Modest Mouse: The POLLsome Crowded West

This year's lineup is headed by Butterglory, "one of the biggest indie rock bands around," said Salt of the Earth owner Eddie Boster.

"We've got a lot of new songs that we're going to being trying out," said Matt Suggs, Butterglory singer.

Jared McStay, singer and guitarist of the Simple Ones, also promised to play mostly new material while showcasing a new band member.

"This is our first official show with our new drummer, Forest Hughes," McStay said. He also said he was looking forward to seeing bands he hadn't seen before.

'It should be really cool," McStay said.

Selection of the bands is a process that involves the whole KCOU staff, Renard said.

"We figure out who the DJs want to see, and then we figure who fits into the budget and who's touring," he said.

This year's lineup is mostly composed of bands from the Midwest, with the exception of Modest Mouse, from Olympia, Wash.

Musically, the band lineup is fairly varied.

"We strive for something diverse," Renard said. "By getting input from all the different DJs, we hope to, by corollary, get something that will appeal to different groups in the general public."

Other DJ's felt the event will be a success as well.

"We were able to do a pretty good job this year," said KCOU's Dan Heaton.

Springfest starts at noon, and will end at "8 or so," Heaton said, although there is no set end time. He said lights are available in case Springfest rocks on after dark. The lineup is Future Static, Supperbell Roundup, Sandoval, The Regrets, Simple Ones, Modest Mouse and Butterglory.

^^^times change

If you've got a guy who is in a local band, you've got to put him on a local label. Keith Junior was always on Sub Pop, and there's no getting around that. In the original draft, though, it was a rape, not a date rape. And my editor said, "This is a comedic novel and a rape is too heavy for a comedic novel, so why don't you tone it down to a date rape?" That was after the Modest Mouse thing had happened, so maybe some of the circumstances of that story influenced the way I rewrote the rape.

"by corollary"???? did I really say that? jesus. misquote!

nice job digging up some weird shit from 1996 dude

uh that was an xpost, wtf ian

I'm btwn trailer trash, convenient parking and doin' the cockroach

also I can't stand this band anymore but this record was really good

whoa, never seen the vinyl tracklist before... I can't even conceive of putting anything between the "Bankrupt On Selling" and "Styrofoam Boots" (especially not my least favorite track on the album). although I *do* like "Baby Blue Sedan", so I'm glad to see it on there.

for me this probably comes down to the "Cowboy Dan"-"Trailer Trash" one-two punch, although the opener's great too, and "Polar Opposites" is up there with "I Came As A Rat" in the pantheon of 'relatively short Modest Mouse songs that start out really really good but then get kind of boring and noodly halfway through'.

I'm a sucker for Teeth Like God's Shoeshine. Least favorite, Cowboy Dan. But I haven't listened to this in a few years, I'll hold of on voting just yet.

Gotta go with Trailer Trash, with Doin' the Cockroach close behind.

Great, great record.

Heart Cooks Brain

Saw them on the tour for this record and they totally killed. Might vote for Shit Luck.

Hmm, either "Truckers Atlas" or "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine".

I've got it down to maybe thirteen songs. Fuck.

Saw them on the tour for this record and they totally killed.

they were no-shows for the college radio festival show that we booked em for (argh), got lost on the way or something, then finally arrived and ended up playing some suburban punk kid's basement in Columbia MO. it was great. or at least it seemed great after I had been out in the sun all day drinking jim beam out of a wendy's cup.

that was probably before this album came out tho, I think "tundra/desert" was the highlight ...

I'll have to listen to this before I vote

1. "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine"
- only good song they ever wrote

Teeth Like God's Shoeshine or Doin' the Cockroach which are my 2 favourite Modest Mouse songs.

Saw them on tour for this record at Empty Bottle in Chicago and they SUCKED ASS - horrible horrible show - one of the worst I've ever attended. That said - it's between 'Doin' the Cockroach,' 'Teeth Like God's Shoeshine,' and 'Convenient Parking' and I'm going to have to queue it up again and decide.

ended up going with "Cowboy Dan". my favorite part of "Trailer Trash" is that (kinda) soaring triumphant guitar part that starts around 3:30, and I can get a reasonable approximation of that from the last minute of Radiohead's "The Bends"; but there's really no substitute for Isaac Brock screaming about killing God.

"by corollary"???? did I really say that? jesus. misquote!

LOL, musta been The Maneater????

Doin' the motherfuckin' Cockroach

@ Tape Store - Simple Ones!! just caught their reunion a couple of weekends ago. McStay = swell dude.

man this really was a good record. some of the songs prob go on a little too long, but yeah, v strong. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine, Doin' the Cockroach, Trailer Trash, Polar Opposites, Styrofoam Boots / It's All Nice on Ice, Alright could all be contenders

"Polar Opposites" is up there with "I Came As A Rat" in the pantheon of 'relatively short Modest Mouse songs that start out really really good but then get kind of boring and noodly halfway through'.

I'll say. That song only needed to be the first verse and chorus. The second verse is very o_O.

For a very long time it was Cowboy Dan for me, but now I'm more appreciative of Teeth.

I'll say. That song only needed to be the first verse and chorus. The second verse is very o_O.

Do you mean "Polar Opposites" or "I Came As A Rat"? I haven't listened to the latter in a while, but the second verse of "Polar Opposites" is one of my favorite lyrics on the album! "Two one-eyed dogs, they're, lookin' at, stereos..."

"Baby Blue Sedan" is not on the album.

My top 5:

Teeth Like God's Shoeshine
Doin' the Cockroach
Styrofoam Boots / It's All Nice on Ice, Alright
Cowboy Dan
Trailer Trash

I'm using the vinyl tracklist* because that's the way I know the album, and hey, maybe some of you really like "Baby Blue Sedan."

-- Doctor Casino, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 12:08 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Link

fuck me. that makes the vinyl version even better. "Baby Blue Sedan" is awesome.

I voted for It's All Nice on Ice, Alright because it got me through my first "grown up job" and its subsequent commute, but I could easily have voted for "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" , "Doin' the Cockroach", "Cowboy Dan", "Shit Luck", or "Bankrupt on Selling" as well. Oh how I love this album. I spent $110 to get a tenth-row ticket for the upcoming REM show so that I can see Modest Mouse for the fifth time. This has made even a fanatic like me feel a little ashamed.

Trailer Trash

Very good album - I voted "Trailer Trash".

Saw them on tour for this record at Empty Bottle in Chicago and they SUCKED ASS - horrible horrible show - one of the worst I've ever attended.

I saw them a couple years later at Tramps in NYC, officially the worst show I have ever seen. We all left after about 15 minutes. But a couple years later a friend dragged me to see them, and they were incredible.

cowboy dan

Wow, Modest Mouse are incredibly inconsistent live. I saw them on the tour that was hawking Everywhere And His Horrible EP Title (essentially a second tour for Moon and Antarctica and they were incredible. Absolutely tore the house down, one knockout number after another performed with fiery conviction. I saw them a couple years later on the tour right before Good News came out and it was still pretty damn great but also a little short and a little grouchy. Someone yelled out "Doin' the Cockroach!!!!" and Isaac was like "Yeah, I've got a request, don't yell out Doin' The Cockroach because it's not fucking gonna happen." Woah, dude.

But then they played a ten-minute freakout version of Cowboy Dan that just kicked ass all over the place, so hey.

Do you mean "Polar Opposites" or "I Came As A Rat"?

Polar Opposites. Yeah, I just don't understand why he starts talkin' about dudes putting in car stereos and shit. I don't know. It just doesn't resonate with me. If it does for you, that's cool.

your opinions are like kittens

Trucker's Atlas 100%

Re: Polar Opposites, I guess that verse just fits very well in the general fabric of the album to me, like this larger collection of thoughts and disappointments in the non-spaces of the contemporary American landscape. It's a really geographic record, really fantastic catalogue of emptiness that zooms in to sketch details of particular stops along the road - so the guys putting in car stereos do a lot to flesh the thing out. Granted, I may be patching in some bit of "Sleepwalking" to make this work:

The white trash boys
Listen to their headphones
Blasting white noise
In the convenience store parking lot

The scene in "Polar Opposites" isn't as precisely located - I guess just in context, surrounded by things like "Trucker's Atlas" and "Convenient Parking" and the desert in "Cowboy Dan" and the God-Don't-Know from "heart Cooks Brain," it can't help but feel like another in this sequence....and blah blah blah.

In an album full of great lyrics (certainly better than any of the recent albums), to two last songs have the best. I would vote for "Bankrupt On Selling" with its comparison between the apostles' cynicism and his own, except that the lyrics to "Styrofoam Boots" beat every thing else on the album hands down, with his having to answer the phones in heaven only to find out god is a fraud (albeit with some advice):

"well some guy comes in looking a bit like everyone i ever seen
he moves just like crisco disco
breath 100% listerine
he says looking at something else
but directing everything to me
ever time anyone gets on their knees to pray
well it makes my telephone ring
and i'll be damned
he said you were right
no one's running this whole thing
he had a theory too
he said that god takes care of himself
and you of you"

I loooove that verse.

maybe the most overrated record of that decade? definitely the point when MM became mostly insufferable.

"Baby Blue Sedan"

this is probably the only album by them ive spent any time with at all

maybe the most overrated record of that decade? definitely the point when MM became mostly insufferable.
-- Garrett Martin, Thursday, 10 April 2008 16:30 (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

This post cracks me up.

Anyway, I saw them at least 5 or 6 times over the couple years they toured this album, and you definitely never knew what you were gonna get. But when they were on, they made some huge noise for 3 dudes. When I last saw them, a few years ago, they had like 15 people on stage, and it was kind of a drag. (Still cool, just not nearly as wild as when it was such a sparse set-up for so much sound).

At the L.A. shows, Strictly Ballroom opened up and were really great. I'm still surprised nothing ever happened with them (besides the members going on to big indie things (Dntel, Beachwood Sparks, etc.), I mean.

I first heard Modest Mouse late one night on KXLU (it was "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," which I voted for), and I bought the album when it came out a week later at No Life Records. I still play it all the time.

Finally settled on "Heart Cooks Brain," which more than any of their songs I think perfectly marries one of their loopy, hypnotic type songs with lyrics to match. God how I still love this band.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

oh, Trucker's Atlas

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Very nice spread! Didn't realize there was so much love for Trailer Trash.

Eating snowflakes with plastic forks and a paper plate of course you think of everything

That song is great.

Good work on this poll, I think!

i would've voted Truckers Atlas if i'd seen this and my vote counts twice so that settles that one.

I think now I might have voted for "Trailer Trash," just wears better and better with time. No less love to anything else though.

I would like to retroactively take away my Heart Cooks Brain vote and transfer it to Convenient Parking.

Ah... 'trailer trash'... so many good memories attached to that song... sucks I've never met anyone in real life who had a pubescent fascination with them.

Eating snow flakes with plastic forks
And a paper plate of course, you think of everything

I used to think this opening line was cynical genius. Maybe I still do.

shame nobody voted for "Convenient Parking"

someone do this poll once again

Was hoping this was bumped to announce a new album. Quiet on the MM front since that last EP.

So this thing:
http://pitchfork.com/tv/pitchfork-classic/1912-modest-mouse-the-lonesome-crowded-west/

listening to heart cooks brain right now, are there other rock songs with turntable scratching that don't sound terrible now?

i haven't listened to this for years so maybe i'd see the error of my ways with a relisten, but maaan, what did poor 'bankrupt on selling' do wrong?

Bankrupt on selling is amazing
but I walked down the aisle to Sleepwalking so..

this album is still pretty good

yeah just looking at the tracklist makes me want to bust it out. But I don't have it at work.. *sniff*

"Bankrupt on Selling" is very, very good but there's at least three songs on this record I like better.

i listened to 'bankrupt on selling' again and hey it still hits! though i think my own vote would have gone to 'trailer trash'...

'bankrupt on selling', always the bridesmaid.

I've always seen this with Building Nothing Out Of Something to be one awesome double album; can't even remember which tracks are on what these days

for Finefinemusic (or anyone else who wants to give it a spin), here's the whole album in one big YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=996OQquvZQI

wasn't around for the poll, but this is one of my favorite albums ever and picking something woudl've been impossible anyway. BUT Convenient Parking definitely deserved a vote, at least!

How does "Heart Cooks Brain" get 7 and "Out of Gas" get only 1? They're the same song!

oooh, thanks AS! (my initials.. it's fate!)

This was only pressed once on vinyl. Incredible that nobody's jumped on re-doing it! Copies go for like $350 on Discogs and eBay.
Anyway, yeah, one of my favorite albums of all time.

yer very welcome xpost

w/ no spotify account, my go to for hearing stuff (esp. old/classic stuff) at work is to search Youtube and "full album" ... amazing how much stuff is there

three-way tie speaks pretty well for this thing, huh? i woulda gone either "trailer trash" or "cowboy dan". this album is so good that even though my primary association with it is of having strep throat while alone in nyc and listening to it over and over again while lying for six hours on a bathroom floor periodically spitting into the toilet to avoid having to swallow, unable to fall asleep for longer than five minutes because my own drool would wake me up, i still listen to it.

xp I'd never thought to look for full albums! It's not loading well on my iphone unfortunately, still Loading and Loading with no option to play.. :( Curse this soundless work computer! I might youtube one by one.

This was only pressed once on vinyl. Incredible that nobody's jumped on re-doing it! Copies go for like $350 on Discogs and eBay.

u serious? I like this record but I might have to list that shit.

o_0

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Modest-Mouse-Lonesome-Crowded-West-2x-Vinyl-TEST-PRESSING-/110891892132?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item19d1abfda4

Just remember who your friends are, who'll get you a Budweiser in a crowded bar.. ;)

jesus! I guess my Broke 7 inch is all my collection will consist of for a while..

Why did they do a 10th anniversary reissue of Moon & Antarctica and not LCW? Jerks.

LCW was being reissued as of this post in 2010(!) so perhaps you should sell that vinyl sooner than later ;)

http://board.interstate-8.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=584

"Yeah, we are working on getting all the modest mouse stuff back in print. The problem with the the lonesome crowded west is that evry trace of that album has gone missing. The master reels, the master mixes, the masters, the plates to press the vinyl and on and on, so we have been working on that. All the modest mouse stuff will be out on vinyl soon."

wish me luck ilx

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140779481598?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

already got a couple bids and 17 watchers

good luck!

It's nice to be reminded once in a while that this was a good band once.

modest mouse is one of those bands where there's a lot of disagreement about their best album. i guess moon and antartica would probably get the most votes but some people really like their old stuff, other people are only into the "float on" era. anyways for me "lonesome crowded west" is easily their best and pretty much the only one i want to listen to.

anyways for me "lonesome crowded west" is easily their best and pretty much the only one i want to listen to.

same here, I think this is far and away their best. "long drive" is pretty good too though.

You know, I've had this album for over 10 years, and it was my favorite album for a good solid year, but I've never heard another Modest Mouse album. It's high time I fixed that.

I don't think they're bad now! It's just that their latest releases kind of mine the same ground but less effectively, making them seem worse than they really are (plus I really loved their old drummer)

a few of their newer songs are pretty good. King Rat is amazing.

but I am the board MM Stan so take my opinion with a grain of salt ;D

opinions were like kittens i was giving them away

Wow. These guys have a pretty large catalog. A bunch of albums and then quite a few liberally-defined "eps". Other than Antarctica and Long Drive, what else is supposed to be good. Anything to steer clear of?

i'm listening to this now thanks to the youtube link and i had forgotten how much i love it. like every song i'm like oh shit i forgot how awesome this song is. even songs i don't like as much, like "cowboy dan," have great parts, like the "we need oxygen to breathe" bridge.

opinions were like kittens i was giving them away

― congratulations (n/a), Wednesday, June 20, 2012 6:08 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

one of my favourite lines, gah

it only takes one line and they all just repeat in my head

'i got this thing that i consider my only art, of fucking people over'

how's life: the latest two toe the alt-rock line a little, but I still like them.

Sad Sappy Sucker is only for the very hardcore. It's got moments, but overwhelmingly meh.

IMO Good News.. has fantastic songs on it. Bury Me With It, The View, Bukowski, World at Large are my favourites

If you like Modest Mouse and have wished they'd explored bluegrass more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickin'_on_Modest_Mouse

Start with Lonesome, add Long Drive, stop with Moon. Ignore everything else. Good News has some moments-you could take it or leave it.

Lately their more pop-oriented stuff has been my favorite - "Bury Me With It", "Dashboard", "Satellite Skin", hell even "Float On" (the first 5000 times I heard it)

I don't think they're going back to the days of "Trailer Trash" and "Truckers Atlas", sadly

Guilty Cocker Spaniels off No One's First.. has a little in common with Trailer Trash. But they haven't really recorded pretty & mellow outside of say World at Large or Satin in a Coffin

LCW was pretty impressive from an instrumental perspective too; I haven't been impressed much by the new drummer or Johnny Marr

LCW is so good, definitely their high point. saw them a few times on the tour for this album and they were soooo bad.

Not sure if it's been mentioned upthread, or not, but Mark Kozalek's Sun Kil Moon take on Modest Mouse songs (the entirety of the 'Tiny Cities' record - shorter than some Modest Mouse EPs!) is pretty enjoyable.

Just put a bunch of MM vinyl in my cart. Backed away; I will be good, I will be good..

I hated that SunKilMoon stuff so much. I wanted to like it (I love Pickin' on Modest Mouse!) but I just couldn't.

yes, MM's actual shows are pretty awful right now. I've never seen a band that looked like they wanted to be there less.

I dunno, that Tom guy always seems quite happy. I have fun at their shows.. but I agree, Isaac frequently looks like he'd rather be anywhere but there while singing. But isn't that the point of MM music? Heh.

surprised that they had so many bad shows back in the day. the one i saw was amazing. they were so great as a trio, with each member fitting together so well. anyway, lcw is the only album i ever really liked.

Saw Modest Mouse at Empty Bottle in Chicago on LCW tour ... aaaand they weren't so good ... They looked tired and played kinda tired - just spazzed at the right moments and missed some of subtlety / finesse in the material (I thought anyways). They did do an early take of 'whenever you see fit' and that was cool, though.

if the boots are any indication, they've never really been that good live, outside of the rando Isaac Brock freakout

They have never been very good live. I remember seeing them a couple of times around LCW and they were too wasted to do much, saw them again about a year or so ago and it was generally fun but not very memorable.

maybe my memory is totally wrong. i was young and it was my freshman year of college, right at the beginning of my show-going life, basically. but judging live performance from boots is a dicey proposition.

Maybe they just love Toronto. I've seen them about 6 or 7 times and have a lot of fun. But my love of the band could be propelling this.

i think i saw them three times in 98 (also my freshmen year of college wooo!). first one, brock was definitely tripping on acid and rapped for a good portion of the show. second was just boring. third was actually pretty entertaining, brock almost got in a fist fight with some audience members, played a 30-minute version of doin' the cockroach.

heh, I wish I'd seen them more in those days. I think 98 was the first time I saw them, but I barely knew them. I followed a boy there, of course.. anyway, they didn't hit the stage until past 10pm on a Tuesday or something and I remember being worried I wouldn't be able to get home because of the subway stopping just after 1. I think I had a math test the next day (lol high school). I had tickets to see Sleater-Kinney the next nihgt but skipped because I was too tired! Ladies and Gentlemen, the 90s!

ha, yeah when i think of those shows, they seem super "late 90s" to me. the openers were like jets to brazil and murder city devils.

played a 30-minute version of doin' the cockroach.

exactly the sort of thing I wish they'd do now!!

ugh, I am young and stupid, turns out it was 2000!
Looking at a Toronto tour listing indicates that I have actually seen Modest Mouse 10 times, holy crap! I've missed a few Toronto shows but saw a few others (Madison, WI for my birthday; Kingston, ON because I'd made the trek to Madison so Kingston was nothing..)

30 minute doin the cockroach sounds like good times. Or It's All Nice..

wasted, isaac-rapping, weird jamming modest mouse of the late '90s easily their best live period.

he's such a distinctive guitarist

30 minute doin the cockroach sounds like good times.
wasted, isaac-rapping, weird jamming modest mouse of the late '90s easily their best live period.
in theory, i agree with you. but i was there and the times were less than good! i think the 30-minute doin the cockroach was at least half a dueling drum solo w/ the opening band's drummer.

i was there too! and while it could be revisionist nostalgia on my part, every modest mouse show i've been to since, say, 2005 has been merely adequate and professional. i remember seeing them once and they seemed to accidentally veer into another song midway through the previous one, and i'd take that kind of mess every time.

(where weird veering is obvs old MM.)

I just remember alot of hi-hat

that mini-doc made me super nostalgic for those old shows.

I didn't vote in this one I think but I loved Trailer Trash.

Out of Gas was one of my favorites too, seems I'm sort of alone on that one. This might have been one of my favorite records in high school.

Trailer Trash is def the best track on this record.

my ebay auction ends tonight. up to $227.50 with 47 watchers. hoping for some fireworks.

shout-out to Walter Galt for mentioning what this thing is worth. I like the record and all but can't pass up that kind of $$. no matter where it ends up it's by far the most expensive LP I've ever sold.

that's pretty insane.

As soon as it hit 200 - I was out.

Ha - happy to help! I really hope you get a bunch of cash for it!
Good luck!
I hope they find those masters someday.

my only concern now is whether the winner will be a flake, the two main bidders right now have brand new accounts with 0 feedback. we'll see.

omg no votes for "Convenient Parking"???? clearly the best track on this, the best album by a band that got steadily worse as their career went on....

the best album by a band that got steadily worse as their career went on....

$265! Not bad...

yeah I was happy with it. also the dude is local so I don't have to stress w/ shipping and wondering whether it's gonna get lost in the mail. (sorry BlackIronPrison, you woulda got an ilx discount if you won)

I wonder whether they will ever finish the reissue or if the tapes are really gone for good.

holy crap, mind blown about the vinyl being worth that much - - - i'm sure i bought mine from updirect.com for like, $15 in 2001 or so! I guess that was a while ago.

I think I'll hang on to mine though - for one thing, the sleeves are a good bit worn, for another, I LOVE THIS ALBUM and while I am pretty much constantly in search of money i like the idea of, sort of stupidly, taking a stand on principle for beloved music. Mind, if it was any of their other records I think I'd cave. Maybe hesitate for a bit on Building Nothing Out of Something.

Looking forward to watching that Pitchfork doc when I have some down time, the Soft Bulletin one was pretty interesting although it felt like it skipped over half the album.

whens the vinyl reissue comin out, ISAAC????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Could vote for each of these on any given day. Today I'll go with Trucker Atlas after watching a Ytube of a '98 performance at RKCNDY in Seattle that I was there for. Jeremiah was both languid and busy. Seems to be a hallmark of mid-late '90s drummers.

aw i like bankrupt on selling. but i wouldn't have voted for it. there's the rub.

the drum part of trucker atlas was like my dream goal, the golden standard, when i was learning how to play

have to go with trailer trash but teeth like god's shoeshine is pretty much on par for me

This record is exhausting, but so fucking good

otm

definitely one of those records where you wind up with a new favorite tune every time

amazing how much incredible stuff they put out in a period of about 5 years compared to everything they've done since

i love this album and don't care about any other modest mouse albums

i loved lonesome crowded west, bought moon and antarctica the day it came out but never liked it, then was mostly bemused by their ascendency to alt rock radio stars.
yesterday i heard one of their later singles on the radio and it had me dancing around the kitchen.

the one about the dashboard melting

the Building Nothing Out of Something comp is a nice companion to LCW if you haven't heard it

I think latter day Mouse has some decent singles, in fact I really do like "Satellite Skin", but man there are just so many forgettable songs on those last 2 albums

Polar Opposites. Yeah, I just don't understand why he starts talkin' about dudes putting in car stereos and shit. I don't know. It just doesn't resonate with me. If it does for you, that's cool.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Tuesday, April 8, 2008 7:46 PM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't know why I had this opinion back then.

hahah

yah Building Nothing Out of Something is essential. possibly their second-best album if counted as an "album."

re: the later stuff... there's a fair bit i like on both Good News and We Were Dead... (never even bothered with the 2010s one), but both kinda wore thin after a while for me. might be the production, might be the material. i do think they got worse as their sound got clearer/punchier. they also just became less interested in being a "wild unpredictable guitar excursus" kind of band - there's a click-track tightness to their later sound that maybe isn't what i wanted from them, even though some of the tightest-wound songs from that period are my favorites ("Missed the Boat") and some of the loud/brash songs are the hardest on my ears ("Bury Me With It," "We've Got Everything").

i also think, after M&A, that a lot of good material ended up on the Ugly Casanova record, which mighta made a very different Good News otherwise.

I never got into this album but I LOVE the slow epic stuff on Moon And Antarctica. And “broke”. And “dramamine”.
The BTS comparison... I mean I get it but Brock is such a more interesting singer and lyricist. And MM had better drumming.

GOD if I have to die you will have to die

which of the BTS guys are you talking about? like clearly he's better than Jungkook but no way is he on Nam-joon's level

re-listened to moon & antarctica over the weekend, and while i still think i prefer lonesome crowded west, the songs on moon are much knottier and brasher than i remembered. i also connected much more with 'the stars are projectors' than i ever had before, probably because i spent most of that song listening to the drums.

lol frogbs

stars are projectors is so good. so many beautiful guitar figures all over that album.

god I hate paper thin walls tho

peak-era martsch was a better lyricist than peak-era Brock imo (though not by much). Martsch obviously the better/more versatile guitarist.

also more boring

sorry, not a fan

I never felt like I really got M&A, never been an important record for me. Maybe I should work on that.

built to spill had more good albums than modest mouse but lonesome crowded west is better than any built to spill album

otm

Feels kinda wild to me that these guys have only released six proper albums in 24 years, considering how they hung around the conversation.

Stars are Projectors was the song that really got me excited about them, there's this bit where the guitar part comes all the way around (sorry, not sure how to describe this), it's maybe my favorite moment in their catalogue

Paper Thin Walls I still like. I heard that song a bunch in my friend's car so it always takes me back to being a teenager

come to think about it I wrote about this album recently

https://critterjams.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/the-moon-and-antarctica-20-years-on/

built to spill had more good albums than modest mouse but lonesome crowded west is better than any built to spill album

I feel like I almost agree with this, except that Perfect From Now On exists

i was so-so on moon and antarctica at the time but feel like it holds up very well. also that's a pretty funky bass line on 'tiny cities made of ashes'

it's funny how their goodness seems to exist in direct inverse proportion to how many members they have. (classic albums: 3; current lineup: 8 - that's not touring members either, they all played on the last album!)

obviously time for them to go back to the basics

i do remember liking tiny cities made of ashes now that you mention it.

I don’t know about lyrics but I always liked “you cocked your head to shoot me down”

(From “perfect disguise”)

I think M&A was the first time i encountered a relatively mellow album that ends with a short punky blowout, which tbh is still a classic move

i think of M&A being a great album much more often than i think about putting it on to listen to it. it was a huge deal to me at age 18, a monumental Major Album. pitchfork probably had something to do with that, and even the cover art and packaging which went well with being in the back seat of some older guys' car, absorbing the cigarette smell in the cushions through my clothes, and grasping the seriousness of this thing called "indie rock."

but just looking at the list of songs it's not as ponderous and shadowy and full of violin overdubs as all that, it looks like a lot of great jams i wanna listen to today, and much more of a piece with the albums that came before. hmm.

also tbh you could improve LCW by subtracting or moving around a couple tracks, or by subbing in some of the many non-album tunes. M&A was pretty ideally constructed by comparison (though I like it slightly less)

idk what it's called when you play the guitar above the nut but it was maybe a bad sign when they grew out of that