Friday Night Flicks: The Lonesome Crowded West: Modest Mouse

There was a time when I was a Pitchfork disciple. I’ll admit it. I found comfort in their ridiculously over-written (although well done) reviews of albums and actually put weight on their rating system…sometimes (unless they dogged an album I liked, otherwise I listened). Well, we all know we can’t have nice things for too long and The Man got them and their credibility took a few hits, but it’s still floating around to some degree and I’d be lying if I said I don’t check the headlines here and there. But during those early days it really felt like you’d discovered an indie gold mine…and they made a few good films along the way too. One that continues to better my life.

Now, say what you will about Modest Mouse…maybe they followed a similar trajectory as Pitchfork and The Man and pop sheen got ‘em, but they’ve been a good band for a long time and their early, crunchy days still get me going on a long drive. I think we wrote about the untimely death of their drummer Jeremiah Green (whose featured prominently in this doc and is one standup dude by all accounts, RIP) but I don’t believe we’ve properly recommended this film.

When you open up the loaded music documentary vault, you wanna be in a van, touring and reflecting and diving into each song and how it came to be and this doc is a perfect example of that. From the second you hit play, it’s on. This plane is definitely crashing!

If you do hit play, I’m certain you’ll finish it. It’s a Death-to-Strip-Mall-fucking of America and it still goes. Reminisce on those early crunchy Modest Mouse days tonight and watch the Pitchfork Classic: The Lonesome Crowded West (for free!) below. —Travis Ferré

*As a bonus (and since it’s almost Coachella time) watch this rendition of “Dramamine” played as the sun dips over the western Palm Desert…