BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Radio & Music >

Modest Mouse

  
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
10:27 / 19.12.01
One of the best bands I've ever heard. Go out right now and hunt down Lonesome Crowded West. It's probably my favorite cd right now, and will forever be in my top five. The lyrics are great, and they've got a neat sound. I haven't seen them live, but a friend said it was the greatest live show he's ever seen (and he's seen more bands than I've even heard of).

Again. Go find Lonesome Crowded West. "Teeth like God's shoeshine" and "Trailer Trash" alone make it worth the money.
 
 
bio k9
16:30 / 19.12.01
Ah, MM. They're ok live. Seems to depend on the crowd reaction though.

Lonesome Crowded West is a good album though I prefer Doin' the Cockroach and Bankrupt on Selling to anything else on the album. The modest Mouse discography in no particular order then...

Sad Sappy Sucker (Chokin on a Mouthful of Lost Thoughts). The "lost debut album from 1994. As I've said before, it should have stayed "lost." If you have the Blue Cadet Three 7in single, you have all the good songs on this.

This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. By far my favorite of the MM records. Its long, lazy, wandering and I love it. Side three is right up there with side two of Abby Road for me. One of my all time favorite albums.

The Fruit that Ate Itself Ep. Nine tracks, three of them instrumentals. Summer is the standout track on this one. The Japanese import includes the five songs from the Blue Cadet Three 7in so you can avoid Sad Sappy Sucker...

Interstate 8 Ep. Five studio tracks and some live stuff recorded in Sunburst, Montana. Its ok but you can get the studio tracks elsewhere so its not essential. And its OP so good luck finding it at Walmart.

ModestMouse/764Hero: Whenever you see fit. This 12in single (also available on CD) is about 15 minutes long and alternates between Isaac's barking and the 764 frontmans singing. I love it. The two remixes are crap though.

Lonesome Crowded West. Well, you already covered this one. It is good but not as good as...

Building Nothing Out of Something. This is a compilation of their singles from Up, SubPop, and Suicide Squeeze. Probably the one i listen to the most nowadays. A lot of great stuff on this one including Whenever you Breathe out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative) and A Life of Artic Sounds. Me likes.

The Moon and Antartica. The major label debut. They're starting to lose me now. They're moving in some sort of prog direction or something. I don't like this record for the same reason I didn't really like the new Tool album. Just not what I wanted or expected, I suppose. Maybe in time.

Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks. This came out right after The Moon and Antartica and sounds like stuff that just didn't make the cut the first time. A couple of decent tracks but still, not really my thing anymore.

[ 19-12-2001: Message edited by: Bio K9 ]
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
17:08 / 19.12.01
Right. I like the Modest Mouse. I would probably recommend Building Nothing Out of Something to someone who hasn't heard them before. And they were good live, but I couldn't really appreciate them at the time because I had to number 2 really badly during the whole show and the club didn't even have an enclosed stall and I'm really sure you wanted to know all of that. But Neutral Milk Hotel are the best live band ever, in case you were wondering.
Arthur Sudnam
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:02 / 19.12.01
I like Lonesome Crowded West a lot, but you all are mentioning the weakest tunes on it, as far as I'm concerned.

To me, that record is worthwhile because of "Polar Opposites" "Heart Cooks Brain" "Bankrupt on Selling" "Cement Boots/It's All Nice On Ice Alright" and "Lounge"...

My feeling is that Modest Mouse are generally good for a couple great songs per record, but aren't quite at the point where they can fill out an LP with consistently strong material.
 
 
deja_vroom
08:29 / 20.12.01
Could someone explain me what they do sound like? I have the chance to get one of their CDs (Don't know the name), and I wanna have an idea of what I will find.

while you're at it, explain Bardo Pond to Me, please??
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
19:22 / 20.12.01
I don't know if this is in any way a description that does them justice, but fer some reason I think of Modest Mouse as Built To Spill and Joan of Arc all mixed together. They have a (to me) pretty novel sound about them, which, when I first bought one of their albums, I thought was all there was to them and enjoyed them for that. Then I started paying attention to the lyrics and fell in love w/them even more. Buy Building Nothing Out of Something. That was the first one I bought and I think it's fairly representative of their work overall.
p.s. Their best song is Tundra/Desert. Put -that- in yer pipe n' smoke it.
Arthur Sudnam
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
20:24 / 20.12.01
Just to clarify something: though I may agree with the notion that Modest Mouse may sound like *early* Joan of Arc, Modest Mouse come nowhere remotely close to what JoA achieved on Live In Chicago 1999 and The Gap...
 
 
Topper
12:18 / 30.04.04
Resurrected because of the genius that is "Good News for People Who Love Bad News." There are pastiches of Tom Waits and the Talking Heads but MM takes those influences and makes them their own. This band raised the bar. I think I just lost my mind. Get this album.

.
 
 
rizla mission
15:35 / 30.04.04
I'm afraid I need more convincing, cos Modest Mouse's set at All Tomorrow's Parties last month was absolutely HORRIBLE.

I was kind of looking forward to them, cos the few bits of their back catalogue I've heard sound great: kind of like Lynyrd Skynyrd songs put through an electronica blender with Beck-style weirdo lyrics... I like that aspect of what they do, but at ATP it was just torturously irritating po-faced grumpy boy-rock.. to coin a phrase.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:33 / 30.04.04
It's interesting that they'd suck so much at ATP given that they are touring for what is without question the finest record of their career.
 
 
ibis the being
18:34 / 30.04.04
I enjoyed Lonesome for a bit when the CD was lent to me, but overall I felt they sounded like a less-wonderful version of the Pixies, and really they just made me want to turn them off and listen to the Pixies. "Doin' the Cockroach" in particular was like, "I could really go for some Doolittle right about now."

Anyway, since that one album was the only one of theirs I've bothered to listen to, I'm curious how the new one differs from their other work, since I've been hearing that it differs quite a bit.
 
 
suds
13:24 / 02.05.04
i am loving the new album. my favourite albums by modest mouse are the 'moon and antarctica' and 'the lonesome crowded west'.
 
 
Topper
14:26 / 03.05.04
Rizla, I've heard their live shows can be uneven. I haven't had the opportunity to see for myself though, unfortunately. You can always listen to the clips at amazon to see if it's your bag, baby (Onion headline: Americans Still Love Austin Powers). Yeah. But I have no qualms calling it brilliant. "It" as in the new MM album.

.
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
18:24 / 24.08.04
Love the new album. Still love Lonesome Crowded West, although my favorite tracks are different now.

Reports of their live shows differ greatly, and I've discovered why: sometimes Isaac Brock gets kinda drunk before a show. And sometimes he gets super drunk before a show. I don't know which pre-show ritual produces the better show, as I've never seen them live. Unforgivable, given my love for the fellas, but something always but ALWAYS gets in the way. This year it was Lollapalooza getting cancelled.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
07:07 / 25.08.04
I wish this band didn't have such a similar name to Mouse On Mars. I keep getting them confused, and Mouse On Mars are the good band, right?
 
 
Johnny Nitro
06:02 / 27.08.04
Out here in Seattle (ok, Bellingham) it is punishable under state law to not like everything and anything Modest Mouse. I paid the fines for the first few albums pushed on me by the local hipsters, but by god you have got to listen to "Good News...", by far the best, and most inspiring, album i have heard in a while. The final track, "The Good Times Are Killing Me", is worth the price of admission alone.
 
 
Jawsus-son Starship
14:12 / 18.02.06
Thought I'd have to bump this as I just heard the album for the first time and am currently sitting in silence, just thinking about how fucking good it was. Because it was so fucking good. Does the lead singer just look and sound and write and eat like Frank Black, or is he actually Frank Black?
 
 
ZF!
14:47 / 18.02.06
Which album?

"Good News..."?

If so, I'd recommend you give "Moon & Antartica" a listen, imho a better album. Well...it has the most of my favourite MM songs on it anyway.

As for seeing them live, I've loved them when I've seen them at small venues, but large venues have left me cold.
 
 
Jawsus-son Starship
14:54 / 18.02.06
Yeah "Good News..." is the only exposure I've had to the mouse. I'll be sure to pick up that album at Amazon asap.
 
 
Jawsus-son Starship
10:17 / 30.06.07
Has anyone got the new album? Heard some of it in the now defunct fopp, and then heard Johnny Marr played on it? ANyone?
 
 
M.a.P
13:15 / 30.06.07
I was really looking forward to this album, as i really enjoyed "Good news..." (though my fav remains "the Moon and Antartica").
I was really intrigued by the Marr featuring, and i was not opposed to their decision to take one step further towards their brand new "hi-fi" sound...
But, after a couple of listens I admit i was slightly disapointed without really knowing why. Let's say that on the overall i find it ok, but i guess most of the songs are not "strong" enough compared to what Brock is capable of.
But then again it's just me, if you like Modest Mouse, you should definitely check it out! Brock's voice is still great and one this one he certainly did pay special attention to the guitares...
 
 
uncle retrospective
13:59 / 01.07.07
I'm loving the Mouse at the moment, it's just great indie that the only band I know who sound anything like them is the Pixies.
That's no bad thing. I do find that their albums are about 4 songs too long though.
Humm.. I'm off to listen to spitting venom.
 
 
M.a.P
15:44 / 06.07.07
Oddly enough that's a very concise and yet pretty accurate statement...
 
 
Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero
18:28 / 19.07.07
I was a little let down with the new album, a lot of the songs didn't grab me the way previous albums did (especially Good News..., which I enjoyed immensely). I remain optimistic that this newest record will eventually work it's way to the top, though. Often it takes me a couple years to warm up to some Modest Mouse songs.
 
 
uncle retrospective
12:24 / 20.07.07
I'm really into "We were dead" now. It's album of the year for me, and that's saying a lot this year.
Although I did have to start listening to it at track 7 to get into the last half of the album. It's a blinder and I can't wait to see them (again)in September.
 
  
Add Your Reply