by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
Can we compare the Swedes Goat to The Residents? Possibly, but then, maybe we shouldn't. Let's start comparing. Both are musical collectives. Both wear some sort of mask or other. Both love playing games with their album titles, hence Goat named their latest oeuvre Headsoup. Both like experimenting, and musical shape shifting, and that is where maybe the comparisons can stop. Just maybe.
While The Residents tend to work with all things prog, Goat tend to roam the fields of world music in its all shapes and forms. Afrobeat rhythms, Tuareg desert blues, Ethio-jazz all combined with extended flute solos and drones galore. All that wrapped in heavy doses of psychedelia, from sixties to modern times. That is why Headsoup is such a perfect title for this release that compiles non-album material, standalone singles, B-sides, digital edits and never-before heard songs, covering the span of bands career.
If you want to throw in yet another comparison into the mix, you can bring in yet another band/collective that practically stands solely on its own, Krautrock legend Faust, yet another group of experimentalists who try to cross as many boundaries as possible. What this all means that Goat are practically incomparable to anybody else making music. You might pinpoint their influences, but you probably will not find them in the combination Goat present them.
Don't think that Headsoup is a cash-in throwaway. Only Goat can tell you why they were originally presented (or not) in the form they were. Don't expect them to do so, though.