Good News For People Who Love Bad News

This is the latest offering from Washington-based rock band, Modest Mouse. Modest Mouse has been really popular in the indie music scene for years, but this new album is the first to gain huge recognition and play time on MTV and the major commercial stations. Although this album is definitely more polished than earlier offerings like The Lonesome Crowded West (and less somber than The Moon & Antarctica), it's still worth checking out if you play rock. The use of a tin whistle, banjo, fiddle and various brass instruments (compliments of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band) is a nice addition to some tracks. Unfortunately, some of the best tracks on this album have FCC violations (8,10,14), but my picks among the clean tracks are 2,3,4,15.

1. 10 seconds - horn intro to track 2
2. slower-midpaced song with pretty tin whistle and piano
3. more upbeat, midpaced song. This is the album's current big single, so be aware it's already getting a lot of playtime on the commercial stations
4. midpaced, catchy song, fairly upbeat even though it's largely about death
5. 13 seconds - short ukulele instrumental
6. FCC - harder, midpaced song, most reminiscent of The Lonesome Crowded West
7. FCC - midpaced song with lower, huskier lyrics, repetitive
8. FCC - good, simple, midpaced song, nice use of banjo, about the writer Charles Bukowski (and God)
9. sounds a lot like a Tom Waits song, low, huskier lyrics, prominent use of trumpet
10. FCC - faster song, includes acoustic instrumentation and a section with distorted vocals
11. midpaced, has a slight bluegrass feel, nice use of organ
12. 58 seconds - pretty organ instrumental
13. slower, quieter, downbeat song, nice use of piano and fiddle
14. FCC - faster, harder song, sounds like The Clash
15. slower midpaced song, starts quietly, but gets a bit harder later in the song
16. FCC - slower, pretty tin whistle, somewhat repetitive