modest mouse...

...is well represented in our archives as a quick glance at the "search" function will tell you.

though your far reaching conclusions are valued, of course.

I'm still looking for a left-handed Jaguar. That's right - OH MY GOD kind of impossible.

If I can't find one I'll probably go with a lefty strat. I found these sick pedals - http://www.zvex.com/effects.html . They're made by some dude who sticks all these crazy transistors into them from any old radio he can find.

How about you? Started playing lefty?

You know, people who pay attention to metrical structure. It's fine to pull a one-off for experiment's sake, but album after album? Please.

Aja, of all people. Of all the Nirvana fans in the world to speak such nonsense.....

Come on. There are songs that seem like there lyrics could be poetry but they sound much better with music. Some people try too hard to make a good poem and other just don't try at all.

You'll notice that, even if you never heard it, how you read a Nirvana song is generally in-line with how it is sung. That's talent. That's poetry. That's rhythm.

Read 99% of these shitty indie-bands of today, then listen to the song, and it's like 'what?'

Examine 'drain you' or 'heart-shaped box.' Read as monotone robotic as you can and I guarantee it will still sound similar in pitch and in rhythm to the song. Gorgeous.

'Film student?'

Yeah. I can't deal with them. You know, the types who say that requiem for a dream changed their life and that crispin glover is the coolest actor in hollywood.

I now play left handed. I got a left handed customized fender stratocaster! What joy.

And your right. If Kurt was a poet, we would still have those other bands, so I'm glad he got in to music too.

Sorry.

I'm just so excited about my new guitar. I already have one, but this one is better.

I'll tell you who likes Modest Mouse, almost unconditionally - indie rock girls. And their boyfriends, by proxy.

And then, some of us just dig 'em cuz they occasionally really, really rock. Though I'll admit, I didn't start appreciating them as much as I do until Wifey began playing A Lonesome, Crwoded West every single day, so I guess I fall into the above category after all (though Wifey is as far from an indie rock girl as it gets)

Film students that I knew, all of them being on heroin, were always into stuff like the Paris, Texas soundtrack and Stars of the Lid.

That's rigidity. That's lack of imagination.

Seriously, though, you can't really think that all rock musicians want to sound like Nirvana. Don't take this the wrong way, but why read ILM and post if you truly think that there is only one 'proper' sound and the rest of music is substandard? You must realize that there are many differing opinions here, and none are necessarily right or wrong.

Honestly, I think the only way to be as famous as Nirvana is to write something that people can relate to, that sounds good, is radio friendly, and will get rid of pop, hip hop and rap. That is what's going to get you that famous.

You-know-who to thread.

and yet I sense a certain dissatisfaction in the singer's voice.

-- Aja (AsiaKitty200...), February 15th, 2004.

Or just be a pop, hip hop or rap artist.

I secretly hope I'm the one to do so.

Speaking of which, I revisited “Float On” today, and the bridge is weak – the song just kind of drops out for a few bars.

Bridges are a big deal for me; and a good song with a weak/obligatory-sounding bridge is a bummer!

i'm certainly in the camp that "Float On" sounded like a natural outgrowth for the band. you can draw a straight line from Trailer Trash to Float On.

― 808s & Deep States (voodoo chili), Monday, 28 May 2018 02:53 (two hours ago) Permalink

yeah, "trailer trash" and "talking shit" are the precursors to "float on" imo

lmao Simon otm

Just pulled up YouTube to revisit “...Pretty Sunset” (I remember it from the album, but haven’t heard it in ages). Pretty intense comments!!

I didn’t realize how meaningful MM’s songs are to ppl. (Of course these are also YouTube comments, which tend towards maximum emo, regardless of the artist.)

they're a rite of passage band just like Nirvana or Radiohead (on a smaller scale obv). Even though they're from the PNW I maintain that they are the Beatles of the Midwest. Brock's lyrics, especially the pop existentialism, mean a lot to teenagers.

The Moon & Antarctica was a crucial record for me, my gateway into indie rock and down the rabbit into literally everything else. Nirvana, Green Day, Radiohead, and the Beatles were the only bands I really loved before I heard Modest Mouse. discovering them was the beginning of my obsession with music.

this is circa late 2004, early 2005, a bit less than a year after Float On came out, which I liked but I thought they were a gimmick band/one hit wonder based on the music video and the mustache. I thought IB really had that goofy ass mustache. then I saw the video for Ocean Breathes Salty before school one day and was COMPLETELY blown away: first of all, beautiful & bracing song, video is great, and it clicked for me that oh, this is actually a real band.

MM were probably the last band that I had that kind of religious fervor for that is the purview of young people only

(But that phase passed by '04ish for me)

"talking shit" hit me pretty hard in the high school days, esp that instrumental coda. just replaying in my head, man, i don't even think of them as a favorite band but they really got to something.

Custom Concern was my overeducated underemployed anthem age 22

https://uproxx.com/indie/isaac-brock-interview-modest-mouse-reviews-every-album-the-golden-casket/

damn he does not sound well here, sounds paranoid as hell & admits that substance abuse is why their previous album had such a long gestation

This was upsetting to read. One of the best lyricists in recent decades.

I remember my buddies being huge into Mouse boots b/c Brock would go on some really bizarre rants and often got so drunk they'd have to pause several times. personally I thought they sucked live, though I saw them once with Marr and they were pretty decent. kinda assumed this guy was sober by now b/c you can't really live ~that~ kind of life for more than like, 6-7 years. at 20 those kind of guys seem really cool but now I just think the dude needs help

this isn't the least bit surprising

Kinda sobering to read that whole thing and then learn at the end he has a kid. (Also, not so cool of Uproxx to link the Amazon page for the weird conspiracy book he mentions, as if they’re promoting it.)

grim stuff but yeah, not really a surprise unfortunately. hope he gets some help.

silent weapons for quiet wars hell yeah, indie rock needs that william cooper shit

Yeah it doesn't get depressing until he starts talking about Strangers to Ourselves. Before he even said it I thought he had Adderall psychosis.

(Also, not so cool of Uproxx to link the Amazon page for the weird conspiracy book he mentions, as if they’re promoting it.)

― search term: buttrock (morrisp), Thursday, June 17, 2021 12:41 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Jesus christ. Seriously? Are we all babies now?
https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Weapons-Quiet-Wars-Introductory/dp/1585093807

I'm not triggered by it, dude - I just don't think it should be linked out in the article for ease of purchase by fans whose curiosity may be piqued by the mention.

And yes, we are mostly babies now. That thing where we lock the cabinet so baby doesn't drink the Drain-O? We sadly probably need to do more of that sort of preventative shit in this, our brave new world.

not defending Isaac Brock in the slightest but am i missing something in that interview that makes it so depressing apart from the conspiracy shit? it is because he doesn’t break shit down Tape-op style?

oh ok umI had stopped reading after good news caus I don’t know those albums. Got it.

Touring seems just too much of a strain.

It's not touring, these guys aren't exactly road dogs. Also, plenty of touring lifers manage to do it just fine without turning into unhinged lunatics. Don't blame it on that.

the new album is strange, they've made a late 90s 'alt-rock band goes electronica' album

it's not terrible but not really that good either

I've listened to a few tracks, don't really know what to make of it yet. can't say if it's better or worse than their last one because I don't remember a damn thing about it. I do get a "we made this shitty on purpose" vibe from it - it's produced in such an ugly way, the drums and vocals are too loud and there are a dozen things going on at once. probably worth a full listen but it's not good when your first thought is empathy for the people you were friends with who were very vocal about their dislike of Modest Mouse

I just finished a first spin, I kinda don't hate it? It's definitely better than the last one, but it's got a lot of peaks and valleys.

this has got to be the band with the biggest swing between how much i loved them and how much i now wish they would just stop.

You should try loving Morrissey's Viva Hate.

never got into him or his old band

I’m a diehard MM fan who could never get into that last album in particular but this feels much more close to Good News, which I enjoy. Not them at their best but a decent return to their second best. Didn’t click for me til I was stoned and in headphones though..

xpost - at one time the soft bulletin was one of my fav albums and now anytime I hear Wayne Coyne sing I want to scream "shut the fuck up!!"

but yeah Lonesome Crowded/Moon period meant a lot to me and I can't really stand MM anymore (though I still like those albums)

its not really their fault, for me MM is the band I grew up with, I remember when my first friends got their drivers licenses and we'd cruise around listening to Moon & Antartica & the Night on the Sun EP on repeat. later we all got a place together and Mouse was on all the time. I got kind of sick of it tbh but it was damn good music. Listening to it now just bums me out b/c we've all gone our separate ways.

Didn’t click for me til I was stoned and in headphones though..

perhaps I'll have to try this, I suppose it's interesting enough that I should come at it with an open mind and not "here we go again"

https://www.nme.com/news/music/modest-mouses-jeremiah-green-diagnosed-with-stage-four-cancer-3371703

Damn, I hope the good prognosis will come true.

same here. not to get all cornball about them but this band was really important to me in my adolescence and even if I don't really listen to them anymore they still feel like old friends

I know what you mean. I haven't listened to any of their music for a while, at least for a few years, but they were on rotation all the time for a pretty good stretch - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank alone was the one I played more than anything else in 2007, and that's saying a lot given the ridiculous amount of great music that came out that year. (There was rarely a time I didn't have my iPod turned off.)

Green has passed away. Very sad news

ugh that’s terrible. he was great

really sad. super young. don't know anything about him as a person but his loved ones must be devastated, especially since it seems like this all happened pretty quickly.

amazing drummer, obviously. he plays on pretty much every classic MM song, and in every case the songs are impossible for me to imagine without his playing on them.

The great Jeremiah Green. My friend, bandmate, and the most creative musician I ever met. pic.twitter.com/38u5Aq0wGB

— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) January 1, 2023

Huge RIP. His playing on "Truckers Atlas" alone made him a legend

not a drummer but ^^^ is absolutely the first thing i think of

100%. my favorite drum riff ever.

god, that's devastating. we just found out about this a week ago! he was indeed the thing that made some of those records - especially LCW - so weirdly groovy and special.

That escalated fast, RIP

Wearing my modest mouse hoodie when I found out 💔

saw them last night and they somewhat surprisingly still had it despite green's death, how erratic brock has seemed in interviews, and significant turnover in the lineup. "teeth like god's shoeshine" blew me away and they mostly stuck to their best material. the newer songs were mediocre to terrible but they only played a few thankfully.

i think they hit curfew though because they baffling closed with "heart cooks brain" which was completely anti-climactic