these mice

"oh the dashboard melted, but we still have the radio." from dashboard.

"as life gets longer, awful feels softer, well it feels pretty soft to me." from the view.

"while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now, i was knocking on your ears door but you were always out." from missed the boat.

"you wasted life, why wouldn't you waste death." from ocean breathes salty.

"i wasn't always cargo, i was once sort of my own." from florida.

"it honestly was beautifully bold, like trying to save an ice cube from the cold." from fire it up.




modest mouse. they've been growing on me for several years now, they're probably up there with pavement, flaming lips, pixies, and beck, on my list-of-bands-i-wish-i-started (or at the very least, see live.)

definitely not blind, these mice see a lot; they see the world and all the crumbs scattered around it. they write about the present state of its degradation, our deteriorating social/environmental/political climate, and the bleak future we're all headed to.

they are overly critical and justifiably pessimistic. the wit they possess allows them to creatively present these social ramblings without being boring and pretentious, tentative nor presumptuous

the hot day today made me think about modest mouse, mainly because i recall many of their songs that stab on global warming. some about the desalination of the oceans, some about how the polar caps will melt and we'll all just drown (or probably float around), and some simply tackled about how hot it is nowadays.

they really give us (humanity) little hope for redeeming ourselves, they often say that it's too late. although i think they sincerely want their messages to be heard, and the irony is that even if they feel there is little chance for us and our planet to be saved, they still give it a tiny bit of possibility deep inside.

these guys deliver well, not only with the messages they wish to convey but more effectively with their addictive audio concoction. each song, through the attention-grabbing vocals, gritty and twangy guitars, the talkative bass lines, and the wide assortment of beats, hooks, and banging, simply commands the audience to listen.

isaac brock is a genius singer, lyricist and guitarist. the sonic noise and delicious awfulness that the trio of brock, bassist eric judy, and drummer jeremiah green used to wield had a major lift when johnny marr (of the smiths) arrived in 2006 to replace dan galucci. although previous works with galucci were pretty good, marr added a better bittersweet taste to these mice.

together with tom peloso and joe plummer, the band completed its recipe for a beautiful vomit that you'd actually crave for even if you're not hungry. modest mouse is a multi-layered beast, brainy and stereo-worthy even after the world sorta ends.