Random Rules: Isaac Brock

By AV Club Staff | February 21, 2006 | 8:44pm

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The shuffler: Isaac Brock of Modest
Mouse, who's currently at work on the follow-up to 2004's commercial breakthrough Good News For People Who Love Bad News. After shuffling, Brock revealed to The
A.V. Club that
he's been writing songs for the new record with former Smiths guitarist Johnny
Marr. We were shocked and delighted, too.

Frank Black, "The Vanishing Spies"

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Isaac Brock: Not one of my favorite songs off that
record, but it's not bad. His solo albums are kind of hit-or-miss. At first, I
felt like it was kind of wanky in a weird way, and then after I listened to it,
I was like, "This is fucking great." Most of the songs on Teenager Of The
Year were
pretty damn good, like that song "Headache." That's a fuckin' great song.
Probably the reason I bought the record—actually, I was gonna buy the
record whether there's any good songs on it or not. I fuckin' love that guy. I
haven't bought the last couple he's done. I'm sure I will. I haven't really had
time to be in a record store buying shit for a while, to be honest.

Grandaddy, "Laughing Stock"

IB: I really, really love a lot of Grandaddy stuff.
This wouldn't be one of 'em. It's a little sleepy. Jim [Fairchild] from
Grandaddy was playing with us live for a while; I'd like to keep that going on.
He's a great dude. Did you ever hear the fuckin' record that they did as a
joke? They gave it to their record label around the time The Sophtware Slump came out. [Recording
under the name] Arm Of Roger, it was a joke that they did, but it's actually
better than, I think, the record that they did put out. They turned it in as a
joke and it's got some great songs, like "Robot Escort." It's fuckin' good
stuff.

Butthole Surfers, "Negro Observer"

IB: This is a fucking amazing record [Psychic…
Powerless… Another Man's Sac]. At points in time, I felt really uncomfortable
listening to it, 'cause it's called "Negro Observer" and you're trying to read
in, you know, what the fuck it's about. To this day I'm not sure, but it's one
of those things where you can fill it in to make yourself feel good. Maybe it's
about people watching over African-Americans and shit, being suspicious. Some
of [the early Butthole Surfers albums were] just gross and comedy, but I think
this record was really fucking solid. It's one of the better fucked-up punk
records out. The guitar on that fucking record is really cool, the singing on
it is fucking weird as hell. This album sounds like a cross between good punk
and goth and cowboy music.

Grateful Dead, "Cumberland Blues"

IB: The only Grateful Dead album I own, Workingman's
Dead,
which has that song, "Ridin' that train, high on cocaine." I've always had a
fucking real issue with the Dead, to be honest, because Dead fans, there's
plenty of 'em, and they fucking suck. I found out a friend of mine had been to,
like, 40 shows, which bothered me, but I really respect him, so I was like,
"Okay, what's one record by the Grateful Dead that I should get that won't
annoy me?" It's an all-right record, actually.

The Skatalites, "Don De Lion"

IB: I never actually listen to this for any reason
except for background music, but The Skatalites are fucking good. I don't know
much about them. I ended up buying a bunch of ska on vinyl. Pick a name, any
miscellaneous ska name, or just make up a name that sounds like a ska band.
That's about as much as I know about it.

Bedhead, "Parade"

IB: When I was a kid, this guy I knew, he lived in an
apartment next to me, and I traded him some Screaming Trees singles for a Dodge
Dart. I think I got the better deal; at times it's hard to tell. He had some
skate 'zine, and he'd hand me a stack of cassettes and say, "Hey, would you
review these for my 'zine?" I was like, "Yeah, free music!" One of those tapes
was Bedhead's Whatfunlifewas, one of my favorite records. It's really
beautiful. It's really gentle nice stuff, and somehow manages to maintain being
gentle and rock really hard. I think I tried ripping off these guys' style on a
song when I was 18. One of the other records I got turned out to be another of
my favorite records of all time, Red Red Meat's Bunny Gets Paid.

Bob Dylan, "Gates Of Eden"

IB: What the fuck can you say? Bob Dylan.

Belle And Sebastian, "It Could Have Been A
Brilliant Career"

IB: These guys have catchy songs. I just wish they
weren't such a one-fuckin'-trick pony.

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, "Bhindi
Bhagee"

IB: This is a surprisingly good fucking record for
where that guy was at in his career, especially considering all the world-music
vibey attitude. You can completely fuck a record up by trying to get all
international with it and start incorporating shit you have no understanding
of. It starts feeling like some sort of TV teaser on the Discovery Channel or
fuckin' National Geographic Channel for a vacation package, some shit like
that. But this record was fucking great, a good one to just get stoned and
fuckin' listen to.

Love As Laughter, "The Square"

IB: Love As Laughter is one of my favorite fucking
bands, but I hate this song. Actually, hate's the wrong word. I just don't
enjoy it. I fuckin' love so much of what that dude does. It's always kind of
baffled me. I always felt like he was one of the more underrated songwriters
out there, but this song doesn't fall into that category.

Daft Punk, "Phoenix"

IB: This is a fucking good one. It's a song of big
ups. It's just a list of who's in the house, and it rules. I've never enjoyed
hearing who's in the house more than I do on this song.

Andre Nickatina, "Ghost Of Fillmoe"

IB: A rapper from the Bay area… I think that's where
he's from. I can't ever tell if I'm psyched or annoyed by the things that he
uses as samples, like "Okay, Irish folk band with this weird dude rapping over
it!" It's hard to tell sometimes if it's actually a good idea. Production
level's a little low. It actually seems like he's involved in the production
himself. Hats off, kudos, so on and so forth, but maybe he should call a
friend. Get a little help fixing that up.