The story behind Sharpen Your Teeth is odd yet plausible: a mentally unstable character named Edgar Graham (calling himself Ugly Casanova) met up with Modest Mouse, followed them around on tour, recorded some songs, gave the recordings to labels, and then mysteriously disappeared.
Songs on tapes discovered by Sub Pop were later recorded by Issac Brock of Modest Mouse in hopes that Graham would resurface.
The first solo record from the singer/guitarist, Sharpen Your Teeth, cuts into raw indie rock with spells of country and folk, while allowing Brock to explore a varying scope of sounds.
He gets help from Brian Deck (whose production credits include Tortoise and the Sea and Cake), Tim Rutili of Red Red Meat, and Pall Jenkins of the Black Heart Procession.
Ranging from heartfelt acoustic numbers ("Cat Faces") to outright bizarreness with grating vocals ("Diamonds on the Face of Evil"), there's no doubt that the mood sometimes coincides with the enigmatic Graham.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BarnaclesJohn Orth | Ugly Casanova | Play | 05:05 | 11 MB | 30 MB |
| 2 | Spilled Milk FactoryTim Rutili | Ugly Casanova | Play | 04:26 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | Parasites | Ugly Casanova | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 21 MB |
| 4 | Hotcha GirlsJohn Orth | Ugly Casanova | Play | 04:58 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 5 | No Song | Ugly Casanova | Play | 00:26 | 0 MB | 1 MB |
| 6 | Diamonds on the Face of Evil | Ugly Casanova | Play | 03:16 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 7 | Cat FacesJohn Orth | Ugly Casanova | Play | 03:36 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 8 | Ice on the Sheets | Ugly Casanova | Play | 06:33 | 15 MB | 41 MB |
| 9 | Beesting | Ugly Casanova | Play | 00:48 | 1 MB | 4 MB |
| 10 | PacificoPall A. Jenkins | Ugly Casanova | Play | 02:31 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 11 | Smoke Like RibbonsJohn Orth | Ugly Casanova | Play | 05:15 | 12 MB | 28 MB |
| 12 | Things I Don't Remember | Ugly Casanova | Play | 03:29 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 13 | So Long To The Holidays | Ugly Casanova | Play | 05:56 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 50 mins | 114 MB | |||||
| 50 mins | 297 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurent Bichara | Assistant Engineer |
| 2 | Isaac Brock | Producer |
| 3 | Thomas Campbell | Design, Illustrations |
| 4 | Brian Deck | Bass, Drums, Keyboards, Mandolin, Organ, Percussion, Producer, Sound Effects, Vocals (Background) |
| 5 | Pall A. Jenkins | Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals |
| 6 | John Orth | Composer, Vocals, Vox Organ |
| 7 | Tim Rutili | Composer, Fiddle, Guitar, Keyboards, Slide Guitar, Vocals, Vox Organ |
| 8 | Dan Stout | Mastering |
| 9 | Ugly Casanova | Primary Artist |
Ugly Casanova
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |