0022: Modest Mouse Albums Ranked
Submitted by AAA on Tue, 05/25/2004 - 10:22
Tags:
- The Moon and Antarctica (2000)
- The Lonesome Crowded West (1998)
- Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004)
- This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About (1996)
- Building Nothing Out of Something (2000)
Maybe it's just me, but it seems like this band has been overlooked until two months ago by alot of folks...
In fact, Modest Mouse are an intense, supremely talented band that have been overlooked almost more than anyone, etc. etc.
Good list, although I disagree with the order quite a bit.
My list would be:
-The Lonesome Crowded West (one of the most spirited albums of the '90s that actually holds together)
-The Moon and Antarctica (great but overrated)
-Building Nothing Out of Something (pure and exciting)
-This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About
-Good News for People Who Love Bad News (some great music, but at times a yawner)
Well, I've been a listener for over two years, but I managed to pick up three of their albums from a friend, and I felt like I could comment on their catalog.
The thing is, I love all of these albums, and I haven't had the time to digest the last two as well as I have the first three.
The Moon and Antarctica is highly produced, but I think that makes it far more musically interesting than The Lonesome Crowded West (which is also brilliant...they are both masterpieces). I know that it is more accesible, but I don't fault it for that. I think that it is the darkest "breakthrough" album I've ever heard.
As for Good News, I initially dismissed it as dissapointing but good, but having relistened to it several times recently, the genius behind it is becoming more apparent. I agree that it isn't as obviously brilliant as the two albums above it, but I certainly feel that it brings a lot to the table. During which moments do you feel it becomes a yawner?
I need to give both Building and Drive more time to grow on me.
Modest Mouse has certainly become my vote for the best band to emerge in the past ten years.
Hmmm...Modest Mouse is probably the biggest band that influenced my musical tastes in college. The Moon and Antarctica has indeed reached hallowed status these days as one of the best albums of the 90's (yeah it came out in 2000 which is still the 90's). But as time has gone by I look back on that album at the time I stumbled onto and it makes me very misty eyed. The album is a five star album and very dear to me, not just b/c of the music on it, but with what I associate with that music.
My List
-The Moon and Antarctica
-Building Nothing Out of Something
-The Lonesome Crowded West (too raw and punkish)
-This is A Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About
-Good News for People Who Love Bad News
P.S.-this band is starting to remind me of R.E.M. in terms of their progression as a band anyone else agree.
I believe 'The Lonesome Crowded West' was the last of the Mouse albums before the record company's influence seeped into their art.
'Moon and Antartica' at times would have sounded like 'Lonesome Crowded West' if not for layers of production.
That's awesome that the band touched your life in such a way. Wouldn't it be great if more bands could do such a thing?
As for the R.E.M. comparison, I've been thinking about that.
It's interesting, the band is experiencing commercial success much like R.E.M. all the sudden with 'Green', when they joined Warner Brothers.
However, R.E.M. had a much stronger start than Modest Mouse. The band practically invented post-punk college rock in the early '80's.
I could never imagine Modest Mouse winning any grammys either.
I feel like it was less record companies and more rock critics that influenced the Mouse, and I'm nto complaining.
Their sonic productions don't feel more commercial, they feel more experimental. The Lonesome Crowded West is raw and punkish, and brilliant, but for me, that doesn't make it better than the lush, thrilling Moon and Antarctica.
I feel just the opposite. I was satisfied with quirky, low-fi sound presented on 'Lonesome Crowded West'. It was a sort of a let down to hear the more experimental side on Modest Mouse.
I can't speak on the rock critics influence. I'm sure there's many sides to those that may or may not have effected Modest Mouse at all.
IMO, usually, I will always enjoy the more raw recording to a lush, experimental one. For example, 'Daydream Nation' and 'Kid A' are both unbelievable 5 star records at opposite ends of the spectrum. But I would never admire Kid A over the former.
But, in the end, it's just too hard to measure brilliance.
"it's just too hard to measure brilliance"
You're absolutely, 100%, couldn't-have-said-it-better-myself right.
Of course that makes all of our actions on this site futile.
;)
As for raw vs. polished, I think that this is a debate that has raged for decades. I love both, but I think that experimental drives me further than raw. Maybe I just like the sonic experiments because they're pretty. I mean, I'm a sucker for British bands with piano, so who's to say that I'm looking at any of this with any sort of musical maturity.
Yeah, I've been measuring brilliance (or non-brilliance) on this site for well over a year now. It will continuously drive me mad till my wee old years.
I understand that distinction, and I certainly have a few albums like that.