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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.
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The music on The Moon & Antarctica is as lonely and desolate as the title suggests...
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PunctureClocking 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]
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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.
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SelectBig choppy riffs and plaintive vocals recall Pavement in non-quirky mode. [Sep 2000, p.105]
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A visit to desolate regions... a 60-minute, 15-song treatise on isolation, displacement and a seemingly bottomless spiritual void.
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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.
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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.
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What is lost in warm immediacy is gained in eclectic cool...
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MagnetA dark album that shines very brightly. [#46, p.85]
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An absolutely awesome album.
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The studio scrubbing leaves no noticeable film; even the effects--like the spacey guitar that launches "Gravity Rides Everything"--ring true.
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Plaintive, nakedly honest lyrics collide with keen observation... an hour of enrapturing atmosphere.
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Their most well-rounded effort yet.
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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.
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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").
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Their most cohesive collection of songs to date...
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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.
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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.
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Checkout.comMoment for moment, there's not a more significant collection of songs to spend your life with...
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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.
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Remarkably mature and absorbing.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 136 out of 150
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Mixed: 7 out of 150
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Negative: 7 out of 150
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JackJul 12, 2006Oh yes... Ohhh yes.
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May 28, 2011Staggering. A masterpiece of sound, ambition, ambiance, and songwriting, this album is something that no alt-rock collection is complete without.
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TimENov 8, 2005