Way back in 1998, I saw Modest Mouse and Stinking Lizaveta at some long-gone club in Atlanta. At the time it was a brilliant match--MM was touring in support of The Lonesome Crowded West, still their best album, and its rigid grooves and jagged guitar riffs fit well up against SL's tornado of heavy, jazzed-up post-punk.
Since then, Modest Mouse has become a gigantic pop crossover band--"Float On" is a great single, but it doesn't compare favorably to The Lonesome Crowded West--and now a veteran early-'00s legacy act. Stinking Lizaveta are still bruising around the country, playing small clubs to small audiences. Their most recent album, Sacrifice and Bliss, is a minor masterwork of what's been called "doom jazz." Both are coming to town in the next few months: Modest Mouse at the Valarium on July 18 (tickets are $35) and Stinking Lizaveta at Pilot Light (their 15th show there!) on May 11 (admission is $6).
Since then, Modest Mouse has become a gigantic pop crossover band--"Float On" is a great single, but it doesn't compare favorably to The Lonesome Crowded West--and now a veteran early-'00s legacy act. Stinking Lizaveta are still bruising around the country, playing small clubs to small audiences. Their most recent album, Sacrifice and Bliss, is a minor masterwork of what's been called "doom jazz." Both are coming to town in the next few months: Modest Mouse at the Valarium on July 18 (tickets are $35) and Stinking Lizaveta at Pilot Light (their 15th show there!) on May 11 (admission is $6).
Leave a comment