Matador records put out an Austin rock compilation called Casual Victim Pile.  This was interesting news for me, as I’ve admired Matador for years, and I live in Austin.  Needless to say, the selection of bands contained on this compilation is very One Reporter’s Opinion.

Some observations:

1.  Follow that Bird! are awesome.  But maybe not quite as awesome as Follow that Bird.

2.  Tre Orsi, who are actual from Denton, are also awesome.  They sound like Pavement and Lift to Experience at the same time.  ”The Engineer” is the best technician-titled guitar-rock song by a Texas band since Ume’s 2009 “The Conductor.”

3.  There are plenty of bands on this compilation that invoke the “if you can’t say anything nice…” rule…

4.  …but then again, if you live in Austin, and like indie/punk type music, how could you not feel at least a little bit disappointed by a compilation like this?  I mean, this thing could have 178 tracks on it, and people would still be griping about all the great bands that were left out.

5.  Best band name:  Woven Bones.  I picture a kindly old grandmother knitting a scarf with Misfits skulls on it.

-Warren

A couple of quick observations about this banjo/bluegrass tribute to Modest Mouse:

1.  Maybe I’m losing my mind, but this album is really good.  Some of these songs (“Ocean Breathes Salty,” “Interstate 8”) sound like they were supposed to be bluegrass songs all along.  Crazy.

2.  In these covers, the bluegrass band, Iron Horse, clean up Isaac Brock’s language!  If you are familiar with the song “Dark Center of the Universe,” you should know that the Iron Horse’s version contains these lyrics:  “It took a lot of work to be the man I am / and I’m pretty well sure that anyone can / equally easily work you over.”

3.  If you search for Modest Mouse bluegrass cover albums on Amazon.com, you will get two results.  As in, there are multiple Modest Mouse Bluegrass tribute albums out there.  Think about that for a minute.

3.  According to the internet, Iron Horse also do a Metallica tribute album.  As you can imagine, I’m all over that.  More on this story as it develops.

- Warren

Did you ever see 2 guys one horse?

Download Model UN’s 2008 EP, Tiger Physics.

Unzip the file.

Listen to the music.

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Album Info

1.  Some Ghost

2.  Oh, Lady!

3.  Down the River

4.  An Accident

5.  Treeless Street, Starless Night

Produced and Engineered by Sean Neesley and Model UN.

All songs (C) 2006-2008 by Model UN.