The Best Laid Plans of Modest Mouse and Of Monsters and Men

A person can only attend a limited number of 3-day festivals in a year.  We had picked our three festivals and even purchased tickets for Austin City Limits.  But Coachella announced their lineup yesterday, forcing us to reconsider - damn 'em.  The strength of the lineup is impressive - the best we have seen anywhere.  Maybe 2013 will just be a great festival year, but this is the only lineup that we will see before Coachella tickets are sold out.  And Coachella is within driving distance.

Among the better known artists are Of Monsters and Men, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, and Two Door Cinema Club.  Then, there are performers recommended in early posts - Lord Huron and Ben Howard.  And there are others we would like to see.  Just looking at the first day, Metric, the Foals, Neighborhood, Polica, Divine Fits, Stars... (For more information, visit http://www.coachella.com/lineup#)

But the best news is that Modest Mouse is touring again.  Most of our obsessive attractions to groups or individual songs are short term.  There is a relatively short shelf life to most music.  It's the same as movies.  A person may enjoy a particular movie and recommend it to friends, but be well aware that seeing it once is enough.  Other movies are able to withstand the test of time and periodic viewing.  Modest Mouse is the musical equivalent to a classic movie (A "thank you" to our Indie-knowledgeable friend Bob G., who first introduced us to Modest Mouse).
The lyrics of a Modest Mouse song are worthwhile by themselves.  Just as one of a large number of possible examples, in "Missed the Boat," the band states, "Our ideas held no water, but we used them like a dam" (although the lyrics of some songs are just plain odd).  However, if the lyrics were changed to nonsensical statements, the music could carry the load.  The musicians are skilled and the production planning and quality exceed that of most major label releases.

If forced to select ten songs as the limit of our musical library for the next ten years, one of us would select "Missed the Boat" as part of the library.  Unfortunately, Modest Mouse hasn't used Soundcloud or another blog-friendly streaming site.  Only lower resolution versions are available on-line.  So, below are Youtube videos that may not fairly represent the band.

"Missed the Boat"




"Dashboard"




"Float On" (Warning: Odd lyrics)