The Thing On the Bass Amp
Similar MOGs' Top Songs This Week
Posts
"Seriously this is our best album ever. People actually like this album the first time they hear it instead of 7 months after a CD-R of it has been on the floor of their friend's car. This album has a Game Boy, bears, crickets, a crying woman, cheerleaders, rape, horrifying birth, mental devastation, and sweet, natural death, and the best art ever which is an actual 8 foot long wood carving/painting. And it's serious. Every single second of it is serious and passionate to us, OK? Maybe...the joke's on you. "
Then I listened to the album, and it struck my as being evident that Horse the band has gone from delightfully eccentric and silly to what, at this point, I can only perceive as insanity. (Their youtube videos taped during the album's recording should have been fair enough warning.)
Granted, the album is musically on par with their previous efforts- they can still change time signature easier than flipping a light switch, and play oddtime riffs without you even noticing; their songwriting ability overall remains exceptional. However, continuing the trajectory from the Pizza EP, everything is still a joke- and more than ever with their latest album.
The track "Crickets" is a minute-long interlude of cliched spoken-word that I imagine was hard to deliver without laughing. Two tracks before that was "The Beach" which is a woman sobbing over a background of seagulls and synthesized sounds of waves crashing. "Sex Raptor" is an overwhelmingly 80s disco-influenced New-Wave dance song. New-Wavecore.
_A Natural Death_ goes over the edge, but by doing so they also explore some new territory that almost feels in spite of all labels previously applied to them. Even though their use of an actual Gameboy may encourage the designation of Nintendocore, most of the album suggests they have moved far beyond any notion of simply being a hardcore band with the added gimmick of a synth player.
Check it out, in stores the 28th.
i lift weights, but i don't sweat
i go for a swim, but i don't get wet
iiiii don't need a-ny-one, i'm a strong dead man/ lookin out for himself
It's been ten years since _The Lonesome Crowded West_. Can Modest Mouse keep it going?
After _Neon Bible_, Arcade Fire's long awaited follow-up to their previous commercial success, turned out to be a disapointment, I became apprehensive and worried that Modest Mouse's new album would be the same way- especially after hitting the radio with Float On. However, I remained optomistic, considering that while _Good News_ was very popular and very different than their older albums, it was nonetheless altogether excellent. I decided to assume this new release, scheduled to be in stores March 20, would follow that same trend. I am making this post to confirm that this is indeed true.
Another concern I had was that guitarist Johnny Marr of The Smiths played guitar on the album. However, long time Modest Mouse fans will be happy to hear that the guitar work is true to the sounds of earlier albums such as _This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About_.
It's 2007 and Modest Mouse has proven it can musically adapt and challenge themselves while still remaining true to their sound. Not the best album I've heard this year (that honor still belongs to the new Cloud Cult album . . . read two posts back) but I think it's still better than friggen _Neon Bible_. That's right. I said it.
Comments
i think anything is better than neon bible. especially anything by modest mouse. nice review. never be afraid to "say it" on mog.
MOG Meter
Comments
hmm, never heard of them, but this just sounds like Man Man like craziness which i'm down with...thanks so much, i'll check it out!