Modest Mouse Working with Big Boi on New Album

BY Josiah HughesPublished Apr 28, 2011

Pacific Northwest indie rock heroes Modest Mouse have kept a pretty low profile since the release of We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank in 2007. In 2009, they compiled some rarities on the No One's First and You're Next release, but other than that, it's been relative silence, meaning a new Modest Mouse album is long overdue. Fortunately, it looks as if the group are currently working on new material in the studio. What's more, the band might have a complete Southern rap makeover courtesy of Outkast rapper Big Boi.

Big Boi first revealed the collaboration on April 25 when he tweeted, "Me and @mouche1 in the studio workin with Modest Mouse on their new album Turnt up ! Shout out to Issac and the crew!"

@mouche1 is the Twitter handle for producer Chris Carmouche, who has worked with everyone from Outkast and Janelle Monáe to Lil Jon, Ludacris and David Banner. And of course by "Issac," we're taking that to mean Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock.

Big Boi spoke of the collaboration once again on April 27, when he wrote, "Been camped out in the Lab with Modest Mouse all week, workin on the new mouse LP, coolest cats ever. Long Live The Funk."

Well, there's either an entirely different Modest Mouse out there with a frontman named Isaac, or the indie rockers are indeed branching out with some very unexpected collaborators.


 In some related Modest Mouse news, the band recently unveiled a new song on the web series Don't Move Here. The episode, which can be viewed below, includes a taxidermy-heavy tour of Isaac Brock's house before concluding with an intimate performance of a new track from the group's rehearsal space. However, there is no sign of Big Boi.

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