3 Beads of Sweat
1995
Zopilote Machine
About This Album
Following a spate of cassette-only releases, singles, EPs, and compilation tracks stretching back over four years, 1995's Zopilote Machine is the Mountain Goats' full-length debut. Any sense that John Darnielle would upgrade his purist lo-fi aesthetic for the CD age is dashed by the opening track; making Guided by Voices seem like Pink Floyd in comparison, Zopilote Machine was, like most early Mountain Goats releases, primarily recorded on a cheap cassette boombox. However, that opening track, "Alpha Incipiens," is in retrospect clear evidence of Darnielle's artistic ambition; though he didn't explain it as such at the time, "Alpha Incipiens" and its companion tracks, "Alpha Sun Hat" and "Alpha in Tauris," were the beginning of a song cycle that would stretch through the next seven years, culminating in 2002's bleak concept album Tallahassee. "Alpha Sun Hat" is a particular standout, with winsome lines like "I'd like to give in to your oboe reed voice" giving little hint of the depressing turn this story of a dysfunctional alcoholic couple would take. Zopilote Machine also contains three entries in Darnielle's "Going To.
Track List (try tracks 7,10,18 and 19)

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