Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced by Pavement, Pixies, XTC, and Talking Heads, they rehearsed, rearranged, and recorded demos for almost two years before finally signing with small-town indie label K Records and releasing numerous singles. The band achieved mainstream success with their fourth album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004), and its singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty".
The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's current line-up consists of Mercer, alongside Yuuki Matthews, Mark Watrous, Patti King (keyboards), and Jon Sortland (drums). They are based in Portland, Oregon.
Brian Joseph Burton, known professionally as Danger Mouse, is an American musician and record producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from the Beatles' The Beatles, also known as The White Album. In 2008, Esquire named him one of the "75 most influential people of the 21st century".
The Moon & Antarctica is the third studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on June 13, 2000, by Epic Records. The album's title is taken from the opening scene of the 1982 film Blade Runner, where the main character reads a newspaper headlined "Farming the Oceans, the Moon and Antarctica".
Isaac Kristofer Brock is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist, principal songwriter, guitarist and only constant member of the indie rock band Modest Mouse, as well as his side project band, Ugly Casanova.
Ugly Casanova was an American indie rock band signed to Sub Pop Records. The band has released one album, Sharpen Your Teeth.
Sharpen Your Teeth is the only studio album by the indie rock band Ugly Casanova. Brainchild of Modest Mouse lead singer Isaac Brock, Ugly Casanova was his attempt to try new methods and genres outside the realms of Modest Mouse. The album sees Brock performing on more instruments and using a more stripped down method of recording. The story given is that an eccentric character named Edgar Graham met with Modest Mouse while on tour. During their time together, Graham and the band recorded a few songs together, and Graham completely disappeared. In an attempt to get Graham to resurface, Brock took the recordings to Sub Pop Records, redid them in the studio, and had them released as Sharpen Your Teeth. It has since been revealed that Brock fabricated the story himself, using Ugly Casanova as a method of writing music whilst not being recognized instantly as Modest Mouse.
Owen is a solo project of Mike Kinsella, and part of the Chicago, Illinois indie rock scene.
Red Red Meat was a 1990s Chicago-area blues-influenced alternative rock band. After their break-up, frontman Tim Rutili went on to form Califone, for which many of Red Red Meat's former members, including percussionist Ben Massarella, often record and perform. Tim Hurley went on to form Sin Ropas.
Califone is an experimental rock band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, an audio equipment manufacturer. Their work has been critically acclaimed.
Holopaw is an American indie band from Gainesville, Florida. The band was named after the town of Holopaw in Osceola County, Florida, although none of the band's members have ever lived there. One of its members, John Orth, collaborated with Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock and others in 2002 to release the album Sharpen Your Teeth under the band name Ugly Casanova. Another member, Michael Johnson, went on to join Kurt Heasley's Lilys.
Fruit Bats is an American indie rock band formed in 1997 in Chicago, Illinois, as the project of singer/songwriter Eric D. Johnson. Johnson is the band's sole permanent member, with various musicians joining the band in live and studio settings.
Brad Wood is an American record producer based in Los Angeles. He has produced many albums, including Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville and Placebo's self-titled debut.
Perishable Records is an independent record label founded by Chicago musicians Ben Massarella and Tim Rutili in 1993. Rutili and Massarella were both members of Red Red Meat at the time, and released the band's "Hot Nikkity Truck Monkey" as its first single. The band was almost immediately after signed to Sub Pop, but after Red Red Meat broke up in 1997, the pair revived the label name and began releasing new material on it. Its first release after the dissolution of the Sub Pop contract was an album by Loftus, released in 1998. Perishable's recording studio initially was a renovated first-floor apartment in Chicago, and musicians recorded to 2-inch analog audiotape before moving on to processing using the digital audio workstation ProTools. The label's offices, in 1999, were in a truck wash in south Chicago that doubled as the office for Massarella's side business, BJ Transportation Service. In 2002, the label lost some of its flagship acts - The Fire Show had broken up, and Fruit Bats had signed with Sub Pop - and Massarella and Rutili openly talked about potentially winding down its operation. However, by 2003, the label was operating out of an erstwhile elementary school in the Pilsen neighborhood, where the group had also outfitted a studio it dubbed Clava. Clava was located in a converted garage next to the school, was financed by Massarella, and was operated by Brian Deck of Red Red Meat.
Tim Rutili is an American musician, filmmaker, and visual artist. He is best known as the founder of Red Red Meat and Califone, and his membership in supergroups Ugly Casanova and Loftus.
Ben Massarella is an American percussionist and drummer. He is a member of Califone, a former member of Red Red Meat, Loftus, and Orso, and co-founded Perishable Records with Tim Rutili in 1993.
oRSo is a US-based band formed in 1996 and led by Phil Spirito of Rex, HiM (US), Loftus, and Califone featuring Brian Deck of Red Red Meat and Ben Massarella of Califone. The musical style is self-described as "carny rock, chamber folk or just orchestrated weirdness"; their songs, which feature prominent banjo parts, also feature experimental sounds such as those made by typewriters and toilets. The band releases on Perishable Records.
Fondly was originally an America, Chicago-based trio, that produced two albums of indie punk in the mid to late 1990s. Brian Burkhard, Andy Grzenia, and Dick Simpson were the three original members. They released a self-titled CD (1995) - recorded in Brian Deck's basement. At the time, Brian Deck was a member of the Chicago band, Red Red Meat who later went on to work with bands and artists including Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, and Califone. The album got great reviews and was named album of the year by James VanOsdal - Host of Q101's local show.
Eric Donald Johnson is an American singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the leader and sole permanent member of the influential folk-rock band Fruit Bats, and for his tenure as a member of The Shins. He has also scored films, most notably Our Idiot Brother and Smashed.
Loftus was an American indie rock band from Chicago, signed to Perishable Records. Consisting of former members of Red Red Meat and Rex, it released only one album in 1998.
