Tuesday’s Gone: Short-Lived Band Ugly Cassanova Shows Off Issac Brock’s Rootsy Side On “Diggin’ Holes”

As we gear up for the release of a new Modest Mouse this week, it’s time to look back on one of the most revered side projects from the Pacific Northwest, not named The Postal Service – the strange, rootsy, experimental side project called Ugly Cassanova created by Isaac Brock. The band released only one studio album, Sharpen Your Teeth, in 2002 on Sub Pop. 

While Modest Mouse was known for its nervous, angular guitars and existential anxiety, Ugly Cassanova leaned into folk, country, blues, junkyard percussion, and psychedelic textures. Check out Ugly Casanova hammering out “Digging Holes” just before Modest Mouse would break big a couple of years later.