Modest Mouse returns to Sub Pop with a second 7-inch, this time for the newly revived Singles Club. The single finds the band at the ascent into indie rock prestige, having just released their landmark album The Lonesome Crowded West a year prior. Most fans likely know “Never Ending Math Equation” and b-side “Workin on Leavin’ the Livin’” from the band’s rarities compilation Build Nothing Out Of Something that was released in 2000. The songs capture the band in arguably their prime, showcasing Isaac Brock’s trademark warbled vocals over bending, stuttering guitar notes that sound like warped vinyl – but like one of those “happy accidents” where the warps somehow make it sound even cooler, like playing “Jolene” at 33 rpm (look it up, you won’t be disappointed). But the band was really just starting. In two more years they’d release another classic album, The Moon and Anarctica and six years away from breaking through to the mainstream ranting about backing into cop cars and running their mouths with “Float On” from Good People Who Love Bad News.

-Dusty Henry, courtesy of KEXP