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  • Record Label:
  • Release Date:
No One's First, And You're Next Image
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 40 Ratings

  • Summary: Modest Mouse releases an album with tracks from the "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" and "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" recording sessions.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. "Perpetual Motion Machine" is about fish who wish they could walk so they could find out how it feels to fall down, and "Whale Song" bemoans Brock's metaphorical uselessness as it demonstrates his capacity for beauty.
  2. So while it doesn’t exactly have the cohesive through-line of Modest Mouse’s epic full-lengths, No One’s First still captures solid energy from a band riding a long-ass peak.
  3. Growing more comfortable with their talents, maybe they’re learning that you don’t always have to work so hard and worry so much. Sometimes, you can just float on.
  4. Given its years-spanning tracklist, No One's First obviously has a retrospective flavor, but it also seems to point the way ahead for Modest Mouse, if only to suggest that the band will continue moving in opposite directions--backwards and forwards--all at once.
  5. This collection of B-sides, recorded over the past few years, is way more put-together than Modest Mouse’s previous rarities comps, Building Nothing Out Of Something and Sad Sappy Sucker. But it lacks the carefree charm of Isaac Brock’s pre-success indie rock experiments.
  6. ‘The Whale Song’ may offer a solitary crumb for old skool Micers to nibble, but unfortunately this EP will not offer much else.
  7. Each of these eight leftovers can be divided into rote, by-the-numbers Modest Mouse rock jams and meandering pseudo-experiments that feel, uncharacteristically and disappointingly, like nothing more than filler.

See all 11 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. DerekG
    Oct 30, 2009
    10
    listen to this 10 times or more and tell me it's not fantastic.
  2. GlennP.
    Aug 8, 2009
    10
    9.5, but I can't, so I rounded up. Wish it was an LP, and not an EP, but I can't complain about that. Unfortunately, this means we 9.5, but I can't, so I rounded up. Wish it was an LP, and not an EP, but I can't complain about that. Unfortunately, this means we now have to wait another 10000+ years for more Modest Mouse. Expand
  3. Feb 22, 2015
    10
    The lead singer is essentially the president of ugly people...that being said i think you'll find yourself truly wondering if these angelsThe lead singer is essentially the president of ugly people...that being said i think you'll find yourself truly wondering if these angels could be the government.....a perfect 10 if you know what I mean Expand
  4. mxl
    Aug 11, 2009
    9
    They can call it a filler and they can say that it only goes to show modest is only goin forward and backward at the same time musically but They can call it a filler and they can say that it only goes to show modest is only goin forward and backward at the same time musically but i dont see how either is a bad thing. a filler from these guys is an f'ing blessing and how can you not love a band that so unpredictable? ya never know how it can get better until you are actually there, witnessing or listening to it as its first coming. Expand
  5. Quinn
    Oct 6, 2009
    9
    I can't believe some of those reviews came from magazines where people have jobs...yet don't understand what an EP is. Obviously I can't believe some of those reviews came from magazines where people have jobs...yet don't understand what an EP is. Obviously it's going to be a bit all over, especially when it happens to be the leftovers of two extremely different albums released a few years apart. When it's all said and done the extra release of these tracks is appreciated, and although I have the king rat vinyl and the dashboard single cd it also came on, I'm happy it is on a studio release EP as it will be one of the greatest songs they ever write in their career already spanning 16 amazing years. Expand
  6. Lynnie
    Aug 24, 2009
    9
    It's great. King Rat is something else. So darn great.
  7. GT
    Oct 17, 2009
    1
    Why does Modest Mouse continue to make random, aimless songs?

See all 13 User Reviews