Wilco, Wolf Parade, The Low Anthem, the Wilderness of Manitoba, Lantern and the Lake, Monotonix, The Mountain Goats, The Felice Brothers...
I'm familiar with Wilco and The Low Anthem, are any of the others in a similar vein? Any album recommendations?
The Felice Brothers aren't a million miles away from Wilco, they play boozy Americana (much as I hate that term, but you get what I mean), with a hard lyrical edge and loads of down-to-earth New York attitude. The LP The Felice Brothers is a good place to start. Great live band, too.
Wilderness of Manitoba: quite delicate, folksy stuff, with lovely harmonies and excellent songs. I think they've only released one LP, the name of which escapes me. But it's gorgeous.
Wolf Parade play really anthemic pop (if that isn;t a dirt word these days): they're probably going to be massive before long. Expo 86 is a damn good LP.
The Mountain Goats are one of my favourite bands. You really need everything
But try Tallahassee or We Shall All Be Healed or, for something a bit earlier, Zopilote Machine (if you can find it). A lot of the earlier albums are just John Darnielle on his own, with some very basic recording equipment, whereas his more recent stuff is much more polished. I'm less keen on the more recent stuff for that reason, but those three LPs show off both aspects - the full band sound and the wonderful songs he pens. His songs can sound much the same, but I think that's cos he's managed to create quite a unique sound, his voice is quite striking, and his lyrics tend to have a particular crescendo-ing rhythm to them. I'm surprised you've managed to miss them.
The other two, I'm just learning to love myself. Monotonix certainly aren't like Wilco or the Low Anthem - they're a fucked-up Israeli punk band who only left Israel after their raucous, destructive live performances earned them bans from all the venues there. And Lantern on the Lake haven't released an LP yet.
I've recently bought a lot of music when I should really be saving my cash
