It's no secret that we -- the boys of Pitchfork -- love Merge Records. Hey, how could you not? Name a lame Merge band and I'll give you a dollar. They're one of those labels (like Grass, Creation, TRG, Sarah, and K) that almost never releases anything sub par. Now, head Mergeman Mac McCaughan (you know, the guy from Superchunk) has released solo album #3.5. This one's called The Nature of Sap.

I didn't care too much for the last Portastatic album, Slow Notes from a Sinking Ship. Good songs were held down by tired pacing. The Nature of Sap gets it right and then some. There's more experimenting with analog synthesizers, clarinet noises, a whole bunch of piano, and in the middle of it all, Mac's little boy lost vocals. More homespun than Superchunk but still retaining that band's bite, The Nature of Sap proves that you can have a side project and it doesn't always have to suck. (You know, like Slash's Snakepit or Arcadia.)

-Jason Josephes