u/SaltyPeppermint101

Curious what everyone's favourite songs are on MM's 8 main albums are. I'll go first.

This Is A Long Drive:

Gotta go with Breakthrough. It's my morning alarm actually, can't recommend it enough for that. Open your window and let in the atmosphere, oh yeah!

Lonesome Crowded West:

Cowboy Dan is Modest Mouse's best song, period.

The Moon & Antarctica:

Lives. One of the most touching tracks I've ever heard, makes me think of family & long-lost friends.

Good News:

Bukowski was the first MM song I listened to (after Float On), and it's still a fave. Super catchy.

We Were Dead:

Parting Of The Sensory is Modest Mouse's most underrated track bar none, on an underrated album.

Strangers To Ourselves:

The Ground Walks, With Time In A Box. Glorious title, gorgeous intro, and so very, very danceable.

The Golden Casket:

Admittedly not my favourite album, but it closes extremely strong with Back To The Middle. The guitar work here takes on a life of its own.

An Eraser And A Maze:

Third Side Of The Moon feels like the best of old and new Modest Mouse brought together to both celebrate and grieve what's been lost. It broke me a little on the first listen.

So, I just bought the remaster, planning to run a mixed playstyle Breton and could really use help figuring out my 7th skill. I went for the Thief sign, plus bonuses to Luck and Strength, and my first 6 major skills are Blade, Block, Destruction, Restoration, Alteration and Illusion.

I plan to do all the guild quests, relying on Alteration and Illusion to sidestep the need for Security, Mercantile and Speechcraft. But ultimately I'm stuck on what to make my last skill. I'm not going for a super broken build, and it might just come down to which skills level to the necessary benchmarks fastest.

The options I'm looking at are Marksman, Armorer, Sneak and Acrobatics. Really would appreciate some advice from more experienced players!

If you haven't heard the alternate version of Cowboy Dan featured on the single 'Too Many Fiestas For Rueben / Cowboy Dan', please give it a listen.

As much as I love every song on TLCW, Cowboy Dan most of all, it's even better here. Given room to breathe as a (nearly) standalone track, there's a surprising lushness to it. The fiddle shouldn't work in such an angry song, but it does, bringing soul to the mix with more abrasive highs, poignant lows, and guitar distortion than should reasonably fit on one song. Yet somehow it does. There is no background here, we hear everything at once, and there's an aura of almost heroic defiance that contrasts perfectly with the original version.

None of this is to say the OG Cowboy Dan is bad, quite the opposite, but some of the sharper edges had been softened to serve its role within TLCW. The alt version serves as a complete journey in itself, making it my favourite Modest Mouse song of all time.

I have this habit where, when listening to albums I skip over anything that begins to bore me, even with Modest Mouse. Now I'm going through their full discography, no skips, and finally paid close attention to Jesus Christ Was An Only Child from TLCW. I was definitely missing out, and might do a deep dive on alt-country in general.

What MM songs would you say are the most underrated? My top picks include Ansel, Baby Blue Sedan (both are devastating), Bukowski (the song that hooked me on MM), Parting Of The Sensory (the peak of an already underrated album), and as far as unreleased deep cuts go, You'll See and Beta Carotene are diamonds in the rough. I think we're too early to say which parts of AE&AM are underrated, but the album as a whole is for sure (I give it a 7.7, their 4th best).

I know there will probably never be an official sequel to Sleeping Dogs, but with how rushed the game's ending was (one of its few flaws along with no difficulty options), I figured why not try to make up something coherent as a headcanon / story concept.

I'm treating Zodiac Tournament and Year Of The Snake as fully canon, while Nightmare In North Point is exactly that, a drug-induced nightmare Wei suffers at his lowest point after being demoted to beat cop. I've seen folks pitch a sequel set in Hong Kong with 18k as the antagonists, but personally I don't buy it. They were always just "the other triad" and changing that would be forced. Instead, I would bring back some of the more underrated supporting characters, namely Ricky Wong and Vivienne Lu.

For those who don't remember, Ricky is the liason between media pornographer/mogul Sonny Wo and Big Smile Lee. Vivienne is a renowned singer/actress (probably based on IRL Hong Kong model Vivian Law) who sings Yellow Fever and Fly, both appearing on the in-game radio. Sonny tries to curry favour with Wei by coercing Vivienne into sleeping with him, but after Wei turns her down she confides her fear of Sonny, and eventually she helps Wei convince Ricky to turn on Lee during the civil war. With the police having incriminating footage of her, Wei advises Vivienne to testify against Sonny, which would of course pit her and Ricky alike against the Triads. All of this so far is canon.

Next this is where the interesting part begins. With all 3 of them largely unwelcome in Hong Kong (despite Jiang's mercy), Vivienne would hire Wei as a bodyguard for her tour of the Chinese mainland. Wei accepts, feeling out of place under the strict leadership of newly installed Superintendent Raymond Mak. He joins Vivienne and Ricky on tour in Macau, and aside from Wei's growing alcoholism and drug abuse things are going well. Then, on one fateful day Vivienne is shot on stage and goes into a medically-induced coma, with Wei recognizing the assailant as none other than Conroy from the Water Street Boys, seeking revenge against traitors, and despite appearances he's not alone.

Conroy escapes for the time being, with Wei left directionless on how to find him until Ricky mentions a contact of his in the notorious Big Circle Gang who could help find the assassin... for a price. As Wei leaves the hospital with an impossible ethical decision on his mind, he gets a call from his former colleague Inspector Jane Teng, who has just heard about the shooting and says the local PD could help find Conroy, but Wei would have to rejoin the side of the law, helping crack down on gangsters and political protesters alike. You would be able to pursue both story routes, but without committing to a single side suspicions would eventually grow and risk leaving Wei without any resources or allies in his journey to face his past demons once and for all. Sleeping Dogs 2 would allow significant freedom for you to make your own story, determining the ultimate fate of the Big Circle Gang, Vivienne, Conroy, and even Wei himself.

So, what do you think?

I haven't played Sordland in a while, even after finally buying Suzerain + Rizia on Xbox for 30% off. Now I see there's a 1.7GB update, but I have no idea what's in store for me. I already know most of the existing lore and story, so I'd love a rundown on exactly what's been changed.

I'm curious if there's any consensus forming on our favourite track from the new album. For me, there are two distinct contenders.

Third Side Of The Moon and Impossible Somedays are some of the strongest MM tracks this century, but for completely different reasons. In a lot of ways they're polar opposites, except for how they both pay homage to earlier eras in their own way.

Impossible Somedays is in my top 3 MM album closers (only behind Of Course We Know + What People Are Made Of), in part because despite a fairly simple lyric structure, it starts by calling back to my favourite TCG song Wooden Soldiers, immediately rebutting "Just being here now is enough for me" with "It's not enough just being here or just simply being alive / Although nothing stays the same the whole time". The song as a whole feels particularly meta to me, with Brock speaking about his creative restlessness, changing even when he doesn't want to, all dressed in scientific metaphor. The instrumentation is more hopeful than the lyrics would indicate, but not in an ironic sense. It's too earnest for irony, and that's why I love it.

Where Impossible Somedays is focused on what lies ahead, Third Side Of The Moon is an exploration of loss. The most direct reference Brock makes is on the tragic passing of Sam Jayne in 2020, but Jeremiah Green's ghost hangs heavy over the whole song as Damon Cox pays homage with drumming that pulls all the other instruments together perfectly. While Modest Mouse has never been a stranger to mournful singles, Third Side more resembles the autobiography of Ansel than the fictional drama of Little Motel and Ocean Breathes Salty. It is often said that we die twice, first when we leave this Earth, then again when we are forgotten. We can take solace, at least, in immortalizing the lost in this way, through music. And I think that's beautiful beyond words.

I've been thinking a lot about how Good News, and especially the breakout hit single Float On, has basically cleaved Modest Mouse's discography into two distinct eras. Not because Brock & co suddenly changed or "sold out", but as an inevitable result of them having to respond to mainstream fame.

While my favourite Modest Mouse album remains TLCW (because of just how consistently groundbreaking it was and still is), with their next album about to release I've been thinking about how underappreciated some of the modern era music really is.

We Were Dead brought a truly innovative sound with the help of legendary guitarist Johnny Marr, and Parting Of The Sensory is possibly Brock's most underrated song of all time. It's a trippy, almost overwhelming journey with lyrics that are both deeply metaphorical and intensely direct. Give it a listen right now and tell me it's not a banger.

In anticipation of their new album 'An Eraser And A Maze', and considering just how well their recent singles have bridged the old and new MM sound, I'd love to hear about your favourite post-Good News MM song!

In anticipation of their new album, I figured I'd go over my top 10 MM songs, explain my reasoning and see what y'all think. Without further ado...

10 : Third Side Of The Moon

I'll admit The Golden Casket wasn't my cup of tea, but Third Side (fittingly the 3rd single off their upcoming An Eraser & A Maze album) shows Brock knows the old and new MM can not only coexist, but flourish together. With shades of Ocean Breathes Salty and even Ansel, the production and especially vocals all tie together perfectly. With time this may climb even further up the list.

9 : Ansel

Speak of the devil. Definitely the most impactful track on Strangers To Ourselves, but even if we ignore the (heartbreaking) lyrics it's also a gorgeous song with excellent drumming. The mallet percussion makes it particularly memorable.

8 : Convenient Parking

Intense both in its cynicism and instrumentation, the 3rd song off Lonesome Crowded West veers into post-hardcore territory, more punk than emo. I don't have much to say except that it's a mainstay of my playlist.

7 : Tundra/Desert

I have to admit, Long Drive doesn't appeal to me as much as I wish it did. Dramamine almost made the list, but not quite, and so I'm surprised by just how much I adore Tundra/Desert. It makes me angry in just the right way.

6 : Trailer Trash

Of all the quieter, more somber MM tracks Trailer Trash is the one I most enjoy singing, and I can't sing for shit. Incredible execution of a fairly standard concept in the lyrics.

5 : Bukowski

This is the best song on Good News, and I refuse to hear any dissenting opinions. I remember hearing Float On for the first time, then checking out the whole album, and being completely captivated by Bukowski. Helps that I enjoy the titular author, and I was going through an existential crisis at the time. Some of their best guitar work.

4 : Teeth Like God's Shoeshine

Brock opens TLCW with a vivid picture and a prolonged scream, but the most memorable part of this track for me is the softer part, the nostalgia and all-too-prescient grief for a dying America. "Here's the man with teeth like God's shoeshine / He sparkles, shimmers, shines / Let's all have another Orange Julius / Thick syrup standing in lines / The malls are the soon-to-be ghost towns / Well, so long, farewell, goodbye" is MM's best verse bar none.

3 : Lives

My favourite song off TM&A mostly because it hits home for me so much. Halfway through it undergoes a tonal shift that confused me at first, since it comes after half an hour of sheer despair, but what could've been jarring lands thanks to an exceptional second half ending in a quiet bookend. Shockingly dynamic for a 3 minute track.

2 : Parting Of The Sensory

It might be a hot take, but yes, my 2nd favourite MM song of all time is from We Were Dead. When I listen it just possesses me entirely. Reminds me a bit of Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle".

1 : Cowboy Dan

I've met Cowboy Dan. Not literally, of course, but I've seen him in more than a few people, and sometimes it scares me what resentment can do to a person. Never before or since has Modest Mouse personified their themes like they do with Cowboy Dan. The song itself goes from loud to soft to loud again, the best of both worlds for sure. Simply iconic, and well deserving of the #1 spot.