This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Good news for people who love great music: Washington indie-rockers Modest Mouse have returned. And with a weird, wonderful jewel of a sixth album in tow.
Good News for People Who Love Bad News finds yawping singer-guitarist Isaac Brock and his cohorts leaving the epic lunarscapes of 2000’s The Moon And Antarctica for a more Earthly (and earthy) setting. Donning a banjo, cranking up the grooves and enlisting the aid of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Flaming Lips and others, the idiosyncratic Brock and his mighty Mouse intrepidly stake out a musical jurisdiction that expropriates the disjointed white-boy funk of Talking Heads, the retro-swing of Squirrel Nut Zippers, the gothic Americana of Dock Boggs and even the distorted psychobilly of The Cramps. Pretty ambitious work — but even so, Brock still finds time to ponder his own mortality, declare himself God and slag Charles Bukowski on these 16 brilliant, original and highly unforgettable cuts. That’s the good news. The bad news? At 48 minutes, this disc is over far too soon.
