Albums by this artist

Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004)

Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks (2001)

Building Nothing Out Of Something (2000)

The Moon And Antarctica (Recommended) (2000)

The Lonesome Crowded West (Recommended) (1997)

Interstate 8 (1996)

This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (1996)

Interviews

Shooting For The Moon
January 1, 2001

Modest Mouse

Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks

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» BRAD CAFFEINE | STAFF WRITER

Modest Mouse Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks Epic, 2001 RiYL: Archers of Loaf, Dismemberment Plan, Pixies

Modest Mouse is a difficult band for completist collectors. They release a seemingly endless collection of albums, EPs and singles, but often overlap tracks betwixt these myriad releases. Half of the tracks on this 8-song EP were previously released on two separate versions of Night On The Sun EPs (one domestic, one Japanese) and on their last Epic album The Moon And Antarctica ("I Came As A Rat" sounds no different, but is now also parenthetically titled "Long Walk Off A Short Dock").

This is not to say that Everywhere... is a bad EP, however. The new songs are classic Modest Mouse and probably could have fit in perfectly on The Moon and Antarctica or the recent K Records outtake collection Sad, Sappy Sucker, which would have probably made more sense.

The band themselves, I'm sure, acknowledge that their fans are the type to seek out any and all Modest Mouse output they can get their hands on, so chances are Epic put a little pressure on the band to release this EP. If you're a big Modest Mouse fan, and you already own Night On The Sun, it's still worth your money to grab this short collection -- hell, the songs "Three Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters" and "So Much Beauty In Dirt" would have been worth picking up as even a 7" release!

My conclusion is that a great underground band has fallen in to the hands of a major label who pretty much has no idea how to market them, so instead opts not to. Let us not be disappointed in the lack of unheard songs on this release, and instead celebrate the few new ones we do have in hopes that as soon as Isaac and co. return home to an indie label, they'll gladly once again flood the market with new releases constantly. As they say, "The universe is shaped exactly like the earth, if you go straight long enough you'll end up where you were."

BRAD CAFFEINE |