search for something...

search for something you might like...

Hating Those Meeces To Pieces Modest Mouse breaks through the wall of irrelevancy I erected around them with a glimmering pop monster of a new record.

Hating Those Meeces To Pieces

Modest Mouse breaks through the wall of irrelevancy I erected around them with a glimmering pop monster of a new record.

by Alex V. Cook, Music Editor
first published: March, 2007

approximate reading time: minutes

These are songs that I want to decipher, I want to pull apart so I can see their beating hearts

Modest Mouse
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
Sony/BMG

I have never liked Modest Mouse. OK, I liked that "Parking Lot" song because it had a ramshackle teenage desperation vibe that actually mirrored that of desperate teenagers, a sniveling jerk insouciance to it, but that's it. And it appears that my curse as a music critic is that I just don't get scores of bands that my music-liking peers dig. I've had friends play both The Moon & Antarctica and Good News for People Who Love Bad News in their entirety to combat my infuriating insistence that their favorite band was a bore, but I emerged resolute with an unblemished opinion that they are a tepid Pixies copy minus Black Francis' flickknife hidden in the words. Then, a couple things all happened on one day.

1. I decided that I was being stubborn, planting my flag on yet another lonely island I didn't even want to claim, so I pulled the new MM off the iTunes. I had some gift certificates.

2. I read that singer Isaac Brock pulled an Iggy at a gig in South Dakota, whacking his head with a microphone and then slashing his chest on stage with a flickknife I had accused him of lacking. My interest was undeniably picqued.

3. The download completed and I get it. I love this record.

Was his self-mutilation a publicity stunt? The result of an acute rock star crisis brought on by the fact that their new guitarist Johnny Marr was an infinitely bigger draw than the rest of the band? Had he heard that Kidz Bop version of "Float On" one too many times? Anything could have been the trigger. I used to live near the sun-deprived hills of Issaquah, WA from whence they hail, and I know that a life spent in the gloom will eventually cause you to snap, so maybe it was just his time. Whatever the reason behind this attention-gathering move, it got mine, and they rewarded it with this infectious nervous monster of a record.

modest"March Into the Sea" opens with accordions, a harbinger of weirdness if there ever was one, right before Brock's Jeckyll and Hyde self duet, cackling looney and fragile doe-eye swapping out in one of the better exercises of the Pixies quiet-loud formula in a while. They still sound like the Pixies, but this time they rise to the occasion and do something with it. "Dashboard" is the requisite Gang of Four disco punk stomp with a horn section upgrade. What I like about it is that the band as whole seems to whip itself into a positive frenzy without losing their footing on the dancefloor. "Fire It Up" follows the same formula as "Float On" did, with a fat studio production patina that frankly serves their sound. There are points on this record that sound thick enough that Dr Dre cold have been involved.

I was still trepidatious - as a critic, all you have is your opinions, but "Florida" forced me to drop them as I put my hands in the air. The improbably mix of War- era U2 and Rio- era Duran Duran that factor into this windswept number, added with the aggressive quick descent into madness at the end, makes this thing happen. The logic employed in creating these songs is hard to follow, and in the past, I thought it just made for hard-to-enjoy songs but here it makes for beguiling, active listening. These are songs that I want to decipher, I want to pull apart so I can see their beating hearts. I always hope for pop music that does that to me. This is pop music - music squarely of the modes and times, but unlike the whole of pop music, but manages to bypass being insipid and obvious.

"Parting of the Sensory" lays it all on the line by the time it weaves to the shout, "Oh fuck it, I guess I lost" before its whispered chorus. "Fly Trapped in a Jar" has a lot of Pavement in its woodpile, but oddly an equal portion golden era Oingo Boingo that makes this thing really tick like a bomb. Maybe Johnny Marr can coax Danny Elfman away from every movie in Hollywood, leaving something for Philip Glass to do next season, and bring him in to add some of his long gone weird science to the mix.

What I wasn't expecting was the prom-ready ballad "Little Motel." My dark side that wanted to see this album fail just so I could hold onto a notion no one including myself cared about rubbed its hands at this one, intoning, they are going to blow it here, watch.and lo, some lysergic aquarium distortion that permeates the song and comes to a head in the solos saves the day. Then "Spitting Venom" comes on like a lost song off Violent Femmes' Hallowed Ground sessions. What's next, a black metal onslaught that pits brock ripping out and eating his own rasp-worn throat before our eyes? No - a plaintive guitar number "People as Places as People" and a breathless dance rock punk funk thing, 'Invisible." Modest Mouse can do it all apparently, creating a musique non stop modern pop jukebox of a record that is both adventurous and wholly accessible.

Alex V. Cook
Music Editor

Alex V. Cook listens to everything and writes about most of it. His latest book, the snappily titled Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky-Tonks, and Dance Halls is an odyssey from the backwoods bars and small-town dives to the swampside dance halls and converted clapboard barns of a Louisiana Saturday Night. Don't leave Heathrow without it. His first book Darkness Racket and Twang is available from SideCartel. The full effect can be had at alex v cook.com
about Alex V. Cook »»

Pete Williams web banner

RECENT STORIES

RANDOM READS

All About and Contributors

HELP OUTSIDELEFT

Outsideleft exists on a precarious no budget budget. We are interested in hearing from deep and deeper pocket types willing to underwrite our cultural vulture activity. We're not so interested in plastering your product all over our stories, but something more subtle and dignified for all parties concerned. Contact us and let's talk. [HELP OUTSIDELEFT]

WRITE FOR OUTSIDELEFT

If Outsideleft had arms they would always be wide open and welcoming to new writers and new ideas. If you've got something to say, something a small dank corner of the world needs to know about, a poem to publish, a book review, a short story, if you love music or the arts or anything else, write something about it and send it along. Of course we don't have anything as conformist as a budget here. But we'd love to see what you can do. Write for Outsideleft, do. [SUBMISSIONS FORM HERE]

WRITERS thru' the Years

Agata Makiela, Alan Devey, Alan Rider, Alex V. Cook, Ancient Champion, Andy Allison, Annemiek, Becca Kelly, Belle Plankton, Bruce Bailey, Caiomhin Millar, Cassie Thomas, Chantal, Cheiron Coelho, Chris Connolly, Christian Present, Damon Hayhurst, Dan Breen, Danny Rose, David Hackney, David O'Byrne, Denni Boyd, Dirty Lillie, DJ Fuzzyfelt, Dr. Rich, Dr. Richard Bennett, Duncan Jones, Erin, Erin Pipes, Erin Scott, Gracey Babs, Graham Baker, Guilaine Arts, H.xx, Hamilton High, Henderson Downing, Holly Martins, J. Charreaux, J.Lee, Jay Lewis, Jaycentee, Jennifer Lynn, Jenny McCann, Jeremy Gluck, Jez Collins, Joe Ambrose, John Robinson, Jonathan Thornton, Julie O, Karl Morgan, Katherine Pargeter, Kelsey Osgood, Kevin McHugh, Kiah Cranston, Kleo Kay, Lake, Lee Paul, Luke Skinner, Malcolm, Marek Pytel, Mark Piggott, Martin Devenney, Meave Haughey, Michelle Williams, Mike Fox, mindy strouse, Neil Campbell, Neil Scott, Ogglypoogly, OL House Writer, Pam, Paul Burns, Paul Hawkins, Paul Mortimer, Paul Quigley, Peter Williams, Pixie McMowat, Pixievic, Rene Williams, Richard John Walker, Rick Casson, Rikki Stein, Ronan Crinion, Rowena Murphy, Ruby Lake, Ryan 'RJO' Stewart, Samantha Charles, Seth Sherwood, Shane O'Reilly, Sheridan Coyle, Sofia Ribeiro Willcox, Sophia Satchell-Baeza, Spanish Pantalones, Speedie John, Spencer Kansa, Steve McCarthy, The Conversation, Tim London, Tim Sparks, Tony Fletcher, Toon Traveller, Trevi, Urs Lerch, Wayne Dean-Richards, and founders, Alarcon & Lamontpaul

OUTSIDELEFT UNIVERSE

Last NIght of the LTB Showrooms
OUTSIDELEFT Night Out
weekend

outsideleft content is not for everyone