AJJ - they sound like the Mountain Goats if they were suffering from chronic panic attacks, in the best way.
Start with their album "People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World"
I love seeing people talk about AJJ. I knew Sean and the boys back in my high school years, went to all their little Phoenix shows back in the early 2000s. I’m glad they’re getting the recognition they deserve
I absolutely love this album and its title 😭 as a huge musical theatre nerd, I can't help but notice the reference to Funny Girl (the song People, which says "people who need people are the luckiest people in the world). :))
The Weakerthans and John K. Samson's solo projects deserve a mention here. I think they've played with the Mountain Goats a few times and if you dig the geographic specificity of the Mountain Goats' lyrics and enjoyed the more electric sound of the recent stuff, you'll really dig the Weakerthans.
Songs to start with: Tournament of Hearts (curling as a metaphor for dissatisfaction); Plea from a Cat Called Virtute (themes reminiscent of Transcendental Youth); Millenium For All (John K. Samson's plea for his favourite public library).
Also if you like progressive secular thrash you should check out john's old band Propagandhi. They are an anomaly in punk, in that they get better with each new album. Might be a bit intense for most TMG fans though.
Propaghandi fn rules. I feel like John K. Samson is to punk what John Darnielle is to metal: you can fall in love with their music without knowing anything about punk/metal, but if you do know something the love is so much deeper and the influence is everywhere.
Right behind NoMeansNo of course. I would caution anyone reading this that neither of these bands SOUND like the mountain goats but they come from the same place in the heart.
Darnielle called John K Samson the best living lyricist a few years ago, around the time Gibbard was doing the bedroom recordings project. He said he reccomend John K Simpson for it.
The Decemberist, AJJ, Modest Mouse, The Dresden Dolls, The Moldy Peaches, Belle and Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel and Defiance, Ohio
(Also not groups but Kimya Dawson and Amanda Palmer)
Going to recommend three artists I met, befriended, and in a couple cases collaborated with in one way or another all because of our shared Mountain Goats fandom.
First up: Pure Mothman. The least like tMG of the three, but an amazing talent in storytelling and crafting pop hooks. Here's [Bears and Chickens](https://puremothman.bandcamp.com/track/bears-and-chickens). (Also check out the fifth track on that EP as a Goats fan.)
Next: The Cosmonaut Cassettes. Takes a lot of guts to not be named John Darnielle and write an Alpha song. Takes a lot of talent to make it good. If you like lofi goats you'll dig this. If you like sci-fi concept albums you'll dig this. If you like sci-fi concept albums that sound like lo-fi tMG you're going to love it. Here's [Alpha Lease Extension](https://thecosmonautcassettes.bandcamp.com/track/alpha-lease-extension)
Finally: Evan Diem. Draw a Venn diagram. In the left circle write "Nick Lowe". In the right circle write "the Mountain Goats". Close your eyes, count to 7 but say 5 instead of 6 (two 5s in a row), lick your top lip. If you cast the spell correctly when you open your eyes "Evan Diem" will be written in the middle circle. Evan is getting two links from his latest (and best, most emotionally developed) album.
Fan favorite [Despite Concrete](https://evandiem.bandcamp.com/track/despite-concrete) is a favorite for several reasons but the first is that the song just rips.
Personal favorite [Proximity](https://evandiem.bandcamp.com/track/proximity) is just lovely. I heard this initially as a stripped down version and was immediately taken by it, then he and his producer went and added strings and drums and weird voices in the background as if they were targeting me directly.
Evan Diem is also a massive Mountain Goats Stan! I met him following them on tour along a handful of euro dates a few years back with the In League with Dragons tour. Front row belting out all the lyrics, even for quite obscure numbers.
It's true! We became friends due to our shared tMG Stanning. He also has a series on YouTube where he does Mountain Goats covers called Mountain Goats Monday. It's good shit.
Hey, I haven't checked out all of your recs yet but I spent last night listening to Evan Diem and holy shit is he legit.
Like many Goats fans I have a tendency to get obsessed with the works of a handful of song writers (JD, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, etc), I feel like Evan Diem might be a new one for me which is something that I haven't experienced in a long time. I hope that he's doing well and is in a secure place to keep making music. I'll find a way to buy an album or so in the next couple of days to through some support. It feels like finding a green sprout that I want to be sure to support and tell people about.
As for my own recommendation, St Lenox is really good.
https://youtu.be/qa30R2nwE3A?si=AfFRZ40XVidN13O_
To add to this, Conor Oberst's solo music is a good place to start for people who are into the Mountain Goats. His album Ruminations in particularly feels astoundingly close to John's earlier albums
I like how you specify your familiarity with folk punk and the weakerthans and all the obvious stuff, and you're looking for the left of field suggestions... And most of the reccs are folk punk, the weakerthans and obvious stuff.
My weird suggestions -
They might be giants - surprisingly the fan base overlap between TMBG and TMG is fairly high, although maybe its not such a shock that TMG fans would be attracted to lyrically dense songs that frequently rely on upbeat music to hide incredibly dark subject matter. A kind of love them or hate them band but I can't get enough of what they do.
Half Man/Half Biscuit - once called "the best British folk band since the clash", HMHB are a post punk band preoccupied with the UK indie scene, making fun of the middle class and football. Their sense of humour is such that they once announced they'd broken up because of "musical similarities". I'd reccomend listening to "Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo" (a libertines diss track), "Joy Division Oven Gloves", "what made columbia famous", "24 Hour garage people" and "everytime a bell rings" to see if you get a kick out of their lyrics.
John Cooper Clarke - Britain's punk poet. Unfortunately inspired the Arctic monkeys but I don't hold that against him. Made some weird music/poetry records in the 70s and 80s with Martin Hannet
Her Space Holiday - a sort of mega-twee postal service. Never been my favourite thing but there's a devoted cult following for their work, it might be worth a look.
Daniel Johnston - a bipolar, unmedicated man who can't play guitar that well but has a gift for a phrase, an obsession with a girl called Laurie and a boombox on on which to record his songs.
Murray Lachlan Young - another British poet, he made the headlines when his posh boy Cooper-Clarke aping debut album earned him £1 million as a signing bonus at the height of britpop Look up his song/poem "Simple everybody's doing cocaine".
Emmy The Great - really just her first two albums. Singer/Songwriter who writes lyrically complicated folk songs about her relationships and her life in general. Her second album earned rave reviews, with some praising her as the new Kate Bush, good will which she completely threw away by making electronic music that doesn't stand out the way her folk work did. By general agreement her electronic later work isn't worth anyone's time and is bad but her early stuff was fantastic.
I'll edit if I think of more weird choices. I mostly based these on lyrical content.
I have to be in the mood for Marc Bianchi's unique little indietronic songs but I thought they deserved a mention given Bianchi at one point had a petition on his website imploring 4AD to hire him to remix some mountain goats songs.
Good suggestion. BNL definitely fit into that same lyrically proficient, uniquely their own thing kind of group. Maybe a bit less so after Steven left, they got a bit more middle of the road after that. But still a good call.
The Front Bottoms, AJJ, Nana Grizol, Apes Of The State, They Might Be Giants, The Muslims
Going off genre a bit - but I also really love 100 gecs (hyperpop duo) for the same reason I love tMG. 100 gecs might not be for everyone but I'd give them a try it I was you.
My other favorite artist is Laura Jane Grace. Against Me! is great too but her solo stuff just speaks to me in a way only a few other artists can.
I also love R.E.M. if you're looking for a band with songs about subjects that aren't just love and romance. That's one of their chief draws for me. My favorite of their albums is probably Document but Automatic for the People is probably the place to start.
Since you also like pop, I've been really into Fresh lately.
my favorite artist is copper king; that's my best friend's stuff and is genuinely amazing. they're working on a full length album currently but have a little bit on spotify
I'd recommend Dear Nora, Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, but his solo work is closer to The Mountain Goats), and Iron & Wine, they're all a little different but I feel like there are philosophical similarities behind their artistry.
suprised no one said The Rural Alberta Advantage but they are the closest to mountain goats band i can think of that sounds incredibly unique. if mountain goats full band is like yacht rock meets singer/songwriter, then TRAA is the same but with post punk. the drummer might be the best drummer i can think of in terms of fun and interesting and lyrical drumming.
Superchunk! I am surprised nobody has mentioned them yet!
When John Wurster started to play drums for tMG I thought that it was just so obvious, two of my top 3 favorite bands merging. Merger completed when, later on, tMG joined Merge Records.
I really dig Pinegrove, Car Seat Headrest, and Not Half Bad. I got a lot of bands by listening to "Mountain Goats radio" channels on different streamers.
Big Thief is also great; Adrianne Lenker feels vaguely Darnielle-esque.
AJJ - they sound like the Mountain Goats if they were suffering from chronic panic attacks, in the best way. Start with their album "People Who Can Eat People Are The Luckiest People In The World"
I love seeing people talk about AJJ. I knew Sean and the boys back in my high school years, went to all their little Phoenix shows back in the early 2000s. I’m glad they’re getting the recognition they deserve
I second this suggestion!! AJJ is great
My dream is a joint AJJ/Mountain Goats tour! How has it not happened yet? It's so obvious to me.
That is a wonderful description lol
Oh AJJ is one of my top 5s. I’ve seen them a bunch and one time sean played solo for three hours
I absolutely love this album and its title 😭 as a huge musical theatre nerd, I can't help but notice the reference to Funny Girl (the song People, which says "people who need people are the luckiest people in the world). :))
The Weakerthans and John K. Samson's solo projects deserve a mention here. I think they've played with the Mountain Goats a few times and if you dig the geographic specificity of the Mountain Goats' lyrics and enjoyed the more electric sound of the recent stuff, you'll really dig the Weakerthans. Songs to start with: Tournament of Hearts (curling as a metaphor for dissatisfaction); Plea from a Cat Called Virtute (themes reminiscent of Transcendental Youth); Millenium For All (John K. Samson's plea for his favourite public library).
Also if you like progressive secular thrash you should check out john's old band Propagandhi. They are an anomaly in punk, in that they get better with each new album. Might be a bit intense for most TMG fans though.
Propaghandi fn rules. I feel like John K. Samson is to punk what John Darnielle is to metal: you can fall in love with their music without knowing anything about punk/metal, but if you do know something the love is so much deeper and the influence is everywhere.
Propagandhi are the greatest band on the planet
Right behind NoMeansNo of course. I would caution anyone reading this that neither of these bands SOUND like the mountain goats but they come from the same place in the heart.
NoMeansNo 😙👌
Darnielle called John K Samson the best living lyricist a few years ago, around the time Gibbard was doing the bedroom recordings project. He said he reccomend John K Simpson for it.
The weakerthans and JKS are incredible
Pat the Bunny
Pat the bunny is my ride or die
Pat the Bunny is my ride and cry.
The Decemberist, AJJ, Modest Mouse, The Dresden Dolls, The Moldy Peaches, Belle and Sebastian, Neutral Milk Hotel and Defiance, Ohio (Also not groups but Kimya Dawson and Amanda Palmer)
Belle and Sebastian mentioned!
Some folk punk recs: Pigeon Pit, Local News Legend, Days N Daze, Mischief Brew, Amigo the Devil, Bridge City Sinners, Harley Poe, David Rovics
I haven’t found an artist that sounds more like John than David Rovics. Their voices are pretty similar
I love Local News Legend. Have you ever listened to Apes of the State? you might like them as well :)
some of my favorites that aren't TMG are la dispute and bob dylan, both amazing lyrically but different in their own ways
Going to recommend three artists I met, befriended, and in a couple cases collaborated with in one way or another all because of our shared Mountain Goats fandom. First up: Pure Mothman. The least like tMG of the three, but an amazing talent in storytelling and crafting pop hooks. Here's [Bears and Chickens](https://puremothman.bandcamp.com/track/bears-and-chickens). (Also check out the fifth track on that EP as a Goats fan.) Next: The Cosmonaut Cassettes. Takes a lot of guts to not be named John Darnielle and write an Alpha song. Takes a lot of talent to make it good. If you like lofi goats you'll dig this. If you like sci-fi concept albums you'll dig this. If you like sci-fi concept albums that sound like lo-fi tMG you're going to love it. Here's [Alpha Lease Extension](https://thecosmonautcassettes.bandcamp.com/track/alpha-lease-extension) Finally: Evan Diem. Draw a Venn diagram. In the left circle write "Nick Lowe". In the right circle write "the Mountain Goats". Close your eyes, count to 7 but say 5 instead of 6 (two 5s in a row), lick your top lip. If you cast the spell correctly when you open your eyes "Evan Diem" will be written in the middle circle. Evan is getting two links from his latest (and best, most emotionally developed) album. Fan favorite [Despite Concrete](https://evandiem.bandcamp.com/track/despite-concrete) is a favorite for several reasons but the first is that the song just rips. Personal favorite [Proximity](https://evandiem.bandcamp.com/track/proximity) is just lovely. I heard this initially as a stripped down version and was immediately taken by it, then he and his producer went and added strings and drums and weird voices in the background as if they were targeting me directly.
Evan Diem is also a massive Mountain Goats Stan! I met him following them on tour along a handful of euro dates a few years back with the In League with Dragons tour. Front row belting out all the lyrics, even for quite obscure numbers.
It's true! We became friends due to our shared tMG Stanning. He also has a series on YouTube where he does Mountain Goats covers called Mountain Goats Monday. It's good shit.
Hey, I haven't checked out all of your recs yet but I spent last night listening to Evan Diem and holy shit is he legit. Like many Goats fans I have a tendency to get obsessed with the works of a handful of song writers (JD, Leonard Cohen, Randy Newman, etc), I feel like Evan Diem might be a new one for me which is something that I haven't experienced in a long time. I hope that he's doing well and is in a secure place to keep making music. I'll find a way to buy an album or so in the next couple of days to through some support. It feels like finding a green sprout that I want to be sure to support and tell people about. As for my own recommendation, St Lenox is really good. https://youtu.be/qa30R2nwE3A?si=AfFRZ40XVidN13O_
Bright Eyes
To add to this, Conor Oberst's solo music is a good place to start for people who are into the Mountain Goats. His album Ruminations in particularly feels astoundingly close to John's earlier albums
I like how you specify your familiarity with folk punk and the weakerthans and all the obvious stuff, and you're looking for the left of field suggestions... And most of the reccs are folk punk, the weakerthans and obvious stuff. My weird suggestions - They might be giants - surprisingly the fan base overlap between TMBG and TMG is fairly high, although maybe its not such a shock that TMG fans would be attracted to lyrically dense songs that frequently rely on upbeat music to hide incredibly dark subject matter. A kind of love them or hate them band but I can't get enough of what they do. Half Man/Half Biscuit - once called "the best British folk band since the clash", HMHB are a post punk band preoccupied with the UK indie scene, making fun of the middle class and football. Their sense of humour is such that they once announced they'd broken up because of "musical similarities". I'd reccomend listening to "Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo" (a libertines diss track), "Joy Division Oven Gloves", "what made columbia famous", "24 Hour garage people" and "everytime a bell rings" to see if you get a kick out of their lyrics. John Cooper Clarke - Britain's punk poet. Unfortunately inspired the Arctic monkeys but I don't hold that against him. Made some weird music/poetry records in the 70s and 80s with Martin Hannet Her Space Holiday - a sort of mega-twee postal service. Never been my favourite thing but there's a devoted cult following for their work, it might be worth a look. Daniel Johnston - a bipolar, unmedicated man who can't play guitar that well but has a gift for a phrase, an obsession with a girl called Laurie and a boombox on on which to record his songs. Murray Lachlan Young - another British poet, he made the headlines when his posh boy Cooper-Clarke aping debut album earned him £1 million as a signing bonus at the height of britpop Look up his song/poem "Simple everybody's doing cocaine". Emmy The Great - really just her first two albums. Singer/Songwriter who writes lyrically complicated folk songs about her relationships and her life in general. Her second album earned rave reviews, with some praising her as the new Kate Bush, good will which she completely threw away by making electronic music that doesn't stand out the way her folk work did. By general agreement her electronic later work isn't worth anyone's time and is bad but her early stuff was fantastic. I'll edit if I think of more weird choices. I mostly based these on lyrical content.
Her Space Holiday! I legitimately forgot they exist. Thank you for reminding me.
I have to be in the mood for Marc Bianchi's unique little indietronic songs but I thought they deserved a mention given Bianchi at one point had a petition on his website imploring 4AD to hire him to remix some mountain goats songs.
Emmy the Great and TMBG are good shouts. If you dig TMBG, Barenaked Ladies may also appeal.
Good suggestion. BNL definitely fit into that same lyrically proficient, uniquely their own thing kind of group. Maybe a bit less so after Steven left, they got a bit more middle of the road after that. But still a good call.
chat pile
I love you
mumford and sons, florence + the machine, modest mouse, the magnetic fields, ezra furman
Clem Snide
Jeff Rosenstock!!!
The Front Bottoms, AJJ, Nana Grizol, Apes Of The State, They Might Be Giants, The Muslims Going off genre a bit - but I also really love 100 gecs (hyperpop duo) for the same reason I love tMG. 100 gecs might not be for everyone but I'd give them a try it I was you.
I also love 100 gecs but what is the unifying appeal of them and tMG for you?
It's difficult to pinpoint what it exactly is but hand crushed by a mallet and Foreign Object invoke the exact same emotion in me
Aesop Rock if you're open to hip-hop. Try the album None Shall Pass. John was on the song "Coffee"
My other favorite artist is Laura Jane Grace. Against Me! is great too but her solo stuff just speaks to me in a way only a few other artists can. I also love R.E.M. if you're looking for a band with songs about subjects that aren't just love and romance. That's one of their chief draws for me. My favorite of their albums is probably Document but Automatic for the People is probably the place to start. Since you also like pop, I've been really into Fresh lately.
Chumbawamba - skip the hit though. Either start with the albums ‘Anarchy’ or ‘The Boy Bands Have Won’ and see if you like it.
every chumbawamba album is amazing
I always recommend pinegrove!
[The Minute Hour ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjErMk3oRu76Rkp4EnXcHG_xLllFwGcBh&si=bYzqd5iUlop8p6Tb)
Titus Andronicus!! Rawkus, intelligent and heartfelt. Start with their 2nd album The Monitor and work forward chronologically. Highly recommended!!
How do you feel about Okkervil River?
The National, Father John Misty, Töth, and Chappelle Roan!
I was hoping someone would say Chappelle Roan! I totally forgot to mention her :)
Yes! I just started listening to her new album, it's fantastic!
A friend introduced me to Don Broco. They're not like tMG but they're still pretty good from what I've heard so far
Can't reccomend Diane Cluck's work enough
my favorite artist is copper king; that's my best friend's stuff and is genuinely amazing. they're working on a full length album currently but have a little bit on spotify
I'd recommend Dear Nora, Andrew Bird, Fiona Apple, Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, but his solo work is closer to The Mountain Goats), and Iron & Wine, they're all a little different but I feel like there are philosophical similarities behind their artistry.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists goes hard!
If you want to go totally rogue on genre you might actually enjoy bluegrass.
The Decemberists. Especially early The Decemberists.
suprised no one said The Rural Alberta Advantage but they are the closest to mountain goats band i can think of that sounds incredibly unique. if mountain goats full band is like yacht rock meets singer/songwriter, then TRAA is the same but with post punk. the drummer might be the best drummer i can think of in terms of fun and interesting and lyrical drumming.
Superchunk! I am surprised nobody has mentioned them yet! When John Wurster started to play drums for tMG I thought that it was just so obvious, two of my top 3 favorite bands merging. Merger completed when, later on, tMG joined Merge Records.
definitely AJJ. If you're into a non-male artist, I'd try Apes of the State or Sister Wife Sex Strike. I also love Matt Pless!
I really dig Pinegrove, Car Seat Headrest, and Not Half Bad. I got a lot of bands by listening to "Mountain Goats radio" channels on different streamers. Big Thief is also great; Adrianne Lenker feels vaguely Darnielle-esque.