I like the new album quite a bit. To me at least, it's a smaller album with a bit more jangle/folk?/i don't know than i expected, but it grew on me pretty quick. That being said there are certainly songs I skip every time they come up (thus far).
Highlights for me include: Rococo, Half Light II, Suburban War and Sprawl II.
As for live, I've got mixed feelings.
I saw them at the Black Cat in 2004, I think. I also for some reason thought it was with Death From Above 1979, but that doesn't sound right at all now that I type it. Anyway, I thought they were great. Then I didn't catch them at all on the Funeral tour and saw them at DAR on the Neon Bible tour. It was good, but not great, I'll blame the venue, ha. Anyway, I'm pretty excited to see them Friday, it should be good.