Building Nothing Out of Something |
Good News for People Who Love Bad News
It's as if the Talking
Heads and Tom Waits got together
at a hash party with your redneck cousins. That's the only comparison
I can come up with when it comes to Modest Mouse's music. An
incredibly strange amalgam of styles accompanied by a lispy,
hallucinogen-infused lead singer who might get confused with
the manic depressive Daniel Johnston
leads to a sound that can only be attributed to this particular
band. This album continues an inevitable arc towards a poppier
sound, and has produced their most accessible album to date.
The Moon and Antarctica is one of my favorite albums
of all time, so this one will have to be pretty special to top
it--and it does on some levels but not on others. The songs
are more cohesive, and the production terrific, and while I
really do love this album, I can't help but feel it doesn't
quite live up to their last album in terms of indelible songs
and timelessness. In terms of pop albums, songs like "Float
On" and the completely awesome "Bury Me With It" will be remembered
on top ten lists at the end of the year, and one might even
get some radio play here and there--and hopefully avoid being
immortalized in a minivan commercial. |
The Lonesome Crowded West |
The Moon and Antarctica |
This Is A Long Drive For Someone With
Nothing To Think About
This is the first Modest Mouse album I heard, and is really their first proper album. So balls to me for not hearing them earlier on one of their cassette-only releases, or on an EP or 12” or something way more hip. But right away I was like "holy shit!" I love this. The sound is just so unique in its weird amalgam of a math rock base (a la Slint or, later, Pinback) overlaid with sloppy indie rock and a lead singer who sounded like a slurring redneck. But somehow it all comes together to form something that has both perfect indie cred, rock swagger and a pop sensibility that you wouldn’t expect from the kind of strangeness of what amounts to a semi-experimental romp that mixes genres (including jazz!) and tempos and can swing from a beautiful little melody to an all-out smash fest on the turn of a dime. At 16 tracks, there’s a lot to digest here, and it’s not as if any of this music is an easy 4/4 glide. The music can be challenging at times, mixing time signatures and banging on rounds of repeating guitar churn (plus at one point I swear I heard the guitar actually cry), but the reward is great seeing a band burgeoning right before your eyes. Very ambitious and very good. |
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
|
Musical Connections:
764-Hero
The Cribs
The Black Heart Procession
The Smiths
Ugly Cassanova
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