The Mountain Goats

Violators Get Their Tarots Pulled

You may have heard tell about how a couple months back I gave Aesop Rock all the constituent parts of the song "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" and told him "go nuts, why don't you?" It is with great pleasure that I present to you Aesop's completely great from-the-ground-up remix and an accompanying video from the truly awesome Sketch Theatre.

What can a guy say when he gets to work with such rad people? I live a charmed life and I am grateful for it. Enjoy!

New York Next Weekend

So, ~~this~~ next weekend are two New York appearances: the AIDS Walk benefit in Fort Greene, and a reading at Housing Works. I hope to see a lot of you there.

The AIDS walk benefit will be a solo show, my first in NY in a while. I have all week to practice, so I thought I might invite people to stop by the forums and make some suggestions as to what I might play. Obviously I'll be playing plenty of the songs I often play, too, but with a solo show, there's all kinds of room for other stuff. Please do note that I'm saying "suggestions," not "requests" - I'm not promising to get to any of them, but I would be interested in hearing what people would like to hear played solo and intimate-style. I thought I'd make a space for people who plan to be at the show to tell me as much. See you there!

Hot Crossposted Action

As I also mentioned on Last Plane to Jakarta: I'm Blogging at Powell's all week about albums that might also have inspired an imagined narrator to go buck wild like the guy in my book, to which I here very craftily link just like a pro'd-out blogger and stuff.

Completists' Delight

Went out to the mailbox today and found the new one from Bellafea on Southern. I sing backing vocals on the album's lead track, "Depart (I Never Knew You)," so I figured I would mention this record here rather than on Last Plane to Jakarta. The album is outstanding - Heather is one of the most exciting performers alive - but decorum prohibits me from lavishing too much praise on it, since I sing on it.

In other news: deepest thanks to everybody for all the kind thoughts and good wishes. I am about one million times better than I was about a month ago. (The figure "one million times" in the preceding sentence was arrived at only after many painstaking calculations and has been verified by science.) We are making plans for some touring abroad in the fall, and are working on rescheduling the Australian dates, whose cancellations we continue to bewail in the bitterest of terms, since we were totally looking forward to those shows.

The next shows will be a benefit for AIDS Walk NY on May 16th - probably a solo set, though who knows whether I'll be able to talk some friends into lending their talents? God knows, of course, but has been silent for centuries. I'll also be reading from my Master of Reality book at Housing Works the next day. Hope to see some of you there!

How's It Going

Hi everybody. I thought I would let you know how things are with me, if I can somehow split the difference between remaining a somewhat private person and wanting to talk directly to the people who're kind enough to lend an ear to my music. So: first, let me assure everybody that I don't have anything terminal or anything. I am facing some chronic health stuff, to which I'll need to learn to adapt. But I'm not going to die or anything. Members of the Darnielle family, historically speaking, live to be frightfully old. Second, while I'm not in any condition to tour right now, that doesn't mean I'm not going to make music or give readings or anything like that. So the benefit for AIDS Walk NY, that's on. (Possibly a solo set, that one.) And the Museum of Natural History show, that's on, too. And the readings at the Regulator and Housing Works, I'll get those listed shortly. And yes. If you see UK dates listed, that's 'cause we're coming over. So be advised to hide all the curries, but be further advised that you won't be able to hide them well enough. Beyond all that, the most I'd like to say about my health is that I and some doctors are tinkering under the hood, and I'll be firing on all eight pretty soon. I thank everyone who has sent good thoughts; y'all mean the world to me and I will repay you as best I can as soon as possible.

Australian Tour Cancelled

As some Australian ticketholders have already heard, we have had to cancel the Australian tour. This is really devastating for us to do. Everybody knows I don't cancel a show unless I absolutely have to; what's worse, coming to Australia is the highlight of our year. So many of our favorite shows ever are from our Australian tours, and we were excited about showing everyone the full-band lineup. The note sent out by our wonderful Australian agents, Handsome Tours, says "for personal medical reasons," and that says as much as need be said; if it weren't serious, I would be leaving for Oz next week, believe me. You'll be doing me a great favor if you keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and if you know in your heart that I don't play around in doing right by the people I love: I will be back to make this up to you.

Thank you for your understanding and again I am really really sorry. Love to you all

John D.

Track 5, Now Chainsaw Juggler

Thanks Mitch. So listen, there's all kinds of stuff goin' on, and usually I like to write a clean little graf and format the tour dates myself to try to keep things consistent, even elegant, maybe. Yep. That is what I like. And it ain't gonna happen this time, because I am too busy for the formatting. What I can tell you is that we're touring Australia and New Zealand in April, and that the dates are here. See you down there, good people! And while I'm at it: fine makers of Jester's Pies, I entreat you: ready your most yummiest and most vegetarian pies! because I would while my days away with pie in hand! OK!

At the Sound of the Demon Bell

Hey you. You with the face. Wanna hear the new Mountain Goats album but didn't feel like grabbing it from any of the filesharing outlets? Go with our blessing, ~~the whole thing~~ samples from all the songs are streaming nice and official-like here. Click the link, it'll lead to you a page that's playing the Sax Rohmer #1 video; at the top of that page it says "click here to listen to the entire Heretic Pride album." Click there and a player window will come up, muting the video, which will still roll silently on through the transparent window. It's a beautiful thing, technology, right?

Political Song for Alastair Crowley to Sing

Weekend America asked me to write a song for Super Tuesday. Who do you think about when you think about politicians? Right, me too. So I wrote this, and recorded it here, and I hope you enjoy it!

Insert Reference To Old Trans X Song

Hey, what do you know: it's our new video for Sax Rohmer #1, directed by the one and only Ace Norton and featuring Jon Wurster in his first-ever Mountain Goats video appearance. Everybody give the drummer some! Enjoy!

Hurry Up Get Warm

Look, I'm kinda spoiled since I moved to the south, and I really can't cope with any weather that requires me to wear shoes any more, ok? Wait, what? Oh, the microphone's on? OK, cool. Umm, hi. I told you we were going to tour. I was not joking. Here are some more tour dates. There will be more. We will be playing the new songs. Here is one of those new songs, in case you are curious about them. Enjoy! There will be a video for this one comin' along pretty soon here. It was directed by Ace Norton, who also directed me in that awesome Aesop Rock video.

We're bringing the Moaners out with us. If the people can't come to North Carolina, then we must bring North Carolina to the people! C'mon out, it's a good time:

Revelation Time 2008

March

13 - Northampton, MA, Pearl Street
14 - Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts
15 - Boston, MA, The Middle East
18 - New York, NY, Webster Hall
19 - Brooklyn, NY, Music Hall of Williamsburg
20 - Philadelphia, PA, First Unitarian
22 - Washington, DC The Black Cat

In Which The Word "Tradition" Gets Abused Somewhat

As longtime readers know, we have a tradition around here of an annual holiday giveaway. By "longtime" here we mean "people who were also reading this page last December," and by "annual tradition," we mean "we also did this last year." 2006's yuletide gift was the demo for "Michael Myers Resplendent," which turned out to be the album-closing song on the forthcoming Heretic Pride, which, need I remind you, you can totally preorder.

But I am not here to badger you about pre-orders! No! I come to give you a real oddity.

For years, John Vanderslice and I have been talking about doing a collaborative album. Our schedules have yet to allow us to do much more than kick ideas around about it, though we do have a band name (see the tags on the song below) and I did at one point write a sort of opening salvo for the projected album's plot, since of course all supergroup-type projects ought to either be a) totally absurd grand-concept albums or b) crappy collections of covers. Not favoring the latter, we drummed up this story about organ harvesting colonies on the moon, and the guys who secretly work up there six months out of the year, toiling in the employ of an unidentified government agency. Our protagonists live lives of secluded, anonymous luxury during their off-seasons; theoretically, anyway (hardly any songs have been written for the project; God knows if it will ever be finished), one of them begins to tell his story in the following song.

Odds seem strongly against our being able to get any work done on this project in 2008, or 2009, or whenever. All good things to them that wait, right? Or something. But I do like the one little song we've got so far, and I thought some of you might like it, too, so here it is. Enjoy. Yule!

The reste were knowne Heretickes

Will we saddle up and ride as soon as Heretic Pride comes out? Well: when have you known us to stay home for long?

FIRST SPRING TOUR 2008: THE WEST COAST & ONE POINT FURTHER WEST

February
19 - Anchorage, AK
22 - Vancouver, BC, Richard's on Richards
23 - Seattle, WA, Neumos
25 - Portland, OR, Doug Fir
26 - Portland, OR, Doug Fir
27 - Eugene, OR, WOW Hall
29 - San Francisco, CA, Bimbo's
March
1 - San Francisco, CA, the Independent
2 - San Francisco, CA, the Bottom of the Hill (matinee show)
4 - Los Angeles, CA, the Troubadour
5 - Los Angeles, CA, the Troubadour

High Heresy

Two things. One, we are playing in the UK.

December
8- Union Chapel, London
9 - Moho Live, Manchester
10 - Oran Mor, Glasgow

Two, the new album is called Heretic Pride and will be out on February 19th, 2008. These are the songs on it:

1. Sax Rohmer #1
2. San Bernardino
3. Heretic Pride
4. Autoclave
5. New Zion
6. So Desperate
7. In the Craters on the Moon
8. Lovecraft in Brooklyn
9. Tianchi Lake
10. How to Embrace a Swamp Creature
11. Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident
12. Sept 15 1983
13. Michael Myers Resplendent

Recording personnel for this album were Franklin Bruno, Annie Clark, Erik Friedlander, Peter Hughes, Jon Wurster, the Bright Mountain Choir, and your humble narrator. It will be released by 4AD, and features artwork by Vaughan Oliver. It was recorded at Prairie Sun, and produced by Scott Solter & John Vanderslice. We are really excited about this album, and we wish it were out right now, but there is a law against releasing albums in December unless you are Queen. Any album you see released in December is actually by Queen, no matter what it says on the cover. Then in January everybody is recovering from having listened to too much Queen. Hence, February. See you then!

Again Again

Yes: we're playing a show at NYU -

November
29 - New York, NY, Kimmel Student Center (NYU)

Doors at eight. See you there!