Reply To: Other music… *gasp*
As far as albums you mean?
First off, I'd do a little research on John Darnielle himself until you learn a little bit about the Alpha Couple. The songs with "Alpha" in them are all about this couple and their bittersweet, addictive, unhealthy, obsessive, beautiful malicious relationship. Or accept what I've just said, and get the album "Tallahassee," which despite only having one "Alpha-"entitled song is in fact entirely about them and is absolutely gorgeous. The greatest breakup song of all time, "No Children" is from this album.
"We Shall All Be Healed" is another solid effort and is worth looking into, also themed, this time around Meth addiction. "The Sunset Tree" is a very different sound for Darnielle/The Mountain Goats to go for and is largely autobiographical, but I personally thought it really worked well.
Those are the easily accessible albums, and usually the only ones you'll find online/in stores. I've heard other stuff from friends back when he was still just recording into a tape recorder, and some of that is great, although I couldn't tell you what albums they were.
All of the "Going to…." songs are interesting bits of dark Americana about, well, going to (or needing to get out of) some place.
Darnielle is a brilliant musician and lyricist, and his dark themes are often contrasted by hauntingly beautiful melodies and spritely rhythms. I think you'll enjoy them, if you're into that kind of thing.