Mogwai "The Bad Fire" (2025)

The Bad Fire

release date: Jan 24, 2025

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]

producer: John Congleton

label: Rock Action - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "God Gets You Back" - 2. "Hi Chaos" - 4. "Fanzine Made of Flesh" - 6. "If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others" - 7. "18 Volcanoes" - 9. "Lion Rumpus"

11th studio album by Scottish band Mogwai following four years after As the Love Continues (Feb. 2021) sees a turn to hot producer name of John Congleton (Lana Del Rey, The Killers, Sharon Van Etten, Modest Mouse, St. Vincent,... to name a few) - a name that, imo, doesn't appear as a natural first choice, but hey, the band, or the managers may have thought they were in need of a distribution hack (?). Perhaps, Dave Fridmann didn't have the time? I think Fridmann have proved that he suits the band really really well, and he has always been a guarantee of a prominent production.

Compared to the excellent 2021 album, it's not a completely different release but it does feel like an inferior collection of compositions where the usual wide span has been narrowed in - confined - restricted, and the end result is of something where there's definitely steam but not enough coal to make the difference. The exceptions are "Hi Chaos", which sounds more like a left-over bonus track from the '21-album and "Fanzine Made of Flesh", which is the closest the band has been to switch to indie pop.

The Bad Fire is not a poor album and far from it, but after such a great achievement it does feel as inferior. What I miss here is a stronger direction - what is it really? It's obvious that the band has come a long way since Come on Die Young (1999) and that synths have by now become a more integral part of the band's primary instrumentation but where As the Love Continues showcased a fine mix that allowed for guitars to be fully heard side by side or together with huge electronic arrangements, this new outing sort of blends everything into one huge pot where new boundaries are no longer being pushed or new soil is investigated. To me, this is undoubtedly Mogwai, which means it can't be bad, and it never is. It's just that they sound like the music has been restricted from delivering as freely as it could.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Mojo 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,4 / 10, Rolling Stone, 👍PopMatters 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Best of 2021:Mogwai "As the Love Continues" (2021)

As the Love Continues

release date: Feb. 19, 2021

format: 2 lp vinyl (gatefold gold vinyl) / digital (11 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,14]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: Rock Action - nationality: Skotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth" - 2. "Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Dry Fantasy" - 4. "Ritchie Sacramento" - 5. "Drive the Nail" - 6. "Fuck Off Money" (4 / 5) - 7. "Ceiling Granny" (4 / 5) - 8. "Midnight Flit" - 10. "Supposedly, We Were Nightmares"

10th. studio album from Scottish Mogwai released 3½ years following Every Country's Sun (Sep. 2017), however that doesn't mean that the band has been on a hiatus. Primarily an instrumental ensemble, Mogwai has long been known for their soundtracks for both documentaries and feature films and we have also seen them issuing eps in between full length studio albums. Most recently, they made the music for the Italian tv-series "ZeroZeroZero", which was released via bandcamp in May '20, and before that they released two albums in 2018: in August the soundtrack Kin made for the American Sci-Fi-flic of the same name, and the following month they released the live-album 2018.

Mogwai sounds like no other band and it's an orchestra primarily engaged with instrumental music based on traditional rock-instrumentation centrered around guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, and with that in mind it's really impressive what kind of new music they manage to create without making it a mere repetition of the last, or any former album. Over the years, and much in the same manner they build up their compositions, they have slowly incorporated synths as a colour to their basic sound, which undoubtedly makes you point to the notion of post-rock, although, the band allegedly never has given much for that term. It's also a narrow etiquette, when your aim is to describe the band's style.

The album has garnered positive feedback and several critics has now come to see the band's tenth studio album as one of its absolute most coherent and best. At the same time, it's Mogwai's first to reach the very top of the album chart list in Great Britain. Mogwai has nearly always made use of the method known from noise rock, which may be described as taking a stance in between the quiet and the explossive and that aspect also comes in use on several compositions here, although, their method is always kept original and fully shaped to the progressive expression of the individual song. Mogwai is renowned for their coherent albums and As the Love Continues could in some ways be compared to the structures of classical works without actually being neo-classical.

As the Love Continues invites its listeners on a musical time travel back to the noise rock of the 90s, to Mogwai's starting point but also mix newer influences from the alternative scene in the last three decades with bites from electronica. At times you're tempted to think bits and pieces are inspired by Smashing Pumpkins, other frgaments by James Blake but then you eventually only realise that it's all pure Mogwai. It's demanding music - and in that way it follows a pattern of theirs where the music requires an implicit listener. You're bound to let the music speak, to let it unfold, and first then, you're may find yourself in a position where you're ready to take it in, to float in its stream and to experience its multifaceted structure.

The best by Mogwai is also the album of the year, and it's highly recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, musicOMH, Uncut 4,5, 👍PopMatters, Mojo 4 / 5, 👎Pitchfork 6,9 / 10 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell Burn

Mogwai "Every Country’s Sun" (2017)

Every Country’s Sun

release date: Sep. 1, 2017

format: digital (11 x File, FLAC - TRR291CD)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: Temporary Residence Limited - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Coolverine" - 2. "Party in the Dark" - 3. "Brain Sweeties" - 4. "Crossing the Road Material" (live on KEXP) - 8. "Don’t Believe the Fife" (live on KEXP) - 9. "Battered at the Scramble"

9th studio album by Mogwai following 3½ years after Rave Tapes (Jan. 2014) and 1½ years after the soundtrack album Atomic (Apr. 2016). It's Mogwai's first studio album since the departure of founding member John Cummings, and it's made with producer Dave Fridmann who also produced the band's third album Rock Action (2001), and with that in mind it may signal an attempt to bring back some of the magic from their past. It's 11 new compositions ranging from 4 to 7 minutes with a total running time just under an hour.

And what is back is the dynamics of slow / fast and soft / hard, only not in mere old-time guitar-dominant fashion but in concordance with their musical growth through ambient and electronic stages.

The album was not an immediate favourite, but I have come to see it as a much more complex work, which combines and evolves - and ultimately: points to a new phase of glorious music. The album was well-received in the UK securing the band another top-10 entry with the band's so far highest charting album at number #6 on the albums chart list.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👉allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 7,6 / 10, The Guardian, Mojo 4 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Atomic" (OST) (2016)

Atomic (soundtrack)

release date: Apr. 1, 2016

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,27]

producer: Tony Doogan

label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Ether" - 2. "SCRAM" - 4. "U-235" - 8. "Are You a Dancer?"

Original soundtrack by Mogwai to the documentary "Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise" (Aug. 2015), a film about nuclear history by Mark Cousins. The album sees Mogwai exploring a style with strong bonds to 1970s krautrock and electronic music by Kraftwerk and Godspeed You! Black Emperor (e.g. "Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!" from 2000), and by doing so, the album doesn't follow the path of the bands most recent releases.

The album is the band's first in a new line-up (the first in 16 years) after founding member John Cummings left the quintet in 2015 to pursue a solo career, so here the band has been reduced to a quartet of Stuart Braithwaite, Dominic Aitchison, Martin Bulloch and Barry Burns. It's 48 minutes of primarily progressive ambient music with a commemorating touch of the aforementioned German styles blended with ambient post-rock.

Atomic is not really great but nor is it of irrelevance. It's thematically narrow and stringent music, which possibly serves its purpose, but as a standalone release it lacks diversity as well as polarity; however, imho, it outshines most of their previous soundtrack albums.

Later this year (Oct. 2016) Mogwai also contributed with four compositions for the soundtrack to the documentary "Before the Flood" by Fisher Stevens.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👉Pitchfork 7,1 / 10, 👍Drowned in Sound 3,5 / 5, The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Rave Tapes" (2014)

Rave Tapes

release date: Jan. 21, 2014

format: digital (10 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Paul Savage

label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Heard About You Last Night" - 3. "Remurdered" - 5. "Repelish" - 6. "Master Card" - 10. "The Lord Is Out of Control"

8th studio album by Mogwai following only a little more than a week after the ep release of Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1. (Jan. 12, 2014) and 1 year after the soundtrack album Les Revenants, and more directly, following 3 full years after their most recent studio album: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (Feb. 2011). Although, almost released together with an ep, this full-length doesn't share much of the style from that. Three tracks (#3, #9, #10) share titles with tracks from the ep, but here they have been re-arranged and are not easily identifiable with the versions on the ep. This brand new album comes with ten new tracks and a total running time around 49 minutes that altogether reflects more confined and shorter compositions than what they used to throw in. Here, the tracks run from 2:35 to 6:25 minutes as the longest, but the relative narrow time span of tracks is not the most striking trait about this - instead the music has grown into more electronically-founded with what you may label as synthwave with less focus on their noise rock background centrered on guitar sound. In that respect, Rave Tapes sound more contemporary with its stronger electronic sound, although, the title doesn't give what it may suggest - but that's Mogwai, right! meaning: things don't necessarily mean what they suggest. "Rave" is diffinitely not to be taken literally. They incorporate electronics to a larger extent, but the irony is that it doesn't exactly blow off the roof of anything. I find that no specific tracks demand one's attention, which makes the album a bit of a bland experience, and in general, I wish the band would be more explicit - as they are on the fine Music Industry.. ep. Rave Tapes doesn't sound as a band wanting to demonstrate how far they have come but more like another score to a film, and the album is just not one of their most challenging works. Despite my feelings, this became Mogwai's first album to ever peak as high as number #10 on the UK albums chart list. Previously, Hardcore Will Never Die... had reached number #25 and Rock Action number #23.

Not recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 6 / 10 stars ]

Mogwai "Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1" (2014) (ep)

Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1., ep

release date: Jan. 12, 2014

format: digital (6 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]

producer: Paul Savage

label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Teenage Exorcists" - 3. "HMP Shaun William Ryder" - 4. "Re-Remurdered (Blanck Mass Remix)" - 6. "The Lord Is Out of Control (Nils Frahm Remix)"

Ep by Mogwai following one year after the soundtrack album Les Revenants (for a French TV-series) and preceeding the album Rave Tapes (Jan. 2014). According to the band's bandcamp profile and to Discogs the album was issued in download formats one week before the release of the band's eighth full-length studio album, although, you may also find it to be filed as issued in Nov./Dec. 2014 in cd, vinyl and other digital formats. Now, ep releases by Mogwai always offer something else - it's never just some tracks from recent album releases with the addition of one or two other tracks or an extended version like many other artist usually do. Mogwai always want any release to be unique in its own right, which is rare these days. Anyway, the album is also something special because it's the band's final studio release featuring original member John Cummings, who decided it was now time to go on his own in pursuit of a solo career. With a running time just above 31 minutes, this ep contains six tracks of which three were recorded during the Rave Tapes sessions but without any of them were included on the album, and the remaining three are remixes of tracks taken from the album but featuring other artists, and both the excluded "normal" Mogwai compositions and the new remixes are quite interesting, especially "Teenage Exorcists" - possibly excluded from the album for being too indie rock-oriented touching much on darkwave (with hints of Bloc Party) but mainly for falling a bit far from the tracks that were selected for the softer album release, and also the brilliantly titled "HMP Shaun Ryder" - is it "His Majesty's Prison...", "Help Me Please...", "Hit My Phone...", "Home-Made Pizza..", "Hold My Potatoes", "Hug Me Please", or something else, they refer to?!, which again is the whole point of the pun! And the song itself is great but again focuses more on complexity and uptempo beats, whereas the album is more laid-back, but the Blanck Mass (originally just titled "Remurdered" on Rave Tapes) and the Nils Frahm remixes are simply worth the lot!

And as usual, it's bound nicely together despite pointing in various directions.

This is simply a great Mogwai ep!

[ bandcamp ]

Mogwai "Les Revenants" (OST) (2013)

Les Revenants (soundtrack)

release date: Feb. 25, 2013

format: digital (14 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,98]

producer: Mogwai

label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hungry Face" - 5. "This Messiah Needs Watching" - 7. "Special N" - 13. "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?" - 14. "Wizard Motor (4 / 5)

Soundtrack album by Mogwai made for the first season of the French TV series of the same name ('The Returned' in English) by Fabrice Gobert. The album contains 14 tracks including a cover originally composed by Washington Phillips and written by Charles Albert Tindley.

Like the ep, this full-length soundtrack doesn't quite live up to the band's normal studio albums.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, The Guardian 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,6 / 10 stars ]

Mogwai "Les Revenants EP" (2012) (ep)

Les Revenants EP, ep

release date: Dec. 17, 2012

format: digital (4 x File, MP3 - ROCKACT73D)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]

producer: Mogwai

label: Rock Action Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Wizard Motor" (4 / 5)

4 track ep release by Mogwai preceeding the release of the soundtrack album Les Revenants (Feb. 2013). Three of the compositions are also found on the full soundtrack album, although only the first track, "Wizard Motor" is kept (almost entirely) in this version, whereas the two other tracks (tracks #3 and #4) offer quite different arrangements, and the short track #2 doesn't figure on the soundtrack.

Just as with the full album, it's difficult to embrace these compositions as anything else than a music score, but "Wizard Motor" sticks out as a fabulous track that doesn't sound like anything else and simply makes it worth to know this ep.

Mogwai "Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will" (2011)

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

release date: Feb. 2, 2011

format: 2 cd (Japan issue)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]

producer: Paul Savage & Mogwai

label: Rock Action / Hostess Entertainment Unlimited - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "White Noise" - 2. "Mexican Grand Prix" - 3. "Rano Pano" - 4. "Death Rays" - 7. "George Square Thatcher Death Party" - 8. "How to Be a Werewolf" - 10. "You're Lionel Richie" - *11. "Slight Domestic"

*bonus track on Japanese issue

7th studio album succeeding a nearly fixed 2½ years period in between albums following The Hawk Is Howling (Sep. 2008), preceeding Rave Tapes (2014), and following their first live album Special Moves (released Aug. 2010). This Japanese issue comes with three bonus tracks - two added to the standard album making it a 10 tracks album of 62 minutes (9 minutes longer than the standard version) and with one extra track on a bonus disc containing a 23 minutes composition.

Compared to the 2008 album this seems like a general improvement. The music may reflect a more dominant quietness than usually with Mogwai, although, it doesn't come through as an ambient soundtrack album - there's just more space on the individual compositions and then it doesn't sound as if they build on any particular period of theirs. In that respect it sounds more like a fresh start combining piano parts with dominance of guitars, and then there's just less room for the ordinary slow / fast, soft / hard-opposites. Instead, the songs come out as more progressive structures, which could be interpreted as a sign of maturity, but which ultimately only proves that Mogwai are still capable of looking forward and evolve.

[ allmusic.com, NME, Drowned in Sound 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 6,6 / 10, PopMatters 3 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "The Hawk Is Howling" (2008)

The Hawk Is Howling

release date: Sep. 2008

format: digital (10 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]

producer: Andy Miller

label: Wall Of Sound / [PIAS] Entertainment Group - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead" - 2. "Batcat" - 3. "Danphe and the Brain" - 5. "The Sun Smells Too Loud" - 10. "The Precipice"

6th studio album by Mogwai following 2½ years after Mr. Beast (Mar. 2006) and 2 years after the two soundtrack albums Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait - a documentary for which Mogwai exclusively made the music score - and The Fountain - a fictional film by Darren Aronofsky with musical score composed by Clint Mansell and music written in collaboration with Mansell, Mogwai, and The Kronos Quartet.

The Hawk Is Howling comes with 10 brand new compositions and a total of 63 minutes of playing time that doesn't add much new to the band's discography - neither in terms of stylistic improvements, nor in adding great compositions to the band's vast tracklist. The track Batcat was chosen for ep release in a slightly alternate version together with two other compositions (released Sep. 2008) including one song with lyrics by Roky Erickson. It's as if they try to relaunch themselves by looking slightly too much in the rearview mirror. There are certainly elements from their first albums out with soft / hard, or slow / fast contrapositioning together with piano / electronic parts, and at the same time a few new albeit out-of context of the full experience we hear temptations of more traditionally 4-4 metric composed songs and something that could be inspired by say Sigur Rós, but everything just sounds too familiar. Perhaps they have been inspired or provoked by their experiences in making two soundtrack albums 'cause they throw in long bits of ambient-like harmonies, and also turn to noise rock metal but don't really succeed well in establishing a coherent whole - perhaps for the first time they really lack consistency. That said, the album still contains some really fine music and Mogwai never sound like anyone else.

Not recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian 4 / 5, PopMatters 3,5 / 5, 👍Q Magazine 3 / 5, Pitchfork 4,5 / 10 stars ]

Mogwai "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait" (OST) (2006)

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack)

release date: Oct. 30, 2006

format: digital (11 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,08]

producer: Tony Doogan

label: [PIAS] Recordings / Rock Action - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 10. "Black Spider 2"

A soundtrack by Scottish post rock band Mogwai - the band's first commisioned work for a film with the subtitle "An Original Soundtrack by Mogwai" to Douglas Gordon & Philippe Parreno's documentary "Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait" from 2006.

The album consists of 10-12 compositions depending on perspective as the album enlists 10 tracks; however, after a more than 3 minute silent part, the album continues with 1 or 2 unlisted [hidden] tracks - perhaps just one with a break into a second part; or they're both extentions to the final listed track "Black Spider 2". Anyway, tracks #1 through #10 are all held between 2:30 and 6:50 minutes, which in the case of Mogwai is a rather narrow time span, whereas the first unlisted track runs for 17:46 minutes (or with the final bit for more than 23 minutes) making the total running time of the album no less than almost 71 minutes long.

Stylewise, the album is the band's so far most quiet release - one could tend to call it an ambient work with dominating piano and dreamy and ambient guitar noise. As is with all soundtrack albums, it's a natural biased work as you only have the music, the sound that is supposed to enlarge the experience of watching the actual film, but since the album has been released as a stand-alone work-of-art, it should somehow be able to work on its own premisses.

Imho, this is not where you would wish to start listening to this band, and frankly, I think of it as one their least impressive works.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Q Magazine, The Mix Tapes 2 / 5, Pitchfork 6,4 / 10 stars]

Mogwai "Mr. Beast" (2006)

Mr. Beast

release date: Mar. 6, 2006

format: digital (10 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,85]

producer: Tony Doogan & Mogwai

label: [PIAS] Recordings / Rock Action - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Auto Rock" - 2. "Glasgow Mega-Snake" - 4. "Travel Is Dangerous" - 5. "Team Handed" - 6. "Friend of the Night" - 9. "I Chose Horses" - 10. "We're No Here"

5th studio album by Mogwai follows nearly 3 full years after the album Happy Songs for Happy People (Jun. 2003), and like that, this also features Scottish producer Tony Doogan. Unlike the predecessor and in fact the band's three most recent abums, this album comes out as something that naturally could have followed in the path laid out with Come On Die Young (1999) or even by the band's debut album Mogwai Young Team (1997). It's with a stronger shoegazing / noise rock sound than what has become the band's most recent and more subtle trademarks - only here, the members appear to have wanted something that sounds more like their first recordings without electronic bits and in its place: soaring guitars that brings to mind My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth. The album contains 10 tracks and has a total running time at 43 minutes.

Together with Come on Die Young this represents the best of "early" Mogwai.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👍allmusic.com, The Guardian, Mojo 4 / 5, NME 4,5 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Happy Songs for Happy People" (2003)

Happy Songs for Happy People

release date: Jun. 9, 2003

format: digital (9 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,64]

producer: Tony Doogan

label: PIAS] Recordings - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hunted by a Freak" - 3. "Kids Will Be Skeletons" - 6. "Ratts of the Capital" - 7. "Golden Porsche" - 8. "I Know You Are but What Am I?"

4th studio album by Mogwai released a litttle more than two years after Rock Action follows closely on the musical pattern laid out on the predeccesor with an incorporation of electronic music that never takes dominance over the band's electric guitar sound. The album consists of 9 compositions with a playing time just over 41 minutes, (again) making it one of the band's shortest albums.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, NME, 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 3,5 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Rock Action" (2001)

Rock Action

release date: Apr. 2001

format: digital (8 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: [PIAS] Recordings - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Sine Wave" - 2. "Take Me Somewhere Nice" - 4. "Dial: Revenge" - 5. "You Don't Know Jesus" - 7. "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong"

3rd studio album by Mogwai with its title from the band's own label Rock Action Records (established in 1996) following two years after Come on Die Young sees the band embracing synthesizers and a more electronically-founded sound without losing touch with their beginnings with electric guitars, which in a way links this album with the bands more recent material. It contains 8 compositions with a total running time at just over 38 minutes making it one of the band's shortest full-length albums.

Rock Action is well-produced and the songs are rich in tone and colour making it one of the bands more varied albums.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, The Guardian, Q Magazine, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "EP+6" (2000)

EP+6 (compilation)

release date: Aug. 2000 / Oct. 1, 2001 (first UK issue)

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5]

producer: various

label: Chemikal Underground - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Superheroes of BMX" - 2. "Now You're Taken" - 5. "Rollerball" - 6. "Small Children in the Background" - 7. "Stanley Kubrick" (official video) - 8. "Christmas Song" - 9. "Burn Girl Prom Queen" - 10. "Rage: Man"

Compilation album by Mogwai essentially compiling three eps into one longplayer with EP being their most recent release from Oct. '99. It consists of ten tracks with a total running time at 72 minutes. The first three compositions are from 4 Satin (1997), tracks #4 to #6 from No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) E.P (1998), and the last four are from EP (1999) - thus the title: EP+6 comes with four tracks plus six other tracks... The album was originally intended for the Japanese market only (released on Toy's Factory, August 2000) but was soon made in various digital issues for the European market primarily because the original three eps only had been pressed in limited numbers. Some European cd-issues are enhanced issues containing an extended version of "Stanley Kubrick", the music video, whereas the first Japanese edition has reversed track order (from newest to oldest) and some Japanese issues also came with the music video for "Xmas Steps".

Again, Mogwai has produced a fine album, although, all tracks have already been released in ep-versions, and it's difficult to pin out the best tracks, however, none of them appear on the band's normal full-length albums making this another fine album to know of. Also because the last four tracks here bond nicely to the most recent an otherwise different album Rock Action (Apr. 2001).

Recommended.

EDIT Nov. 2021: The album has been re-issued in a remastered 3 lp vinyl version (for the first time) with the new title "e.p. x 3", but with the same tracklist and with new front cover (still photo by Neale Smith of the same water tower). The album is also made available as download release via the band's bandcamp profile.

Mogwai "Come on Die Young" (1999)

Come on Die Young

release date: Mar. 29, 1999

format: cd (chem033cd)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Dave Fridmann

label: Chemikal Underground - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Punk Rock:" - 2. "Cody" - 3. "Helps Both Ways" - 4. "Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia" (4 / 5) - 6. "Waltz for Aidan" - 7. "May Nothing but Happiness Come Through Your Door" - 9. "Ex-Cowboy" - 11. "Christmas Steps"

2nd studio album by Mogwai following 1½ years after Mogwai Young Team (Oct. '97) is the band's first of two consecutive albums to be produced by American producer Dave Fridmann (bassist and keyboardist in Mercury Rev and Grand Mal), who is also credited various additional instruments. Before this, Mogwai recorded and released the 3-track ep No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) (June 1998) as a quartet, but before recording this new album they were back as a quintet with the inclusion of multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns. The standard issue is like the debut released as a double vinyl lp and a single cd issue containing 12 tracks with a total running time at 67 minutes.

The album marks a turn towards a gloomier and more melodic sound with especially apparent influence from The Cure and their two albums: Seventeen Seconds (1980) and Faith (1981). This also means that the noise rock-element is strongly reduced - except for tracks #9, #10, and #11. Several songs are also made with more distinct vocals - especially heard on "Cody", but also elsewhere via usage of samples. The overall impression is a fully coherent post-rock release with references to early British post-punk. and a release where the band examines new grounds of alt. rock labelled as experimental rock and post rock with obvious traits from progressive rock. Compared to the fine debut this is still a highly original release without a strong noise rock reference point and with a sense of adding new facets to the genre of post-rock.

A certified grower, one of the band's absolute best and highly recommended.

[ 👎allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Spin, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👍NME, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

Mogwai "Kicking a Dead Pig - Mogwai Songs Remixed" (1998)

Kicking a Dead Pig - Mogwai Songs Remixed (remix album)

release date: May 18, 1998

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC - 2001 reissue)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [2,88]

producer: Mogwai & various

label: Mogwai self-relase - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Like Herod (Hood Remix)" - 7. "Mogwai Fear Satan (Surgeon Remix)" - 10. "Mogwai Fear Satan (Mogwai Remix)" - 12. "Mogwai Fear Satan (My Bloody Valentine Remix)"

Remix album by Mogwai primarily of compositions from the band's debut album Young Team (1997). Originally the album was released as a ten track album on Eye Q Records, but after the label had closed the album was expanded by another two tracks and it was released as a 2-cd album with the two new remixes on disc 2 as the final version, track #12 is a 16 minute long version of "Mogwai Fear Satan" - the original being 10 seconds longer.

Most of the compositions have been heavily altered and mostly into electronic dance or with an ear for old school techno rave. You may argue that the point in making a remix album with songs that sound much like the original seems wrong, but when the end result is music of a completely other genre, it's also a natural source of criticism. It's experimental and daring and some ideas and even whole compositions are made with some success, but overall it doesn't fit that well in the band's discography - it's more of an oddity. Best remixes here are actually Mogwai's own mix of "Mogwai Fear Satan" only bettered by Kevin Shield's (My Bloody Valentine) daring but aso highly original version.

Collector's item only.

[ bandcamp ]

Mogwai "Mogwai Young Team" (1997)

Mogwai Young Team [debut]

release date: Oct. 21, 1997

format: digital (19 x File, FLAC Deluxe Edition)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]

producer: Paul Savage (recorded by)

label: Chemikal Underground - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Yes! I Am a Long Way From Home" - 2. "Like Herod" - 5. "Tracy" - 7. "With Portofolio" - 8. "R U Still in 2 It" - 10. "Mogwai Fear Satan" (official shortened video)

Studio album debut by Scottish post rock band Mogwai following the full-length compilation album Ten Rapid released 6 months earlier is recorded by Paul Savage (track #7 by Andy Miller) released on a small independent Scottish label. During the recording sessions for the album the band was expanded to a quintet by the inclusion of Brendan O'Hare (former drummer of Teenage Fanclub). The band is made up of Stuart Braithwaite on guitar, John Cummings on guitar, Dominic Aitchison on bass, Martin Bulloch on drums, and with new member Brendan O'Hare credited on piano and guitar. The album was originally released as double vinyl lp and 1-cd issues as the playing time exceeds 64 minutes. The standard issue comes with ten tracks and the single compositions vary in length from 01:34 to 16:20 minutes - with nearly all of the remaining tracks revealing likewise unconventional playing times (except #6 and #7 at 3:28 and 3:11 respectively). Shortly after the album release, new member O'Hare was dismissed from the band, who then continued as a quartet the following year.

Needless say, the music is with a certain dominance of guitar-sound in a band with three guitarists but that's by no means to say guitars take up 3/5 of the music. All but one track on the album are instrumentals - with lead vocalist Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap featuring on track #8. Being mostly instrumentals, the compositions are, however not without vocals. Several tracks are composed with speaking parts as a form of background noise, some of which are samples, and generally speaking, noise does amount for a central portion of both the single composition as well as the album as a whole. Tracks may start out gently, with few instruments playing softly at low key when it all explodes as a wall of noise rock before it then returns as sudden as it erupted - like an abrupt change of weather.

Mogwai Young Team is a strong debut from one of the most poignant bands of the post rock genre. This isn't just another band copying My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Slint, Talk Talk, The Cure or any other artists in shaping its own soundscape. They set a new set of standards within the alt. rock genre and show us that contemporary post rock is more than Sigur Rós and that playing post rock doesn't necessarily mean "more of the same". This debut album is already a modern classic. The band may have produced better albums since, but it's remarkable how original and how much of a whole this album really is. It's a certified grower.

Recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ allmusic.com, NME, PopMatters 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 9,2 / 10 stars ]

Mogwai "Ten Rapid (Collected Recordings 1996–1997)" (1997)

Ten Rapid (Collected Recordings 1996–1997) (compilation)

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 ]