BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #24: 3rd Planet by Modest Mouse

Isaac Brock gives the impression that he's pissed off a lot, doesn't he?  Clearly he's not a guy prone to mugging it up on stage, and more often than not his brow is furrowed to max power.  Even when he's not playing the guitar particularly loud, he always seems to be strumming angry.  And of course the voice inflections only add to this perception.  His lower register warbles and lisps are regularly offset by intentional cracks and bends, giving another layer of tension to each song.  Obviously he shouts a lot, but even on songs where not yelling per se, he makes it clear that just because he's spitting out lyrics at a subdued decimal, he's doing it with an exclamation point slapped on the end of every sentence.

The Moon & Antarctica came out halfway through 2000, and with each passing year since, its influence and overall importance seems to have steadily risen into "classic" status.  The mission statement of opening track "3rd Planet" can be boiled down to the opening line.  Everything that keeps me together is falling apart.  "Everything" to Brock is...well...everything.  Mankind.  Animals.  Oceans.  The entire 3rd planet itself.  A reference to death (likely to a child or fetus) causes Brock's pacing to become more urgent, fighting to keep up with the staccato power riffs.  The repeated mantra is uttered with the resignation of events coming full circle.  How it begins is how it ends, right down to the matching opening and closing lines.