After more than a decade with Modest Mouse, Isaac Brock still sounds young and weird and searching, and never more so than on Good News for People Who Love Bad News, which follows the band's meditative The Moon & Antarctica with a set of songs that are more focused, but also less obviously profound. The occasionally indulgent feel of The Moon & Antarctica allowed Modest Mouse the room to make epic statements about life, death, and the afterlife; while Good News for People Who Love Bad News is equally concerned with mortality and spirituality, it has a more active, immediate feel that makes its comments on these subjects that much more pointed. The band hits these points home with a louder, more ock-oriented sound than they've had since The Lonesome Crowded West, particularly on "Bury Me with It," which embodies many of the contradictions that continue to make Modest Mouse fascinating. For a song loosely about contemplating death, it sounds strikingly vital and liberated; Brock delivers finely shaded lyrics like "We are hummingbirds who've lost the plot and we will not move" with a barbaric yawp; it's nonsensical but oddly climactic, conveying how what seems trivial can be anything but. "The View"'s angular bassline and scratchy guitars underscore the Talking Heads influence on Modest Mouse, but since the Heads have become a more trendy touchstone (mostly for bands with less creativity than either Talking Heads or Modest Mouse), it's nice to hear how Brock and company take that influence in a different direction instead of just rehashing it with less inspiration. Feeling stuck is a major theme on Good News for People Who Love Bad News, but the same can't be said about the album's sound, which spans the forceful ock of the aforementioned songs, to the pretty guitar pop of "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty," to the lovely, rustic "Blame It on the Tetons." That's not even mentioning the contributions of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who open Good News for People Who Love Bad News with the aptly named "Horn Intro." They also add a theatrical jolt to the wickedly funny, Tom Waits-inspired "Devil's Workday," which along with the noisy stomp of "Dance Hall" and "Bukowski"'s witty self-loathing, underscore that Modest Mouse haven't lost the edge that made the band compelling in the first place. Other standouts include "Satin in a Coffin," a creatively creepy mix of rattling luegrass-ock with a ango beat that nods to the group's backwater roots; "One Chance," an unusually open and straightforward allad; and the dreamlike "World at Large," on which Brock sings, "I like songs about drifters -- books about the same/They both seem to make me feel a little less insane," once again proving that he's a past master of lyrics that are both abstract and precise. Even though this album isn't as immediately or showily brilliant as The Moon & Antarctica, Good News for People Who Love Bad News reveals itself as just as strong a statement. By drawing an even sharper contrast between the harsh and beautiful things about their music, as well as life, Modest Mouse have made an album that's moving and relevant without being pretentious about it.
I've never listened to Modest Mouse. No reason why, just never did.Then I heard the album "good news for people who love bad news" and now I'm obsessed. I listen to this cd religiously. I can't get enough.Shout outs the the songs:Satin in a coffinBukowskiBury me with itbut all the rest pretty much rock too.LISTEN TO MODEST MOUSE.
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So I just saw the movie Grindhouse and man things have since come into mind. I won't gush too much on how amazing Planet Terror was and how "good" Death Proof was. Other than having amazing special effects, a faboulous handbasket of violence, and some talented actors... the soundtrack was amazing. Tarrantino usually has great soundtracks for his films(i.e Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, etc.) and Rodr...
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This is a great album. I don't care what you say. This is coming from someone who knows the back catalogue, not just Float On. I love Modest Mouse. Favorite band, in fact. And this album is still great. P.S. Downloading We Were Dead Now- I'm scared. Dashboard made me cry.
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I think I finally get Modest Mouse. For that last 18 months or so that I've owned Good News for People Who Love Bad News, I've thought of it as something that should have been released as a single. "The World at Large" and "Float On" are great songs and work together beautifully as the second one seems to answer the first (that first drum fill in "Float On" is a powerful moment). But then th...
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so i caught modest mouse perform a very tight set with johnny marr last week and was thoroughly impressed. i had liked certain selections of modest before but hearing them live put them on a different level. for instance, i didn't have much connection to the 'ocean breathes salty' but after last week, i kept hearing it repeatedly in my head. sometimes when i listen to music, i think i'm focused...
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...and good riddance to it.Beware, folks. This could be a long one.So...that thing happened last night. You may have caught it on the news. Some black guy won something-or-other in some country. I know. Kinda crazy, right?So, about a month ago I outted myself as a racist on my girl Charles' mog.Sorry, this isn't quite coming together the way I planned. It's sort of like...where to start?T...
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I put this together in a flash, inspired by an interaction with one of my new roommates...and making it even MORE challenging, my sound card died today on my PC...so I did this with no audio at all...haha...hopefully it flows ok...we shall seeThe minutia that people get bogged down by...I mean for THE LOVE OF GOD. I don't feel like retelling the whole tale, but sometimes I am left wondering wha...
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It was twelve or so hours after submitting this post that I finally came to. I hadn't been to sleep, and I hadn't blacked out, at least, I hadn't blacked out entirely: I still remembered what I had done, I just couldn't understand why. I was sixty miles from home doing eighty miles an hour with a streak of blood colored vomit plastered down the driver's side and a small pond on the passenge...
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I really enjoy how MOG TV finds homemade music videos for songs that don't have legitimate, artist-made videos. This is an excellent exampleAnd I think that video adequately serves to balance out this atrocity
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This is a great album. I don't care what you say. This is coming from someone who knows the back catalogue, not just Float On. I love Modest Mouse. Favorite band, in fact. And this album is still great. P.S. Downloading We Were Dead Now- I'm scared. Dashboard made me cry.
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So I've hit the last of my birthdays in the 30's, and having trouble finding the right song for the day. I am enjoying a leisurely day though. I don't know any specific lyrical quotes for age 39 but I think "Float On" may be the right mood with which to start my year.
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so i caught modest mouse perform a very tight set with johnny marr last week and was thoroughly impressed. i had liked certain selections of modest before but hearing them live put them on a different level. for instance, i didn't have much connection to the 'ocean breathes salty' but after last week, i kept hearing it repeatedly in my head. sometimes when i listen to music, i think i'm focused...
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Yeah, so I gave the whole point of this post away in the title. But who cares.I am going to see Modest Mouse a week on Monday and I am excited! And I am sure that every Modest Mouse song has been posted on here before, but who cares!
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"The ocean breathes salty, wont you carry it in?In your head, in your mouth, in your soul.The more we move ahead the more we’re stuck in rewind.Well I don’t mind. I don’t mind. How the hell could I mind?Well that is that and this is this.You tell me what you want and I’ll tell you what you get.You get away from me."--??"Ocean Breathes Salty"?? by Modest Mouse
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i just sped up the song a little, hope you like it :).
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So I really wanted to get one done and I went to the Lone Wolf Tattoo shop, where I had got my previous piercings, to get it done. The lady said that I had really dainty ears and that even though the barbell doesn't feel heavy in your hands, on the cartialage it's really heavy. And as a result you can get a collapsed ear, I looked up pictures, it's gross....So, I was sad but then I listened to ...
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So I just saw the movie Grindhouse and man things have since come into mind. I won't gush too much on how amazing Planet Terror was and how "good" Death Proof was. Other than having amazing special effects, a faboulous handbasket of violence, and some talented actors... the soundtrack was amazing. Tarrantino usually has great soundtracks for his films(i.e Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, etc.) and Rodr...
More >
I've never listened to Modest Mouse. No reason why, just never did.Then I heard the album "good news for people who love bad news" and now I'm obsessed. I listen to this cd religiously. I can't get enough.Shout outs the the songs:Satin in a coffinBukowskiBury me with itbut all the rest pretty much rock too.LISTEN TO MODEST MOUSE.
More >
I think I finally get Modest Mouse. For that last 18 months or so that I've owned Good News for People Who Love Bad News, I've thought of it as something that should have been released as a single. "The World at Large" and "Float On" are great songs and work together beautifully as the second one seems to answer the first (that first drum fill in "Float On" is a powerful moment). But then th...
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Horn Intro |
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| 2 The World at Large |
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| 3 Float On |
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| 4 Ocean Breathes Salty |
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| 5 Dig Your Grave |
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| 6 Bury Me with It |
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| 7 Dance Hall |
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| 8 Bukowski |
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| 9 This Devil's Workday |
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| 10 The View |
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| 11 Satin in a Coffin |
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| 12 Interlude (Milo) |
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| 13 Blame It on the Tetons |
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| 14 Black Cadillacs |
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| 15 One Chance |
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| 16 The Good Times Are Killing Me |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Good News for People Who Love Bad News")
