Modest Mouse – Shit Luck.

I have to admit I was only dimly aware of Modest Mouse before last year’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News and once I had heard I looked back on the days of ignorance with a teary-eyed fondness. That was until I heard their 1997 album The Lonesome Crowded West.

The album veers from describing Jesus pissing off God by having a drink to a bluegrass backing (on Jesus Christ Was An Only Child) to howls of desperation set to violent, brutal guitars (on today’s track).

Modest Mouse were formed in 1993 by frontman Isaac Brock and rapidly ran into trouble. The first album they recorded was shelved (it was later released as Sad Sappy Sucker) and Brock took the unusual step of releasing his songs by phone. Every day he would record a new song as his answering machine message and fans would, according to legend, ring up and listen. With such PR savvy tactics Modest Mouse’s international fame was but a short decade away.

Once they did get to make proper records they didn’t hang around. In 1996 they released their debut, This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, followed in 1997 by The Lonesome Crowded West and the Fruit That Ate Itself EP. The speed of release perhaps explaining the lax editorial control of album titles.


Modest Mouse – Shit Luck

Buy The Lonesome Crowded West

Download more Modest Mouse 1997 action