[seanshelton]

Modest Mouse

Issaquah, WA, indie rock trio Modest Mouse was formed in 1993 by vocalist/guitarist Isaac Brock, bassist Eric Judy, and drummer Jeremiah Green. After honing their muscular sound in "The Shed" -- a makeshift practice space built by Brock on the land next to his mother's trailer -- Modest Mouse entered Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios to cut their 1994 self-titled debut single, released on Johnson's K Records label. Following a move to the Up label, the trio issued two 1996 LPs, This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About and Interstate 8. After returning to K, Modest Mouse released The Fruit That Ate Itself in 1997; its follow-up from later that year, The Lonesome Crowded West, was the band's breakthrough, and in the wake of a major-label bidding war, they signed to Sony. The rarities collection Building Nothing out of Something appeared on Up in early 2000, followed later that year by their long-awaited Epic debut, The Moon & Antarctica. In 2001, the band issued the Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks EP and K released Sad Sappy Sucker, a "lost album" that was intended to be the group's full-length debut back in 1994. Brock kept busy with his Ugly Casanova side project, which delivered Sharpen Your Teeth in 2002. Modest Mouse finally returned in 2004 with Good News for People Who Love Bad News, their best-received record and a Top 40 hit as well. For their next record, Brock enlisted the help of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who not only added his songwriting and playing skills to We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank -- which was released in early 2007 -- but also toured with the band as a member. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

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We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Released: March, 20, 2007
Record Label: Epic
Peak Position: The Billboard 200 #1 on April 07, 2007

Album Review

Now that Modest Mouse have fully established themselves as a major-label indie rock band -- no longer an oxymoron! -- with the success of 2004's Good News for People Who Love Bad News (though they had actually been on Sony, through Epic, since 2000's The Moon & Antarctica), they face the difficult task of trying to follow up a mainstream hit while still retaining the adroit quirkiness that won them fans in the first place. Finding that space between "creativity" and "accessibility" is not easy, but the band (with help from Johnny Marr, among others) is probably as well, if not better, equipped as anyone to tackle the challenge. The first single, "Dashboard," is catchy and interesting, even a little off-kilter, but it's also completely radio-friendly, in that dancey Franz Ferdinand kind of way, and the album's opener, "March into the Sea," has great juxtaposition between Isaac Brock's maniacal Cookie Monster laugh and lighter accordion and string work. It's slightly unconventional, and has that raucous energy the band has thrived on, but it's also wholly understandable and approachable, and a lot of fun. Still, too often it seems as if Modest Mouse plays it safe on We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. James Mercer, the singer of the "life-changing" Garden State darlings the Shins, shows up three times on background vocals, and while on "Florida" this works well enough, "Missed the Boat" and "We've Got Everything" are among the weakest tracks on the record, too predictable, in that radio-indie-rock style, to do much more than just take up space. There's nothing overtly wrong with them (or the similarly boring "Education" or "People as Places as People") -- Brock's lyrics are as wackily introspective as ever -- but the band had never just gotten by on being nice-sounding and unmemorable. It's not that Modest Mouse has lost it, or sold out; tracks like "Parting of the Sensory" and "Fly Trapped in a Jar" combine digestible guitar lines and phrasing with a rawer intensity, and show that the group is indeed capable of moving innovate "indie" music to the mainstream ("someday you will die somehow and something's gonna steal your carbon," Brock sings ingeniously over pounding, swirling drums in a kind of postmodern chant in "Fly"), but overall, We Were Dead Before... has chosen the safer, more acceptable route over the more adventurous one. Modest Mouse is a talented bunch, and so the album still works, is still enjoyable. But because they've built themselves on pushing boundaries and traditional sounds, it's also a glaring representation of all they could do, but won't. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide

Directory of \

01. MARCH INTO THE SEA.MP3
02. DASHBOARD.MP3
03. FIRE IT UP.MP3
04. FLORIDA.MP3
05. PARTING OF THE SENSORY.MP3
06. MISSED THE BOAT.MP3
07. WE'VE GOT EVERYTHING.MP3
08. FLY TRAPPED IN A JAR.MP3
09. EDUCATION.MP3
10. LITTLE MOTEL.MP3
11. STEAM ENGENIUS.MP3
12. SPITTING VENOM.MP3
13. PEOPLE AS PLACES AS PEOPLE.MP3
14. INVISIBLE.MP3
WE WERE DEAD BEFORE THE SHIP EVEN SANK.M3U

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[waiting4smthg]

great band. i found some high school demos on some website, but i'm not sure where it is. but Modest Mouse has some great early albums (i.e. before they appealed more to mainstream)

[sting2324]

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To the Grave.