Comments on: What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

By: Clint Miller

Clint Miller — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:20:03 +0000

In less constructive criticism…

Fleet Foxes wishes they were as good as Akron/Family.

By: Davy Minor

Davy Minor — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:07:49 +0000

I think it is this supposed Modest Mouse ripoff argument that initially turned me off from this band, but At Mount Zoomer is a far cry from being just derivative now that I have actually spent significant time with it. I think the fact that Issac Brock discovered them makes that label stick a bit harder than it should at this point.

Also, on some level you can find influences for any band that exists, but not all borrowing is created equally. Fleet Foxes are completely looking backwards, stealing a little My Morning Jacket, a lot of Neil Young, and creating a patchwork quilt of other people’s sounds. They start with conservative, backwards looking thefts and get even safer and more conservative with them.

Wolf Parade use Modest Mouse as a starting point, a fairly progressive and unique starting point, and traveled away from that influence moving in uncharted territories.

I’m not familiar with Wolf Parade’s first album really because I did not like it, but At Mount Zoomer is a very far distance from just being a Modest Mouse knockoff. If Fleet Foxes next album actually has something unique or exploratory on it, I’ll give them props as well.

By: Clint Miller

Clint Miller — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:17:30 +0000

Yea dude, somebody could probably start a blog devoted solely to bands influenced by Modest Mouse since they are one of the best bands to emerge from the 90s.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:49:01 +0000

Davy, I’m ashamed. You have the nerve to categorize Fleet Foxes as My Morning Jacket ripoffs, but you herald Wolf Parada aka Modest Mouse v 2.0. Come on man.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:08:43 +0000

The Nigel Godrich From The Basement for white denim is great.