Know-It-All
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As a huge Modest Mouse fan, I was obviously intrigued by this book.
That being said, I've started reading it, and it's not that good. For one, the writer sounds like he just got into Modest Mouse after Good News, which is fine and all, but it's an indication of how deep (i.e. not very deep) he is able to delve into their history, music, and personality. The book centers almost completely around Brock, who didn't authorize this biography. So, the writer takes everything from interviews, reviews, etc. Although the writer does try to be critical of Modest Mouse's performances and material, which I think is a good thing, it comes off sounding a little uninformed. It seems like he's often trying to guess why MM did certain things in their earlier albums. This may not be entirely his fault, as Brock obviously has been a little ambiguous in interviews he's done, but like i said above, it sounds a bit like he caught the Modest Mouse bus a little too late, so the book (so far) doesn't really give too much insight into Modest Mouse in their early years.
More than anything, the reason why I'm not impressed so far is that the writer sounds like he doesn't really understand the indie rock scene (past or present). This lack of knowledge and experience in the independent rock scene really limits his writing. To give you an opposite example, the reason why i think Azzerad's Our Band Could Be Your Life is so good and so thorough is because you really get the sense that Azzerad was IN the early punk and hardcore scene, or that he has always been a fan of independent music.
Overall, while I don't think the book is that great, I'll still finish it, because I love Modest Mouse. And if you're interested in learning a little more about Modest Modest, then the book is probably good for that. But don't expect a really thorough study of them.
Granted, I'm only about 80 pages in, but that's my 2 cents.
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