Heteronyms, vol. I

Heteronyms will become a recurring feature, I have decided, because there are many songs with the same name which are entirely unrelated. And, as you may know, I'm desperate for a feature.

Modest Mouse - Head South [mp3]

Isaac Brock is from Issaquah, Washington, a town nearby the old Tiger Mountain mines and home to the annual Salmon Days festival. He wears plaid shirts and curses, and is probably more than a little crazy, all of which combine to make him one hell of an artist. From the horse's mouth: "Here things go from grey to grey and back to grey again/ And they get green and go to grey and back to grey again," presumably regarding his Northwest hometown. But Brock won't head south to the "palm-tree scene," for that would be selling out. Many have accused his band of doing just that by signing to a major label and gracing airwaves with a ubiquitous summer hit, but they couldn't be more wrong. Brock has not only maintained, but improved upon his paranoid small-town temperament since this song appeared on 1996's This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, most notably with their flawless, alternately terrifying/comforting Epic debut. Unstable as Brock may be, he has thankfully remained fiercely unique and true to his winning aesthetic, keeping well North all these years.

Pretty Girls Make Graves - Head South [mp3]

"Head South" is a portrait of the artists as adolescent Girls, volatile and virulent. "You think I'm happy with the lies that you feed me?/ I'm unaware that you mistreat me?" shouts an Andrea Zollo much different but immediately recognizable. This at first seems standard hXc fare, but listen close and an early version of the inimitable guitarwork is there, making this a much more compelling listen than it would/should be.

Visit Modest Mouse online, buy This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About here.

Visit Pretty Girls Make Graves online, buy the Pretty Girls Make Graves EP here. Read my recent review of Élan Vital here.