Mountain Goats: All Hail West Texas (Emperor Jones)
It’s not like I can be totally “critical” or “objective” about West Texas… I lived inside this disc for months as I got over the dissolution of my first long-term relationship and fumbled my way through the single life. You see, concept aside, it’s three-quarters a breakup record. This is simply the most human album to come out in… a long time. And it’s mostly yelped vocals, strummed acoustic, tape fuzz and machine noise. The man responsible would probably string me up for saying it, but here is proof positive why lo-fi still matters.

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Warner/Nonesuch)
Is this cheating? YHF also made my 2001 list in its MP3 form… Anyway, this record sounds less and less “weird” to me over time—the “experimental” angle is really unfortunate, because it confuses the issue regarding an album chock-full of great, diverse folk-rock songs dripping with pop dada and more often than not emnating a uniquely American dread. As for the backlash: like Chuck and Flava said, “Don’t believe the hype.”

Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank the Cradle (Sub Pop)
Iron & Wine snuck up on me… I was content to write the project off before even hearing it in the “just another singer-songwriter” category. But there are just too many gorgeous moments on this disc for me to sustain cynicism. I’m convinced that all the old-timey country trappings here are a ruse. It’s all about the songs, the harmonies.

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It’s easy to lean back on some clichés when describing the stage persona of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne: there’s a combination of Midwestern decency and Southern hospitality that one might expect from a native of Oklahoma. Here’s a man who, without being hokey, can thank his audience for allowing him the chance to sing for a living. His perhaps overly earnest, but utterly charming, desire for his fans to have a good time makes him the perfect host, and his band a wonder to experience in concert, as evinced last night at Hollywood’s Knitting Factory.

Over their career, the Lips’ sound has moved from twisted, frenzied distorto-rock to a pop style more palatable but arguably no less skewed, creating somewhat of a dilemma for them. After the intricate layering of Zaireeka and The Soft Bulletin, how would three guys recreate such an orchestrated sound live? They settled on playing along to backing tracks, but amping up the entertainment value of their art.

So on a cool summer night, lucky Angelenos packed the Knitting Factory as the Lips split the difference between stripped-down and full-on spectacle. By ‘02, most would say that we should be so post-everything that the idea of (what was) a rock band integrating prerecorded rhythm, guitar and keyboard parts into their show shouldn’t draw much comment. There is, on the other hand, the risk of an underwhelming karaoke debacle — the “why didn’t we stay home and listen to the record” factor.

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…in New Times Los Angeles.