The Mountain Goats – The Sunset Tree

I like to make mix CD’s for my friends. I like to make mix CD’s and leave them in random places for someone to discover, and hopefully fall in love with the songs that I like. I like to turn people on to music that they would never seek out or buy without that push in the right direction. I put the Mountain Goats, “Dance Music” on a lot of these mixes, and most of the reactions I got from friends and strangers was about that song. I lot of people can’t get past John Darnielle’s voice, saying it’s too nasal for them. I can get past it, in fact, I don’t mind it. The stories in his songs are powerful and informative. Lyrically, I think this album may be one of the strongest out this year.

From Coke Machine Glow:

Darnielle has given us a story that is impossibly painful, subject matter that is unreasonable to expect the most self-referential artists to dissect, and he’s fucking nailed it.

What the critics say:

Coke Machine Glow – 89%
Tiny Mix Tapes – 4/5
Metacritic.com – 82/100
Pitchfork – [7.2]

Enter coupon code: muzzle05 for a 10% discount!!!

You can see the rest of my 2005 favorites (so far) by clicking here.