No One’s First and You’re Next, the latest and long awaited EP by Modest Mouse, is good classic EP material. It is a collection of different ideas and feelings swept up after the band’s last two albums, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank and Good News for People who Love Bad News and the first EP since Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks. In one sentence, like most post-studio leftover EPs, it is tasty leftovers without coherence that share the flavor of the original batch. Just like the biscuit recipe says though, you can gather the dough scraps, roll them out and cut more biscuits, but they won’t be as savory and flaky as that first rolled-out batch. Those folks chanting sell-out over the last album’s mainstream success should appreciate this albums longer instrumentals, dissonance and wall-building sound. “Whale Song” could have been off of an early demo had it worse production values. “Perpetual Motion Machine” has a New Orleans Funeral March feel to it but ends too short. The two singles, “Satellite Skin” and “Guilty Cocker Spaniels” can best be described as the most single-worthy of the bunch. Both feel the most like the previous full length albums and I can easily see how they don’t stand out enough from either album to have them included. “Satellite” has a characteristic Modest Mouse guitar that leads you to feel at home right off the bat. Of course you can’t discuss this album without including a mention of the “King Rat” music video involving the late Heath Ledger. There, I did it. As for the song itself, I like the violin and horns. And it carries the storytelling feel of Lonesome Crowded West material. Overall, No One’s First and You’re Next fits right in with Modest Mouse EPs, and they are better than most EPs. It brings back some of the pre-“Float On” feeling. The singles might fly but “King Rat” and “Whale Song” will last in this fan’s memory. As an aside during this review I discovered that I have been listening to We Were Dead in the exact opposite track order for the last two years! This may be why I feel that it deserved best album of the year over Neon Bible in 2007. But that’s what you get when you let iTunes control your listening order and somehow the tracks get jacked. The album I’ve always listened to starts with the heavy pounding “Invisible” and ends with the flowing “March into the Sea”. Try it! I don’t think I want to listen to it in the intended order. |
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