OK, so I'm a newbie. I've been a fan since September after a friend recommended
Lonesome Crowded West, only bought The Lonesome Crowded West used, only borrowed This
Is A Long Drive from said friend, and never seen them live (since I live in Los
Angeles and they haven't come down since the first time I heard them). I LOVE Isaac's
voice and can't come down off of those groovy drums (especially on Trucker's Atlas).
This is obviously a brilliant, fresh-thinking, original band, and I need to get into
them more.
I haven't been doing a lot of this stuff, like buying EPs, singles (you know, stuff
w/only 2 to 5 songs on it), for ANY band (generally thought it was a waste of money),
but I think I might have to start doing that if it's quality music, and I KNOW this
band has some quality music. I'm just starting to do it for my latest obsession, They
Might Be Giants, and I might have to start here too. (Just wondering if anyone else
here loves TMBG, or Soul Coughing, or Ani DiFranco; if so, contact me, I'd like some
internet pals.)
I DID, in fact, notice that the topic of recent discussion was our favorite and/or
least favorite songs by MM, so I'm going to put in my seven cents, since other
people's thoughts aren't as valuable as mine, plus that damn California sales tax
(j/k) :) ......
MY FAVORITE SONGS
"Dramamine" - Love those twangy harmonics, the lyrics are dreamy, the harmony between
bass (or is it guitar?) and another guitar is just seamless, and that ending with that
goddamn backwards violin and the weird-time-signature drums is just bloody genius. I
fall into a state of hallucination everytime this song comes on, and when it ends, I
come out, awakened, jolting, wanting more. Ain't it the way with addiction? (Not that
I would know from experience, unless you count Dr. Pepper...)
"Truckers Atlas" - Eleven minutes, yeah! Length figures largely on my favorite music
(except They Might Be Giants, who don't have a single song longer than 4:22).
Especially REPETITIVE length. This song is just great. Anyone who likes this song has
got to be a fan of Phillip Glass, like me. The slow-building (it barely builds,
actually) instrumental part with the reverberated sound-bites is lovely. And those
beginning drums are a work of art.
"Lounge (Closing Time)" - "It's closing time... It's cloohh-oh-o-sing... it's closing
time..." My favorite moments of any Modest Mouse song are at the end of this one. And
one of my fave Modest Mouse lyrics ("I would like to steal your digits") comes from
this song. I also love the idea of doing music that has a few parts, most (or in this
song, all but one) of which never repeat and sometimes just continue until the most
unexpected ending comes.
"Exit Does Not Exist" - This song starts with a grain of sand, builds to a sand-castle
- no, a sand PALACE - that takes up hundreds of acres, complete with a moat, a
drawbridge, 800 rooms, towers, and a million man army, and ends with a meteor just
demolishing the whole goddamn thing, even the army. It rocks, rocks, and rocks some
more. 'Nuff said. Oh, and as Novocain Stain mentioned, that line about the photo is
cool too.
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS
"Breakthrough" - This is not to say that this is a bad song. I like it. It's just one
of my least favorites, because he sounds like Brak from Cartoon Planet (Space
Ghost...you know...has anyone seen that stuff?) on the chorus. I actually like Brak,
anyway, but it doesn't fit with the song.
"Jesus Christ Was An Only Child" - HATE this song. HATE it. HATE it with a VENGANCE.
The guitar, Isaac's whining, the fiddle, the stupid lyrics... I just hate it. That's
it. Hate. (Did I say hate?)
"Out of Gas" - I would like it alright, except "Heart Cooks Brain" is eons and
millenia better (plus it has the same chords as said song, so it loses credibility in
my originality book).
OK, so I'm writing several volumes here (exaggeration), but I don't regret it, I like
saying my opinions. Don't forget, if you're a TMBG, Ani Difranco, or Soul Coughing
fan, ring me up. I'd actually prefer you email me at [EMAIL PROTECTED], which is where
I'll probably (mostly) be posting the rest of my messages, so there. Thanks!
"and i should be allowed to blurt the merest idea if, by random whim, one occurs to
me..." - John Linnell, "I Should Be Allowed To Think"
- spencer
