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| TM&A ranked by LYRICS
no description | 16 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
The Moon & Antarctica is one of Modest Mouse's most acclaimed albums, famous for its patchwork of major label indie substylisations and its ambitious lyricism, but I've been wondering lately whether its lyrical side is really all that.
Isaac Brock is absolutely an above-average lyricist, but I've always thought his bottomless cynicism and tongue-in-cheek riffs on everyday catchphrases worked best when they brought unexpected bursts of insight to otherwise gritty or base subject matter (as per Cowboy Dan or Styrofoam Boots, say). A lot of TM&A's subject matter is concertedly profound, prompting questions about creation, existence, the world, God etc. while presenting them as a largely meaningless series of cycles and permutations. All this is of course thoroughly steeped in Brock's cynical outlook, which to me seems itself so circuitous that his deductions about cosmic significance, however comprehensively articulate, often come across as little more than elaborations on reductive thought processes - or that was my general impression before combing through the whole album.
I guess this list a succinct-ish breakdown of what came out of it, but the short story is that
1) I still think my take on Brock's life and/or God songs is broadly accurate
2) Many of these tracks are better crafted than I gave them credit for (though some are worse)
3) This album absolutely has some deeply memorable and occasionally beautiful turns of phrase, and a handful of its tracks hold up among Modest Mouse's finest
So, is TM&A deep or dumb? Let's see: here's a ranking of its songs by how much I like their lyrics: | 15 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
A DIFFERENT CITY
I'm not sure what song I expected to wind up at the bottom of this list, but it definitely wasn't A Different City. Little about this one had previously stood out to me for better or worse, but when I took a closer look I saw why: this track is very unremarkable. There aren't many outright clunkers and Brock does work in a few choice turns of phrase, but it's a face-value paranoid rant about how capitalism and consumerism and your TV and stagnancy and alienation are bad. Maybe he pins down mass-media stagnancy and paralysis better than some (*cough* Arcade Fire), but the chances are you've heard and forgotten this one hundreds of times in interchangeable incarnations.
Best line(s):
They gave me a receipt that said "I didn't buy nothin'"
So rust is a fire and our blood oxidizes
My eyes rolled around, all around on the carpet
Worst line(s):
Dripped out of the bars, someone smart said nothin' at all
I'm watching TV, I guess that's a solution | 14 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
ALONE DOWN THERE
Not much to say for this one: Modest Mouse's Sweating Bullets. I suppose the lyrics aren't as important here as on many MM songs; this is a short desperation piece, and while I wonder whether it really belonged on the album to begin with, it's fairly successful to that end. Brock's am-I-me / who-am-I-addressing-here dissociation schtick is neither original nor particular compelling, however.
Best line(s): But the devil's apprentice, he gave me some credit
He fed me a line and I'll probably regret it
Worst line(s): How do, how do you do?
My name is You | 13 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
LIVES
If any single song was responsible for this list, Lives is the one. An awkward combination of pseudo-profound kitchen sink quips (that opening line, which annoyingly turns out to be the most striking and therefore best of the bunch), obscure personal truths stated deadpan for something dangerously close to novelty value (thanks Isaac Brock's mum) and hackneyed vaguery (that whole middle section), it takes a giant shot at an Insightful statement and ends up as a pretentious jumble that still receives a perplexing amount of praise within the band's canon.
There are points where Lives says *something* (those first two stanzas), but mostly this is Brock staring at the bottom of the barrel and committing the same smart-guy-says-many-words-about-fuckin-nothing misdeeds that he fingerpoints so aggressively elsewhere. I kinda hate it.
Best line(s):
Everyone's afraid of their own life
If you could be anything you want
I bet you'd be disappointed, am I right?
Worst line(s):
It's hard to remember, it’s hard to remember to live
Before you die
It's hard to remember, it’s hard to remember that our lives
Are such a short time | 12 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
PAPER THIN WALLS
While perhaps a little over-obvious ("watching them watching them watch me", really?), Paper Thin Walls chalks up a fair number of points for being one of the clearest and most accessible pieces of writing on the album. Isaac Brock is famous and people know who he is and the media keep tabs on him. He is paranoid and does not like this: fair enough. What drops this song a very generous number of places is the how it's informed by the 1999 accusations of sexual assault made against Brock, charges for which were never pressed by the public prosecutions office. "Laugh hard, it's a long ways to the bank" may have been a sassy parting shot two decades ago, but it's aged like mud.
Best line(s):
Tow the line to tax the time, you know
That you don't owe
I can't be a fool for everyone
That I don't know
Worst line(s):
I can't be blamed for nothing anymore
It's been a long time since you've been around
Laugh hard, it's long ways to the bank | 11 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
I CAME AS A RAT
This song largely sucks, but it at least has a some interesting and/or entertaining scenes going on lyrically. It doesn't make much sense as a whole, but it rolls fairly smoothly as a tangled cluster of one-liners. Some of these are lackluster, some are zingers, but mostly it's a convenient sampler of what Brock is about throughout the rest of the album.
Best line(s):
Stayed awake, took a nap, got myself my bottles back
I'm breaking them out on the street, walking around in my bare feet
I do not need you to tell me that I am not a cat
Worst line(s):
It takes a long time, but God dies too
But not before he'll stick it to you
Well I ain't sure but I've been told
You never die and you never grow old | 10 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
DARK CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
This one makes its point quickly enough: Isaac Brock is an arsehole, but there are worse people out there, and at least he's self-aware enough to turn this into something eloquent and maybe just a little innocuous. And that's ~fine (although fuck me, did we really need to get it over so many repeats), but unfortunately it's backed up by some of the album's more vacuous abstractions and false equivalences. It's just a few throwaway lines, but Nihilist Brock, builder of mountainous molehills, is at his worst on here. There's a decent frustrated relationship song in here somewhere, but it sadly misses the mark.
Best line(s):
Well I'm sure you tell me you got nothing to say
But our voices shook hands the other day
Worst line(s):
Everyone's life ends but no one ever completes it
Dry or wet ice, they both melt and you're equally cheated
dry ice doesn't fking melt | 9 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
PERFECT DISGUISE
I've always kinda loved this track; its pared back, exhausted feel gets through to me stronger than I feel is appropriate given how many of the Bigger Impressive Tracks don't do so much for me, so although the lyrics are pretty drab on their own, I'm biased with positive associations. There are no zingers or howlers here, but I am a fan of how the disguise motif gets recalled in I Came As A Rat ("It takes more time to make a fake"), which I guess gives it depth? I like that idea of spending more time compensating for or camouflaging something than it would take to attain it authentically. I think we're almost into the realm of good lyricsongs!
Best line(s):
Well, you've got the perfect disguise and you're looking okay
From the bottom of the best of the worst, well, what can I say?
Worst line(s):
'Cause you cocked your head to shoot me down
And I don't give a damn about you or this town no more
No, 'cause I know the score | 8 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
THE COLD PART
Similar story to Perfect Disguise, but this has some nice adjectives and haunting images and works much better on paper than it does in sequencing, so it gets big brownie points. Not a useless song after all!
Best line(s):
I stepped down as president of Antarctica
Can't blame me, don't blame me, don't
Worst line(s):
(So long) | 7 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
GRAVITY RIDES EVERYTHING
(Maybe) the most fundamental world-anchoring life-determining force is all over the damn shop and it feels ironically weightless and we never notice it. Gravity is such a universal presence that we barely ever consider how arbitrarily it effects us, and maybe it is therefore meaningless. Maybe this is much like how big things like life and death are the universe are such big institutions of Existence that they are virtually meaningless, and therefore so we. Or whatever
Is this deep or dumb? I'm undecided tbh, but I like a lot of these lines enough to give Gravity Rides Everything the benefit of the doubt. The song itself is boring daydream indie, but Brock acquits himself pretty well on paper here.
Best line(s):
In the motions and the things that you say
It all will fall, fall right into place
As fruit drops, flesh it sags
Everything will fall right into place
Worst line(s):
What's that riding on your everything?
It isn't anything at all | 6 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
WHAT PEOPLE ARE MADE OF
I'm a *little* shaky putting this one so high because it borders on cringy concerted allegory, but there's something very satisfying about hearing Brock's cynicism go from defeatist sophistries to something morbid and aggressive and totally resolute. If Dark Center Of The Universe and Lives have existential elephants in their smelly basements, this track knocks the whole damn building down. It says something, and this sparks joy. Very honest note to close the album on after Life Like Weeds' uneasy show of sort-of optimism (not that this was dishonest, but I think this better reflects the mentality of the album as a whole).
Best and worst line:
And the one thing you taught me 'bout human beings was this
They ain't made of nothin' but water and shit! | 5 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
THE STARS ARE PROJECTORS
Here it is: the great big profound centrepiece lyrical musical monster song that many would cite as this album/band's finest hour. To their great credit, Brock and co. pull it off: he squares up to Existence, dismisses its significance in the face of the cosmos and confines its scope to a cluster of individual solipsisms that by and large determine our experience of reality and, uh, stuff. Okay! This scans clearly and I vibe it.
It's not hitch-free though; similar to what Comrade Porc was saying alone down there, I'm not sure this song quite warrants the (very) epic scope that it concertedly dresses itself up with. My issues here are mainly to do with register; Brock dresses up reasonable statements in pretentious dressing a few times too many. For instance:
- That title refrain is ambiguous and smug in a way that I don't feel is warranted by just how gettable its implications of determinism or the Relative Scale of Things are; it touches on strong points, but not as strong as its overwhelming whiff of "man you're supposed to think this is deep"
- Those fking moderate climates. Actually, I lied - this is a content point, not register: I don't think this ties into the solipsistic excess of having your own cake and eating it nearly as coherently as it seeks to.
- "Where do circles begin?" is just a pretentious rehash of that gorgeous image we'll get to in 3rd Planet
- See: Worst line(s) for a painfully lazy dismissal of ideological frameworks on presumed grounds of user convenience.
For all my gripes, this is still a fantastic song and it communicates complex major label indie cosmicontent far, far better than could have been the case; maybe it's a bit big for its boots (just like man's place in the universe maaan), but the fact of this not being over-ambitious is remarkable I guess. Props?
Best line(s):
God is a woman and the woman is
An animal, that animal’s man, and that’s you
Worst line(s):
Well, right wing, left wing, chicken wing
It's built on findin' the easier ways through | 4 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
WILD PACK OF FAMILY DOGS
Woo, this one was a nice surprise for me! Never cared much about the song at all, but this lil ode to 30-50 feral dogs holds up a treat on paper and it's time for it to get its DUE! Honestly, I find it hard to pin down exactly what makes this glum ode to things gradually going to shit and being swept away in the crazy ol' flow of things so appealing; it's definitely satisfying in how succinct and complete it feels, but beyond that I think that tenacious houndgang and Brock giving up the ghost by his mud lake are just really great evocative images in and of themselves. Great stuff.
Best line(s):
A wild pack of family dogs came runnin' through the yard
And as my own dog ran away with them
I didn't say much of anything at all
Worst line(s):
The dogs start floating up towards the glowing sky | 3 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
TINY CITIES MADE OF ASHES
In a similar ballpark to I Came As A Rat, though far more cohesive and engaging, I don't see Tiny Cities as a particularly insightful song; I don't think it needs a firm interpretation (there's a load of clap over on Genius if anyone wants to clutch at that), and I think its main lyrical value lies in:
a) How well its morbid/polluted aesthetic supports the tone, imagery and worldview fleshed out more precisely in other parts of the album (Life Like Weeds, Dark Center of the Universe esp.)
b) How heckin cool a lot of these lines are. So endlessly memorable/quotable/imaginable/whatever mmm yes.
It's a cool song and holds up a treat as a standalone. Great shit. My only real complaint is that the frozen Hell/sweater image is a classic Brock warptake on an everyday idiom that feels just a lil bit too overworked to sit right. This song is mostly badass; true badasses don't have to stretch for that shit!
Best line(s):
I'm wearin' myself a T-shirt
That says "The world is my ashtray"
Our hearts pump dust
And our hair's all grey
Worst line(s):
I just got a message that said
"Yeah, Hell has frozen over"
I got a phone call from the Lord sayin'
"Hey, boy, get a sweater, right now" | 2 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
LIFE LIKE WEEDS
Forget Float On's glib optimism, this is by far the most meaningful of MM's posi tracks for me. It's a fantastically simple premise: our narrator is sulking at the people around him and is presumably frustrated at whatever bullshit is holding is life back to the point that he blames it on them. Then a shift of perspective occurs and he gets the bigger picture of how our lives are built out of their tie-ins with other people's lives and these are actually the foundation of our existence and should be valued as such instead of bitched about. Or something. It's laboured but earnest and urgent as hell, and it absolutely carries for me. This is the real album climax that the Stars Are Projectors teased both musically and (ig?) lyrically, and the number of tie-ins to other tracks is probably more satisfying than it should be. Get counting.
I've tried to separate the Wordz from the music/delivery as much as possible here, but this song is all about reaching a resolution by churning over shit until you get over it; it's hard to take that repeated/gradually adjusted title motif out of the context of those momentous cyclical guitar riffs that ground it. That's good songwriting for you. Anyway, this is one of the band's best. It's moving and I guess deep without trying to be too clever, because it's rooted start to finish in a mood and mentality that I think anyone can relate to; Brock isn't trying to thrash out thesis statements here, he's just doubling down on truths of the heart - and if there's one thing this list has taught me, it's that it's obvious which he's best at.
Best line(s):
I could have told you all that I love you
And in the places you go, you'll see the place where you're from
I could have told you all that I love you
And in the faces you meet, you'll see the place where you'll die
I could have told you all that I love you
And on the day that you die, you'll see the people you met
I could have told you all that I love you
And in the faces you see, you'll see just who you've been
Worst line(s):
I know where you're from
But where do you belong?
(that rhyme always felt a little dinky for my liking) | 1 | | Modest Mouse The Moon & Antarctica
3RD PLANET
There could be no other. Life Like Weeds might be more #meaningful, but 3rd Planet is one of the most beautiful songs in indie, on paper or in performance. There's a lot going on here, all founded in the central narrative of losing a child; Brock isn't crass enough to confront this head-on, but uses it to refract a range of wistful/bittersweet/existential/cosmic/metaphorical observations on a relationship, himself and earthly reality. It's a hugely ambitious pitch, but the focus and continuity is incredible here - the whole thing wraps up into spellbinding, each thread emerging from the last before you've even noticed the segue and while I'm now fairly confident that TM&A is by and large diminishing returns off this track and one of MM's weakest lyrical albums, this might just be their overall peak. It's this or Styrofoam Boots, gang.
Anyhow Brock makes one of his more insightful remarks about the universe/existence and the specifics of its shape, and it scans twice as well because the song's topic manner is well equipped for the pathos of its metaphor for going round in circles and making the same mistakes over and over again. There's a slightly throwaway quip about God as an oppressive cosmic surveillance force that I think adds relatively little, but the rest of this song is such an emotional gauntlet that it carries somehow. Perfect track.
Best lyric(s):
Your heart felt good
It was drippin' pitch and made of wood
And your hands and knees
Felt cold and wet on the grass beneath
Well, outside, naked, shivering, looking blue
From the cold sunlight that's reflecting off the moon
Baby cum angels, fly around you
Reminding you we used to be three and not just two
And that's how the world began
And that's how the world will end
Worst lyric(s):
The third planet is sure that they're being watched
By an eye in the sky that can't be stopped
When you get to the promised land
You're gonna shake the eye's hand | |
JohnnyoftheWell
06.29.21 | Work in progress - will update as I go. Interested to see what kind of discussion this sparks | YoYoMancuso
06.29.21 | the best collection of witty nihilistic one liners ever released | JohnnyoftheWell
06.29.21 | Major label nihilism for happy window shoppers more like
this may take some time | fogza
06.29.21 | I do get the impression that you have to grudgingly admit this is a good album, but there's something about it you don't like, Johnny. For me this is exactly what I want a band to do with the major label money - make the best record of their career. | fogza
06.29.21 | ALONE DOWN THERE - "I wonder whether it really belonged on the album to begin with" - I suppose it depends on how you see this, but it seems to work as part of a small song cycle from track 6 - 8 (and probably 5 as well), and it's the culmination of the alienation / depression theme. I can't really imagine it not being on the record, like I love 'Perfect Disguise' and I'm glad it's on the record but to me that fits less. | fogza
06.29.21 | A DIFFERENT CITY - I don't really see how this is pedestrian on the basis of delivery matching lyric. The ghost version of Brock sounding trapped in the back of the mix over the more conventional vocal sells this one for me. It's pretty good at getting that feeling of how when one thing goes wrong in your life, it can cost you years of limbo / purgatory. | fogza
06.29.21 | LIVES - I prefer the line about "if you could know what people are thinking", but I suppose you did say the best part is the first two stanzas. This is a pretty amazing song to me though I'm afraid. I think a band that deals in ennui, depression and nihilism to include a song cycle about resignation and acceptance and looking for the positive is pretty remarkable. And the way that the admittedly a little trite "life is short" part is introduced is really beautiful (to my ears anyway).
Disclosure: Perhaps I'm biased because I was at a very low point in my life when I heard this album and the simplicity of that part cut through and was one of those "reminders" that I need to lighten up / get help. It was important to hear someone else who overthinks say that their hell comes from inside and not just the outside world - stop blaming circumstance and get help etc etc. | fogza
06.29.21 | PAPER THIN WALLS - Probably one of the songs that are more inconsequential, I can sort of agree here, although I don't really think it's bad. Maybe more of something to break the heaviness left in the aftermath of Stars are projectors (like that song is so massive it needs three smaller songs to change the mood). | fogza
06.29.21 | I CAME AS A RAT - I like how this one sounds, and I don't skip it, but yeah I'm not sure if it's anything more than some interesting imagery. | fogza
06.29.21 | DARK CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE - dry ice doesn't fking melt.
You're just being picky here lol | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | Wild Pack of Family Dogs comin’ in at NUMBA 1 | Artuma
06.29.21 | life like weeds > | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | It’s all right wing, left wing, chicken wing, Baby | Pheromone
06.29.21 | good list i like numbers 5-1 | YoYoMancuso
06.29.21 | absolutely heinous Lives ranking | Ryus
06.29.21 | agreed w yoyo | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | This is one of the worst MM lyric albums tbf Johnny’s struck on something | YoYoMancuso
06.29.21 | absolutely heinous porcupine theater opinion | fogza
06.29.21 | "absolutely heinous porcupine theater opinion"
[2] | Kompys2000
06.29.21 | Think my fav lyric on Lives is actually "well you were the dull sound of sharp math when you were alive / no one's gonna play the harp when you die / and if I had a nickel for every damn dime / I'd have half the time, do you mind?", although that opening couplet is certainly a worthy contender
Good list so far, this album's ponderous existentialism has grown off me quite a bit in the past year or so even if I still think it's brilliant often enough to be comfortably their second best after TLCW. Check back in another year tho and we'll see if Long Drive has eclipsed it in that regard | Ryus
06.29.21 | thats a good one kompys
lyrically tlcw is probably my fave | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | Heyhey, M&A is great, but it’s great for the layering and sound exploration. Isaac dropped some clunkers, but had the genius move to get the benefit of the doubt by starting the record with 3rd Planet. Lot of it is returning to that theme just with less succinct nuance
Best Brock lyrics from LCW and Long Drive | Kompys2000
06.29.21 | I think what it comes down to for me is that I find Brock's particular brand of cynicism to be a far less attractive stance when it's applied to topics like theology and human nature than I do when it's applied to more concrete sociopolitical issues like on TLCW and parts of long drive
How much difference is there actually between "abject despair because post-industrial capitalism" and "abject despair because humankind's cosmic insignificance"? Probably not much, but it FEELS worlds apart | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | Fair, although misanthropic cynicism doesn’t serve much purpose regardless of where it’s applied, so most of that interpretation is like you’re saying, just down to personal sympathies. Feel like there’s plenty of people that sell the cosmic insignificance angle very well.
Isaac just seems to lose himself in “clever” turns of phrase that veer into overwrought, undercooked abstraction when he doesn’t have something tangible to anchor it. No problems with the lyrical focus itself, just think his clunkiness with it doesn’t do it any favors when he’s not focused in on parking lots, strip malls, and subdivisions | porcupinetheater
06.29.21 | Like even in the abstract imagery and how it moves around a theme, compare the tangibility of Heart Cooks Brain to something like I Came as a Rat. Both are basically long strings of non-sequitors, but I Came as a Rat just comes across as so broad that it feels like nonsense off-the-cuff nursery rhyming | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | "Heyhey, M&A is great, but it’s great for the layering and sound exploration. Isaac dropped some clunkers, but had the genius move to get the benefit of the doubt by starting the record with 3rd Planet. Lot of it is returning to that theme just with less succinct nuance"
will not confirm how much I do/don't agree with this comment at this point in the list. above three comments are 100% though.
@fogza, thanks for your thoughts and sorry to take so long to reply, but
"The ghost version of Brock sounding trapped in the back of the mix over the more conventional vocal sells this one for me."
Yeah agreed tbh, I like the way he delivers this and would place that song a fair bit higher on an overall ranking. I'm trying to keep this as much of a forget-about-the-music deal as possible, so putting that track at the bottom is more a reflection of how I don't think those words hold up as just...words. | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | "it's the culmination of the alienation / depression theme"
It definitely reads as something that should fill that niche - but it plays and reads as undercooked to me; not sure it feels like a culmination even if it represents one. Not sure the quickfire runtime and very Literal Imagery did it favours here
"You're just being picky here lol"
Lol yes for sure in that phrasing, but that line is such a glass-half-empty nothing statement that I dislike it regardless
"I think a band that deals in ennui, depression and nihilism to include a song cycle about resignation and acceptance and looking for the positive is pretty remarkable"
Fair enough; the resignation trumps those other qualities for me and the track lands as largely mundane to me (which leaves the positive aspects rather hollow, unlike elsewhere on the album as we'll see with Life Like Weeds), but I appreciate how you'd hear that in it
"you have to grudgingly admit this is a good album, but there's something about it you don't like"
Hahaha yeah, accurate - I think my issue is that although I adore a decent number of songs on it and actively dislike very few, it's never sat well as a whole to me and it weirdly grates on me to treat it as an 'album' to begin with. Part of this is stylistic/sequencing gripes about how well many of the tracks do or don't sit together, but I thought it'd be interesting to comb through the lyrics and work out how much of a role my disregard for some of the spanning themes/Brock's articulation thereof actually plays in that scheme | YoYoMancuso
06.30.21 | i can see Long Drive or LCW having better lyrics but this is their best album by a country mile, it has no misses while LCW has Long Distance Ass and Long Drive has OHIiiiIIiiIoOOoOo | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | Every MM album is overlong and has plenty of misses and this no exception, so I'm not sure that's a particularly fair way to assess their works. Like, on that basis WWD would be their best album for consistency? And it is not their best, so you are also wrong about this one.
brb more updates | fogza
06.30.21 | But WWD is not consistent, whereas this is. WWD has a flabby middle for sure. | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | WWD ain't without a few cuttable tracks, but at least they feel like they belong on the same album | fogza
06.30.21 | "Good list so far, this album's ponderous existentialism has grown off me quite a bit"
Lol, as opposed to the light existentialism of their other works? | fogza
06.30.21 | PERFECT DISGUISE - Strange to me that you knocked Paper Thin Walls when this is the song that directly addresses the rape allegations. To me, this and I came as a rat are probably the only songs that don't necessarily fit on the album. | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | On most MM albums Isaac Brock points at something in the world and says "well look, this is shitty" and you feel him because it is
On this one he points at the sky and says "imma let you finish, God, but..." and you say "bet" because he's too full of air to let God finish
"this is the song that directly addresses the rape allegations"
oh, is that what the "shoot me down" chorus references? That line / the ladder line doesn't line as badly as the "long ways to the bank" tbh, but I'd definitely dock a few places for ill grace | fogza
06.30.21 | GRAVITY RIDES EVERYTHING - Nothing to say here except my taste is, tbf, not as adventurous as yours, so the song sounds (to me) like the most graceful and light thing they'd done up to this point. TMA is at the very least as good as TLCW because it has more variety and pulls that variety off. Only one song on the album could objectively be called bad, and I still like it. | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | gonna let this sit for a while and take some bets on the top 5 order, shoot shoot | fogza
06.30.21 | "Part of this is stylistic/sequencing gripes about how well many of the tracks do or don't sit together"
See I think it's a strength, I see this record as setting the scene (giving us the narrators state of mind and understanding of the world at the outset), depression and alienation, realisation and acceptance of our insignificance (stars are projectors), resignation and healing, with a burst of anger at the end. The songs in those cycles work together to run through those themes and ramp up appropriately | porcupinetheater
06.30.21 | LDD ain’t great as a stand-alone song but in sequencing, as a come down from the accumulating numb nightmare of Doin’ the Cockroach through Trailer Trash, (and personifying the idea of running Out of Gas), and then setting up Shit Luck to actually knock your teeth in right after, it’s a super important piece of the whole record. LCW is perfect, Yo | porcupinetheater
06.30.21 | Also Ohio rocks lmao | fogza
06.30.21 | "Fair enough; the resignation trumps those other qualities for me "
See this version of fatalistic positivity works for me, MM walk a fine line and emerge without being too corny which is the problem I have with lots of super optimistic music. Honestly I remember bawling like a baby to Lives, I know the acoustic guitar part sound dumb to you but it was a very powerful message (for me anyway) that was couched in an overarching album that I could relate to, like here's this anxious depressed guy, he also find the world insufferable but here he's telling me that it's important that I try to live and get help. It's powerful in context. It's tough to rate lyrics purely on paper as delivery often unlocks an aspect of them that you maybe don't see at first | MyNameIsPencil
06.30.21 | stars are projectors
worst line: Right wing, left wing, chicken wing.
best line: Right wing, left wing, chicken wing. | porcupinetheater
06.30.21 | Lmao Stars are Projectors #1 incoming | Kompys2000
06.30.21 | Correct pick for lyrics on Gravity Rides Everything, although I'll have you know that song is daydream indie at its very finest | MyNameIsPencil
06.30.21 | it's the only choice | porcupinetheater
06.30.21 | Stars are Projectors is kind of the perfect M&A representative though. It’s kind of clever, not as clever as it thinks it is, rides it’s central idea thin with some hysterically left field clunkers for spice, and ultimately none of it matters because the actual song is so damn good | Kompys2000
06.30.21 | Sth I've always liked abt TM&A is how balanced it is, if that makes sense? You've got your dark dancey track with the good bass in Tiny Cities, you've got the hooky basic indie stuff with Gravity Rides Everything and Paper Thin Walls, you've got the lengthy multi-part epic with Stars Are Projectors, the short little lo-fi acoustic thing in Wild Pack of Family Dogs... it covers a lot of song types in a v satisfying way. | MyNameIsPencil
06.30.21 | I like that stars are projectors is almost nine minutes long and there's no filler in the song | fogza
06.30.21 | Yep and it has a reason to be that long, like it fits perfectly in the album, concludes the arc of the previous songs and introduces the next part of the album perfectly from a lyrical and musical perspective. Great lynchpin track | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | Never *loved* that track's final few minutes, but they do make enough thematic sense to make that slow drift into empty space worthwhile.
and look at that! | MyNameIsPencil
06.30.21 | okay now im curious to see what you have at #1 lol | Kompys2000
06.30.21 | Incredibly powerful move to put Wild Pack of Family Dogs in your top 4 | MyNameIsPencil
06.30.21 | tiny cities in the top 4 is neat | porcupinetheater
06.30.21 | 3rd Planet is actually definitely far and away the best lyric on the record | Kompys2000
06.30.21 | Tfw baby cum angels fly around you | fogza
06.30.21 | 3rd planet is truly great lyricism, and a spectacular opener | Rowan5215
06.30.21 | so many bad takes itt but that Gravity one might be the most egregious. song comfortably eclipses most of their discog | Rowan5215
06.30.21 | that being said Wild Packs is my fave lyric on the record and if you correctly put it at #1 that might compensate for all the stuff you whiffed here | JohnnyoftheWell
06.30.21 | Gravity is floaty saprock for softbois with too much cheesecake oh lmfao hi Rowan didn't see you there | fogza
07.01.21 | Ok, my predictions for top 4 with hypothetical Johnny glasses on:
4) Tiny cities
3) 3rd planet
2) Wild packs (just to be controversh)
1) Life like weeds | JohnnyoftheWell
07.01.21 | Oh fuck, yeah it's time to finish this, here we go
turns out fogza was not right but maybe not very wrong wow which way will it go | porcupinetheater
07.01.21 | Screws turning careful now
Wouldn't want anybody getting punched in their glasses | Kompys2000
07.01.21 | Hard disagree on your pick for worst lyric on Tiny Cities, I've always found it darkly tongue-in-cheek in a way that really complements the song's tone | fogza
07.01.21 | I think you just switched it up on the fly to confound me | porcupinetheater
07.01.21 | Power ranking:
Styrofoam Boots overtaxed deteriorating deist God > Tiny Cities cheeky damnation peddler | YoYoMancuso
07.01.21 | this whole list has been vehicular manslaughter but i'll give you props for ranking Wild Packs so high | Ryus
07.01.21 | RIGHT WING LEFT WING CHICKEN WING | fogza
07.01.21 | buffalo wing | DoofDoof
07.01.21 | Lives has the best lyrics though
2 and 8 I’d say have the least impactful lyrics for me maybe | DoofDoof
07.01.21 | Yeah I like all the ‘worst lyrics’ choices here
I think a lot also comes down to how lyrics scan and how they mix with melody and intonation - MM lyrics work bad as poetry | fogza
07.02.21 | "2 and 8 I’d say have the least impactful lyrics for me maybe"
Like according to the original track listing? Just confused as we don't have a 2 yet. | porcupinetheater
07.03.21 | Hey
Hey Johnny
Don't leave us hangin' | fogza
07.03.21 | Johnny's always running around, trying to find certainty | JohnnyoftheWell
07.03.21 | *credibility
Sorry sorry, I've been without a keyboard since Thurs (work yesterday was cancelled by torrential death rain) and this is huge sadness on a phone keypad :[ will jump on it soon!! | fogza
07.03.21 | A writer without a keyboard? Is there a sadder image | JohnnyoftheWell
07.06.21 | There are sadder images, but most of them are in 3rd Planet
AND THAT'S A WRAP!! Sorry to stall so hard :[ | Pikazilla
07.06.21 | Reading the lyrics to lives made me hate that song even more, reads like something written by a bloody middle-schooler
Not ever checking out mm lyrics ever again
I want to keep on enjoying their classic shit
Thank you for the heads-up | Kompys2000
07.06.21 | "I think a lot also comes down to how lyrics scan and how they mix with melody and intonation - MM lyrics work bad as poetry"
[2], a big part of why I like Lives more than Life Like Weeds is that the words just sound so good with the melody, and imo a huge part of LCW's brilliance is in how every part of the album is designed to make the lyrics hit as hard as possible even when they aren't anything to write home about on paper (which luckily they mostly are) | fogza
07.06.21 | What kompy said above is true, but I like both songs just about the same. | fogza
07.06.21 | So my guesses were tots wrong, that sucks. | fogza
07.06.21 | "When you get to the promised land
You're gonna shake the eye's hand"
I love this line, one of the best "theism sounds a bit absurd" things ever
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