The Mountain Goats at Wonder Ballroom June 11

The Mountain Goats are coming to Portland this month – June 11th at The Wonder Ballroom. For many of you, you already know who they are. The Mountain Goats are one of those bands that people tend to fall hard for. It's unlikely to find someone at KPSU who just casually says "Oh yeah, I dig some of their stuff, they're cool." It's either "HOLY GUACAMOLE I LOVE THEM" or "What was the name of that band again?"

Fronted by John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats put out reams and reams of material in the 90's on cassette, and later on vinyl. Some of their most beloved demos were recorded on a boombox and sound like it – raw, direct, honest, and extremely lo-fi and proud. The music itself is singer-songwriter-centric: mostly just John's voice and an acoustic guitar. But there was something else that made people just swoon for this project … a sense of humor and painful honesty that spoke so directly and plainly to teens and anyone who remembers being a teen – perfectly encapsulated in the first song of theirs I heard which spoke to me more directly than I was prepared for: "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton"

 

If you didn't notice the Darkthrone shirt in the band pic above, John Darnielle is a metalhead, despite how this band sounds. His personal Tumblr is particularly amazing for fans of 80's comic books, wrestling, death and thrash metal, video games, and random ephermera in addition to him talking about DIY music, his creative process and inspiration, etc.

John Darnielle also just finished a novel that is coming out now.

Here's two more examples of The Mountain Goats:

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