John Darnielle

IT CAME FROM AQUARIUS RECORDS tells the story about the San Francisco based independent record store, Aquarius Records. Having closed in 2016 after 47 years, this small apartment-sized store championed local, underground, independent, and challenging music to the masses - most memorably with their infamous bi-weekly, college essay-length, new-release lists. Six years in the making, interviewing collectors, musicians, and store owners, the film has a very personal angle, with lots of behind-the-scenes footage (and drama) that shows both the joy and excruciating stress that comes with running — and closing — a store like this, helped in no part by the changing city around them.

The Mountain Goats in solo and duo performance at Pomona College. In this film by Rian Johnson, John Darnielle performs The Life of the World to Come on piano and guitar. Shot in the same building where, as an eight-year-old piano student and new transplant to Claremont, he performed Bach minuets for the state examiner, The Life of the World to Come takes the songs from the album and restores them to their raw original states: skin, blood, and bone.

the Mountain Goats, Recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, on August 8 & 9, 2020

the Mountain Goats, recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, on February 27 & 28, 2021.

the Mountain Goats, Recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, on August 8 & 9, 2020

the Mountain Goats, recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, on February 27 & 28, 2021.

the Mountain Goats, Recorded live in studio at Manifold Recording in Pittsboro, NC, August 2022

From 4AD's promotional website for The Mountain Goats' Tallahassee.