102. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree (2005)

I don't think I'll ever be able to appreciate John Darnielle's music; his voice is so annoying and unlikable (for me) that everything he sings, no matter how gorgeous or well-written, is utterly mangled. This album is about his relationship with his abusive stepfather, and while that's an interesting subject to approach through music the lyrics have a tinge of safeness to them, of overly-studied "tossed-off"-ness. Maybe it's just Darnielle's voice that's throwing me off, but everything here is just so composed that it's bloodless. Listen to Will Oldham's music for comparison--even on a (relatively) weak recording like The Letting Go he blends in perfectly with the music, and songs like "The Seedling" and "Strange Form of Life" have real emotional power. Also someone like Jason Molina--his music and subject matter is similar to Darnielle's but there's a power in his lyrics and arrangements that Darnielle almost completely lacks. It sounds like a self-help record, an album that would have a hotline listed in the liner notes for someone to call if they also have an abusive family member. Again, it's not the subject matter that sinks this record; it's that the subject matter is not interpreted in an interesting way. Darnielle needs to give his stuff to other musicians, maybe; his voice sinks everything he does. He sounds kind of like Thomas Dolby; just imagine the guy who sang "She Blinded Me With Science" trying to sing super-emotional folk songs and you'll understand my ambivalence toward this record and everything else the Mountain Goats do. The arrangements are boring; the vocals weak. Just another folk record.

MY RATING: 3.7

The Mountain Goats - "Broom People"

176. The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee (2002)

First thing: I don't like John Darnielle's voice. I never have, and I don't think I ever will. It's rare for me to be so irritated with somebody's singing voice, but every single time I listen to a Mountain Goats song I wonder how much better these songs would be with a better singer. Second thing: I don't much like the Mountain Goats. I think they appropriate the trappings of folk music without really doing them justice. These songs have no real sense of atmosphere; Darnielle's insistence on making the lyrics carry all the weight lends the whole album an accompaniment-ish quality, as though this were one of those "rock-by-mail" things that Robert Pollard sometimes does where he and a collaborator record an album by long distance. It's poetry with gentle folk backing, vaguely pleasant music (notwithstanding Darnielle's incongruous, childlike voice) that does not try one single new thing throughout its entire 40 minutes. A lot of people like this, and good on them, but I've never been one to believe that emotion and emotion alone can carry music. Just compare this to Devendra Banhart's Rejoicing in the Hands, a similar but nevertheless far superior record. Banhart's voice is far more emotionless, almost mantra-like, but the beauty of it meshes so well with the music that it constructs the emotion. This sounds pasted-together; nothing fits. This is literate and boring, like those bland, colorless books of short stories produced by the dozens.

MY RATING: 3.9

The Mountain Goats - "Oceanographer's Choice"