I’ve never tried Hood River vodka, but goddamn if I don’t want to after hearing, from John Darnielle’s own lips, that it is “the source of some truly brutal vodka.” Anyone who has had the privilege of seeing Mr. Darnielle live knows that he the knack for elevating his own material well beyond the “nasal guy with good lyrics and manic acoustic guitar strumming” niche. This particular Stypod entry accompanies The Mountain Goats’s Tallahassee Playing God article—culled from live tracks all freely available (with John’s blessing) from http://www.archive.org. Mixed together, they include all of the indelible banter that Robert Pollard only wishes he could match.

While this particular mix contains some of the best songs, it also captures some of Darnielle’s most touching moments: the just-breaking vocals of “Tallahassee” and “Game Shows Touch Our Lives,” the final verses of “International Small Arms Traffic Blues,” “Alpha Incipiens” and “Alpha Omega,” and a whole legion of crazed Goats fans screaming “I hope you die! I hope we all die!” on “No Children.”

Tracklist
01. Tallahassee (San Francisco, 2004)

02. Southwood Plantation Road (San Francisco, 2004)
03. Alpha Gelida (Duke University, 1997)
04. First Few Desperate Hours (Brooklyn, 2005)
05. Game Shows Touch Our Lives (Brooklyn, 2005)
06. Alpha Incipiens (Mt. Pleasant, 2004)

07. Alpha Double Negative/Going To Catalina (Chicago, 2004)
08. International Small Arms Traffic Blues (Chicago, 2004)
09. Alphonse Mambo (Chicago, 2004)
10. No Children (Chicago, 2004)
11. See America Right (Chicago, 2004)

12. Old College Try (Olympia, 2005)
13. Oceanographer’s Choice (Chicago, 2004)
14. Alpha In Tauris (Macrock, 2003)

15. Alpha Omega (Mt. Pleasant, 2004)

Read the rest of Peter Galassi & Nate DeYoung’s Playing God of The Mountain Goats’ Tallahassee here. Buy the original version of Tallahassee here.