Just watched a nice documentary on Pitchfork.tv about one of my favorite albums: Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West

“As an overview topic of what that record was about was, you know, kinda the dehumanizing of America and things, you know, which I think probably actually went towards making that not very interesting record to people over seas because of this pretty U.S. North America-centric…either that or they didn’t want some guy with an American accent and a lisp yelling at ‘em.” – Isaac Brock

By the way, that “Gardening for Dummies” book on Isaac’s bookshelf: totally rock’n'roll!

Modest Mouse – Baby Blue Sedan (Building Nothing Out of Something)

“Favorite”.. again. I would also like to link to two other days in this 30 Day Song Challenge: CYHSY (day 6), EITS (day 7).

The hot chick cover version (just by playing this song, she goes from a 9 to a 10.. :)

The album version (with a beautiful fan video)

Check the other songs in this series: 30 Day Song Challenge (info about this challenge: FB page)

Modest Mouse – Broke / Float On

2 songs, from the same band. The first one is a healthy portion of self-criticism (see also: How Broke Can Be Good). The second song is an ever healthier portion of optimism. It was also the song that made me discover the band that somewhat changed my life (in 2004-2005).

Float On (you’ll find Broke in this blog post)

Check the other songs in this series: 30 Day Song Challenge (info about this challenge: FB page)

Broke a promise cause my car broke down
Such a classic excuse it should be bronze by now

My past week in music:

• blink-182 – Take Off Your Pants And Jacket: a real classic (for me): I got into blink-182 when I was 14, and since then this album has been around to cheer me up. Best track: Anthem Part 2!
• Modest Mouse – Building Nothing Out of Something: this is one of my all time favorites. A bit weird, considering it’s a compilation album with all their early stuff. It also lacks in “5 star material”, but today I actually gave one the tracks a serious bump in my iTunes ratings system: Broke jumped from 2.5* to 4.5* (so it joined the league of the 5* candidates). Please, please!, enjoy Broke at the bottom of this post.
• Handsome Furs – Plague Park: their best album. I like Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs best when they take it slow to explode at the exact right moments. Something Dan Boeckner clearly does not agree upon; case and point: Wolf Parade – :Expo 86: and Handsome Furs – :Face Control:.
• Titus Andronicus – The Monitor: my top album of 2010! Well built songs with great lyrics, has “anthem” written all over it!
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: this album camped in my CD player for about 2 months straight when it was released (in 2005). It was the year I discovered indie music and CYHSY certainly was one of the defining bands.. till this day I still get pulled in a nostalgic singalong mood when I put this record on :)