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May 15, 2009

New Modest Mouse Video - "Satellite Skin"

thumbnail icon: New Modest Mouse Video - "Satellite Skin"

Modest Mouse have been playing this chipper No One's First And You're Next single live, and two days ago started streaming it, and they're officially wasting no time getting out this video. It's directed by Tool collaborator Kevin Willis, naturally, and taps that band's predilection toward stop-motion fun, albeit more Lord Of The Rings-styled anthropomorphic tree(house)s than Jacob's Ladder-styled violent twitchery. Also it features a Tool-esque muted color palette, until the little druid kid secures the Easter eggs and fastens them into the alien's eye sockets so that he can birth a flock of delicious birds. But I mean, obviously.

In addition to appearing on No One's First And You're Next, "Satellite Skin" is the A-side to a "limited edition orange vinyl with an embossed sleeve and individually numbered to 4000" vinyl pressing. It's backed by another new one, "Guilty Cocker Spaniels," which you'll be able to hear right here on Monday.

Posted at 5:31 PM by amrit in
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35 Comments

Wow, just watched "Return to Oz" last night, and this has more than a little of that same faux-kid-friendly, creepy vibe. Oh right, Tool.

Posted by: notyracademy profile link at 05/15/09 5:54 PM  | Reply
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Back Vagina

Posted by: Andrew at 05/15/09 5:55 PM  | Reply
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This is pretty cool.

Posted by: Jeff at 05/15/09 6:16 PM  | Reply
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"Tool's Kevin Willis". Huh? Are you thinking of Adam Jones? The guitarist. He who has directed pretty much every Tool video. Kevin Willis is a collaborator of the band. He's not IN the band.

Posted by: d33r profile link at 05/15/09 7:38 PM  | Reply
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Modest Mouse makes the best video's--the Missed The Boat video has always been a favorite.

Posted by: bananafana feux profile link at 05/15/09 8:15 PM  | Reply
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Interesting references to Beetlejuice and Videodrome there. The creepy monsterish thing that births the birds from its eyes is all but a duplicate of the scary face Alec Baldwin makes in Beetlejuice. And yeah, the back vaginas are Cronenberg...

Posted by: Rob S. at 05/15/09 8:23 PM  | Reply
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I KNEW IT WAS FROM SOMETHING! couldn't place it but you just helped, haha - thanks!

Posted by: Kyle  in reply to Rob S.'s comment at 05/18/09 5:47 AM  | Reply
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Was I just out-wtf'd?

Posted by: Kevin Barnes at 05/15/09 10:45 PM  | Reply
Score = 9 Vote up Vote down

Nothing tops the Float on video. That was just creepy as hell.

Posted by: Mr_Blue_Angel_Dood profile link at 05/15/09 11:12 PM  | Reply
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don't get me wrong i'm a big modest mouse fan, but that song sounded like a really terrible Bright Eyes song with the new way he's singing.

Posted by: etheroar at 05/15/09 11:35 PM  | Reply
Score = -12 Vote up Vote down

This song just feels so out of touch with what they are, so conventional... I wish they went back to they're roots..

Posted by: runaway at 05/16/09 10:01 AM  | Reply
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Agree with you folks.
This song is horrible.
Why would anyone wan tto ever listen to this?
People must have been telling them that they are really good...

Posted by: Farmer Ted  in reply to runaway's comment at 05/16/09 11:08 AM  | Reply
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You're right this song is terrible. But the band does have some good stuff. Check out The Moon And Antarctica if you're a first time listener. That's the album that made me a fan.

Posted by: tylenolmonkey  in reply to Farmer Ted's comment at 05/16/09 2:13 PM  | Reply
Score = -10 Vote up Vote down

I loved 3rd Planet from M&A. I liked watching them live on David Letterman when they did this song - I know their videos are not what the songs are about - but this one is wild!!!

Posted by: mdstmousefan  in reply to tylenolmonkey's comment at 05/16/09 10:18 PM  | Reply
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It sounds like a Tragically Hip song.

Posted by: Goon  in reply to runaway's comment at 05/16/09 1:11 PM  | Reply
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Wow.. way too many downers on this site.
Great song, cool video.

Posted by: Cam profile link at 05/16/09 1:58 PM  | Reply
Score = 9 Vote up Vote down

This probably means that I know nothing but I've liked them since the beginning and I still really like this song. I'm so uncool that I still like them when they're popular. Does this mean I agree with everyone or no-one?

Posted by: armsandhearts profile link at 05/16/09 9:45 PM  | Reply
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We Were Dead... definitely wasn't as good as any of their other albums, and nor is this. But that's probably because Modest Mouse doesn't sound like Modest Mouse any more, they sound like a typically indie i-want-to-fit-and-get-radio-spin band

Posted by: redapples profile link at 05/16/09 10:14 PM  | Reply
Score = -12 Vote up Vote down

loooooooooser...

Posted by: bernie  in reply to redapples's comment at 05/17/09 10:03 AM  | Reply
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How is this any more pop-oriented than Building Something Out of Nothing? They've always been a guitar pop band with experimental tendencies. Some of their earliest songs like "Interstate 8" and "Baby Blue Sedan" weren't any different than a lot of the stuff on We Were Dead. Yeah, "Dashboard" and "Missed the Boat" were grabs at radio play, but you still had "Parting of the Sensory" and "Spitting Venom," which were more in line with The Moon and Antarctica's weirdness. They're one of the few indie bands that legitimately deserves any and all the success they get, and I can't begrudge them that like so many seem to want to do.

Posted by: Rob S. at 05/17/09 12:29 AM  | Reply
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"Parting of the Sensory" and "Spitting Venom," which were more in line with The Moon and Antarctica's weirdness."

Uh what? Nothing about either of those songs constitutes the use of the word weird........We Were Dead was an extremely radio friendly/ready album

Posted by: Lee  in reply to Rob S.'s comment at 05/17/09 2:15 PM  | Reply
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I think its an impossibility for me to hate any modest mouse song. If i like most of them straight away, but if not then i like it after a couple of listens. Fact.

Posted by: mohnosaurus profile link at 05/17/09 1:38 PM  | Reply
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sellout

Posted by: jimbo  in reply to mohnosaurus's comment at 05/17/09 3:28 PM  | Reply
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What's up with the wooden backgina? Subliminal images of female genitalia, now that's the true sign of a sell out band.

Posted by: DSughrue profile link at 05/17/09 4:41 PM  | Reply
Score = -4 Vote up Vote down

So what if a few songs made it onto the airwaves? Modest Mouse is an awesome band, and if all you can say is sellout, I suggest you go back to listening to bands that you only like just because they aren't famous.

You uppity fuck

Posted by: Chris at 05/17/09 7:08 PM  | Reply
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i would have to agree with the last comment posted, honestly you people have no idea what your talking about. they've had other stuff tht has the same feel as this all the way but they always pull through with some real tight shit. and shouldnt u want good music to actually appear on the radio so this other crap gets tuned out. come on dude, wtf. its not the best i've heard but its still pretty damn good. sounds like a lot of "posers", no offense, (hate tht word) who wish to be indie small band fans. its about the music man (:

Posted by: alex at 05/17/09 10:14 PM  | Reply
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i think those are birdhouses, not treehouses, hence their relative size and birds at the end.

Posted by: biggtender at 05/18/09 1:15 AM  | Reply
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That procession, especially at the beginning of the video, was straight out of Kurosawa's Dreams (the foxes' woodland procession in his first dream -- probably somewhere on youtube, check it out)...possibly an homage . I can't imagine I'm the only one that caught that. Kurosawa's version was much more eerie, though (his fox people = anthropomorphism at its finest...and creepiest, haha).

Posted by: anonymous at 05/18/09 1:32 AM  | Reply
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Sounds better than nearly the entire last album.

Posted by: Super Awesome Guy at 05/18/09 3:23 AM  | Reply
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It's a good song, and somehow an incredible disturbing video. Pan's Labyrinth comes to mind as soon as the monster appears.

I'm sorry, but did any of you actually, 'listen,' to the last album over the, "UNCOOL(!)" hype of Modest Mouse actually getting an audience?

Assuming that none of you have heard it, I'll fill you in, it was incredible. From start to finish it's packed full of brilliant Isaac Brock lyrics, darker and more coherent than ever, that apparently nobody has heard. First off, "Our bodies were laid out, evenly for 15 yards, while two feet above each uh our heads was a fly trapped in a jar." It's great imagery to the core. Anyway, I thought I did, but I don't have the time to defend my favourite band(10 on off years). The moon and antarctica was great, better than they're new albums, but only better in a sense of, this is an incredible fresh way to write and record. I'm sure Isaac is not at home right now wondering how he can make this next album more radio friendly.

Posted by: Saint God at 05/18/09 3:45 AM  | Reply
Score = 2 Vote up Vote down

take someone off a pedestal for a minute. the only thing they are doing differently than you is putting out records... at an alarmingly consistent rate with commercial and critical success. they developed a cult status like 5 records ago....wait, these guys are totally different from you. you are at your parents house blogging away with hands glazed of half hour old semen after masturbating to some imdb image of an indie actress who will never hear your shit band.


ahhh....chloe sevigny.

Posted by: the Ricards at 05/18/09 7:27 AM  | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

how can u say this song is horrible. not the best but not horrible. same with callin we were dead bad. isaacs lyrics in pretty much that whole album were awesome. im a bigger fan of their old shit more to. but cmon there new shit kicks ass to

Posted by: matt at 05/19/09 12:34 AM  | Reply
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I was dressed for suck.

Posted by: josh at 05/19/09 5:35 PM  | Reply
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Modest Mouse is my favorite music, but just because they have some more songs that have got more attention, doesnt mean theyre sellouts. I hate people who complain about the style of them now, if your dissapointed enough, go and write your own shit.

Posted by: Austin at 05/19/09 11:10 PM  | Reply
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I think so, I think so. Yeah they passed the audition!

Posted by: Anthony_ DAMN!_Hunt at 05/22/09 3:32 PM  | Reply
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