sometime friday night, after arcade fire, and after post-arcade fire drinks - i found myself in a car (with a sober driver, thankyouverymuch) headed towards greenpoint listening to the new modest mouse. i think i remember people in the car complaining about it, but at the same time not changing it. i thought it was the perfect driving music. i felt like we were on a roadtrip. if i had been at the wheel, we would have been on our way to graceland.
sadly, the destination of this road trip came way too soon - and went by the name of "studio b". i lasted about 10 minutes in that place. seriously the most annoying clientele, music and overall "vibe". i will never go back (except for the thermals on march 5th. yay thermals!).
here's a song from the new MM album:
dashboard.mp3 - modest mouse
while i'm really enjoying the new album, i find that they - and many of the bands i loved all those years ago - have steadily turned out new music that is nowhere as good as their old stuff. seriously, i can NAME NAMES: death cab for cutie, the hold steady, the decemberists, yeah yeah yeahs...and i'd hate to say it, but even my precious thermals. while i enjoy all of the above artists newer albums (some more than others) - they are nothing in comparison to their early creations. maybe it's the nature of music and the industry. maybe you take more chances when you've got nothing to lose. maybe they're just burned out. but seriously, this happens a lot.
you know who continuously makes good music though? radiohead and arcade fire.
I'd like to respectfully comment on your weblog to disagree about The Decemberists. The Crane Wife is OMG Magnificent!!! I had pretty much lost interest in their sound until I finally listened to The Crane Wife. Now I can hardly put it down. In short, The Crane Wife made me want to renew my vows with that band. I propose you give it another try!
Posted by: Too-frequent Commenter | February 20, 2007 at 05:23 PM
and i respectfully disagree about both the thermals (their latest is absolutely their best) and radiohead (seriously? i can't believe people are still paying attention). you are dead on about death cab though.
Posted by: cat | February 21, 2007 at 06:36 PM
Radiohead?
I disagree. They were good.
Not anymore.
Posted by: Muentzer | February 28, 2007 at 11:47 PM
Thank you SO much!
Posted by: Hana | March 07, 2007 at 08:15 AM