Goatman, Goathead, Goatlord … to the ultra perceptive reviewer there’s a slight theme in the track names of Goat’s 2012 debut LP World Music. True story.
Splashing down on our planet 11 years ago World Music was the Afro-Haitian heavy psych swamp rock LP from Sweden that somehow we had never realised how much we craved. Truly.
The masked band Goat claimed to hail from Korpilombolo in northern Sweden. According to them both voodoo worship and this music has been part of the area’s heritage for decades since the visit of a witch doctor. This band are merely the latest iteration of the Goat tradition and so on, so forth. I suspect they may be fibbing.
It’s a good schtick so let’s beat a drum with it.
World Music‘s opener ‘Diarabi’ is a pleasing heavy psych snake dream. A sonorous bass and guitar jam that hits exactly that descending, Phrygian scale that every stoner knucklehead instantly adopts to suggest something Eastern or foreign in rock music. It’s great, not subtle but great; the skittering percussion adds an interesting layer of sophistication, but we are very much here to suck down our dose of guitar.
‘Goatman’ opens with a bit of blather about Creole tradition which immediately puts me in mind of (1537-faves) Transglobal Underground and all the other members of the Nation Records posse. The reverb drenched guitar and stridently powerful female vocals are absolutely undeniable and uplifting.
Then the next track ‘Goathead’ is even more so. The guitar and bass register at a tone and volume Black Sabbath would be happy to own. It is truly superb, for my money the best track on World Music as it achieves a perfect vertical lift-off, sustains it via some barbed-wire guitar soloing and bongos, followed by a charming gentle coda. By Crom’s grey beard the 2010’s produced some great heavy psych!
Next track ‘Disco Fever’ gives us a faux township jive feeling and hits a nice groove which has overstayed its welcome by the end of the song. ‘Golden Dawn’ sneaks in as a normal tune and then degenerates wonderfully into a full-on guitar freak out for the ages.
Being a contrary soul, I would argue that the tuneful ‘Let It Bleed’ is even better, Goat really inhabit the swagger and groove of this track perfectly. Which just serves to tee up the absolutely rocking ‘Run To Your Mama’ to an even greater degree, this is exactly what you would get by smashing Black Sabbath into Osibisa using the Large Hadron Collider*.
‘Goatlord’ serves us all the drone we can eat, irrigated part way through with some more rusty guitar. Then we hit out for the exit riding ‘Det Son Aldrig Förändras/Diarabi’**, which gives us a head-nodding restrained psych glide, that builds to an emotionally stirring finish.
I have had a (goat)shed full of fun revisiting World Music. I was lucky enough to see them perform at Liverpool Psych Fest 2014 and they were everything I hoped they’d be in that setting. World Music is my favourite LP of theirs still, although all have something to recommend them, possibly because it is slightly more jagged around the edges.
Goat have over the years forced themselves into the position of being my #1 Swedish Afro-Haitian heavy psych swamp rock merchants, what more can I say?
My copy of World Music is a first edition purple vinyl one released on Stranded Records in Sweden. It is a great looking thing and uncharacteristically I have not broken the intricately die-cut LP sleeve. It is a great quality pressing and I would recommend it. Trust me I’m a (witch) doctor.
1188 Down.
*any CERN folk reading this should really consider doing this, providing it could be done humanely.
**first part is ‘That Son Never Changes’.
You’re doing it again fella. Always love the words but in this case (as in most of your cases) the music delivers. I’m in.
(Just came away from some good listening to tune into your station. Dave Holland Big Band : “What Goes Around’. I think you’d dig.)
If you are going to choose a #1 Swedish Afro-Haitian heavy psych swamp rock merchant, one wearing masks is tops.
Yeah I arbitrarily ruled out all of the non-masked ones. It cuts the field down a bit.
They really ran with the “goat” theme in the song lyrics. Good on them!
Absolutely, find your thing and then stick with what you’re good at is always sound advice for a band.
I am and have always been a sucker for a band with a good origin story. Life’s so much more fun with a creative and ludicrous story behind the noise so much better than just being excellent musicians. I once spent a happy week watching YouTube videos of this band.
Should they head to Portland then they’d be well worth the trip.
Would they be hanging with the Belmont Goats or the yoga goats, we like our goats in the north west.
I wish Canada had a Psych Fest.
We have legal weed, but no Psych Fests.
Can you pressure either one of the Canadian Justin’s to make this happen?
As I was reading this blog, I went to the band’s Bandcamp page and ordered their newest EP on one of those rectangular tape thingies you dislike so much.
I told them I read your blog and they replied that the Swedish female swim team would send some photos along that I should pass along to you.
That’s a strange omission. Maybe there’s a moonshine fuelled secret festival in the woods somewhere?
And thanks but I’m running out of swim team photo storage Bop.
I bet the lack of storage really gets your goat.
Whenever someone asks me how I discover some of the weirder stuff I listen to I can usually say this blog. But how do you discover this crazy stuff?
What a wonderful complimentary thing to say, cheers Zack.
These things just find me, often via far hipper friends and/or random record shop purchases.
You’d love Goat, I’m sure.