John Darnielle has been releasing literate, incisive songs as The Mountain Goats for 30 years, making a name for himself as a vivid and detail-oriented storyteller. For this Radio Hour, host Elia Einhorn chats with John on the benefits of setting arbitrary goals, reaching new ears via TikTok, and how his muse is “the assumption that someone’s going to get hurt.” He then spins some of his favorite new music, taking us from the London jazz scene to Swedish metal.