Coping with Good and Bad News

Wow, we almost went a week without posting. Slacking, we’ve been.

Yes, Brock is completely right about the director of I Died. He, Mark Atwood, continuously blamed the short falls of his film on a small budget, which was around $13,000. Simply, not an excuse. El Mariachi is the prime reason for that. It was supposedly made for something around $7,000, which is contested, probably because it was done so well for a price that small. Even if El Mariachi was made for the same amount as I Died, it is leagues better. Mr. Atwood needs to watch El Mariachi a few times.

A couple long-awaited CDs came out last week – Modest Mouse’s Good News for People That Love Bad News and Audio Learning Center’s Cope Park. Modest Mouse’s album was probably the most highly anticipated, as it had been quite a while since The Moon and Antarctica plus, it kept getting pushed back. After all that, I have to say I was a bit disappointed over all. I like it as a whole, but just “liking” a Modest Mouse CD is comparable to just “liking” a date with the hottest supermodel ever. Even “Float On” is a bit poppy, as demonstrated by its ever growing popularity on the radio. Perhaps it’s because of the departure of the original drummer, but it seems to be missing the quirky, intricate drumming that was once synonymous with Modest Mouse. Instead there’s synth bass, which I feel should be saved for Ugly Casanova. The album still displays the “weirdness” of Modest Mouse, but at the same time the songs seem bland. The standouts for me are “Float On,” despite its poppiness, “The World at Large,” “Blame it On The Tetons,” and “The Good Times are Killing Me.”

Audio Learning Center’s last album Friendships Often Fade Away had an overall depressive theme. It contained sad connotations within the music, lyrics and vocals. It quickly became a favorite of mine. Their new album Cope Park seems to express the angry side of frontman Christopher Brady. This anger is expressed through a flurry of resonating guitar and bass along with Chris’ yells in songs like “Stereo,” “Car,” and “Passenger.” There are still melancholy songs, however, like “You Get That From Your Mother” and the ironically titled “Happy Endings.” Brady uses the bass in a unique way in that it sometimes carries the melody instead of just providing rhythm along with the drums. Just like in the first album, the drums are tight and drummer Paul Johnson provides little intricacies that you’ll miss if not listening closely. Last week I told Brock that I felt Friendships Often Fade Away as being the better album, but as I listen to Cope Park more, that may not be the case.

This week, I’m looking very forward to the EP Smoke and Mirrors from The Casket Lottery and The Will to Strike, a discography of previously released, but out-of-print material, from Kill Creek.