Not sure if I like We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. It's more straightforwardly mainstream than the other Modest Mouse albums, the tattered threads of the original concept are kinda lame, and on some of the songs I'm having trouble making out the vocals over all the layering.

[Update: Headphones make a biiiiig difference. I rocked out at work today.]

I now seem to have had this reaction to new work by all of the bands in what Jubb and I used to call my "Holy Trinity" — Modest Mouse, the Eels, and The Flaming Lips. I didn't think that Blinking Lights worked as an album, I lamented the fact that Shootenanny! couldn't even measure up to Souljacker, and I can't listen to At War with the Mystics without skipping numerous tracks. I'm that guy at the concert who complains that they aren't playing enough old stuff.

Forgetting a dozen or so singles by various bands, the newest albums I've really liked were Good News for People Who Love Bad News and Gimme Fiction. And those came out years ago.

Between 3hive, the radio, and Graham's incessant foisting, I get exposed to plenty of new stuff, but I like very little of it, and I usually end up ignoring a once-catchy song once I've heard it a half dozen times. I'm not looking for hooks; I want a soundtrack, not a jingle.

At the same time, I feel like as long as I can kinda enjoy the stuff on the radio, I'm fine with letting my musical taste stagnate. As long as you aren't overplaying anything, old favorites are fun and relaxing. Manney once told me about a Brainerdite who enjoyed visiting home during college in part because he could listen to old music without being judged for it.

(He also longed to sleep naked again, but that's neither here nor there.)

I've been culling my music library lately, and trying to listen to music less. I rarely listen at work, for example. If I go back to using music as entertainment, rather than to block out thought or pass the time, I already have enough good music to last years and years.

(p.s. On the drive back from Wisconsin recently I discovered an all-'90s station, and, as I often do, I wondered if my generation will ever have something like the Oldies stations of today. I would love a world where "The World at Large" comes on the radio when I'm on my way to the early bird special.)