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The Moon & Antarctica
by Modest Mouse

Modest Mouse reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 82 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.2 out of 10
based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 54 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

LABEL: Sony
RELEASE DATE: 13 June 2000
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): rock, alternative, indie

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Checkout.com
Moment for moment, there's not a more significant collection of songs to spend your life with...
98
Pitchfork
For the first time, Modest Mouse craft an album, not a collection of songs. That they manage to go beyond any other rock band out there is staggering.... OK Computer must be mentioned, for Modest Mouse just got invited to the same club.
Read Full Review
91
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
Production notwithstanding, the major-label move is the lyric sheet, which situates their circular minor-key riffs in a congruent worldview: eternal recurrence as infinite regress as cosmic bummer.
Read Full Review
90
All Music Guide
Their most cohesive collection of songs to date...
Read Full Review
90
Mojo
The Moon's musical and thematic diversity is glued together by Brooks' ability to instill even the most desolate musical climes with warmth and emotion.... One of the year's most oddly endearing records so far.
Read Full Review
90
Nude As The News
An absolutely awesome album.
Read Full Review
90
Puncture
Clocking in at an hour, and incorporating much schizophrenic style-hopping, this is far from the concession to one-dimensional economy often required for a major-label debut. [#47, p.53]
85
Wall of Sound
Plaintive, nakedly honest lyrics collide with keen observation... an hour of enrapturing atmosphere.
Read Full Review
80
L.A. Weekly
The Moon and Antarctica is darker and colder than their previous stuff, but maintains the very particular blend of peculiar lyrics and uncompromising rock that consistently weaves through all their records.
Read Full Review
80
Sonicnet
Isaac Brock's goofy, hyperactive child voice, capable of earnest whine and arch speed-rap, peels the lid off his inability (refusal?) to come across as cool.
Read Full Review
80
Select
Big choppy riffs and plaintive vocals recall Pavement in non-quirky mode. [Sep 2000, p.105]
80
Ink Blot Magazine
The music on The Moon & Antarctica is as lonely and desolate as the title suggests...
Read Full Review
80
Magnet
A dark album that shines very brightly. [#46, p.85]
80
MTV.com
Remarkably mature and absorbing.
Read Full Review
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
A sort of concept album about cold and distant places--creepy sound effects and odd nods to science and space abound--these 15 songs rarely settle into one place for long, opening with the characteristically potent "3rd Planet" before veering off into weird cacophony, jarring interludes, mellow meanderings, and general tunelessness.
Read Full Review
70
Salon.com
A visit to desolate regions... a 60-minute, 15-song treatise on isolation, displacement and a seemingly bottomless spiritual void.
Read Full Review
70
Rolling Stone
What is lost in warm immediacy is gained in eclectic cool...
Read Full Review
70
Billboard
Ultimately, "Moon" may frustrate because it really is a little bit of everything: spastic, Talking Heads-ish funk ("Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes"), campfire acoustic yarns ("3rd Planet," "Gravity Rides Everything"), and Sonic Youth-ish rock epics ("The Cold Part," "The Stars Are Projectors").
Read Full Review
70
New Musical Express
Their most well-rounded effort yet.
Read Full Review
70
Village Voice
The studio scrubbing leaves no noticeable film; even the effects--like the spacey guitar that launches "Gravity Rides Everything"--ring true.
Read Full Review
50
CDNow
But, due to poor track titling and a rather wishy-washy sound (first it's Rusted Root, and then the Pixies, then Frank Black and the Catholics), the album ultimately doesn't have much of a solid impact.
Read Full Review
30
Spin
The Moon and Antarctica does show Modest Mouse willing to change. Too bad it wasn't for the better.... Mistaking subject for style, Modest Mouse has chosen to accentuate on a tendency to drift rather than an ability to write emotionally effective songs.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 54 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

kim w gave it a9:
Amazing album. Have been a fan of Modest Mouse for a few years and for some weird reason only recently started playing this one - even though i've owned it for a long time - I feel like I've wasted those years of my life when i was playing it. That's not true, but sounds poetic. 'Dartk Centre of the Universe' is especially good. One of the all time best though has to be 'The Cold Part.

Kindall G. gave it a10:
I thought this was at once a peaceful and jarring record. Songs like "Cities Made of Ashes" and "Alone Down There" jolted me awake with their ugly abruptness, while spare, strange beauties such as "The Cold Part" made me think of dark European cities and lonely country roads. Basically, like much of their previous work, "The Moon and Antactica" explores the frightening and fascinating elements of travel, death, and the human heart. I think it is ambitious because it doesn't placate it's fans with catchy tunes; the record tries for something more: art.

T C gave it a10:
omg teh best album evar

[Anonymous] gave it a5:
You 2 are right this album is a masterpiece....of crap. Don't hate just because your precious emo became mainstream.

tim gave it a5:
Neither is this one ya assclown! I hate it when people backtrack instead of sticking to their guns and that's what people did with this record. I guarendamtee you had "float on" not become such a hit this album would simply be considered average.

dr. tufflove gave it a9:
While it is certain that anyone with a brain can agree that time e is an idiot, he does make one good point: Good News is one of the best albums of the this decade. Moon & A is timeless and confirms Isaac Brock is a friggin' genius.

ryan gave it a9:
Tim E, you are an idiot. Moon & Antarctica had people complaining about people moving away from their "indie" sound. This album had tons of accolades at the time it came out. Good News ain't a terrible album but itcertainly aint great.

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