blitzen trapper, the teeming portland, oregon-based musical clan, release their third brood of offspring-songs, that is-in the shape of an album called 'wild mountain nation' on sub pop. from outer space to down at the farm, campfire sing-a-long to dystopic atonal deconstruction, 'wild mountain nation' presents a raucous and varied constellation of favourite souvenirs from the trapper's musical adventures. brought forth in a spasm of creative mania, nation is rough-hewn but lush, crackling (sometimes audibly) with a weird and lucid energy. the album was recorded and arranged by the band themselves, using a dizzying variety of techniques and media, including a secret process learned from friendly extraterrestrials. as always, though, the group's trusty four-track was used to capture the soul, essence and kernel of each song, which was then buried in a rich humus of articulation, embellishment, and attenuation, so that after the summer a nutritious, colourful variety of fresh music was drooping from the vine (so to speak). a rich harvest: dusty bones, sunrise, philip k. dick, guernica, barley wine, sycamore or doug fir, snowflake, sally mack's school of dance, scooby-doo, bigfoot.