release date: Apr. 17, 1997
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Andy Miller; Paul Savage
label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK
Compilation album by Scottish primarily instrumental post rock band Mogwai is the band's first full-length album and as the subtitle suggests it's a collection of singles and ep releases. Some of the tracks have been re-recorded for the album, whereas others are presented as they were recorded, and some of the early releases were give-away singles from live concerts. Mogwai was originally formed in Glasgow as a trio in '95 consisting of the guitarist Stuart Braithwaite and bassist Dominic Aitchison together with drummer Martin Bulloch. In '96 guitarist John Cummings also joined the band making it a quartet without a lead vocalist.
Musically, the band is influenced by post-punk gothic rock band The Cure, post hardcore American group Fugazi, noise rock American band Sonic Youth and shoegaze Irish band My Bloody Valentine. And then you could add elements from Slint and Pixies with some industrial rock influence, but basically, Mogwai sounds like none of the others in particular but have their own unique sound, and then they simply focus on instrumental music with a highly experimental and progressive structure. Some refer to the music as based on mathematical patterns, which by no means suffice but in a way it reveals the progressive, repetitive structure, which also shares patterns with 1990s electronic music.
On this, the band's first full-length album I think the most striking feature is the influence from both industrial rock and noise rock, where they explore the polarity of soft / silent and hard / abbrassive with abrupt changes.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]
