the mountain goats – get lonely – 5 stars

everyone knows i’m nuts about this guy, so allow me to defend this album against the accusations even i, a big fan, might level at it.

after (what, 10?) albums worth of singing loud about frustration and heartache, i think he’s earned the right to put out a quiet one and have people pay the same attention to his storytelling lyrics. maybe it’s not as catchy from end to end, although i’d argue that ‘half dead’, ‘get lonely’, and ‘woke up new’ have choruses you’ll sing softly to yourself well after the song wraps. and maybe it’s less fun and cathartic. but the writing still has depth, and in most places the punch has been replaced with beauty. is it as fun to shout along to on a drive home from work? no. but if you want a goats record for a lonely night of sorrow, now you’ve got a whole album that’ll do the trick.

[sidenote: the track ‘if you see light‘ is the most un-mountain goats song on the album, or possibly ever, thanks to the use of horns and some cool uneven percussion along with an almost spoken-word feel, which oddly enough has made it one of my favorites off get lonely, as well as this week’s pay day song.]

cursive – happy hollow – 3 stars

i fluctuate so wildly between feelings toward this album, i almost don’t know what to tell you. one day i’ll throw it on and love how it’s so brash and different from their old stuff, another day i’ll give it a listen and be outright annoyed at some of the blaring horns over chugging, repetitive guitar chords. my two favorite tracks are ‘dorothy at forty’, which is a screaming rocker with a pulse almost reminiscent of darker ska-punk from the 90’s (i’m as surprised as you), and ‘bad sects’, which is one of the softest cursive songs ever made, with a cool melody and mournful lyrics.

so frankly, i’m stumped. it’s not a masterpiece like domestica where you can get behind almost every song. i can tell already it’ll age more along the lines of ugly organ — where after a while of listening end to end and liking it well enough, i’ll only still really get into the best two or three songs, and if any of the rest come up on the ipod they will get skipped more and more often. and i have to say, that’s a bit of a let down after such a long wait between albums (flaming lips syndrome!).