MOGWAI - Classic or Dud?

Sorry, it's just difficult to explain what's so dud about them since I find it so hard to see what could possibly not be dud about them. I've given them several tries, everytime thinking maybe there's more to it than lame arpeggios on poor sounding guitars but there really isn't. And the thought of how many bands who find this a cool and easy (because it is) schtick to rip off, playing with their eyes closed, makes it even more unforgivable

three-word posts.

don't say much.

loooool

While I wouldn't declare them a dud, I don't really see what the big deal is. Friends whose opinions I respect like them a good deal, but I just don't see what's so special. I guess I think of them as the Spoon of post-rock: competent, but kind of uncompelling. Tell me why I'm wrong.

I actually think Ganger is better.

I should probably listen to Young Team again.

oh, aye: they're fundamentally very easy to rip off (badly) -- i did a lot of that myself a few years ago :)

but i dunno ... i'm always surprised and saddened by the opprobrium they seem to attract round here. purely out of interest, which albums have you listened to, sonderangerbot? (not that i'm trying to convince you, or anything: i appreciate your elucidation.)

i mean, i don't even think -- say -- "young team" and "happy songs" are easy to compare; they are, if you like, at opposite poles of the mogwai sound. (and i do think "young team" -- much as i love it -- is overly praised as an album. indeed, there's a case for saying that they've never made a truly great album yet: there's always a flaw somewhere. the last one, probably, is the closest they've come: i have very high hopes for the next one.)

i guess, for me, it's an emotional connection -- which might be to do with the first time i heard "new paths to helicon" and how it just sounded like everything i was looking for, with the wide-eyed yearning that seemed to be missing from so much contemporary post-rock. but i still feel that, at their best -- whether it's the "shit, this is easy!" simplicity of "mogwai fear satan" or the restraint of "the sun smells too loud" -- they're transcendent.

there's a case for saying that they've never made a truly great album yet: there's always a flaw somewhere.

I agree with this, but unlike you I think their albums are becoming more flawed since "Rock Action". But if nothing else, the new one has GREAT song titles!

Surely the second track on the forthcoming Batcat EP is the winner in terms of genius song titles:

"stupid prick gets chased by the polis and loses his slut girlfriend"

I really do like Mogwai but their musical opinions are often dangerously close to bigoted if not outright suppressive.

Also, "The Sun Smells Too Loud" is cool for a minute or two but then I found myself thinking "please change, please do something a bit different". But nay! We are the Mogwai and we must make the same point incessantly for seven gruelling minutes! Their old stuff was never this one-dimensional. Still, I'm holding out some hope for the LP.

I ought to revisit them and reassess.

the new album's pretty durn good, actually. in some ways it could be argued that it revisits the mr beast template, but does so with considerably more passion and power.

that's not to say it's a noisier record than its predecessor, but for the most part it feels more focused and potent.

I likes it, anyway.

The cover is a bit meh.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51yaeNUXjfL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

No tear, for a start.

Nivvur furget

Saw them last night at the Hammersmith Apollo, and they were really good. Kind of wish they hadn't bothered with the encore though- the last track (don't know what it's called) was good enough in its own right.

Batcat. ( http://www.youngteam.co.uk/brightlight/eng/gig241008.php )

(the encore: Helicon 1 and Two Rights Make One Wrong - both are pretty great though)

Nice one. To be fair, Helicon 1 was very good.

I saw them in Edinburgh on Tuesday and really enjoyed it again, though the sound wasn't as good as sometimes.

The old epics were the highlights for me: Xmas Step, Helicon 1 and Like Herod... awesome.

DUD!

ooh, challops!

hearing that in the "oooh, Danone" voice

To be fair, Helicon 1 was very good

didn't they do 2 rights as the final encore in london? i have heard that song be less than devotionally sublime, but it's rare.

krakow: bugger, i was there too. would have been good to say hello. it certainly wasn't the best i've seen them, although batcat totally fucking slayed, and like herod was about as awesome as it gets. i was, to be honest, a bit distracted by the appalling visuals -- showing the batcat animation was a great idea, but the rest were absolutely plums.

errors were blindingly good, i thought. and fuck buttons everything i hoped for (though NOT LOUD ENOUGH).

I loved Fuck Buttons, but got the sense that a lot of the audience weren't digging it. Pity the fools. You must be a volume masochist though, there was some intense volume going on. My sister & her friend got scared and ran away to the bar.

Fuck Buttons were good in London too, really something to hear them on a big sound system with organ-shuddering base!

You must be a volume masochist though, there was some intense volume going on

with stuff like that, it can NEVER be too loud for me. i guess the volume i was going for was somewhere between vomit-inducing and bowel-loosening. but the poor ol' corn exchange is never quite going to manage that.

got the sense that a lot of the audience weren't digging it

yeh, i know ... ach. fuck 'em, basically. there's a truly woeful piece of "writing" here which saddens me enormously.

lol, Mogwai fan complaining about lack of spectacle on stage.

plz to send "Guardians of Space" if you have it. I would like to put it on a mix & it is very difficult to find! It was only recently that I found out that that was the name of said track, b/c the disc I own that has it (US edition of the 4 Satin ep, which is, unfortunately, in storage elsewhere) does not have the track listed. I had though up to now that it was "Superheroes of BMX," which is the second track, actually. Was there a misprint in the US pressing? Anyway, if you have the track, I would greatly appreciate it if you could help a brother out.

I think, after 12 years of trying, that I'm ready to say that Mogwai are fucking boring.

I am a boring person & I like Mogwai. I take it you don't have the track, then?

The disc I own that has it (US edition of the 4 Satin ep, which is, unfortunately, in storage elsewhere) does not have the track listed

Hmm! I've got a rip here of my 12" UK vinyl copy of 4 Satin, which has three tracks: Stereodee, Superheroes of BMX and Now You're Taken (think that's the correct track order ... wow, I ripped that in December 2001.) I genuinely don't know Guardians of Space!

But if you want, I'll zip that rip and point it in your general direction. Just say the word.

don't worry about it gf. It sounds like you have the UK version, which didn't have it. I thought it would have been an appropriate track for a comp I'm making and only recently discovered that what I thought for all these years was "Superheroes of BMX" was actually GOS b/c the US version had four tracks, but kept the same tracklist as the UK, if that makes any sense.

I thought it was strange that, on my copy, the fourth track wasn't listed, but I guess that track is actually "Stereodee."

Sorry, no, I don't have it.

the US version had four tracks, but kept the same tracklist as the UK, if that makes any sense

Right! I was wondering if it was just a change of name ... didn't realise it actually had an extra track.

Bugger, I really want to hear this now. If anyone *does* have it ...

hey, if I can track it down, maybe I'll post it. It is one of my favorite tracks of theirs & has a killer bassline & is as close to actual metal as I've heard them sound, regardless of the lack of vox (I tend to like Mogwai best in opposite extremes: total rocking out or droney & ambient).

If noone serves it up based on this exchange, I'll rip it when I visit my parents next week. Much of my CD collection is in boxes in their attic.

That'd be magic: I really don't think I've ever heard it (I've just been through my not-very-impressive Mogwai rarities folder) and yeh, metal-Mogwai is invariably a good thing.

Someone else out there must have it, though ... surely?

Most of us yanks haven't risen yet, so give it a few hours..

Good point, well made.

Success!: Mogwai - Guardians of Space

Dude! Awesome. Downloaded; will listen later.

Aye, cheers, I don't think I've heard this one either.

I like this. It's an oddity, certainly, but my life is the better for hearing it. Thanks!

still classic live

What he said, having just seen them for the first time in...nine years? Close to that. Great show.

Psyched about the live film & album coming soon! Trailer @ http://www.mogwai.co.uk

Yeh, I think there was some talk about this on the Scottish Bands thread, too. Looks fucking ace.

I listened to The Hawk Is Howling yesterday for the first time in ages. While I still maintain they've not made a studio album yet that's really representative of their genius, this one really isn't that far off ...

...but it's so frontloaded!

SCOTLAND'S SHAME, DUDE! SCOTLAND'S SHAME!

that's the only good track in the second half! and it's kinda a one-trick pony. 'biggest bass ever'

'i'm jim morrison, i'm dead' is probably all-time mogwai top-5 tho