MM is really so far to be mainstream. You're talking shit. sorry.

Every time I think I hate a song, I listen to it again. Each time i do this, something is noticeable that was hidden before, and I start to change the way i feel. That, to me, is good song writing. I think the newer stuff takes more than one listen to reach it's potential. The story is deeper in the dig......

well that sucks for you. You arent a true fan if you dont like everything, sorry, but its the truth. Bands grow and evolve. I believe MM has been able to do this without compromising their originality and artistic integrity.

Honestly, MM doesn't apeal to the masses or even most people for that matter.
Some fans feel "Polar Opposite" of your liking old but not new & vice versa, it seems my friend that beauty is truly in the "Eye of the Beerholder"!
However I feel compeled not to mention obligated to voice my opinion on this subject.

If you listen to Modest Mouse regardless of the album or song that pulled you in to their "All Night Diner", it is perfectly logical that the musical arrangements were a large factor in your attraction & enjoyment. When you listen & fully appreciate the absolute prophetic genius of the lyrical content & delivery, which is consistent in every letter of every song no matter what order they are analyzed be it chronological or random. The wisdom of the writings is acceptible with 100% if it were simply a book on tape. That being said, I have been a fan from the begging to current day, & I have never been so completely satisfied with anything in my life let alone music . So I guess what I'm saying is if you feel the newer material in comparison to that which you like, then listen to the stuff you like & instead of spending your time criticizing their art which many enjoy, spend that time exploring new frontiers to find music that is appealing to your current liking. You will be much happier as a result!

(caps for enfisis) New and old dont really play in my choice in songs when im listeing to them what helped me get really into MM were those songs that seemed like you could find calmness surrounded by confusion and chaos songs that im talking about are ... cowboy dan 2:05 - 3:55 ... Teeth like gods shoeshine 1:50 - 3:00 ... WHALE SONG 2:55 - 4:22 ... DASHBOARD 2:17 - 2:42 ... Medication 1:55 - 3:15 ... black cadillacs 1:30 - 2:02 and verious other songs from all their albems i get so much out of just these parts of the songs and even the change in tone from somthing sad to happy or chaotic to mellow i seem to always take somthing new away from these parts everytime i hear them and then there are of course the songs that just hit right home like ... lives ... bukowski ... bankrupt on selling ... little motel ... and fire it up

so for me its not the age the albem or even the ppl in the band what hooks me on modest mouse are those songs that even after hearing it 100 times you register somthing else and take somthing else out of these songs

Their new stuff is not unoriginal if anything its very original you show me a band who has songs like modest mouse or who wrote songs that sound like the ones on their new album before modest mouse put it out. They are getting recognized more now that ever because the indie music scene is expanding and more people now than ever appreciate good music.

I can't really say i love their old stuff and the new stuff is shit, because I only started listening to the old stuff after i really got into the new stuff due to my father listening to it.

i started off with good news and we were dead... then got into the older stuff and ugly casanova...

i do prefer the older stuff, but that's probably only because i've listened the new stuff to death...

[i'm confused as to why nobody has mentioned his older stuff was written when brock was a pretty heavy meth/ inhalants/ whatever user]

if you don't like it don't listen. Modest Mouse is evolving and honestly Isaac Brock doesn't really give a f*** what his fans think. And that's great. That's what makes him a great artist. We were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank was an amazing album lyrically and musically. They haven't lost their sound - they have refined it. Besides a band has no obligation to the fans to sound any one way. Modest Mouse is awesome how it is. And if you were a true fan you'd know that.

I've been obsessed with their music since the mid 90's. I consider "Lonesome Crowded West", "Moon and Antarctica" to be the most epic albums of my life... Most of their other albums and EP's are not too far behind. It's not easy to be experimental and great that often. So if they achieved the fame I never thought they would see in a million years, and made 2 mainstream albums that I liked a lot but wasn't obsessed with... I won't hold it against them. I think the new EP is awsome and shows signs of returning to their original creative scope. A band that was so expeimantal in it's beginnings for its time, that was never supposed to make it big but did anyway needs to run its course. Isaac is a true musician and music lover... it's far from over.

They are trying to appeal to a larger crowd now. The problem is, Modest Mouse is a unique band and there is no way around it. No matter how hard they try to become more mainstream they will never quite pull it off. That's why there old stuff was better, Isaac didn't want to be in a big band, it's almost as if he didn't care what people thought of his music and he made whatever he wanted which was why it was so good.

its hard to explain but as they have excelled musically and become more complicated they kinda lost what made them modest mouse i still love there new music but they drifted away from that Seattle rock style that was very simple yet original its the reason that i only went to elliott smith shows when it was just elliott smith i love quasi as much as the next guy but it just added to the complexity of his music
i truly love isaacs voice and the style of guitar he plays but i hope he makes some kinda solo project or just guitar drums and bass the chances of that happening are slim so i guess ill just continue to love them

and ill leave you with a thought so your thoughts dont leave you

sorry about punctuation i just dont care for it

I liked their older albums, it sounds as though they're trying to update to fit the times, but there is something beautiful about what they had before. It's unfiltered love. <:3 )~ Mouse

You're so right. I completely agree. I have nothing against the new music and it still is better than half the crap out there, but I can't help but think they're starting to conform more. I don't mind whale song, and when they played it live it was awesome, but it still lacked the sort of effect that songs like trailer trash and bad weight give.

I managed to meet Eric, Tom and Jeremiah outside the shepherds bush gig and get my sad sappy sucker album signed. That was a great night.

I only pointed out that Moon & Antarctica was released a few minutes after MM signed to Epic because you were the one making such a big deal about how it was released when they were with Epic. My point was that maybe they still had some passion in them, despite being signed to Epic for thirteen minutes.

Creativity can certainly change once a band has "made it". Hardship and struggle are often inspiration for music. The stereotype that a band's sound changes after they "make it" exists for a reason. I honestly don't know if this is what happened to MM.

Many of the newer songs have the distinct MM sound, in same cases to the point of sounding derivative of their previous songs, but they simply don't appeal to me. As I said in my original post: I find the last few albums completely UNREMARKABLE. But maybe I've just moved on.

And maybe I'm biased because I continue to dig Radiohead's albums and maybe "every album" is an exaggeration, but there's definitely a huge difference in Radiohead's sound as they progress. And saying Radiohead writes "corporate sell out songs" makes me think you don't know much about "corporate sell out songs".

Anyway, I love lots of MM's music and I want to continue to love more of it, which is why I'm here. Don't try to dash my dreams by telling me this is all MM has in them.

How does conceiving their music before being on a major label have a difference on how the band sounds.

Creativity doesnt change if you have a major distributor, or if you dont. Its all based on whats inside isaacs head.

Epic engineers produced moon and Antarctica, Epic engineers produced No ones first. So you blaming the label for them sounding worse, doesnt make any sense. It's simply isaac not writing the same way he used to.

And your radiohead statement is false. Their first album is the only one that sounds different. All their other full lengths have the same electronic noise to it making it all seem like the same album. Kid a, amnesiac, in rainbows, all of those are the same. They havent reinvented themselves every album. They have just written the same corporate sell out songs that they wrote the album before.

Save 2 or 3 songs.

Favorite band. Love all your albums equally. Excellent progression from Long Drive to No One First. Keep up the good work. Don't let people criticism effect your music. Stay true to yourself, if they dig it, they dig it, if they don't they don't.

"I think that if you truely appreciate Modest Mouse's music, then youre going to love them no matter what."

That makes no sense at all. Liking a band is not like loving a spouse. When I decide that I like a band I don't like them UNCONDITIONALLY. They need to produce GOOD MUSIC, or at the very least music I connect with, for me to continue liking them.

"i choose to execpt it rather than b**** about it."

Another bit of nonsense. I can accept that Modest Mouse stopped making music that I enjoy listening to, but that doesn't mean that I can't express that opinion. Maybe you should stop "b****ing" about people expressing opinions.

"PLUS, they were on a major label well they came out with moon and antarctica. THE SAME DAMN LABEL THEY ARE ON NOW."

The *first* record on Epic. I'm willing to bet that almost every note on this album was conceived previous to signing with Epic, or at least it was written with the passion they had left in them from their indie days.

"We just have to accept that it's impossible for a great band to produce great music for a long period of time without changing their sound"

I don't at all agree with this. A band can change their sound, that's not the issue. Radiohead practically reinvents themselves with every album they release but they remain relevant and continue to produce AMAZING music.

Last thing I say is this... it's not really about "old" or "new" for me. There's some "old" stuff that I'm really not that into. So, maybe Modest Mouse is just very hit or miss for me. But Interstate 8, Fruit That..., Long Drive..., Lonesome Crowded..., Building Something..., and (some) Moon and Antarctica, all have something that is missing in most of their other albums. I'm not a huge fan of the old stuff released in Sad Sappy... or Everywhere... And I really just can't get into Good News..., and We Were Dead..., which all happens to be "new". When MM releases another album, I'll check it out, but I won't be expecting much.

That Modest Mouse's music may not sound as passionate as it used to, but that is because we've been listening to the older albums for longer. And sounds are bound to change, But in no way does this mean that Modest Mouse's music isn't passionate, it's just different. Personally like you I enjoy the first three full lengths more than anything else, but also I still like their new music. We just have to accept that it's impossible for a great band to produce great music for a long period of time without changing their sound. Modest Mouse still puts their passion into the music. It's just a different passion.

yeah man im with you. who the f*** wants the frontman in one of their favorite bandsto hate himself? tacky shit.

yeah...not only have i been disappointed in some of the new stuff...i was completely let down at their show in chicago last night...im not done with them by any means, but i am completely disappointed.

you're extremely stupid. He does have his own record label. Its called glacial pace.
Mimicking birds opened up last tour. THEY ARE GREAT! He did write an extremely long song (The Whale Song).
That song was just as instrumental and "nittygritty" as the moon and antarctica. PLUS, they were on a major label well they came out with moon and antarctica. THE SAME DAMN LABEL THEY ARE ON NOW. Why do you want Isaac to hate himself, do you want another kurt cobain. I do not want isaac to kill himself.

You are the kind of douchebag that doesnt even deserve to listen to music. All you care about is hearing the same thing over and over again.

that you feel that way about modest mouse's new stuff. and i'm sorry that you think that modest mouse was so good just because isaac brock was going through a rough patch. (i really don't want him to hate himself). isaac has merely moved on. if you get new band members, you're sound is bound to change. i choose to execpt it rather than b**** about it.

the new stuff sucks because isaac is a much happier, more comfortably-living individual.
he's stopped his heavy boozing, stage cutting, and general weirdness and replaced it with fruit punch and cupcakes. isaac and the long timer fans are sitting on a see-saw and we're not gonna be up until he's down again. i hope we piss him off into making gold again. we'll make him lose everything. we'll make him hate life, himself, music, and baby laughter.
he'll be reduced to a f***ing angry crusty old troll of a man.
(but don't worry, that's ok!)
he'll piss on every door,and break every mirror in his house, WHAT HOUSE?! he'll be in a ditch! he'll have nobody but his band. johnny marr ran away. his fans think he looks like a mix between oscar the grouch and jim cramer
(still, it's alright!)
only then, when he's his old self again, and being unhappy, and no one cares again,
then and only then will modest mouse return to making interesting music.

but seriously guys. did you stop jamming? are you just sitting in a studio looking at shitty catalogues and trying to make clean, office environment tunes? did you lose all your gritty opinions? play a little faster maybe, make a 20 second song. make a 20 minute song. start your own label so you don't have to worry about making execs happy. "meet" an uglier casanova. play stuff backwards. creepy laughs are cool. have an opener band that's actually hyping the crowd (sorry Love As Laughter) and play tiny-ass venues. all those sound like cliches, but so's your current game-plan, so there's no harm done.

and i don't believe in this "true fan" crap.
i can be a true fan and pathetically hold on to the past.
watch me.
every band has that group of people, and they hold an integral part in the fanbase dynamic.
i hope so. and if not. well, that's a shame.

I definitely listen to the older albums more because they just sound so raw. I honestly think the newer albums are such an awesome transition from the older stuff; they're changing their sound and at first some of it just wasn't clicking with me. I liked it, but it didn't make me go ape shit like some of they're other stuff. I'm namely talking about We Were Dead, but depending on time and place of the person listening to it different songs will click at different times. Lately I've been getting really hardcore into, maybe its a developed taste but I know whatever they make I'm going to get into because I'm a fan of they're work. The only band that I can say I give a shit about this day.

I think it's somewhat ironic that MM's newer fans absolutely LOVE the newer albums. I know plenty of people that love MM based on the last two albums and without listening to anything older.

That aside, I'm also a long time fan. The last two albums have not blown me away like the older ones have, especially the newer one. There are some really wonderful songs on the albums. But what is it? The band has DEFINITELY changed sounds, gotten new members, had life changing situations, and had just grown up. No, the music isn't what it was in the 90s, but there's still something there. Modest Mouse can still make incredibly unique music unheard of anywhere else. Their sound has evolved, and I think there's definitely something to appreciate there. The worst criticism would spring out of a band trying to recreate their best albums over and over again.

I think that if you truely appreciate Modest Mouse's music, then youre going to love them no matter what.
Times are changing and so is their music. Although, I do agree to a certain extent.
I can feel so much more passion in their older music. That's the music that I love listening to more than anything...
I don't think that the new members brought Modest Mouse down though.
MM still produced great albumns with the new members as well.

honostly say that the the new ep has only 1 great song. 7 mediocre songs, that i will still listen to all the time, but will never be played more than once a week before getting tired of it.

I wouldnt say any of it is bad though.

Maybe I'm getting old. Maybe I'm out of touch. But I find their recent work completely unremarkable.

you dont like the way they sound now, dont listen to them. A true fan sees their albums as individuals, and doesnt compare them with earlier work. If its so painful to listen to, dont listen to it. Now gtfo the forums if you are gonna complain about the band that everyone at these forums loves.

have you guys ever watch the whale song video while tripping? i promise you wont be dissapointed with the new album after that.

That song changed my life, and has led to me choosing my first tattoo to be "find a way out " on my arm

also king rat, and ive got it all(most) are amazing songs!