#365songs (74 / 365)

When the dust settled on my Modest Mouse phase, which started (as with so many other people's) with Good News For People Who Love Bad News and rolled on back through their two preceding albums before losing steam, I think The Lonesome Crowded West ended up my favorite front-to-back album of theirs. It's just such a vibe, this fucked up Americana sound filtered through turn-of-the-millennium indie-rock, something I wouldn't have thought I'd ever like transmuted into something I loved.

"Cowboy Dan" was probably the song I looked forward to the most, with "Bankrupt on Selling" a close second — a great song, but lacking the big-wide-open-sky feeling that characterizes much of West and is present in spades in "Cowboy Dan." It also lacks the absolutely unparalleled image of "goes to the desert, fires his rifle in the sky and says / God, if I have to die, you will have to die!" You hate to root for a guy who "goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean," but come on. GOD, IF I HAVE TO DIE, YOU WILL HAVE TO DIE!!! I think this might be another one of those cases where a single line pushes a song from good to great.

It also enabled this absolutely legendary Mastodon post to exist.