MOGWAI - Classic or Dud?

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

Special Moves - track list and MP3 giveaway
Mogwai's first live album will be released on Rock Action Records this spring. Released alongside the live film Burning. The formats will be CD and DVD and limited deluxe triple vinyl box set which will also include the dvd of Burning, set lists and a poster. The artwork was designed by Aidan Moffat.

To mark the announcement of the full tracklisting for this release Mogwai will be giving away a free MP3 of the song 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong taken from the Special Moves live CD via the minisite www.mogwaispecialmoves.com

The track list for the the cd/dvd version is:

- I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
- Friend Of The Night
- Hunted By A Freak
- Mogwai Fear Satan
- Cody
- You Don't Know Jesus
- I Know You Are But What Am I
- I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
- 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
- Like Herod
- Glasgow Megasnake

The track list for the vinyl version is

- I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead
- Friend Of The Night
- Hunted By A Freak
- Mogwai Fear Satan
- Cody
- You Don't Know Jesus
- I Know You Are But What Am I
- i Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
- 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
- Like Herod
- Glasgow Megasnake
- Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home
- Scotlands Shame
- New Paths To Helicon Part 1
- Batcat
- Thank You Space Expert
- The Precipice

The extra songs featured on the vinyl release will be available as a free download with the CD.

those tracklists are pretty ideal. would only ask for 'kids will be skeletons' or 'ratts of the capital' in addition. but yeah, definitive. i'll probably be getting this on the strength of the song-choices

I had a little spat with Braithwaite on Twitter the other day.

loooooooool imo he should do the richey edwards 4 real thing to prove he isn't an act

Quite.

a trifle up 'emselves, aren't they