Modest Mouse - No One’s First, and You’re Next

(Columbia)

Yeah, yeah so an eight-track EP should technically get lumped in with the singles but eight tracks of Mr Isaac Brock’s genius is worth 100 of our lousy words so that’s what you’re getting. Culled from a bunch of limited singles from the last few years this stinks of pure stopgap to accompany their imminent US tour, but we can catch up on a clutch of rare rambles from Brock. Part drunk at the pulpit, part soothsayer pirate, part Mick Jagger karaoke singer, Modest Mouse make something wholly conventional sound odd, beautiful and unpredictable, mostly due to Brock’s unique bark of a singing voice. So quit scouring eBay for those long lost MM 7”ers and pick up this disc. It’s got a song called ‘Guilty Cocker Spaniel’ on it ferchrissakes.