Here's something that's been on our radar for a few months, but has slipped through the gaps while we've been trying to get more information.
Eric Judy has a new project called RudyWaltz with Robin Perringer and Mat Brooke. Perringer and Brooke were both in the band Carissa's Wierd and Band of Horses, although not at the same time for the latter. Perringer was then in 764-Hero and had a brief sting as Modest Mouse's touring guitarist. Brooke started Grand Archives.
The band has put out some demos, and has played a handful of shows in Seattle, WA over the past few months. Listen below.
In other collaboration news, Isaac Brock has contributed backing vocals to the song "Beautiful You" on Mark Kozelek's new album Jesu/Sun Kil Moon (itself a collaboration with Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon and Justin Broadrick's Jesu). The album was released this past Thursday. Sun Kil Moon recorded an album of Modest Mouse covers back in 2005.
180 Degrees South, the documentary that Ugly Casanova did the bulk of the soundtrack for back in 2010, followed the journey of Jeff Johnson as he traveled from Ventura, California to Patagonia, Chile.
Johnson and James Joiner are curating and editing a book, produced by Patagonia, entitled Going Out is Going In. The book is limited to 3,000 copies, with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity 1% for the Planet.
A free digital playlist of 43 artists is available for download on the inside cover of each copy. Modest Mouse will be one of those artists and has labeled the track as "an exclusive, never before heard Modest Mouse song."
No word yet on what the track is titled, but we'll update you as we hear more.
While we're not 100% sure on Joe Plummer's status in Modest Mouse at the moment, we have been informed that yesterday he announced a new side project he's been working on with Dale Crover (Melvins) and Coady Willis (Melvins, Big Business).
The all-drumming project is called Hew Time, which Joe has the following to say about:
I heard Max Roach'sM'Boom 14 years ago and I've wanted to make my own version with drummers I love ever since. Dale, Coady and I carved out our own compositions built from a combination of drum kits and dozens of percussion instruments. I couldn't be prouder of the end result. Thank you for the inspiration Mr. Max Roach. It's Hew Time!
The album will be released on March 25th via Joyful Noise Recordings. The first vinyl pressing is limited to 500 hand-numbered copies on Gold & Black vinyl (which is already sold out). The second pressing is limited to 1000 copies on Gold vinyl. The tracklisting is as follows:
Tim Rutili and Brian Deck. Both ex-Ugly Casanova. Deck produced The Moon & Antarctica.
Rutili and Deck were both members of 1990s Chicago band Red Red Meat. After their break-up, Rutili went on to form Califone (which for a time also included Deck). Deck went on to produce albums, including Modest Mouse's The Moon & Antarctica and Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks.
They were also both members of the 2002 lineup of Ugly Casanova. Both can be heard on their debut album Sharpen Your Teeth, which Deck also produced.
In a long sit down with New York publication The AWL, Tim Rutili talks about the history of his current band Califone. But he also briefly touches on his former bandmate Brian Deck and his past and current work with Modest Mouse, as well as the time Isaac had his jaw broken.
One of my favorite records of all-time, Modest Mouse's The Moon and Antarctica was made there with Brian Deck. Were you around when Isaac Brock got his jaw broken?
I didn't witness it, but I went to the hospital the next day and hung with him and got him out of there. From what I remember, we told him not to go into that park after 10 p.m. because there were kids who hung out there who were just dicks. And they went to the Empty Bottle one night, and when they came back, two of the guys went into the studio and Isaac went to the corner to talk to the kids. I think they said, "You're not from around here." And as Isaac answered, some kid just teed off on his face and shattered his jaw.
That slowed down the recording process for a while?
The band were around Chicago for a long time. And they had gotten a lot of the record done, but from what I remember, that incident was right before he was supposed to start recording vocals. And his jaw was wired shut. So things slowed down. I believe there were a lot more instrumental overdubs and other work done, while he healed up.
Maybe in a roundabout way that helped make it a better record?
I believe it helped the record immensely! I think Isaac worked a lot more on his lyrics, too... to me, it's the best Modest Mouse record.
I agree. It really feels like a weird cousin to what you do.
Brian did a really great job with those guys. They're making a new record now in Portland, and I know Benny went up there and recorded a bunch with them, and Brian has been there for months on this one and I think they're almost done. I stopped there and listened to some stuff last spring and it sounded great.
The story is one a lot of Modest Mouse fans will have heard before, but the most interesting part is definitely the last paragraph, where he talks about how Deck is currently working with the band on the new album.
This was hinted at by Jeremiah back in 2009, when he mentioned to a fan after a show in Anaheim, that the band was hoping to have Brian Deck produce the new album.
We'll presume as well, that this "Benny" is Califone's Ben Massarella, who also provided some percussion during the recording of The Moon & Antarctica.
Thanks to Board member bneiluj for posting this article. Take a listen below to a legendary Modest Mouse jam that was more than likely inspired by this story.
Here's something interesting that turned up today. For those of you that can remember, back in January 2008, in an interview from Rolling Stone Magazine, Isaac mentioned that he was working on a project with Frank Black to recreate Lee Hazlewood's Trouble Is A Lonesome Town.
That was the last we heard of it.
The project now however, is ready for release. It looks like the project's main originator was Charles Normal, known for his work with Frank Black, Pete Yorn, Jetboy, and his brother, musician Larry Norman.
Charles Normal first heard the Hazlewood album in 2000 while living in Norway, where he picked it up in a secondhand show.
"It really made me start thinking about America, where I hadn't been to in quite some time," Normal said. "I'm a big fan of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' and that small-town Americana we grew up watching on TV and this was like the audio companion to that. It had kind of a sinister vibe, it was a little darker."
The project really got underway when he read in 2007 that Hazlewood had always intended the album to be seen as a set of demos, that would later be recorded by other artists. He recruited friends and collaborators from Portland, to begin work on the album including Isaac Brock, The Pixies' Frank Black, Pete Yorn, and members of Art Brut and the Dandy Warhols.
The project however would be shelved shortly after it Isaac gave that interview in 2008 though, after Charles Normal's brother Larry passed away.
"I just put the whole thing on the back burner," Normal says. "It was really heart-wrenching to try to sing harmonies with him; these were the last tracks that he'd ever recorded."
Eventually, after some long late night talks with Isaac, Charles decided to complete the album. Which will be released under the band name "Thriftstore Masterpiece" and will be available on July 9.
Thriftstore Masterpiece revisit Lee Hazlewood's 1963 lost classic Trouble Is A Lonesome Town and features Pete Yorn, Frank Black (Pixies), Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), Courtney Taylor-Taylor (The Dandy Warhols), Eddie Argos (Art Brut), the late Larry Norman and more.
The album is available for order, currently in a pressing of 1000 copies on a brown and white starburst LP from Side One Dummy Records. The full track listing is as follows:
Long Black Train - featuring Frank Black
Ugly Brown - featuring Larry Norman
Son Of A Gun - featuring Frank Black
We All Make The Flowers Grow - featuring Kristin Blix
Look At That Woman - featuring Courtey Taylor-Taylor
Peculiar Guy - featuring Eddie Argos
Trouble Is A Lonesome Town - featuring Larry Norman
Right now, we are not sure exactly what tracks will feature Isaac apart from The Railroad, but we'll keep you posted as we find out. Listen to that track below.
Back in June of last year, it was reported that Isaac Brock was working on a soundtrack to an upcoming film Queens of Country. Well, nine months went by and virtually nothing else was said about it. We attempted to contact the producers of the film to get more info, but didn't receive a response. Leading us to question just last week if Isaac was even still involved at this point.
The film seems to have faced a few delays, but will finally see it's world debut this coming Saturday at the Phoenix Film Festival, and with it, final confirmation if Isaac is still involved.
Tonight, the day before the film is to debut, Phoenix Music blog Up On The Sun, uploaded their latest podcast that include two of the tracks Isaac has contributed to the score.
The instrumental numbers are entitled "Trophy Room" and "Sadness", and start at around the 12:35 min mark in the podcast. Unfortunately the DJ talks, and interviews actor Ron Livingston from Queens of Country, over the first track, but the second one can be heard in full.
With the movie coming out tomorrow, hopefully more songs will come to light, and perhaps more will be shed on the subject if maybe Isaac's score will see a physical release like the 180 Degrees South soundtrack did. It will also be interesting to see if Isaac plans on releasing these under the Ugly Casanova name.
Thanks to board member monkey2000 for bringing this to our attention.
Joe Plummer is currently touring with The Shins, who are in the process of releasing their new album Port Of Morrow on March 20 (Five years to the day, that We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank was released). They are currently at the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX, where last night they performed at the Auditorium Shores Stage.
Today The Shins will be performing at the Google/YouTube SXSW Festival showcase "Live from the Lot" at 5:45 PM C. The show will also be streamed later today on YouTube, approximately one hour after the performance it seems. Check the YouTubePresents page for the start time in your area.
While it doesn't look like you'll be able to watch the live stream of Modest Mouse's performance tonight in Mexico, you can watch Joe Plummer performing tonight with The Shins on SNL.
Catch the band playing "Simple Song" courtesy of Stereogum.
So, this obviously isn't a Shins fan site, but with Joe Plummer currently drumming for them this becomes slightly relevant.
The Shins announced this morning that they would be releasing a new album in March 2012, entitled Port Of Morrow, on Aural Apothecary/Columbia Records. While their press release states that James Mercer has performed the majority of the instrumentation, it is expected that Joe has performed drums on the album.
The press release also states that they will be announcing tour dates soon and that the tour will feature Joe on drums. This will probably tie up Joe for any potential touring with Modest Mouse.
Joe Plumer's side project, Mister Heavenly, has a video out for Bronx Sniper, a track off their recently released album, Out Of Love.
The video was directed by Corey Adams and Alex Craig, features quite a bit of mayhem, and is worth the watch.
Mister Heavenly has also updated their tour schedule. See them live at one of the dates below.
Board admin, MajinTrunx, also points out that these dates conflict with the upcoming Modest Mouse dates in Texas and Brazil. Meaning that Joe most likely not be performing on those dates, and that drum duties will be performed soley by Jeremiah, unless Modest Mouse get someone in to temporarily replace Joe.
11-04 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
11-05 Baltimore, MD - Metro Gallery
11-06 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
11-07 Charleston, SC - Tin Roof
11-08 St. Augustine, FL - Café Eleven
11-09 Orlando, FL - Back Booth
11-10 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
11-11 Lexington, KY - Cosmic Charlie's
11-12 St. Louis, MO - Firebird
11-13 Chicago, IL - Subterranean
11-14 Pontiac, MI - Pike Room
11-15 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
11-16 Toronto, Ontario - Great Hall
11-17 Montreal, Quebec - Il Motore
11-18 Milford, CT - Daniel Street
11-19 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Arts
11-20 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
11-30 Ghent, Belgium - Charlatan
12-01 Rennes, France - Transmusicales
12-02 Paris, France - L’International
12-03 Lille, France - La Peniche
12-04 Koln, Germany - Gebaude 9
12-05 Hamburg, Germany - Molotow
12-06 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
12-08 Berlin, Germany - Privatclub
12-09 Munich, Germany - Atomic Cafe
12-10 Dijon, France - Generiq Hotel de Vogue
12-12 London, England - Cargo
The Joe Plummer side project's (with Nick Diamonds and Honus Honus) debut album comes out in a week, but you can now stream the entire album over on Paste Magazine's website.
Their tour also kicks off next week Thursday in Portland, OR. Find more tour dates over at their website.
In other Joe Plummer news, The Shins played their first show with their new lineup, which includes Joe, in Eugene, OR last night. Watch a video of them covering David Bowie's Ashes To Ashes below.
As announced back in 2009, Joe Plummer is drumming for The Shins. Which hasn't meant much, as The Shins have been pretty quiet the last few years, with the exception of James Mercer playing a few solo performances with the help of Joe.
Things may change now, The Shins have announced that they will be putting out a new album next year on Mercer's Aural Apothecary label (via Columbia).
They will also be embarking on a short tour, with dates scattered over August, September and October. Mercer will be backed by Joe, Jessica Dobson, Yuuki Matthews and Richard Swift.
Pitchfork is reporting that Isaac will be scoring the upcoming film Queens of Country, written and directed by Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke. Both of whom were responsible for 2009's The Heart is a Drum machine, which Isaac starred in. The film stars Ron Livingston, Lizzy Caplan, and Tool's Maynard James Keenan.
Living in a fantasy era long gone and obsessed with old time country stars, the prettiest girl in a small Arizona town finds a lost iPod filled with songs that speak to her sensitive heart. Jolene Gillis is convinced the owner is her soul mate and she is thrust into a sexy, heartwarming and hilarious adventure of mistaken identities, ATVs, line dancing competitions, kidnappers, time machines and doppelgangers.
We will continue to report on this as more information is known, but seeing as how filming just began, that could be a few months. It will be interesting to see if this turns into another Ugly Casanova project, similar to the work that was done for 2010's 180° South.
Filming began on May 3, and the movie is slated for a 2011 release. Isaac's score is to be released in 2012.
Mister Heavenly is... a trio of men who love dogs.
Something I missed while being away...
Mister Heavenly, the side project of Joe Plummer and members of Man Man and
The Unicorns, will be releasing their debut album, Out Of Love, on August 16
through Sub Pop.
The tracklist is as follows:
Bronx Sniper
I Am a Hologram
Charlyne
Mister Heavenly
Harm You
Reggae Pie
Pineapple Girl
Diddy Eyes
Hold My Hand
Doom Wop
Your Girl
Wise Men
You can grab the tracks "Mister Havenly" and "Pineapple Girl" from this post we did on them back in January. Sub Pop says keep your ears open for more tour dates. Joe is also expected to be performing with The Shins this summer.
UPDATE (2011/06/13): Mister Heavenly have announced a 14 date West Coast tour starting in August. Check the dates, as well as the artwork for Out Of Love, over at Consequence Of Sound.
Seattle design and production company, Süperfad, team up with director Nando Costa (The Whale Song video) and World Gang to release the short film Tactile Waveforms.
Süperfad's latest short film, directed by Nando Costa, explores the connections between science, mathematics and music. Drawings representing a musical score are released into stylized landscapes that illustrate conditions through which sounds travel. These drawn representations react in different ways when traveling through the desolate landscapes, transforming into impossible musical instruments and altering elements in the environment along the way. The film's structure is defined by World Gang's music composition, which features classic instruments altered electronically to create the track. Working in a push and pull relationship, the film's video and audio abstractions unite in an experience that is both otherworldly and rooted in tradition.
And a reminder that World Gang's live album, Live At The ENDOFTHEWORLD 3/11, is out this Friday after having been delayed a month.
With Promise 1 (formally known as Promise The Mixtape) from World Gang coming
out this coming out next week, imputor? Records has now announced a live album
for the Jeremiah Green side project with Darrin Weiner due out May 3.
Recorded in March this year at the End Of The Word in Port Townsend, WA, the
digital release will consist of four new tracks from the duo, and will be aptly titled
World Gang - Live At The ENDOFTHEWORLD 3/11.
Jeremiah Green and Darrin Wiener
have donated an unreleased track, entitled (8)copy, to a compilation album
that has been put together by Japanese label 7e.p. 7e.p. will be donating all
proceeds from the album to the victims of the recent Tōhoku earthquake
and tsunami.
The title, 'Resume', which implies recovering and persevering, was the idea of 'Sweet Dreams' publisher Norio Fukuda. The cover artwork was provided by renowned Olympia, WA. artist Nikki McClure. Moreover, Masaki Tada, who has worked on albums by moools and many other 7e.p. albums, offered his mastering expertise.
The compilation will be part 1 of a 3 album set, that will include a
total of 45 tracks from 43 artists hailing from America, Canada, Australia,
the U.K., the Netherlands and Japan.
Volume 1 can now be pre-ordered for an April 11 release through iTunes for
the low price of $6.99. Other artists assosciated with Modest Mouse include
Wolf Parade and Figg (Robin Peringer).
A short update from Jim Fairchild regarding the status of the All Smiles Staylow And Mighty vinyl.
I am writing to apologize for the amount of time that it has taken to fill the orders for Staylow and Mighty vinyl.
I was waiting for my vinyl manufacturer who delayed the shipping date A LOT for this album. I am told I'll have everything by the end of next week and it will go straight out the door after that. I was hoping to ship everyone everything at the same time. Since I feel so bad about treating you guys, the people who are most supportive of us, with such unpunctual behavior, I promise to make it up to you by personally shipping you all a copy of something unique and special in the not too distant future. It will involve Aaron Burtch, for you Grandaddy fans. And some of it is being recorded early next week. The rest is finished. Okay, look for the shipment soon. Thank you for your patience! I really appreciate it. All the best,
If you were one of Jim Fairchild's backers for his album/EP project back in November, links to the album are now being emailed out. Alternatively you can log into Kickstarter and get the download there.
Jim says he should have the vinyls sometime in March, and hopes to start mailing them out then. The EP is still in the works and will be sent out digitally as soon as it is complete.
The track list for Staylow And Mighty is as follows and clocks in at just under 37 minutes:
Captives
First Sign Of Snow
Trying To Wake You
Virgil Shaw
Escalon, Decades Ago
Where The Feathers Fell
Sun, Number One
Sun, Number Two
My Son, The Future
Diana's Throne
Totem
If you were not a backer and still want to purchase a copy of the album, you can do so from the All Smiles' website.
Back in November, Jim Fairchild started a project through Kickstarter to raise money to complete work on a new All Smiles album and EP. The project's goal was met in December and since then he's been hard at work getting the final touches on everything.
This morning Jim posted an update to say that the new album is called "Staylow and Mighty", and will be released to the public on March 1st, with supporters receiving it before then digitally. He is also hoping that the records will begin shipping in the first week of March.
In the meantime, he has uploaded a new song from the album entitled "Virgil Shaw". Read about it and download a copy from his Kickstarter page.
Earlier this morning however they uploaded what appears to be a 15 and a half minute track from that upcoming release, simply entitled "Promise". Which at that length, may just be the entire single. Stream the track below. (Disclaimer: Those looking for new Modest Mouse, this is going to be vastly different.)
imputor? also announced this weekend, that the 2008 World Gang release, Drums, will see a further repressing of 200 copies.
Mister Heavenly is a side project signed to Sub Pop, featuring Modest Mouse's
Joe Plummer, Man
Man's Honus Honus and Islands' Nick Thorburn.
Today
they're giving away their new single featuring the tracks "Mister Heavenly"
and "Pineapple Girl". You can listen to the first track and download
both through the Sub Pop widget below (you will need to part with your email
address for the download).
They will also be playing two gigs this weekend (featuring their December touring member,
actor Michael Cera). The first at the Lincoln Hall in Chicago tonight, January 14,
and then at the Bowery Ballroom in New York on January 16.
With Modest Mouse news being slow at the moment (i.e. non existent) and Jeremiah
Green's World Gang releasing a new single in about a month, we thought it time
to bring Jeremiah's side project list up to date.
The old site criminally neglected Jeremiah's body of work, focusing mainly
on his projects with Red Stars Theory, Satisfact and Vells. We've done our
best to try and add every single thing that he's worked on over the past 15-20
years, but with so much stuff out there, it's entirely possible we've
missed something (For now they are still unfortunately missing 99% of the lyrics).
If we have,
let us know.
The interesting part about all his work, are the familiar names that keep
appearing. So many seem to pop up on different projects, and even spill
over to Modest Mouse at time. Jeremiah seems to have really established a kind
of musical collective up in the Seattle Area, one where everyone seems only
too happy to
contribute to each other's projects.
So here is a brief attempt at trying to document that non-Modest-Mouse-related
career that is Jeremiah Green's:
Peeved: Supposedly Jeremiah's first band, formed around 1992 with Tonie
Palmasani, Jeff McCollough and Jason Talley. They would put out one album
called Burden Of The Tiger (of which we can find little other info). Tonie,
Jason and Jeremiah would go on to form Red Stars Theory with James Bertram
(Lync, Built To Spill, 764-HERO).
Red Stars Theory: One of his longer projects, Jeremiah would drum on all
seven of their releases, even providing a bit of guitar and vocals on one
or two songs. They released a steady stream of work from 1995 to 2000, but
have largely become defunct due to Jeremiah's hectic touring schedule with
Modest Mouse. They would however, contribute a new song to Suicide Squeeze's
10 year anniversary compilation, Slaying Since 1996, in 2006.
Satisfact: Label mates with Modest Mouse at the time of their first release,
they would put out one album on UP Records, before releasing an EP and second
album on K Records. Jeremiah would not be involved in their last album, The
Third Meeting At The Third Counter and would be replaced by Dave Schneider (Lync,
Love As Laughter).
Membranaphonics: Monitor Records would do their best to showcase different
drummers on this 2001 compilation. Jeremiah would contribute a solo untitled
track. Other drummers included Brendan
Canty (Fugazi) and Simone Pace (Blonde Redhead).
Vells: Reportedly formed when Jeremiah quit Modest Mouse in 2003, he would
be joined by Tristan Marcum, Mary Thinnes and Adam McCollom. To date they
have released two albums, an EP (featuring artwork by Kevin Willis, who would
later direct the music video for Satellite Skin) and a single,
with their last release being in late 2007.
Plastiq Phantom: With Vells now on the imputor? label, Jeremiah would become
more involved with one of the label's founders, Darren Weiner (Plastiq Phantom, Psychic
Emperor, World Gang, backing vocals on Perpetual Motion Machine). Jeremiah
would drum on Plastic Phantom's self titled album (artwork by
Nando Costa, who would later direct the video for The Whale Song) and also
get a song onto the Moog documentary's soundtrack.
Psychic Emperor: Darren Weiner would join Jeremiah, and Vells band mates
Tristan Marcum and Mary Thinnes, to put out a self titled album in 2004.
James Bertram would play bass on a few tracks. Jeremiah has not been involved
in this project since their first album though, and it would seem that Psychic
Emperor has become more a project for Darren and Tristan.
Graig Markel / The Animals At Night: In 2007 Jeremiah would guest
on fellow Plastiq Phantom collaborator, Graig Markel's, solo album. The following
year he would drum on one track of Graig's new band The Animals At Night.
Both albums would feature tracks recorded in Jeremiah's basement.
World Gang: Teaming up once again with Darren Weiner, the two would release
long ambient improvisational pieces in extremely limited quantities through
imputor?. Their latest release, entitled Promise The Mixtape, is due out
on February 14.
For more information on the above mentioned releases and projects, please
explore Jeremiah Green's pages in the Discography section.
Jim Fairchild's project, All Smiles, which consists of him and fellow Modest Mouse band mate Joe Plummer, have been hard at work recording material for a new All Smiles album and EP over the past 6 months, between touring.
Jim is now looking for help from fans to try and raise $3000 by December 23
to pay for mixing and mastering. But in his own words, he doesn't want "handouts"
and all donations will be rewarded with music:
$5 - New EP digitally before the masses
$10 - New LP and EP digitally before the masses
$30 - New LP on hand screened, signed, and numbered vinyl plus digital download
of LP and EP before the masses
$50 - New LP on hand screened, signed, and numbered vinyl plus digital download
of LP and EP before the masses AND handwritten lyrics to your favorite All
Smiles song (or one of the new ones)
$100 - A personally dedicated video of any All Smiles song, recorded by Jim
specially for you or your friend. You'll get an HD download, a personal URL
on the All Smiles website, and your option of having it on YouTube. PLUS everything
in the $50 package
$200 - A 20 minute Q&A via Skype. A personally dedicated video of any
All Smiles song, recorded by Jim specially for you or your friend. You'll get
an HD download, a personal URL on the All Smiles website, and your option of
having it on YouTube. PLUS everything in the $50 package
$500 - Private live digital performance and Q&A via Skype. PLUS everything
in the $50 package
$2000 - Private live performance anywhere in the US. PLUS everything in the
$50 package
Mike Cresswell will be mixing the album in San Fransisco. The album will also
feature Gary Jarman from The Cribs.
The iTunes version of the 180 Degrees South soundtrack (out today!) contains a bonus track, Now You're Sleeping, that seems to be a brief keyboard instrumental. We're trying to confirm if the vinyl version will also contain this track.
UPDATE: Brushfire have confirmed that it's an iTunes only track.
In a new interview with Pitchfork, Isaac discusses a range of topics, including his work on the 180 Degrees South soundtrack, new Modest Mouse songs, the upcoming tour and the band's current relationship with Johnny Marr.
On the topic of a new Modest Mouse album:
Pitchfork: What are you working on with Modest Mouse?
IB: Songs. That's that.
Pitchfork: Are they going in any particular direction?
IB: I can't say that yet. I can't say that they are. It's pretty early in the game for me to have a clear picture of what we're doing, if it's good or anything. They're going to show up again today, and we'll keep banging our heads on it. It's way too early for me to know what direction this thing is really headed. It's just a bunch of random shit at the moment.
Pitchfork: How long have you been working on the random shit?
IB: About six months. We're not killing ourselves doing it, by any means. We just had the "Hey, we should probably buckle down" conversation last week. We just putz around and smoke a bunch of weed. It's more time spent hanging out than playing music.
And as far as hearing any of these new songs on the upcoming tour, well don't hold your breath:
Pitchfork: Will you try out new music on tour?
IB: We're going to try to. But I actually think we won't. I don't think any of it is close enough to be ready in what's essentially two-and-a-half weeks. I'd like to say we're going to, but I don't really see it happening.
A profile page for 180 Degrees South on Magnolia Pictures' website has revealed the members of Ugly Casanova this time round to be: Isaac Brock, Tom Peloso, Joe Plummer, Eric Judy and Clay Jones (We're presuming Clay Jones is the same Clay Jones that worked as an engineer on We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank). Watch this promo that Brushfire records put out last night showing them recording/performing together.
180 Degrees South is also now apparently streaming from Netflix.
Isaac will also be the special musical guest at the San Francisco screening of 180 Degrees South on May 28. Tickets are available from the Victoria Theatre's website.
Isaac will be the special musical guest at two upcoming showings of 180 Degrees South. One show in Santa Monica, CA on May 25, and another in Portland, OR on May 26. Isaac will apparently be performing a small acoustic performance, which is likely to contain material from the upcoming 180 Degrees South soundtrack which is due out on June 22.
Special Guests have also been announced for San Diego and San Francisco, but no word yet if Isaac will be a part of those.
Pitchfork has revealed that the 180 Degrees South Soundtrack will be released on June 22 on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records.
Isaac, as Ugly Casanova, will be contributing 9 songs to the soundtrack, one of the tracks (Hotcha Girls) having been pre-released on 2002's Sharpen Your Teeth. It will also feature songs by James Mercer, Mason Jennings, Love As Laughter and Jack Johnson.
A new trailer has been posted for the 180 Degrees South Documentary and towards the end it states that it will feature original music by Ugly Cassanova?
Now before anyone gets too excited, take note of that extra "s," as in that's the spelling of Isaac's publishing name, as first noted on "The Fruit That Ate Itself" (Although also note that since 2004 it has been spelt Ugly Casanova on Modest Mouse releases), and not his side project Ugly Casanova.
Why Isaac appears to be going under his alias is anyone's guess at this point OR could this be a new incarnation of Ugly Casanova?
When this was first mentioned last year, the project was supposed to include Modest Mouse members Isaac, Eric, Tom and Joe and The Shins' James Mercer. So it would be interesting if this was the new Ugly Casanova, except that in this new trailer, James Mercer's name is listed separately.
Ugly Cassanova is also listed first and larger than the other names, which is also interesting as this was originaly thought to be James Mercer's project.
180 Degrees South has just started showing at film festivals and will be available on DVD on June 8, so hopefully more information will start becoming available on any soundtrack details.
Thurop Van-Orman has mentioned via his deviantART page, that Isaac Brock is to collaborate with him on some music for an upcoming special of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
The first advanced track from Orenda Fink's latest solo album, Ask The Night, has been released and it just happens to be the one with Isaac Brock on backing vocals.
The album is being released October 6 on CD/LP via Saddle Creek and can be pre-ordered on their website.
Saddle Creek is also offering the track featuring Isaac, High Ground, as a free download. [Download]
An article in the latest Rolling Stone magazine reveals lots of details regarding the planning of Heath Ledger's King Rat video. Isaac talks about his meetings with Ledger and the additional work that Terry Gilliam provided. He also talks about his last encounter with Ledger during a brake from shooting The Dark Knight.
Towards the end of the article, Isaac also talks about his work with the Shins' James Mercer on the 180 Degrees South documentary. It then goes on to mention that:
And the follow-up to 2007's We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank should be finished in the next six months, with the band road-testing some of the material on its current tour. "It'll take some effort," Brock says. "But that will make it more fun."
Now Modest Mouse has never been one to stick to any kind of release timeline, their albums have always been delayed, but as of today no new material has been performed on the current tour so far. Hopefully things will change before the tour is over and then this quote will make more sense.
Some people over at ModMouse.com have been able to talk to band members after some of the shows and have learned things that seem to support this. In Montreal Eric stated that the they are planning on working on a new album once this tour is over, that they are planning an east coast tour and that he doesn't think Johnny Marr will be returning.
Tom Peloso is now releasing selected tracks from his solo debut album, The Last Saturday of the Year. For a short time, one of the songs off the release, "The Leaves And The Trees," will be available for free from his website.
In a small interview in the latest Rolling Stone magazine, Isaac has reported that the band's current priority is to finish work on the new EP, described as "repolished outtakes from MM's last two discs." He will also be singing with Frank Black and the Catholics on a re-creation of Lee Hazlewood's first album "Trouble is a Lonesome Town." The band will also start work on a new album this coming March. And lastly, that Modest Mouse will be touring with R.E.M. this Spring. Thanks to Mike for the info.
The release date for the new album from Jeremiah's side project, the Vells, has been pushed back one week. "Integretron" will now be released September 18th. The album is still being released track by track for free from imputor?'s website.
Jeremiah Green's side project, the Vells, have a new album coming out September 11th entitled "Integretron." Jeremiah is credited as performing drums, guitar and vocals on the new album and word has it, that this will be his last album with the group. The album is being released by imputor?, who are currently releasing a new track each day for download via their web site, making the entire album free for download for a limited time. Currently, the first 3 tracks of the album are available. [Link]
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