Pitchfork

Photo by Jason Bergman

The biggest Mountain Goats fan I know, Pitchfork contributor Zach Baron, is also the guy I know who gets the most pissed off whenever lead Goat John Darnielle adds another layer of orchestration to his songs. The Mountain Goats started out as just Darnielle, recording innumerable limited-edition cassette-only EPs on his boombox and playing deliriously cathartic solo acoustic shows to his ever-growing rabid cult. But then Darnielle started tricking his songs out with fuller arrangements, then touring with full-time bassist Peter Hughes. And last year, he even went so far as to tour with-- shock, horror!-- a drummer (Superchunk's Jon Wurster). So most Mountain Goats fans can be divided into two groups: Those who prefer the raw, bare-bones early stuff and those who like the more expansive Darnielle-plus-accompaniment jams.

The former group is going to be happy with this news: Darnielle is headed out without drummers and sans Hughes, playing a run of shows through March and April, all by his lonesome. John Vanderslice will be tagging along on all those dates, and ironically enough, the Sliceman is one of the guys most responsible for the expanded Mountain Goats, seeing as how he's produced or co-produced three full-band Mountain Goats albums since 2004's We Shall All Be Healed. Vanderslice will also be playing solo acoustic, and the two might team up for a few songs.

Here's what Darnielle writes about the tour: "We are going to get elemental. We are going to stomp our feet and hammer at the strings until we get what we want from them...If you've never seen me do my thing solo acoustic blood-and-spit style, and if you wanna hear some new songs & some old ones, c'mon out during the early thaw, and JV & I will help you fling curses at what's left of the snow."

Zach is amped, and he says as much here.

In other Mountain Goats news, before Darnielle heads out on his solo jaunt, he will play a show on a cruise ship. And this cruise isn't just any cruise. It's a Barenaked Ladies cruise. Really! The Ships & Dip V cruise, which will depart Miami and will run February 1-6, is apparently hosted by the Barenaked Ladies, and Darnielle is literally on board. (See what I did there?) Besides the Mountain Goats and the Canadian goof-rockers, other acts on the bill include Sarah McLachlan, the Weakerthans, Sloan, and something called Boothby Graffoe. All things considered, this is probably a pretty good way to get a free cruise, but what?

Dates:

02-01-06 Ships & Dip V Cruise
02-24 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theater
02-25 San Francisco, CA - Swedish American Hall
03-18 Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle
03-20 Norfolk, VA - The Atticus Theatre
03-21 Washington, DC - Sixth and I Synagogue
03-24 Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
03-25 Somerville, MA - The Sommerville Theatre
03-27 New York, NY - The Society for Ethical Culture
03-29 Gambier, OH - Kenyon College
03-30 Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College
04-01 Chicago, IL - Epiphany
04-02 Champagne, IL - Courtyard Cafe at the University of Illinois
04-03 Iowa City, IA - The Mill (Mission Creek Music Festival)
04-04 Richmond, IN - Earlham College
04-06 Bloomington, IN - Buskirk-Chumley Theater