Pitchfork

John Darnielle, Mr. Mountain Goats, is a complicated fellow. He counsels troubled youth as a job, he writes music and cultural criticism for varied publications, including in print and online for his zine Last Plane to Jakarta, and he is (basically) a one man band. He also earnestly claims to adore both death metal and Spandau Ballet.

Prolific, powerful, and wonderful, he has recorded for over 30 labels, mostly straight to boom-box. Over the past year, some of the band's rarer recordings have been collected in three compilations, most (if not all?) for the first time ever on CD. Protein Source of the Future...Now! and Bitter Melon Farm have already been released. A new label (Ajax reborn in a manner), 3 Beads of Sweat, will release the third volume of the Mountain Goats compilation series this fall or early in 2002, entitled Ghana. The label will also reissue the two previous compilations, as well as the classic Zopilote Machine (prominently featured in Spin, oh so many years ago...) and the band's other Ajax releases. The Mountain Goats recently signed to 4AD, so there may be some brand-new releases on the horizon. We'll keep you informed.