welcome 2 my mountain goats page!!! i've been a huuuge fan of the mountain goats for the past few years, john darnielle's music has really spoken to me! if you like the stuff in the playlist i put together, i strongly encourage checking out their stuff for yourself !
aside from the mountain goats, john darnielle's other projects include "the extra glenns" and "the extra lens" (his side music groups), his podcast "i only listen to the mountain goats" which is hosted by joseph fink, & his original novels; "wolf in white van", "devil house", "master of reality", and "universal harvester". i haven't gotten a chance to read any of his literature, but i've heard a lot of good things abt them :D
a lot of people were introduced to the mountain goats song "no children" through the adult swim series "moral orel" (totally worth checking out!)-- which is actually a pretty good place to start. the mountain goats have a dauntingly huge discography that continues to grow each year, and tallahasse (the 2003 album "no children" is from) is a great place to begin listening, as it really captures the soundscape of john darnielle's band and is an excellent example of his ability to storytell through music.
from tallahasse, if you like a more lofi/less developed sound, i would recommend checking out "all hail west texas" and "sunset tree" before brancing out into his earlier work (one of my favorite albums is "bitter melon farm"!). however, if you're more into high-fidelity music, check out the more recent work from the mountain goats-- "transcendental youth", "dark in here", and "bleed out" are three really fantastic albums.
one of my fave live show recordings (& one of my fave songs from bitter melon farm)! transcript available through youtube