Friday, August 20, 2010

Team Mogwai



This band, quite simply, rocks. They’re loud. They’re full of riffs and feedback. They’ve got heartbreaking melodies that stomp their way out of the squall. And they’re back with a vengeance. Mogwai, can crush our eardrums or just do a quiet passage better then anybody. What makes them unique is the fact that they do it with such great musicianship that it's hard to see them do with so little effort. They make the best instrumental Post-Rock. It's great to watch this band live because they know that we are smart listeners and with that they don't let up.

Song's like "My Father, My King," "Like Herod," "Stereodee," and my person favorite "Mogwai Fear Satin" can litterly knock one on it's ass as far as some of the best white noise ever. I am not sure how they are not deaf themselves, but they sure can build some songs up intensity and then completely destroy them with one wonderful ear crushing guitar riff. They have added vocals to some of their songs, but most of this is just vocal humming or just vocal undertones with very little sense of lyrics. It's music that nightmares are created and stay with you for a very long time. "Mogwai Fear Satin" is such a song. The 16 minute song slowly climbs with very little going on, and then it knocks you down and runs away from you at the five minute marker and just makes you shake your head and wonder what just happened.



If straight ahead rock and roll is your thing, then I suggest that you do not listen to this band. They will break all forms of ideas and thoughts on how bands should act or perform. Mogwai use the sheer length of an album to their advantage, recording a series of songs that meld together — it's easy to forget where one song begins and the other ends. The record itself takes its time to begin, as the sound of chiming processed guitars and murmured sampled vocals floats to the surface. Throughout the album, the sound of the band keeps shifting, and it's not just through explosions of noise — Mogwai isn't merely jamming, they have a planned vision, subtly texturing their music with small, telling details. When the epic "Mogwai Fears Satan" draws the album to a close, it becomes clear that the band has expanded the horizons of post-rock, creating a record of sonic invention and emotional force that sounds unlike anything their guitar-based contemporaries have created.(AM)

Mogwai does this better any band I know and since Young Team has come out, they been a bit uneven, but that does not distract their wonderful sound and landscape for us to look at. I love the way Mogwai can just make things sound like that you wish you could have created that kind of sound or even that guitar riff. The white noise moments make things that we normally think is chaos is actually some kind of zen reason in the Mogwai world. This is not loud music that should be played at parties (believe me I tried), it should be music that is studied with wonder and awe.



This is another band I heard when I went back to school in 2ooo. I heard very little before that and when I got to school, I told a few DJ that I wanted to do a Progressive, Electronic, Psychedelic radio show and he mentioned to me that I should take a listen to Mogwai, because there very Post-Rock feel and sometimes they sound like instrumental Progressive Rock. I got a copy of Young Team and realized I could squeeze some of their great music into my shows. Mogwai shows us that music can be different and fresh. This music is some of the best out their. Take the time and try this one! Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. i picked this up a few days ago and the newbury's near me only had the two disc edition. remaster of the album on disc one then extra material on disc two. i've listened to some of the first album, dear lord, this is amazing. i enjoy guitar driven music but this is a whole new level and i like it. i think the fact that they sample in vocals is cool too. once again my ears thank you and my wallet is crying.

    - Fizz

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