Product Description
Throughout a career that stretches back to the mid-'80s, Matthew Sweet has never followed trends, though his landmark 1991 album Girlfriend was responsible for starting one; in fact, many critics note that most power pop records made during the '90s owe a tremendous debt to Sweet. Two decades after the release of that iconic album, Sweet has once again swung for the fences and connected with the boldly experimental, yet deeply personal Modern Art.

Defiantly unorthodox, but often playfully so, Modern Art features 12 new compositions of Sweet's trademark wistful, yearning pop that recall some of Sweet's touchstones: the Beatles, Beach Boys and Big Star. ''She Walks the Night'' is reminiscent of early period Byrds, while ''Ladyfingers'' stomps along with the authority of T. Rex. Other standout tracks include the swirling, psychedelic ''Oh, Oldendaze!,'' the ruggedly assertive ''Late Nights With the Power Pop,'' the acerbically witty ''Evil By Design, Goodbye Nature'' and the sweetly soulful ''Modern Art.''

Longtime musical cohort Ric Menck (Velvet Crush) does all the drumming on the album (except for ''Ivory Tower,'' which is built on a random drum pattern supplied by Sweet's friend, actor/musician Fred Armisen). Dennis Taylor's deft and urgent guitar lines serve as a running commentary to Sweet's introspective singing. Finished by mastering engineer Glenn Schick, Modern Art promises to be another trend-setting release by Sweet.

1. Oh, Oldendaze!
2. Ivory Tower
3. She Walks The Night
4. When Love Lets Go I'm Falling
5. Ladyfingers
6. A little death
7. Late Nights With The Power Pop
8. Baltimore
9. My Ass Is Grass
10. December Dark
11. Modern Art
12. Sleeping
13. At The Screen With The World Flowing In (Vinyl Only)

CD:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FG3BTQ/?tag=imwan-20

LP:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FG3BTG/?tag=imwan-20

Sunshine Lies kind of disappointed me...but he's definitely still got it in him. That string of In Reverse -> Kimi Ga Suki * Raifu -> Living Things was just remarkable, and each of those albums was a wildly different style from the others.

Looking forward to this!

Bump: moved David's information into the first post, and added the cover image and pre-order links. A mystery to ponder -- Amazon's description mentions a song called "Evil By Design, Goodbye Nature", but it doesn't appear in the tracklisting.

Listened to this on the drive into work this morning, and am wildly disappointed so far. No real hooks, no real "POP" to any of it. I'm going to give it a few more listens, because I remember "Living Things" as being a bit of a grower, and it's now one of my faves. But really, it's just kind of ho-hum so far..

Yeah, it certainly has not lived up to the rave reviews I've read. I need to give it some more time as well, and I'm sure I'll end up liking it...so far I have not been disappointed in his work to this point.

One of the things that makes this hard for me to listen to is the strong stereo separation. I'm mostly deaf in my left ear, and I'm going to have to get a stereo->mono converter plug from Radio Shack to be able to listen to this at work. As it is, I've only been able to in the car so far.

Jeebus, if mono was good enough for Brian Wilson....

More bonus tracks abound...

Sweet is offering a limited-edition 2CD set which includes an unplugged version of "Girlfriend" and Pre-Modernist (a collection of demos, tracklist currently unknown) from his official website.
http://www.matthewsweet.com

Barnes & Noble has an exclusive version with three bonus tracks: "To Be Continued", "Blue in Tangerine" and "Open Heart".
http://music.barnesandnoble.com/Modern- ... 4474003070

iTunes also offers a single bonus track, "Another Chance".
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/modern ... d463156568

And for downloaders, there's a free (but tips accepted!) Acoustic & Live EP.

• She Walks the Night [Acoustic Version]
• The Ugly Truth [live]
• Time Capsule [live]
• Divine Intervention [live]

http://www.noisetrade.com/matthewsweet

I've also had a little trouble getting into this one, although I'm liking it (especially the second half) better now after maybe the fourth listen. Several tracks still seem a little half-baked to me. Glad you can buy the iTunes-only track without having to re-buy the whole thing; it's a pretty decent song. Has anyone gotten the vinyl-only track, "At The Screen With The World Flowing In"? If so, what's your verdict?

Its grown on me as well.

Much superior to Sunshine Lies to my ears: great sound and song continuity from start to finish makes it a complete statement, so much so it got me to pull out In Reverse and some others to drive to for a while...love to see him live: has anyone ever had that pleasure?

Saw him on Girlfriend and In Reverse tours. Both times were great, but they also were in support of my 2 favorite Matthew Sweet albums.

I saw the 100% Fun tour. Awesome show. I'd have loved to have seen the In Reverse tour, but wonder how much of that Wall Of Sound stuff he did can translate to a live show.

In Reverse is tied with Get Happy!! as my all-time favorite album by anyone.

Saw him at one of the July 4 WXRT shows at Grant Park, way back. Despite the state of effect from being at Park since 9 a.m. (easier to get the coolers into the park), I still recall him breaking out Lennon's "Crippled Inside" - which is one that stands out on the internal concert highlight reel in my head. Actually XRT played that recording in th last six months.