Tiny Cities With Giant People

Being a Modest Mouse fan, I was intrigued and excited for the latest Sun Kil Moon release, Tiny Cities. It is a cover album of MM songs, covering everything from last year's "Ocean Breathes Salty" to 1995's "Dramamine." It is a solid album; SKM's frontman Mark Kozelek, formerly of Red House Painters, brings a his unique sound to these songs. Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock is rough and tumble, which adds a lot of personality to his songs, but Kozelek manages to showcase the songwriting talent of Brock by minimizing that sound. "Trucker's Atlas," is, I think, my favourite, but that can change in a day as there are many good ones here. A recent review on Herohill.com Media confirms my own findings: fans of both Sun Kil Moon and Modest Mouse will be delighted by this disc. I think it's #13 on my top albums of the year.