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jacksontibet's review
2.0
The writing is atrocious and self satisfying and his awareness of this style of music (which he calls lo-fi but it is inaccurate to call it this) is very, very poor. His opinions on the music itself are strange. But, there are many funny Isaac Brock quotes (taken from other sources) sprinkled throughout.
kathrynw12's review
informative
reflective
fast-paced
2.5
The reviews of this book are generally negative, and for the most part they’re right. Goldsher goes into way too much detail on the musical analysis of every track on every album which is 1) not interesting and 2) hard to support given that Isaac Brock openly said he had no background in music theory. It’s more focused on Brock than Modest Mouse, which made the title feel like a misnomer. I don’t agree with his classification of them as a lo-fi band because “indie rock” is not a genre but a record label designation. Any cult indie band from The Shins to Arctic Monkeys would wholeheartedly disagree because while it is based on them recording with an independent label, it’s also a subversion away from a mainstream pop sound. I did like that he scolds the hardcore fans for either judging people for jumping on the bandwagon after Good News for People Who Love Bad News or abandoning them for “selling out.” To be honest, Modest Mouse’s early sound was not great. Good News is a more cohesive album that still has a strong sound. I’m curious what Modest Mouse thought about this book and Goldsher’s alleged attempts to get their input on it.
brdgtc's review
3.0
Don't get me wrong - this is an awful book - but I dare say, it's so bad it's good. The author's attitude and resentment are on every page and make you root against him getting any inside information or interviews.
iamninjabuni's review
2.0
The book seemed to be about the author and how he was in love with Isaac Brock, but had been burned by the fact that the band would not allow him to write an authorized biography. The author could not remain objective at all so if you are annoyed by hearing someone's opinion the entire time this is not the book for you. The author breaks down every album song by song but he wasn't a great judge of... well... anything.
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