New Music To My Ears Update: Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About

Although still far from new or relevant, I had heard the song "Ohio" on this album a couple of years ago somewhat closer to its 1996 release date. Modest mouse seemed to me at the time to capture a feeling of intense and agonizing boredom, a great quality of adolescence. Maybe its the whiny voices and discordant notes that don't really advance to anything, or lyrics that march on with lyrics like

Calmly crashing, I pace faster than anyone
Hinges rusting, they swing louder than anything
Truly lonely, this place is flatter than it seems

And I loved it, and then forgot about it, letting it slip into the back of mind until I went back on a modest mouse kick, and rediscovered this song and without listening to anything else bought the album. It brought back so many memories, and even though I never listened to any other songs at the time the whole album took me back to the first time I heard Ohio. I remembered how much I loved the name of the album when I first read it. I was always fascinated by car rides (and music associated with driving, ie. Girl Boy Tom, Tallahassee, and many others) and the name just seemed to fit me. I loved just sitting in the passenger seat, letting the car melt away, and just imagining being a ghost just traveling through strange places observing but never interacting with what he saw. I usually didn't even think about anything, I just kind of wandered around with the scenery. In "Laughter and Forgetting" Milan Kundera describes a character who can focus only on his goals, and the rest of life around him, is the "negative" of the image in life that his goals form. The negative forms that which frames but isn't focused on. I always found a simple wonder in wandering around in the "negative" space of life, not focusing on anything but just taking notice of all of the transit through it. This album really takes me back to those car rides, it's use of weird sounds, shouted and muttered lyrics, and just a generally feeling of lostness all build to that, and all make this album very special. 

It is raw, and strange, and scary, and angry, and loathing, and ultimately depressed,  but the fact that it can bring forth these emotions and memories from me makes it extremely worthwhile and moving to listen to. I hope others can enjoy it to. Here are some quick favorites.  

Dramamine

Breakthrough

Ionizes and Atomizes

Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset