Music Review :: Modest Mouse - No One's First, and You're Next

Artist :: Modest Mouse
Album :: No One's First, and You're Next (EP)
Release :: 2009
Label :: Epic Records
Genre :: Indie Rock

I probably have more fond memories of Modest Mouse dating to when they were half the band they are today. Long before they were unlikely hit-makers, they were a weird vacation destination somewhere inbetween pervy post-grunge and the wontobulous world of Dr. Seuss, and a decade ago I was listening to "Never Ending Math Equation" in my car for the first time wondering what the hell was going on. What was this dude who's voice sounded like an off-key trumpet going on about, exactly? From there it was midnight shows, glorious weirdness, and that moment in 2004 when we all were left scratching our heads when "Float On" became an instant radio classic.

Being a permanent member of the thrift store Gestapo, I've seen a lot of bands be pronounced dead by the underground after a dramatic shift in what they were doing in favor of commercial success, but, with Modest Mouse it was different. With Modest Mouse, I think none of us really understand it. Isaac Brock is truly one of the least loveable front-men to ever live and America doesn't usually go in for chubby weirdos as hit musicians anymore. Like Guided By Voices before them, it seemed kinda obvious that Modest Mouse was going to be one of "our" bands forever.

Still, shit does happen, and after the assumed fluke that was "Float On" we saw "Dashboard" become another chart topper and the addition of Johnny Marr into the Mouse line-up (who post-Smiths had resigned himself to making crappy Oasis knock-off arena rock.) But hey, it couldn't have happened to a more creative group of total dickheads.

Quickly closing in on twenty years of THE MOUSE, the guys have slapped together a mess of songs that weren't good enough to be b-sides to anything on their last two major releases for their new kinda-compilation EP No One's First, and You're Next, and, from that description, you might have a guess as to how it sounds.

There's very little that matches up together here. From some very classic Modest Mouse-sounding guitar noodling in fits and starts of shouting through reverbed murkiness ("The Whale Song") to the gimmicky apocalyptic ragtime jazz that started to surface from time to time on We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank ("Perpetual Motion Machine.") The EP almost serves as a career retrospective that's told through unreleased material.

Coming in at 34 minutes long and about a track short of qualifying as a proper album, No One's is probably better suited for devout fans than casual Modest Mouse listeners. It'd be easy to say "There's probably a reason this stuff never got released!" ...but in truth it's just a nice little collection of extras. Nothing more. Nothing less. 3/5