Some of what I've been listening to lately..

• Wye Oak - Citizen. This is their third, and latest, record - came out in March. Sadly, I'm having a hard time loving it the way I love their previous record ("The Knot"). The songs on this seem fuller, but smaller; they do more, but in less space. These songs are polished, but it's the jagged edges that make the previous album great - the dreamy, quiet parts would explode into crushing, crashing, not-quite-chaos, then relax back into dreamy. These songs just don't get as quiet nor as loud, and there is less open space - it's usually filled in with keyboards or guitars or something. Ultimately, I think, the difference is that "Civilian" it has less tension than "The Knot". But, that said, it's actually a really good record(!), overall, and some of the songs are great: "Holy, Holy, Holy" which feels like a "Knot" song, and "Dogs Eyes" and its Pinback-style metronomic groove and chaotic breaks, the loud folk title track - all great (and appear in that sequence). It's just not as jaw-dropping, on the whole, as the previous record.
  Four laquos: ««««

  See also: Wye Oak covers Danzig

• The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree. This is my first Mountain Goats record. The usually-derisive commenters at the A/V Club rave about the Mountain Goats. So, thinking they Mountain Goats must therefore be awesome, I bought this.

  Within two minutes it was obvious that the star of this show is the lyrics. It's definitely not the music, which rarely goes beyond simple and pleasant, and seems to work hard at staying in the background. It's not the singer's voice, which is neither technically pretty enough to be admired, nor quirky enough to be interesting. That leaves the words: the earnest, personal and melodramatic words. They remind me of Michael Cera movies: the adventures of late-teen/20-ish kids with sad doe eyes who sometimes discover something amazing about themselves and bravely run down the safe streets of their own neighborhood at night in celebration; or they go to a party, fall in love with the most unassuming kid in their school, and learn something about themselves; but mostly they just sit on the steps and think twee, melancholy thoughts about themselves. This is the first record that's ever made me feel old.
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