Midnight Moondog

October 23, 2009 9:03 PM

Moondog For Midnight
posted by vronsky (19 comments total)

— Fog On The Hudson
posted by vronsky at 9:39 PM on October 23, 2009

A few years ago a friend of mine found Moondog's self-titled LP somewhere and sent it to me as a joke ("Check out this crazy dude!"). So I threw it on my record player for the lulz and was immediately blown away by Lament 1 "Bird's Lament" and Symphonique #6 (Good For Goodie).
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:44 PM on October 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

Well, its a marvelous night for a Moondog...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:48 PM on October 23, 2009

He wields Mjollnir.
posted by Mblue at 10:12 PM on October 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

moo ndog
posted by vronsky at 10:20 PM on October 23, 2009

I miss Moondog. What a magnificent weirdo. Great stuff, vronsky, thanks.

@TheCardCheat
What a random thing, and what a great way to discover great music.
posted by Edgewise at 11:06 PM on October 23, 2009

Oooo, thanks, vronsky. I have never heard of him and already I love the sounds I hear.
posted by not_on_display at 11:19 PM on October 23, 2009

Thanks n_o_d. You know what else is hot? This _Gorilla Zoe/Diplo track :)
posted by vronsky at 12:25 AM on October 24, 2009

hear more of Elpmas -- Westward Ho!
posted by vronsky at 1:12 AM on October 24, 2009

My father, a big "C" classical music fan, loved Moondog, despite all prejudice. I've still the records, which I should get around to transcribing to digital form.

The man does not get enough credit for his work, especially when you listen to what has happened since (Tortoise, anyone?).

Thanks, vronsky, you wonderful internet person, you.
posted by converge at 2:35 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

"One four, two four, three four and four four. Who for and what for I don't know for."
— Moondog

Genius.
posted by krilli at 3:29 AM on October 24, 2009

It should have been about Moondog, The Soloist.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:37 AM on October 24, 2009

..and Viking 1 is my new ringtone.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:12 AM on October 24, 2009

I first heard him from Mr Scruff's sampling Bird's Lament... Then recently somebody sent me a link to the original and I looked up his Wikipedia entry... whoa!
posted by yoHighness at 5:29 AM on October 24, 2009 [1 favorite]

Edgewise: I also used that LP for a Sleeveface-style Facebook profile picture.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:43 AM on October 24, 2009

I love Moondog. So I jumped at the chance to buy the book "Moondog: Viking of 6th Avenue". It's not a great book, and the author doesn't discuss the music critically, but it comes with a CD that includes madrigals sung by Moondog, Philip Glass and Stephen Reich. The CD alone is worth the price of the book.
posted by acrasis at 8:22 AM on October 24, 2009

I can't believe I hadn't heard of Moondog until now! Fascinating man, Fascinating music. Thank you so much for this post vronsky!
posted by Jeeb at 10:10 AM on October 24, 2009

I've been a huge fan for years, I wish I could track down Moondog in Europe, the album that has Viking 1 on it.
posted by cloeburner at 10:50 AM on October 24, 2009

Ditto what Jeeb said. This is a fantastic way to start a Saturday afternoon.
posted by spacelux at 2:29 PM on October 24, 2009