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Mountain Goats - new Bible album, MP3, 2009 tour dates w/ Final Fantasy (who played Pitchfork & Hillside in a storm)

FF photos by Joseph Xu

DOWNLOAD: Mountain Goats – Genesis 3:23 (new MP3)

Final Fantasy @ P4K
Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy played the Pitchfork Festival on July 18th, which is where the photos in this post are from (check out his Mayhem t-shirt). About a week later he played the Hillside Festival at Guelph Lake in Canada during a storm (probably not a good idea)…

A few songs into his bravura one-man baroque-pop set, the skies filled with thunder and lightning as rain began to drench Pallett, who continued shredding his bow fiercely across his violin.

As stagehands covered equipment with plastic, and organizers frantically tried to cut him off, Pallett kept playing the appropriately dramatic ‘Lewis Takes His Shirt Off.’ “One more minute,” he yelled, as sheets of water hit him full force.

The stunned (and soaked) crowd broke into wild cheers as one minute turned into two and Pallett sped toward the song’s big finish like a man possessed — until the stage crew finally pulled the plug. Still, his heroics had already created Hillside’s most memorable moment. [Spinner]

Video from that moment below.

This November he (Owen Pallett) heads out on tour to open up for The Mountain Goats (John Darnielle), who will be playing as a full band (though there is a much shorter string of Darnielle solo dates too). The trip ends with a pair of NYC gigs on December 1st and 2nd, when they respectively visit Webster Hall and the Bell House. Tickets for Webster Hall go on AmEx presale today at noon; general sale starts Friday, August 7th at noon. Bell House tickets are on sale today at noon.

The occasion for this tour is a new record from The Mountain Goats, enigmatically titled The Life of the World to Come, which comes out October 6th on 4AD. All song titles on the new album are Bible verses. John says,

The album was recorded between April and June: first at Electrical Audio with Brandon Eggleston; then at Sonic Ranch with John Congleton; and finally at Baucom Road with Scott Solter. Scott also mixed the entire album at Baucom Road. The band is still Jon Wurster, Peter Hughes, and me; Owen Pallett did string arrangements & played on the Electrical session.

I guess the obvious question is going to be: “John, have you had some sort of religious awakening?” and while I guess lots of people might want to be coy about answering that, that’s never really been my style, so: no. It’s not like that. It’s not some heavy-narrative-distance deal either, though, and it’s not a screed. It’s twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of. More than that I’d want to wait to say until some people have heard it, which won’t be long.

One track “Genesis 3:23” is posted above. The verse in question there, “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken,” may aid in your listening. Album art & tracklist, with tour dates, the FF Hillside video, and FF@P4K pics, below…

new mountain goats album
Mountain Goats

The Mountain Goats: The Life of the World to Come tracklist
1. 1 Samuel 15:23
2. Psalms 40:2
3. Genesis 3:23
4. Philippians 3:20-21
5. Hebrews 11:40
6. Genesis 30:3
7. Romans 10:9
8. 1 John 4:16
9. Matthew 25:21
10. Deuteronomy 2:10
11. Isaiah 45:23
12. Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

Mountain Goats – 2009 Tour Dates
Aug 21 – 2nd annual “Durham, Be Easy” here in Durham, NC #
Sep 18 – Ithaca College Ithaca, NY #
Oct 9 – Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL 3
Oct 10 – QEH, London, England #
Oct 11 – Ruby Lounge, Manchester, England #
Oct 13 – Point Ephemere, Paris, France #
Oct 15 – Magnet, Berlin, Germany #
Nov 4 – Ladies Literary Club (Calvin College), Grand Rapids, MI
Nov 5 – the Metro, Chicago, IL
Nov 6 – High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
Nov 7 – Cedar Cultural Centre, Minneapolis, MN
Nov 10 – the Showbox, Seattle, WA
Nov 11 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Nov 14 – the Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
Nov 15 – Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Nov 18 – Antones, Austin, TX
Nov 19 – Granada Theater, Dallas TX
Nov 20 – Mercy Lounge, Nashville TN
Nov 21 – the Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
Nov 23 – the Social, Orlando, FL
Nov 24 – Café 11, St. Augustine, FL
Nov 27 – 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
Nov 28 – Theater of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Nov 29 – Wilbur Theatre, Boston MA
Dec 1 – Webster Hall, New York, NY
Dec 2 – Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
# solo
all other dates w/ full band and Final Fantasy

FF @ Pitchfork…

Final Fantasy

Antlers

Final Fantasy

FF @ Hillside…

Final Fantasy playing in the storm at Hillside 2009

Rain blew sideways, lightning struck, and thunder boomed around us. Let me finish the song, Final Fantasy’s Owen Pallet called, in between singing, as a big man from the stage crew stood beside him ready to shut things down. It was an epic moment at Hillside Festival 2009 at Guelph Lake.

Final Fantasy – other 2009 Tour Dates
Aug 5 FINAL FANTASY – The Classic Grand Glasgow, Scotland
Aug 6 CREEPY TEEPEE GASK ART FESTIVAL Kutná Hora
Aug 7 OFF FESTIVAL Myslowice
Aug 8 FINAL FANTASY – FM 4 RADIO SESSION Vienna
Aug 9 FINAL FANTASY – Szene Vienna
Aug 10 FINAL FANTASY – Weekender Innsbruck
Aug 12 FINAL FANTASY – Tivoli Utrecht
Aug 13 GLAZART – La Plage w/ ONEIDA and ALEXANDER TUCKER Paris
Aug 14 HALDERN POP FESTIVAL Rees – Haldern
Aug 15 WAY OUT WEST FESTIVAL Goteborg
Aug 16 FLOW FESTIVAL – Suvilahti Helsinki
Sep 18 LOLA FESTIVAL London, Ontario
Sep 24 FINAL FANTASY – Alix Goolden Hall Victoria, British Columbia @
Sep 25 FINAL FANTASY – St. Andrews-Wesley Church Vancouver, British Columbia @
Sep 27 FINAL FANTASY – McDougall United Church Edmonton, Alberta @
Sep 28 FINAL FANTASY – Knox United Church Calgary, Alberta @
Sep 30 FINAL FANTASY – The Exchange Regina, Saskatchewan @
Oct 1 FINAL FANTASY – Amigo’s Saskatoon, Saskatchewan @
Oct 2 FINAL FANTASY – West End Cultural Centre Winnipeg, Manitoba @
w/ TIMBER TIMBRE