Why can't they call this bullshit "philosophy" of theirs something else besides voodoo? There already IS a voodoo, and it's nothing to do with this bogus white hippie malarkey. They think they're doing theater, or something, but they're really doing blackface. I'm guessing they're not going to be doing a lot of shows in Cuba or Haiti, huh?

"Should I stab them in the nuts?" Is by far the best part of this interview. Because if you have a voodoo doll, the first place you stab is the nuts.

What @2 said.

The band's actual shtick doesn't have any especially troubling exploitation/vapid cultural appropriation problem. The band has, in this article, a Trent Moorman/flippant hipster bullshit journalism problem.

The show tonight was great.

4) - 2),

Have you all read this band's bio and seen the things they say? I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's all a joke. They made up all this "mythology" to have fun with their band bio. And "be different." They're probably from Brooklyn. Or if they're from Europe, I seriously doubt they're actually from a "small village in Sweden."

Trent did the right journalistic/entertaining thing by taking them to task. He's also dead on with his Randall Dunn proposition. Because Goat are doing what Master Musicians of Bukkake have already been doing for years.

That you say Trent's work here is a flippant hipster bullshit problem shows you have been successfully trolled and fooled. Take a step back to see what's going on. Laugh a little. You probably don't laugh very much.

I will agree with you that the show was great.

@5: The band is definitely Swedish, and presumably rooted in Gothenburg more than any remote ritualistic commune north of the Arctic Circle.

I have no doubt that Goat's members (who seem young) are still figuring out how to balance their self-consciously ridiculous mythmaking against the seriousness with which they take their musical and performance processes, as well as their vague but seemingly heartfelt (again: youthful) spiritual explorations.

But that pursuit of balance is uninteresting to Moorman. So here he comes with his patented straining non-sequiturs and dead-horse beating, and his obligatory nod to a locally-significant insider reference point. The interview subject's apparent disinterest in answering "in character" only helps to illuminate the unrelenting bullshit that is Moorman's professional approach.

I promise you that I am a much lighter personality than I sometimes come across in text. I would not survive without laughter. Unfortunately, Trent's problem is that he thinks he's hilarious when he's invariably cringe-inducing. He's the hipster Jay Leno.

d.p., I laughed my ass off at this interview. I thought Trent's questions were well put, and I like how the member of Goat responded. Trent actually turned their boring voodoo story into something entertaining. I can not stand Jay Leno. I enjoy Trent's writing and interviews every week.

Trent writes: "sounds in the nine songs are guided through kiln-fired portals of psych, drone, and hypnotized krautrock. Guitar solos wander across a land bridge layered in skins and distorted wah-pedal. Medicine-woman vocals call to an oracle named Odgou." "All that matters resides inside the tents of their music."

I have yet to read a better description of this band's music, and I work in the music industry where I read music writing all the time.

How would you describe Goat's music? Let me hear what you have to say about them. Let me hear your "professional" description. What would you ask Goat that wouldn't bore the socks off me?

Dead-horse beating? Goat are beating much more of a dead horse with their voodoo "myth."

Non-sequiturs? You mean more non-sequitur than a "traveling witchdoctor who taught a remote Swedish village a loving version of voodoo centuries ago that they base their music off of"?

Pursuit of balance? What are you talking about? They're signed to Sub Pop Records touring the world.

Obligatory nod to a locally-significant insider reference point? You must not live in Seattle, or know any of Randall Dunn's music. He's been doing the same type stuff, better that Goat, for way longer than Goat. The first thing I thought when I heard Goat's music was, "This sounds like Randall Dunn's material." So I was glad Trent dropped Dunn's name. Extremely on point.

The fact that you use the word "hipster" shows how off-base and outdated you are. Hipster is lazy slang used by some who's frustrated with their own life.

Sorry dude, you're losing by a mile on this one.

Part of the Goat bio from Sub Pop's page -

"Legend has it that, for centuries, the inhabitants of the village were dedicated to the worship and practices of Voodoo. This strange and seemingly-unlikely activity was apparently introduced into the area after a travelling witch doctor and a handful of her disciples were led to the village by following an unknown Sami traveller from this area of Sweden.

The reason he led them there is unknown, but their Voodoo influence quickly took hold over the whole village, and so they made it their home. There they were able to practice their craft unnoticed and unbothered for several centuries.

This was until their non-Christian ways were discovered by the Church and they were burned out by the crusaders."

The show was so epic last night I am going to drive to Portland to watch them tomorrow!!

Wow, @7, I guess I struck a whole lot of nerves in four short paragraphs.

You miss the point when you cast a record label press release as the final word on not only the band's self-marketing, but also its self-image. The tension arises from the artist's willingness to exploit this widely disseminated and obviously hyperbolic backstory, while simultaneously desiring to dial down the exoticism so as to be more casual and well-rounded in the context of this interview.

Unfortunately, Moorman completely misses his subject's cues, and thus proceeds to barrel through his not-funny voodoo clichés while learning nothing from the answers, with typically embarrassing results.

I am familiar with Randall Dunn's production work, and I have seen Master Musicians. I would argue that Dunn has been more influential in the former role than in the latter, and even then only in the States. Master Musicians, like many music industry also-rans, is the kind of curious but ultimately dull band whose influence tends to be overstated by those too invested in a parochial scene.

The implication that a younger band that vaguely reminds you of an aging favorite must be indebted to that aging favorite (or at the very least should be educated about that favorite so that they may later offer tribute) is one of my least favorite music-snob tropes. Seriously, fuck that. If you're enjoying a band's output, why does it matter which antecedents did or did not provide inspiration?

I actually enjoyed Trent's musical description as much as you did. My objections to the piece stem mostly from the pretensions he brought to the interview.

As for your suggestion that "hipster" is no longer a relevant descriptor of a particular music-oriented youth culture, I respectfully submit that last night's Goat show proves you wrong. The truth is that Goat plays a very catchy and very good iteration of fairly straightforward psychedelic rock music. But now they play it on Sub Pop records, and their show receives heavy hype from KEXP. As such, I found myself flanked by the sampler platter of hipster archtypes: the e-cig-huffing, PBR-quaffing, slightly obnoxious attention-grabbers; the row of elaborate-equipped photographers who witnessed the show only through the viewfinders of their DSLRs; and the large-spectacled individuals who couldn't be bothered to derive any pleasure from the proceedings, much less to partake in any rituals of body movement. Three groups united by the transience and superficiality of their interest, who will have moved on to the next flavor faster than you can clap your hands and say "yeah".