Headsoupis a new compilation that deepensGoat’slegend even further. Collecting non-album material from across their career, standalone singles, B-sides, and digital edits, it’s a record that’s even bigger in its scope than their studio LPs. It’s a globetrotting acid trip of a record, one that moves from the magnificent heavy-psych of their earliest work, likeGoatmanB-side “The Sun And Moon,” to the sereneRequiem-era alternate take “Union Of Mind And Soul,” to the simmering grooves of their latest material, and a myriad of other detours.
Sometimes dark and heavy, at others joyous and beautiful, likeGoatthemselvesHeadsoupis mysterious and constantly shapeshifting, difficult to properly pin down but constantly enthralling. Jazz-flute solos, pounding Afrobeat rhythms, ferocious desert blues, drifting Ethio-jazz and churning drones are just a fraction of their dazzling mix of influences. This is, as the name ofGoat’sfirst album made clear,World Musicin its most complete form, a sound unrestrained by genre boundaries, although the band are anything but lazy appropriators. They approach their forebears with upmost reverence, providing a celebratory cultural cross-pollination.
