On the Cover: Modest Mouse
Get a sneak peek at our April cover story and find out how Isaac Brock really met Johnny Marr.
By Spin Staff; Will Hermes 03.27.07 3:00 AM
Modest Mouse's 2004 album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (a high-water mark of ’00s indie-minded major-label rock), sold more than 1.5 million copies domestically on the strength of "Float On," an indelible single whose success seemed to validate its serendipitous stoner-optimist outlook. So what did Modest Mouse's leader, Isaac Brock, do after this breakthrough?
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Isobel Campbell, 'Milkwhite Sheets' (V2)
A delicate voice that will creep up on you.
By Will Hermes 01.03.07 4:00 AM
As Belle and Sebastian's original belle, singer/cellist Isobel Campbell helped transform the pedestrian lives of her bandmates -- and, by extension, fans -- into something more magical. Solo, her music has grown less tethered to the present, and Milkwhite Sheets is the sound of her swan dive into the cosmos of psychedelic folk that's so widespread these days.
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Lady Sovereign, 'Public Warning' (Def Jam)
Does the pint-size Brit MC already hate her job?
By Will Hermes 10.26.06 3:00 AM
Lady Sov is a brilliant example of how hip-hop adapts to any lowlife's expressive needs. She's white, British, female, and at five-foot-one, a self-proclaimed "midget." But what may be most striking about her is how annoying she already finds the rap grind.
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Basement Jaxx, 'Crazy Itch Radio' (XL)
English producers search the world for au courant beats.
By Will Hermes 10.12.06 3:00 AM
Still the savviest dance act on the planet, the Jaxx are beat connoisseurs whose fetishes have grown increasingly exotic. Here, the duo hallucinate an urban dance-music radio show in which a Romanian brass band backs a disco diva and British grime gets remade as electronic samba. No instant classics like 1999's "Rendez-Vu," but the productions remain fresh, hype, and kaleidoscopic.
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Sleepy Brown, 'Mr. Brown' (Purple Ribbon/Virgin)
Genial Stankonia sidekick croons soothing sunny soul.
By Will Hermes 10.07.06 3:00 AM
With his Marvin Gaye tenor, Curtis Mayfield falsetto, and Isaac Hayes dome, the hook-singing OutKast cohort and producer (as a member of Organized Noize) comes on like a lovable, if genetically engineered, soulman on his long-brewing debut. Sleepy's a modest dude, happily playing third string on his own single ("Margarita") behind Big Boi and Pharrell.
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Prince, '3121' (Universal)
The Purple One gets inspired by his favorite legend: himself.
By Will Hermes 05.02.06 3:00 AM
