which faded into R. Kelly’s “Ignition”) and “The Sign” by Ace of Base. Yes, really. Guitarist Perry Owen Wright of the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers and Thomas Unger of Final Fantasy added some real teeth to the full band section of the set, making “The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out of Denton” sound more like a song that inspires devil horns. Darnielle was in a chatty mood, telling the backstory of “We Shall All Be Healed,” crediting a speed binge during his younger days in Portland, OR. Indie celebrity sighting alert! I spotted Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn and PC Guy John Hodgman milling around in the crowd. Bespectacled brunets of a feather flock together!

Now, dear reader, I leave you with about a minute of “The Boys Are Back in Town” as realized by The Mountain Goats, with apologies to anyone who actually wanted to see what was going on. The audio’s pretty decent, however, so have at it.