I’ll Get You A Satanic Mechanic.

Ease up, Tim Curry; the Mountain Goats have a new EP!  I just downloaded Satanic Messiah this morning, which, a la Radiohead, is available in the posh-&-getting-posh-er download ‘n donate form.  (John Darnielle has kicked it up a notch by listing a suggested donation, $6.66, which slides you in at “devotee” level.  I’ve always wanted to be a minion of the arts.)

The EP itself is simple & intimate, which I’ve come to expect of the Mountain Goats — it’s the loveliest feeling of listening-in — & largely piano-driven.  Makes me feel like I’m perched on the coucharm of a deeply worn basement couch next to some thoughtful, poetry-devouring piano-tinkerer, singing: “We take aim at the dawning day, and we shoot / Starving to death, starving to death for the low-hanging fruit.”  Then my heart breaks in his direction, we smoke cigarettes, & slowly destroy each other for years.

Man, I’ve got to stop making up friends.

But go download the record.  It’s an intimate, pensive experience, & at only four songs (& cheap as free!), it’s a place you can afford to visit.