Modest Mouse- Guilty Cocker Spaniels

This song starts off with a relaxed melody, with light drum beats, creating a mellow atmosphere. If you don’t listen to the lyrics, this comes across as a very relaxed song, with light drum beats and slow guitar riffs.

However, if you listen to the lyrics, you can interpret them in many ways. The song was obviously created with meaning intended, although ambiguous. The way Brock sings the song also contributes to the meaning. The rather enthusiastic singing juxtaposes the soft motifs and drum patterns to enhance the song even more, and create an extraordinary piece of music.

Although ‘Guilty Cocker Spaniels’ is not considered to be one of Modest Mouse’s most famous songs, it’s possibly one of the best. It creates a great atmosphere and is nice to listen to, but also makes you think a little.

Star Rating- 5 stars

Review: Cat Power- New York

This song could either be really great, or really bad, as it’s a cover of the classic song New York by Frank Sinatra. When this song starts off, you don’t think it’s going to be the Sinatra song, as it’s very modern, with repetitive guitar and drum patterns, and using completely different instruments from the original. When this song gets past the first eight bars, the melody has been completely changed- the only thing the same about the song is the lyrics. Although it’s been drastically altered, (Chan) Mitchell pulls it off well; it’s not trying to be like the original, so it doesn’t matter if the singing or the instrumentals aren’t as good. The way the song has been changed also brings a new feel to the song; the melancholy vibe completely changes the meaning of the lyrics and it’s essentially a brand new song.

Due to the changes of the song, it’s difficult to compare this song to the original, because they’re completely different, and have virtually no similarities to compare. However, when making a cover of such a classic, timeless song, you can never really live up to the original, and it won’t ever be seen as a brilliant song, because it will always be viewed next to the Sinatra version.

Star Rating- 4 stars