Oh where do I start? In 1997, Modest Mouse released "Lonesome Crowded West", it was and still is an indie rock classic. Word spread quickly with the help of some new thing called the internet and something else called Napster. By the time their Follow-up (Moon and Antarctica) released, Modest Mouse was the biggest-underground band around. Why?, because they were exactly what music needed. They were different, exciting, experimental, and most importantly original.

Fast forward 10 years, MySpace and YouTube is king and Modest Mouse has had their first big radio hit with Float On. They have sold over a million copies of the tamer, but still different, Good News For People That Like Bad News. "Indie rock" is just another corporate slogan thrown around by big-wigs trying to cash in on the current "fad", while no-talent one-trick ponies (Jet, The Killers, Ok Go) ride the wave to glory with creative videos that get sent via email. So what is Mr. Issac Brock to do? Join the herd of course.

It's a sad thought that one of the iconic indie bands, has become nothing but mainstream fodder, but that's exactly what their new album "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" is. The new record takes absolutely ZERO chances. It's over-produced, under-written, and extremely ordinary. Not something you should expect from a band that used to sound like a mix between The Pixies, Talking Heads, and Fugazi. Nothing on "We Were Dead" is memorable, despite what your local DJ tells you. The album contains nothing more then lame attempts at pop versions of what Modest Mouse used to stand for.

I imagine the production conversation went like this:

Q:"How can we make every song sound like a radio song"

A: "Let's just add a lame backbeat to all of the songs, that way we can still play these songs in a club if we like."

Gone are the long and sweeping epics of Modest Mouse past, instead they are replaced with 3-5 minute VH1 background music. The perfect example? Look no further then "Fire it Up", a song so boring and pointless, I could have sworn Sugar Ray wrote it. (Maybe Issac Brock will be a guest-host on Access Hollywood?) The rest of the album follows suit, as this is easily Brock's worst set of songs lyrically and musically.  The album's only saving grace is "Florida", which features The Shins lead singer doing back-up. It might sound like a Talking Heads song (The guitar riff could have been sampled), but it's the only track on the record that actually works as a pop song.

Which is the biggest problem with "We Were Dead", it just doesn't work as a pop record, even though it wants to be a pop record. Brocks Tazmanian Devil-like growls do not make good pop vocals. It's like he's trying to transform the mouse into something it should never have been, a mainstream rock band. "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank" is probably the most accurate album title ever. More so then "Good News for People That Like Bad News". The news is in, "Indie Rock" is dead, and so is Modest Mouse. This ship is definitely sinking.

2.0/10.0

Ok, I'll rave about Andrew Bird later. I'm too worked up from my rant. Stay tuned for my pick of the week.