Why is Doc Heller’s Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
This album represents the best of the kind of music listening I do these days while working or hanging out with family and friends during cocktail hour.
What does Doc Heller’s Terribly Mysterious mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
I like the eclectic range of music broadly classified as lo-fi hip hop. Terribly Mysterious is all about mood and vibe, which as mentioned above makes it perfect music to enjoy while doing other things, and particularly social things.
If you start with the first track, “Looking For Change,” that’s probably not the best place to jump in for novices, as it’s admittedly on the aggressively strange side. “Overthruster” is a great entry point for me, as it’s certainly… unusual but has a great beat that evokes an incredible European martini lounge or a poolside bar at a fancy hotel where the service is on point and the people are actually friendly.
Many of the songs are simply great “straight ahead” lo-fi hip hop songs. “8 Miles High & Falling Fast” is a great example that I’d recommend for the uninitiated.
This album also sounds like
I’ll go with Brock Berrigan here, who has some really great stuff and absolutely deserves an honorable mention shoutout. Like Doc Heller, Brock’s stuff is highly offbeat lo-fi hip hop with a more aggressive beat (which I dig) than music that’s typically more on the chill side of lo-fi. Brock Berrigan also only seems to appear with a rooster mask on, so… there’s that.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to Doc Heller’s Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins
So, I have no idea who or what the “The Goat Boy Origins” refers to, in case you were wondering, let alone this mythical creature and/or human’s origins. I can’t help be reminded though of the Gopher Boy who is referred to in the truly bizarre Primus song, “Mephisto and Kevin,” which is on the largely (seriously) fantastic South Park “Chef Aid” album.
Let’s get even weirder (is that possible?). Doctor Heller is the name of the character the (very eclectic and accomplished musician in his own right) Tom Waits portrays in the not-that-good movie, Mystery Men. That Doc Heller’s occupation is listed as “Weapons Designer, Inventor, Mad Scientist.”
A little bit like my man Dr. Horrible maybe?
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins
As I mention above, this album tracks with a lot of the music I listen to these days in my working and leisure-type life.
I have a ton of different Spotify playlists, which I’ll typically give silly names to or that reflect inside jokes. For example, I have this fantastic 1980s playlist called “San Junipero,” which relates to the incredible Black Mirror episode that takes place during that decade (or does it?). And then I have one called “deep focus higher place,” which has electronic dance music of such a beat and pulse that helps me to focus on work when I really need to.
This album fits great on playlists of mine such as “FuTure sTate LouNge” and “get right lo-fi,” ones I’ll throw on in the evening when its time to kick back with friends and family over drinks. “Well Being” is a great example of a lo-fi hip hop song that is very mellow but has enough of a hip hop beat to keep the mood going and not get too sleepy.
It’s evening time during summer in Seattle while I’m writing this, and listening to this album makes me want to get outside – with this album on – to enjoy it.
Some stats & info about Doc Heller – Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Lo-fi Hip Hop, Lounge Music, Martini Lounge, Hip Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – not rated!
- When was Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins released? 2015
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #996 out of 1,000
Doc Heller’s Terribly Mysterious: The Goat Boy Origins on Spotify
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.