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

Double Header: The Dawes Part Two

Peace in the Valley – The Dawes – North Hills

For the second part of the double header I thought about reviewing one of the Dawes more country songs (Western Skyline), but actually chose one that represents another side of the ban where they kick in a little grit in the guitar tone and get down to some bluesy music. Don't get the wrong impression; it’s not B.B. or Freddie king, but it does drop into some heavier toned, darker, stuff, especially when paired against it poppy review companion When My Time Comes.

Clearly, I’m a big fan of bands that can put some attitude and emotion into their music, and while that’s certainly something I love about the song I also think its placement in the album makes it even more appealing and powerful to me. Instead of going out with lyrics and the spoken word, where the album (and half of the song) is really centered, it ends the album with a spacious, thoughtful sound. Guitar tones are sustained and bent, reaching high and hitting low hard. It really is like the image of "peace in the valley", a quiet spacious expanse that is below normal ground, the lyrics and speaking and voices of that proliferate the album before it. It's interesting that the Dawes choose to fill this peaceful place with such an emotive, hard, guitar tone and I think it really speaks to the final lines "If I don't find peace in the valley, I've got no place else to look.". Much like the rest of the album it takes on a reflective tone (When My Time Comes is mostly written in past tense, and is a self narrative), the last line seems to say that if he can't find peace in the valley, where he's the only person there, where else will he find it. Sadly when the vocals drop away we don’t find peace, instead we hear the long tormented wails of a guitar, rising and falling, until the end. It signals a sad realization that sometimes the trouble you find in the world is trouble you bring to it. Enjoy.

Song Here

Live Performance Special: In the Valley

In the Valley - Chief - Modern Rituals

My last few posts have really been moving towards a more summer feel, and this song is certainly following this trend. More along the calm bittersweet side of the summer feel than upbeat and optimistic, more "The Good Times are Killing Me" than say "Use Me" as an example. It has a very calming California sound but also its message definitely focuses on loneliness. I guess its kind of finding sadness in a good place, and that the sadness isn't from the setting, but from yourself. Just "Sitting in the valley alone". Anyway you cut the meaning, the band really performs well live, the vocalist is fantastic in a mellow singsong way that is not overblown or over dramatic. It's as though he's just singing to himself, but with real shine and beauty in his voice. Enjoy.

Song: Here

Song of the Week: Don't Let It Bring You Down

Dont Let it Bring you Down - Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

The lyrics for this are simply amazing. Neil Young's voice is not for everyone, but this was the absolute standout for me on an album of amazing songs (Southern Man, Etc...). For some reason I find the phrase "Dont let it bring you down, It's only castles burning, Just find someone who's turning, And you will come around" oddly reassuring and sad. For me it deals with loss of material items and things, and that the relationships we have with people, who have also lost like you have, is what will ultimately turn us around and make us alright. Anyway, I've included all the lyrics, they are really potent! A phrase that always gets stuck in my head is the "Blind man running through the light of the night, With an answer in his hand, Come on down to the river of sight, And you can really understand" it's just all one big contradiction but I still love it and find it very powerful.

Song Here

Lyrics Below
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Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Song of the Week: The Good Times Are Killing Me

The Good Times Are Killing Me - Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News

After the March Madness posts thought it might be a nice idea to detox a little bit with good kind Modest Mouse. For me, this is the song that most represents the albums title, its a cheery simple summer song that is actually sad, and the news that is alluded to as good in the title is only good if you happen to love bad news. Its still good news, just as the times are still good, but you just have to love bad news, and the good times aren't actually good, they end up killing you. Even with this depressing message I still think its just a really happy song, mostly because it has a reflective feel to me. Almost as if hes saying, the good times are killing me, but I'll be alright. Thoughts aside about meaning, I love the singer and the album as a whole is one of my favorites.


Song: Here