Protein Source of the Future… Now! / Protein Source of the Future... Now!

This is the first of a three-volume set that pulls together singles, cassette releases, and compilation tracks that never made it to a proper Mountain Goats album. (The other two sets are Bitter Melon Farm and Ghana.) These collections represent some of John Darnielle's most unusual work alongside some lost gems. "Going to Tennessee" is from a 1994 split 7" EP with Simon Joyner and is an early installment of Darnielle's long-running "Going To" series. Other tracks are pulled from the rare EPs Chile de Arbor and Philyra, plus the cassette EP Yam, the King of Crops. In the '90s, this was how the young Darnielle communicated, getting his ideas down quickly to a Panasonic cassette boombox. His folk and pop songs are often self-referential and/or loaded with obscure cultural references. The 23 tracks here might be too much to digest at once, yet the sheer amount of the material is part of the appeal. If one song doesn't grab you, another's coming in a minute. Highlights include "The Monkey Song," "Pure Heat," "Love Cuts the Strings," and "Duke Ellington."