According to an announcement on the official Mountain Goats website, Mr. John Darnielle is borrowing Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want model for an upcoming 4-track EP of new songs. Recorded in Scott Solter’s studio in North Carolina, the EP will be available in various formats (MP3, AAC, possibly AIFF — hopefully cassette-ripped Real Audio files) roughly a month from now. Quoth Darnielle:

The downloads will be open to everybody, with no hoops to jump through, though there will also be several options available for those who want to pay me for my work, since part of the point of the exercise is to see whether that’s a viable route for smaller-potatoes-than-Radiohead dudes like me.

The EP will also be available physically as a double-7-inch limited to 666 lucky fans who catch him on tour. Yes, that’s right: Darnielle is selling his double-7-incher on his upcoming tour. I’m really interested in seeing fans try to down that bad boy at the following dates:

09.14.08 - Dorset, England - End of the Road Festival 09.15.08 - London, England - ULU 10.13.08 - Chicago, IL - Park West # 10.14.08 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre # 10.15.08 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown # 10.17.08 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater # 10.18.08 - Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue # 10.20.08 - Seattle, WA - Showbox # 10.21.08 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom # 10.23.08 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent 10.24.08 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore 10.25.08 - Los Angeles CA - Troubadour # 10.26.08 - Los Angeles CA - Troubadour # 10.28.08 - San Diego, CA - Belly Up Tavern # 10.29.08 - Tucson, AZ - Club Congress # 10.31.08 - Lubbock, TX - Tequila Jungle # 11.01.08 - Austin, TX - Antone’s # 11.02.08 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre # 11.03.08 - New Orleans, LA - Republic # 11.05.08 - Chapel Hill, NC - Cat’s Cradle # 11.06.08 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club # 11.07.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts # 11.08.08 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg # 11.09.08 - New York, NY - Webster Hall #

# Kaki King

[Art: The Friz]