Modest Mouse Lonesome Crowded West CD

Recorded In Seattle

Modest Mouse: Isaac Brock (guitar, vocals); Eric Judy (bass); Jeremiah Green (drums).
Additional personnel: Nicole Johnson, Chris Setton (vocals); Dann Gallucci, Scott Swayze (guitar); K.O, Brian Weber.
Producers: Calvin Johnson, Isaac Brock, Scott Swayze.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
Talk about original -- this band has something for just about everyone. They can do quiet, brooding acoustics like "Bankrupt on Selling," dark and pounding thrashers like "Cowboy Dan," funky jump-around emo like "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child" -- just about anything. Throughout the whole album is a white-trash feeling and a sort of down-to-earth analysis of the state of the world, without sounding pretentious. Give this album a listen and you can be sure that you will be singing the rambling, catchy, almost whiny vocals in no time. If you dig indie rock at its very best, go pick this album up. ~ Blake Butler
Though echoes of the Minutemen and Nirvana, along with slightly larger ensembles such as Pavement and Thrush Hermit can be heard, Modest Mouse puts an entirely new twist on the post-punk power trio concept. The band eschews the camouflage of noise, effects and attitude employed by many of their indie rock peers to create ironic distance. Instead, they strictly rely on inventive, surprising songwriting and low-key-but-committed performance to lay their claim as innovators and inheritors of the guitar-bass-drums tradition.
Even though Modest Mouse's stylistic variations (rock-funk, edgy, brittle pop) often reach back to the American underground boom of the early eighties where the band's roots lie, they are never less than forward-looking. THE LONESOME CROWDED WEST reveals Modest Mouse to be extraordinarily focused, as it fully realizes their vision of America as a vehicle for their surreal, sometimes oblique portraits of modern life. Melodic enough to be accessible but raw enough to keep things lively, the band has reached a high point in their career here.

Rolling Stone (2/5/98, pp.58-60) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...the trio uses anxious guitars and loping, lazy beats as the launching point for a richly sprawling sound that incorporates everything from aggro-punk to countrified guitar jams to Talking Heads-style art-funk grooves..."
Spin (2/98, p.108) - 8 (out of 10) - "...The music winds around itself--part indie howl, part strummy, stammering pop--creating a fleeting illusion that's almost as good as actually getting someplace..."