A few big names released albums while I’ve been away the last couple months so here’s a brief recap:

Modest Mouse – No One’s First, and You’re Next

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Modest Mouse – The Whale Song

Any time a band as huge as Modest Mouse drops a new album there’s usually plenty of fanfare and press to go around, but this EP came out to relatively little attention.  But I suppose it’s easy to be dwarfed by new singles by Radiohead and Jay-Z and Kanye West, and the news of the Beatles remasters to be released on the 40th anniversary of their break-up. No One’s First and You’re Next is definitely worth checking out if you were a fan of the last two productions.  Although the EP is made up of songs that didn’t fit on those albums thematically, the sound is consistent and it’s generally easy to see which songs came from which session.

There’s nothing bad on here, in fact the quality of songwriting is very high, with none of the self-indulgent repetition that afflicted this band’s outtakes and studio sessions in their early years. It’s not cohesive from one song to the next, but you shouldn’t expect it to be since it wasn’t recorded with a theme in mind. This eclecticism goes a long way to making the record feel more lightweight than the slightly overwrought Modest Mouse that appeared on the last two albums. It’ll be fun to see whether they can grow without heavy guitars in the same way The Flaming Lips did in their second decade.

Read the rest…

Photo credit: Courtney Campbell

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Mimicking Birds – Home and somewhere else

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Japanese Motors – Bummin’ Out

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

MP3: Modest Mouse – Doin’ the Cockroach (Live)

Odds are if you were at Rams Head on Thursday you were there for Modest Mouse (Wiki), who are admittedly one of the best bands of our time.  In fact, I was recently debating with a friend whether “Float On” might not be the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” of indie rock–the song that really introduced the genre into the popular consciousness. 

But knowing that frontman Isaac Brock previously worked as a talent scout for Sub Pop records and was actually the driving force behind their signing Iron & Wine and The Shins (surprisingly that honor dosen’t belong to Zach Braff) had me wondering what kind of bands the mighty Mouse would tour with.  Mimicking Birds and Japanese Motors were both complete unknowns to me prior to this tour, so I went in with an open mind and not much else.

Read the rest…