Here's one for the makers of dilemmas:
Damn this hurricane is fucking slow. Wind and rain. They say flooding...I do see a few puddles the size of my foot. We still have power, internet, phone, but I guess some other people aren't as lucky. Quite boring during a hurricane - I might start working on hw just to pass the time.
Oh yeah, and then Ivan is coming to fuck our shit up also, in a few days. I think I've had enough of Florida.
Regardless of the new wave of fans, pre-"Good News..." Modest Mouse is still amazing and quite memorable. No, I'm not saying that Good News For People Who Love Bad News is bad....quite on the contrary. It's a good release. But in terms of the vastness of Mouse's previous material, it just doesn't hold as much weight in the overall scheme of things. And then of course you have the people who say, "man you're lame...you don't like a band anymore just cause they're getting big?" People who say things like that just wouldn't understand I guess (and I still do love them just as much actually). It's all about how once an album such as this is released, and then the radio/MTV/rest of the mega-music industry says it's now "OK" to like this band that people will then start to listen and appreciate an underground indie band. Unfortunately, to say that these new people who claim that they love Modest Mouse after hearing a single song (Float On) could actually appreciate them for all of their worth is quite a stretch, and so far seems like an impossibility. You talk to these kids about other Modest Mouse material, such as The Lonesome Crowded West, etc. and they are dumbfounded that this is not actually a brand new band, and that there is so much more out there by them. Ok, some (in reality a lot) people discover bands from the radio, but to only go as far as this initial discovery, is pretty shallow. If you're content to only live your life by the miniscule proportions of material (in various forms) that the mass media feeds you, then don't question me as to why I don't have respect for people like that. This goes beyond music. News, movies, art, whatever your fancy....it's all out there. It's not always in the open and easily-accesible, but if you're as interested and open-minded as you claim to be, you'll look for more. The amount and quality of talent out there thriving in the indepedent scene is wonderful. I suppose for people like myself, when such a massive breakthrough occurs, (Modest Mouse for instance) a part of that independent sensibility that makes it so unique and wonderful becomes tainted by the mainstream. Not because of the huge numbers of people now acknowledging the material, but the way in which they come to acknowledge and "appreciate" it.
For those of you who would like to experience what Modest Mouse is all about, then check some of this out (might as well just look into getting all their music though):
The Lonesome Crowded West - still one of my favorite albums by them, has quite a few memorable, sing-along type songs.
The Moon and Antarctica - probably one of the greatest albums in the past 6 years, in terms of its scope and production. A concept album that questions the ideas of God, life, death, the universe, and Isaac Brock's own place in all of it.
This Is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About - overall a great album. Dramamine, being one of my original favorites, is beautiful, in a forlorn and profound sort of way. As the title might imply, this is a slightly more slow-paced album, conjuring feelings of loneliness and personal insight.
The Fruit That Ate Itself - an EP, but at 8 songs could almost work as a full-length. First extensive use of electronics, forming the adhesive of the album on the untitled tracks (1,4, & 8).
Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks - an EP that includes some previous singles and alternatives from The Moon and Antarctica. "Night on the Sun" is a great, spralling, and quite lovely song. It does good at incorporating both the simplicity and intrigue of early Mouse and the more sophisticated production of The Moon and Antarctica+ days.
For those of you who enjoy Modest Mouse's earlier material, I'd like to see what you have to say about their various work.
And that is all I have to say about this for now.