Fresh off the underground success of The Lonesome Crowded West (and a major record label deal), Modest Mouse set out to create their obvious opus, The Moon & Antarctica. Not only would it be their last great record, but it would ruin them forever.

"Everything that keeps me together is falling apart"

The 3rd Planet

    Before Modest Mouse released their Epic Records debut, they were nothing but an indie rock band from the Seattle, Washington area, which was still mourning the dying (dead) grunge scene of the early 90s. They had released their landmark record The Lonesome Crowded West just two years before they began recording their third studio album. Although most people you ask may argue that TLCW is their best record to date, I am a firm believer that the group matured just enough by '99 to record their obvious opus: The Moon & Antarctica. 

    With cuts like "Cowboy Dan," and "Doing The Cockroach," it's awfully hard to go wrong with TLCW. Isaac Brock was tired of the corporate BS and he wanted you to know it! He was angsty, he was frustrated, and he could *actually* play the guitar like a motherfucking riot, perhaps unlike his mainstream contemporaries. The opening riff to the seven-minute opener, "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine," makes your skin crawl, worse than a chalkboard being scraped. It was clear that their sound was still developing. Although their debut had its abrasive moments, it was largely a midwestern emo-esque record with a dreary, gray skies atmosphere. TLCW expanded on this, but in a far harsher way. It was filled to the brim with Isaac Brock's now-iconic howling and screaming. For some, it's tough to listen to. Others enjoy the rawness. I find myself to be in the middle of the road. I love his voice, I love the instrumentals, I think they're both great, but the music is missing just a little bit of polish. However, I do know that too much polish ruins their music, as everyone knows based on everything they've released post-Good News (I think it works on Good News). This perfect balance of polish and rawness is, in my opinion, achieved on their third record.

    There were rumors that the band would sell out and ruin their sound after signing to Epic, but thankfully they didn't do that for another record or two. To be fair, though, they have a drastically different sound on this one. It's more spacey, it's far more psychedelic, the emo influences are largely gone, and it's generally a more artsy record than what was expected of them at the time, I'm sure. The progression of their records is comparable to Built To Spill's, which had finally achieved that perfect balance of artsiness and rawness on their third album Perfect From Now On. Considering the obvious influence of BTS on the Mouse and this photograph of Isaac Brock, it is an apt comparison to make, especially since the similarities between the two albums are undeniable. Anyway, the instrumentals are considerably more layered and have the whole "ear-candy" thing going on for them. It's lush. I'm not entirely sure how I would describe the sound but I would describe the predecessing soundscapes as being relatively empty, especially on Long Drive. The most concise way of describing it is by calling it "dry." The effects, aside from distortion, are not heavy whatsoever. It is incredibly "tight," in that it has nowhere to go but the ears of a listener. There's a decent amount of layering going on, but nothing quite like what they would do past TLCW. The same sort of sound is still there on the second album, mostly on the Phil Ek recorded tracks (1, 6, 7), interestingly, but the big difference is that the production is grating and rough, like sandpaper (in a good way). This trend doesn't really continue on The Moon & Antarctica. It is layered, complex, and a hell of a lot more polished.

The First Act

    My introduction to Modest Mouse was "3rd Planet." I had found 4chan board /mu/'s essential records chart in 2020 and decided it was time to expand my music taste beyond the 90's alt-rock I had indulged so heavily in during my freshman year of high school. I prematurely decided that music was my passion after playing the guitar for 6 months, and, lo and behold, I was right! One of the first records I decided to listen to was The Moon & Antarctica. I knew from the ringing notes in the intro of that first track that I was in for a treat. I knew I was about to listen to something unlike anything I had ever heard before, and I still feel that way to this day, over two years later. Something about that first track resonated so deeply with my 15-year-old brain; understandable given my disposition at the time. I was isolated, my first year of high school cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was longing for human connection. The title of the record suggests the two most isolated and lonely places known to man, and my bedroom felt like a close third. "3rd Planet" seems to tell the story of a miscarriage, and while I cannot relate to such a story, the message of losing someone and feeling lost and "finding blind spots" was something that resonated deep inside of me. I was going to attend a boarding school in the fall, leave behind all of my friends, and be pushed into an environment I was not comfortable in. I was feeling all of the above. The first five tracks of the record, what I consider the first act, are generally upbeat instrumentally yet lyrically deal with harsh topics like mortality and loss, as well as the idea of coming to terms with who you are, however frustrating such a journey might be. These ideas continue throughout the rest of the record.

The Second Act

    The second act begins with track 6: "A Different City." It's a sprawling, chaotic guitar-driven track with lots of yelling. It follows the loud-quiet-loud formula, with the choruses(?) being noisy and rough, and the verses being pretty toned down, and even lonely-sounding. Remember how I said Long Drive had this dreary, gray-skies atmosphere? It comes back here in the second act. While I would consider tracks like 3rd Planet to depict a sunny day (), this second act brings back that lonely isolating atmosphere found on the first record, although it is far more layered on this album. Isaac Brock really went all out on the overdubs. From "A Different City" to "The Stars Are Projectors," the general feeling of the music leaves you caught on a rainy day, with no signs of the precipitation stopping. It all comes to a head on that latter track, though, when the rain becomes a full-blown storm and explodes everywhere.  It's all over by "Wild Pack Of Family Dogs," which is a stripped-down, calmer track than the others before it.  The storm has finally run out of rain, concluding the second act of the record.

The Third Act

    The final act of The Moon & Antarctica begins with "Paper Thin Walls," a fast-paced song in which Isaac Brock confronts mortality (a topic known all too well to Modest Mouse fans). Compared to the rest of the album, the third part maintains a brash sound, especially in "I Came As A Rat" and the closer "What People Are Made Of." "Life Like Weeds" meshes well with the proggy indie rock on the second part of the record, but it really does read like a closer. That's a big thing on this part of the album, it feels like it's a long, drawn-out ending.  I cannot listen to any of the songs in this part without listening to the whole thing, and I think that's great. Although the third act maintains the sense of chaos found in the second act, it amps it up to ten at the sake of losing the atmosphere. That isn't to say that the loss of atmosphere is a bad thing, it's just different. The record closes in chaos, somewhat reminiscent of what The Lonesome Crowded West was doing. Still, there's something different about what they did on this track. I think the production of TM&A with the sound of its successor would have made for a very interesting album, but it wouldn't be very Modest Mouse, would it? Anyway, the third act is one of the best runs in Modest Mouse history and deserves a lot more attention.

TM&A

    Without a doubt, this is the greatest album of all time. Undeniably. Hands down. Whew. 

    

Selected Listening:

The Bends was Radiohead's first masterwork– and the perfect Britpop record. Consumerism, depression, and overnight fame seem like common topics for Radiohead at this point, but all they had in 1995 was the promising yet shallow Pablo Honey.

"She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyrene man"

Decompression Sickness

   Believe it or not, there was a time when I did not really like Radiohead. I know, how can someone be a music nerd and not love Radiohead? There's a reason OK Computer has a 4.25 on RateYourMusic (not to mention the #1 album of all time), but for the longest time I thought it was idiotic. Don't get it twisted, I thought they were great musicians, but I couldn't stand the fact that they were held so highly. I didn't get what was so special about OKC, I didn't understand why Kid A was the greatest left turn in music history, and I really didn't get why Pitchfork gave like 4 of their albums a perfect 10. I didn't always feel this way though. When I was first getting into RYM-core stuff, ITAOTS and OKC were constantly in my rotation. Something about Radiohead was so crazy to me, since I had only heard "Creep" before then. I thought they were a mystical creature, and OK Computer was a crazy piece of music. I quickly moved on from it after discovering Modest Mouse (more on that at a later date), though, and ever since I haven't really enjoyed Radiohead too much. Until recently. A few months ago, maybe April, I decided to take a listen to that stupid 1997 album again, and I finally decided that Radiohead is worth my time. I've thought Kid A was a solid record for a while, but this cemented the group's legacy in my head. I had hated on them for so long, but now I finally understand. Yeah, sure, I think it's still a bit overrated but I get why people would think this is the best album of all time. Definitely in my top 20. Anyway, this post isn't about that album. It's time to talk about The Bends. 

    I can't say that The Bends is forgotten or underrated because if we're being honest, nothing in Radiohead's discography is underrated. Shit on any album of theirs and plenty of people will come crawling to defend it. But I will say that I misunderstood it. I always liked a few of the tracks off of it, like "High and Dry" and "Just," but it never really stood out to me or resonated with me in any way. It was, to me, what Coldplay was doing in 2000, which I liked well enough but didn't care for. It wasn't crazy, it was just there. I didn't get it.  Like I said, I've been listening to a lot of OK Computer so I decided to give another album a try. I listened through it again a few nights ago, after it being 2 years since I listened through it all the way. And guess what. I get it now. I really do get it now. I know, I'm about 27 years too late, but I finally understand what it is about The Bends. The guitars and the overdubs and the drums and the bass-lines and the song writing and every single thing about The Bends is masterful and connects in such a beautiful way. Something about every single one of those tracks hits me deep in my soul like nothing else has ever done. I can't believe I'm saying this about a Radiohead album. Freshman year me would be so ashamed. This album's tracks just join together as a whole so perfectly. Not to say that that the unnamed 1997 album doesn't come together, because it most certainly does, but it's just different on The Bends. It's a perfect journey. It's like experiencing a part of yourself that you've never known before. It is ego death. It is realizing that you are not who you think you are.

    My thing with OK Computer (there I go) is that I feel like the group dives too deep into the whole "I hate technology and I'm going to kill myself" (me too) thing that it just comes off as pretentious and rage-inducing. As much as I love that album I would be lying if it doesn't frustrate me sometimes. It's like Father John Misty's Pure Comedy, which is an album I can only listen to at certain times. It feels like I'm being preached to. As wonderful as that record is, I just cannot stand it. It makes me too angry. OK Computer is the same way, but it just makes me angry in a different way. I get tired of hearing Thom Yorke's welping and crying and I feel bad for saying that because he's been going through it for the last 30 years of his life but I'll be damned if it isn't true. I just feel like the depression and anti-consumerism are both at a pretty good level on this record, a level where I'm not feeling like I'm drowned in it. It's good, it's nice, I dig it. It just hits a balance that everything else I've listened to fails to hit. It strikes something inside of me, and that means it's good. The way the tremolo hits on "Planet Telex," the way Thom's falsetto lulls on "Fake Plastic Trees," Jonny Greenwood's guitar on "Just," the opening riff of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," everything. I could go on and on and on about how wonderful this album is and how it just connects perfectly. From point A to point B to point C and so on. Everything is perfect. Every single note feels like it matters. This album is a beautiful, and perhaps the most beautiful, record from Radiohead's discography. And I have no clue how they did it.

Selected Listening: