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| Life and Death of an American Fourtracker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 7, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | January -December 2001 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock | |||
| Length | 35:06 | |||
| Label | Barsuk | |||
| John Vanderslice chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.9/10 link |
Life and Death of an American Fourtracker was the third album by John Vanderslice, released in 2002.
All songs by John Vanderslice unless otherwise noted
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John Vanderslice is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and recording engineer. He is the owner and founder of Tiny Telephone, an analog recording studio with locations in San Francisco Mission District and North Oakland. He released 10 full-length albums and 5 remix records and EPs on Dead Oceans and Barsuk Records and has collaborated with musicians such as The Mountain Goats, St. Vincent, and Spoon.
The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the plural moniker. Although he remains the core member of the band, he has worked with a variety of collaborators over time, including bassist and vocalist Peter Hughes, drummer Jon Wurster, multi-instrumentalist Matt Douglas, singer-songwriter Franklin Bruno, bassist and vocalist Rachel Ware, singer-songwriter/producer John Vanderslice, guitarist Kaki King, and multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark.
John Darnielle is an American musician, novelist, and actor best known as the primary, and originally sole, member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist. He has written three novels: Wolf in White Van (2014), Universal Harvester (2017), and Devil House (2022).
All Hail West Texas is the sixth studio album by the Mountain Goats. After the slight increase in production values on The Coroner's Gambit album of 2000, All Hail West Texas was the last Mountain Goats album recorded entirely on John Darnielle's trademark Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox until 2020's Songs for Pierre Chuvin. Similarly, it marked the end of an era for the band, as it was the last album by the Mountain Goats to feature only John Darnielle until 2020.
The Sunset Tree is the ninth studio album by the Mountain Goats, released on April 26, 2005 by 4AD. The album's songs revolve around the house John Darnielle grew up in and the people who lived there, including his mother, sister, stepfather, friends, and enemies.
Tallahassee is the seventh studio album by the Mountain Goats. It was the band's second new album to be released in 2002, and it marked quite a few changes. After releasing records on small record labels such as Shrimper, Ajax, and Emperor Jones, Tallahassee was the first Mountain Goats album to be released on a widely known independent label, the British alternative rock label 4AD. It was also the first Mountain Goats album to have an official single released, for the song "See America Right."
"Darling Nikki" is a song produced, arranged, composed, and performed by American musician Prince, originally released on his sixth studio album Purple Rain (1984). Though the song was not released as a single, it gained wide notoriety for its sexual lyrics—in particular an explicit reference to female masturbation—and was responsible for the creation of the infamous Parental Advisory sticker. The song tells the story of a "sex fiend" named Nikki who seduces the singer.
Cellar Door is an album by John Vanderslice, released in 2004. The album contains a few songs based on then-recent films: "Promising Actress" is about Mulholland Drive and "When It Hits My Blood" narrates Requiem For A Dream.
Time Travel Is Lonely is the second album by John Vanderslice, released in 2001. Time Travel Is Lonely is a concept album about Vanderslice's fictional brother Jesse Vanderslice as he slowly succumbs to polar madness while living in Antarctica.
We Shall All Be Healed is the eighth studio album by The Mountain Goats. The album focuses on semi-fictional accounts of band leader John Darnielle's years as a teenager, particularly his friends' and acquaintances' experiences in California and in Portland, Oregon, as methamphetamine addicts. As The Mountain Goats' official website puts it: "All of the songs on We Shall All Be Healed are based on people John used to know. Most of them are probably dead or in jail by now." Like Tallahassee, but unlike the rest of Darnielle's repertoire up to its release, We Shall All Be Healed was recorded with a full band in a recording studio, and produced by John Vanderslice, as opposed to The Mountain Goats' previous practice of recording at home on a boom box with, at most, one or two backup vocalists or a bassist. "Palmcorder Yajna", when played in concert, is often played with the backing of members of one or more of the opening acts on tour with The Mountain Goats. The song "Cotton" was featured in an episode of the television series Weeds.
Franklin Bruno is an American singer-songwriter, academic and writer originally from Upland, California. He has been a member of Nothing Painted Blue since its inception in 1986.
Full Force Galesburg is the fourth studio album by the Mountain Goats, released in 1997.
Afternoon Records is a record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The label was founded by Ian Anderson and Michael M. Sandstedt in 2003, the year Anderson graduated from high school. He wanted to create a platform for his high school band Aneuretical and others. Afternoon Records is distributed by Warner Music Group.
Scott Solter is an American recording engineer, record producer, mixer, remixer and musician. As a producer and mixer, Solter has worked with numerous indie rock artists, including Maps & Atlases, St. Vincent, Spoon, Sarah Jaffe, Becca Stevens, John Vanderslice, Superchunk, Okkervil River, The Mountain Goats, Erik Friedlander, Pattern is Movement, Two Gallants, Boxharp, Lost in the Trees, Bombadil, The Forms, Broken Arm Trio, Michael Zapruder, The Caribbean, Centro-matic, Division Day, Alex Turnquist, Liam Singer, The Court and Spark, Charles Atlas, Tarental, Mike Patton, Derek Piotr, Fred Frith, and Zeena Parkins.
Heretic Pride is the eleventh studio album by the Mountain Goats, released in the UK on February 18, 2008, and in the US on February 19 by 4AD, their sixth album on the label. It is the first to feature the band's lineup of John Darnielle, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster. The album was produced by Scott Solter and John Vanderslice.
Moon Colony Bloodbath is an EP released by the Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice while on tour in 2009. It was recorded by John Darnielle and John Vanderslice, with a cover art collage by Michael Pajon. John Darnielle had this to say about its status as a concept album:
"Some of the songs have something to do with a loose rock opera/'concept album' idea about organ harvesting colonies on the moon and the employees thereof, who spent their off months living in secluded opulence in remote American locations. Concepts like this are actually more fun when you abandon them but leave their traces kicking around, so that’s what we did.”
New Asian Cinema is the first of three one-sided 12" records by the Mountain Goats on Olympia, WA's Yo Yo label. The B-side of the record includes etchings by Nikki McClure. It was produced by Pat Maley and Brooks Martin.
Dagger Beach is the ninth album by American singer-songwriter John Vanderslice. It was self-released on June 11, 2013, financed by a Kickstarter campaign.
Beat the Champ is the fifteenth studio album by The Mountain Goats, released on April 7, 2015 on Merge Records. The release is a concept album on professional wrestling, though frontman John Darnielle has stated that several of its songs are "really more about death and difficult-to-navigate interior spaces than wrestling."
