Modest Mouse’s The Moon & Antarctica

In 1999, Modest Mouse headed to Chicago to record their major-label debut for Epic Records.

Amid the crushing expectation of delivering a commercially viable record, chants of “sellout!”, a completely inexperienced producer, a half-built studio, and an incomplete group of songs, the band began to put down the basics for a few tracks … and then Isaac Brock got his face smashed by a stranger in a park.

With his mouth wired shut, everyone left town—except Brock and an intern. And there, on a diet of painkillers and booze, a creative alchemy took place that would utterly redefine Modest Mouse, and just maybe indie music at large. This is a story that begins with a “Fuck You, Cowboy!” and a broken jaw, and ends with Isaac Brock ripping the wires from his mouth in a hotel room with a Leatherman—and, of course, “hands-down one of the greatest records ever made” (NME).