Awesome piece! Love how honestly (and relatably) this reckons with having loved this band but finding yourself out of step with them since your early 20s — plus I agree with the vast majority of your takes. Some standouts:
- Exit Does Not Exist *is* too long but woof, that's one of their gnarliest guitar workouts ever
- Custom Concern and Talking Shit... have always trumped Dramamine for me, but no denying that song does everything right
- Debut Lounge is a winner while LCW Lounge is a slight lowlight 100%
- Not nearly enough people talk about how much of a lyrical downgrade The Moon and Antarctica was, very much agreed that it goes way too hard on wishy-washy grasps at the profound (though for me, 3rd Planet is one moment this largely connects (along with Life Like Weeds) whereas Lives is its worst blunder)
- I was listening to that early run of Good News songs the other day, first attention I've given MM in years — definitely a top-heavy album, though One Chance always pulled its weight for me. C'mon though, Float On has some of Brock's best Pixies-isms vocally (love CO-CAaa haha)
- Used to have a big soft spot for WWD... given how ambitious it was after Good News' dialled-in indie, but it's aged dubiously and your take on Florida (horrible song) is exactly why. Your take about being half-concept and half-people recurrently drowning made me laugh. Spitting Venom deserves a tad more love though!
- Not much to add for the last two LPs other than that Never Fuck a Spider on the Fly is perhaps the sole moment in their discog (unless you count Shit Luck) that hits full-on So Bad It's Good Territory for me — absolute meltdown of a song, love how the godawful title cements that appeal in just the same way that you caught how Long Drive's title gives it an instant leg-up
Oh man, no one talks about how TM&A is really banal, lyrically! I couldn't believe as I was listening to it this week how nothing connected. You're absolutely right about "Lives," there's he tries so hard to make the lines hit hard there and everything lands with a pathetic thud. "No one's going to play the harp when you die." Duh?
"Spitting Venom" peaks in its first 10 seconds for me, feel like they wanted to make a long epic again but that was simply beyond their powers by that point.
That's funny about "Never Fuck a Spider on the Fly."
Great read! I was always interested in their EPs - some of their best stuff popped up on these seemingly random releases. Kind of a throw-back to when bands would release non-album singles in between albums.
Overall share your earlier love of Modest Mouse and also agree with your assessments here, though it hurts to admit some of them. Lonesome Crowded is the best, followed by Building Nothing, and Moon & Antarctica has always suffered for its bland, slow middle. For me, “Autumn Beds” is their swan song from No One’s First, though I’m biased because I play the banjo.
I’ve seen them live twice. Once, touring The Golden Casket, was super meh (bad album, low energy, though I’m glad I saw Jeremiah drum one more time shortly before he passed away.
But I saw them one other time in a rock club and they were AMAZING. Two encores, “Night on the Sun,” “Broke,” the works.
"Moon & Antarctica has always suffered for its bland, slow middle." Glad someone agrees there, I feel like it starts strong, sags, and then recovers in the final third.
Also have you ever listened to the Mark Kozelek album of Modest Mouse covers? I do think it sheds some interesting light on Brock’s songwriting and uncovers some cool stuff.
Honestly, Kozelek does very little for me, and there's a few SKM songs I remember fondly from Ghosts of the Great Highway and Benji, but I remember thinking the MM cover album to be most ghastly. I did revisit his version of "Never Ending Math Equation" when I wrote the MM write-up because I wanted to remember if he did the climax or not.
Awesome piece! Love how honestly (and relatably) this reckons with having loved this band but finding yourself out of step with them since your early 20s — plus I agree with the vast majority of your takes. Some standouts:
- Exit Does Not Exist *is* too long but woof, that's one of their gnarliest guitar workouts ever
- Custom Concern and Talking Shit... have always trumped Dramamine for me, but no denying that song does everything right
- Debut Lounge is a winner while LCW Lounge is a slight lowlight 100%
- Not nearly enough people talk about how much of a lyrical downgrade The Moon and Antarctica was, very much agreed that it goes way too hard on wishy-washy grasps at the profound (though for me, 3rd Planet is one moment this largely connects (along with Life Like Weeds) whereas Lives is its worst blunder)
- I was listening to that early run of Good News songs the other day, first attention I've given MM in years — definitely a top-heavy album, though One Chance always pulled its weight for me. C'mon though, Float On has some of Brock's best Pixies-isms vocally (love CO-CAaa haha)
- Used to have a big soft spot for WWD... given how ambitious it was after Good News' dialled-in indie, but it's aged dubiously and your take on Florida (horrible song) is exactly why. Your take about being half-concept and half-people recurrently drowning made me laugh. Spitting Venom deserves a tad more love though!
- Not much to add for the last two LPs other than that Never Fuck a Spider on the Fly is perhaps the sole moment in their discog (unless you count Shit Luck) that hits full-on So Bad It's Good Territory for me — absolute meltdown of a song, love how the godawful title cements that appeal in just the same way that you caught how Long Drive's title gives it an instant leg-up
Oh man, no one talks about how TM&A is really banal, lyrically! I couldn't believe as I was listening to it this week how nothing connected. You're absolutely right about "Lives," there's he tries so hard to make the lines hit hard there and everything lands with a pathetic thud. "No one's going to play the harp when you die." Duh?
"Spitting Venom" peaks in its first 10 seconds for me, feel like they wanted to make a long epic again but that was simply beyond their powers by that point.
That's funny about "Never Fuck a Spider on the Fly."
Sad Sappy Sucker may be lofi bullshit, but there are some serious tunes on there (Point A To Point B, It Always Rains, Classy Plastic Lumber etc.)
Great read! I was always interested in their EPs - some of their best stuff popped up on these seemingly random releases. Kind of a throw-back to when bands would release non-album singles in between albums.
Wish I could get into them more!
Overall share your earlier love of Modest Mouse and also agree with your assessments here, though it hurts to admit some of them. Lonesome Crowded is the best, followed by Building Nothing, and Moon & Antarctica has always suffered for its bland, slow middle. For me, “Autumn Beds” is their swan song from No One’s First, though I’m biased because I play the banjo.
I’ve seen them live twice. Once, touring The Golden Casket, was super meh (bad album, low energy, though I’m glad I saw Jeremiah drum one more time shortly before he passed away.
But I saw them one other time in a rock club and they were AMAZING. Two encores, “Night on the Sun,” “Broke,” the works.
"Moon & Antarctica has always suffered for its bland, slow middle." Glad someone agrees there, I feel like it starts strong, sags, and then recovers in the final third.
Also have you ever listened to the Mark Kozelek album of Modest Mouse covers? I do think it sheds some interesting light on Brock’s songwriting and uncovers some cool stuff.
Honestly, Kozelek does very little for me, and there's a few SKM songs I remember fondly from Ghosts of the Great Highway and Benji, but I remember thinking the MM cover album to be most ghastly. I did revisit his version of "Never Ending Math Equation" when I wrote the MM write-up because I wanted to remember if he did the climax or not.