| · Their sixth studio album features guest appearances by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and The Flaming Lips.
First a confession. I was never a big fan of Modest Mouse. I always listened with passing indifference to their albums, and while I love the song "All Night Diner" and respect 1997’s Lonesome Crowded West, I never got into them. To my ear they always sounded like a more oblique, prog version of Weezer. They only ever wrote two songs – they just played them over and over with different arrangements and lyrics (I prefer the one that goes chunk-chunka-chunk). This mindset was further confirmed when I was bored senseless by their live show. I only bring this up to make the point that I really did give them a fair shake – hell, I own four of their albums.
That said, I really like their latest effort, Good News For People Who Love Bad News. For whatever reason, I think the Modest Mouse formula works on this record better than it ever has before (does this mean that hardcore fans are going to hate it?). All the classic Mousey elements are present – muttered rambling and jerking guitar at a loping pace – but instead of my brow furrowing in disdain, I found myself smiling.
‘The Good Times Are Killing Me" not only features Issac Brock’s low-self-esteem croon, but oddball instrumentation backed by swelling strings and The Flaming Lips. And while "The World At Large" and "Float On" aren’t aided by Dave Friedman and Co., Brock and the boys certainly take a few well-advised cues.
Best of all, the album sounds great. The usually clunky guitar solos burn with just a hint of distortion and some judicious use of the delay pedal adds to the atmospheric nature of their moodier numbers. The layered vocals play off each other or calliope-like keyboard lines to great effect. The vocals are mixed just right so that you can appreciate everything Brock is saying (and when he yells "I just don’t need none of that Mad Max bullshit" I dare you not to smile.) Don’t get me wrong, they still play the same two songs over and over, they just sound a whole lot better. In fact, on the first half of the record they sound downright fantastic. The album fades a bit as it progresses, as though the material was stretched too thin, but there is almost nothing to criticize in the first seven songs. In that respect the new album is much like the last Radiohead outing – they don’t do anything new, they just do it as well or better than they ever did in the past.
Then again, maybe after all this time I finally get it.
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