New Music: The Mountain Goats, Broadcast, Pajo

The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New - Get Lonely (4AD 2006)



Broadcast - DDL - The Future Crayon (WARP 2006)


Pajo - Wrong Turn - 1968 (Drag City 2006)



In the future, expect more entries in this format previewing brand new albums. At first, I was looking to keep this seperate from my Music Director work for WLUW-FM Chicago, but that doesn't really make much sense seeing as I can give you insights into new music on a regular basis. So look forward to more posts from new albums along with the other theme based entries.


The Mountain Goats – Get Lonely / 4AD

Prolific songwriter John Darnielle returns with his 4th full-length since leaving the analog 4-track behind and stepping to the big stage with 4AD. Get Lonely finds Darnielle seemingly drained from the gloves-off autobiographical struggle that was The Sunset Tree, and in a much calmer, reflective mood… almost as if he is still lying spread-eagle on the boxing-ring floor exhausted and sporting a wicked black eye. Obviously, the hyper-literate lyrics are still center-stage, but the accompaniment is stripped way back, typically just Darnielle’s feisty acoustic and a radiant piano with additional appearances by cello, shuffling drums, vibraphone and even a few horns. Producer and studio-wizard Scott Solter does a good job matching the somber lyrical tones with an appropriate musical backdrop that is just as subtly distressing as Darnielle himself. Get Lonely is yet another fascinating clue into the enigmatic personality that envelopes every Darnielle release and will no doubt please fans of latter day Mountain Goats.



Broadcast – Future Crayon / WARP

Birmingham, England’s Broadcast has been lulling the ears of WARP-heads for nearly 10 years now with their fuzzy dream-pop and space-age lullabies. Future Crayon is a compilation of b-sides and rarities from their early days as a Stereolab mimicking quintet to the electro-fuzz drenched latter day albums with the line-up stripped down to the lush vocalist Trish Keenan and bassist turned studio wizard James Cargill. The album is daringly varied, collecting awkward instrumentals side-by-side with classic Broadcast dreamscapes, oft-requested live favorites, 7-inch b-sides and compilation tracks. This will be a welcomed addition for any Broadcast diehards and fleshes out the in-between album space in which the group continually evolved.




Pajo – 1968 / Drag City

To say David Pajo has been around the indie-rock block would be a gross understatement. Not only has he contributed to or been a member of Slint, Tortoise, Stereolab, Royal Trux, King Kong, the Palace Brothers, Zwan, the For Carnation and Squirrel Bait, he has recorded solo material under the monikers M is the Thirteenth, M, Aerial M, Papa M and now this is his second solo full-length under Pajo. The melancholy 1968 is pure Pajo as he recorded and played every instrument on the album. Inspired by the love poetry of Hafiz, a 14th century Iranian Muslim who memorized the Koran in 14 different ways, and apparently the highly creative Canadian death metal band Gorguts, though you would never be able to tell, Pajo arranges 10 songs of atmospheric indie-folk-rock using diverse elements that lie quietly just below the surface. For such an innovative mind, I would like to hear a bit more studio creativity, but the subtlety may be the most ingenious aspect to the album. Overall, this is an enjoyable listen that encompasses all of his past collaborations into a singer/songwriter format.