Although this record was my first Modest Mouse purchase, it wasn't my introduction to the band. In my first year of university an American exchange student (who we only knew as "American Andy") burned a bunch of albums he thought I'd like onto an mp3 cd for me and one of them was The Moon and Antartica (which I did enjoy, particularly the song Dark Center of the Universe. Incidently, this was the same guy who introduced me to Hum). A short while later this 7" appeared just before the release of Good New for People Who Love Bad News and I picked it up in HMV in Winchester. I'm not sure I'd heard the a-side at this point, but I was deep in my The-Paper-Chase-are-the-best-band-ever phase and seeing John Congleton's name on the remix on the b-side probably convinced me.
Float On is of course one of the most upbeat songs ever written and is basically sunny-day good-times and everyone loves it for that. It's certainly graced my turntable a huge number of times in the eight years I've owned it. The b-side however, is as dark as I've come to expect from John Congleton. Maybe it's because I've played it more often, I think I prefer this version to the original; it somehow makes the song seem like more of an event. My problem with Modest Mouse is that, whilst they have lots of really great songs, they also have a huge number of completely average songs that I can really take or leave (both live and on record they have too many songs that I'm just not that bothered by). Bukowski is one of those album tracks that doesn't really stand out, but this version strips it back a bit and we're left with something worth getting excited about.
Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.50 new
Bought: HMV Winchester
When: 12/07/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
