Blitzen Trapper: Wild Mountain Nation

Blitzen Trapper: Wild Mountain Nation

2007

Sub Pop Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Devil's A-Go-Go  2.Wild Mountain Nation  3. Futures & Folly  4. Miss Spiritual Tramp  5. Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant's Hem  6. Sci-Fi Kid  7. Wild Mtn. Jam  8. Hot Tip/Tough Cub  9. The Green King Sings  10. Summer Town  11. Murder Babe  12. Country Caravan  13. Badger's Black Brigade


I missed out on this one when it came out...I didn't hear Blitzen Trapper until 2008's "Furr," so I kind of slept right through their big acclaimed album. Shortly after hearing "Furr" I put a parrot on my shoulder and pirated a listen to "Devil A-Go-Go" and it kind of turned my head around a bit...

"Furr" was mostly down-home country rock with indie rock overtones, but "Devil's A-Go-Go" sounded more like a straight-up indie rock that had been broken apart with a big-ass hammer and glued back together all side-cocked...I was very interested and kept my eyes open but I couldn't find a copy until suddenly I started to see these early Blitzen Trapper albums appear on the shelves again.

Hot damn, this album is all over the place...Luckily, I have a soft spot for schizophrenic albums that spill kaleidoscopic ideas in a gazillion directions all at once. Although, there are a couple predominant influences that I can pick up on...A lot of early "Westing" era Pavement lo-fi skronky-rock ("Miss Spiritual Tramp" and "Hot Tip/Tough Cub" in particular) and freak-out LSD era Flaming Lips...Check out "Woof & Warp of the Quiet Giant's Hem" it sounds like a cross between "Hit to Death in the Future Head" and those mad filler songs the Who used to write on "A Quick One" and "Sell Out"...

And let's not forget the southern rock undercurrent that ebbs and flows and shit throughout the album... Most notably on the title track where you can feel the band look at each other wide-eyed in a  "Look what we pulled off!" type of moment...All the disparate styles and genres suddenly snap together and it's BLITZEN TRAPPER IN ALL CAPS!!!! I can't blame them for pursuing that style on the subsequent albums...It feels classic yet it's undeniably their sound...The other shining moment is "Futures & Folly" which is also country-rock but it's done in a style that I don't think they've attempted since...A sweetly sung folk stomp that works in siren-toned keys...Listening to it, it's  easy to hear an alternate future where the band decides to follow this path instead and ends up a spacier counterpoint to the Shins.

Y'know, I can see how their subsequent albums might have alienated some of their earlier fanbase...Its unique "up for anything" style likely plays to a different audience entirely: Folks who are into multi-faceted albums that you can revisit  it endlessly and  hear new things upon each listen... Maybe when the band traded it all in for a shot at the classic rock pantheon, the indie rock world did lose a little something special.  In the end though, I still find myself leaning more on the side of  their more accessible albums like "Destroyer of the Void" and "American Goldwing" so I don't know what the answer is...

Let's check out "Wild Mountain Nation" by Blitzen Trapper...Enjoy...