Post by noise is a friend on Jan 12, 2006 14:52:58 GMT 1
if you see any more than the 2 I've found so far, feel free to add the review or post a link...
from Rock Sound magazine
--Everyone's favourite Blur-baiting Glaswegians have returned at long, long last with what is possibly their most graceful five minutes to date. Led by shimmering pianos and a delicate, waltz-time beat, "Friend Of The Night" finds the guitars, feedback and ear-destroying levels of noise taking a back seat, with Mogwai's much-underrated melodic aptitude taking preference. Despite post-rock's increasingly well-established limitations, this not-so-bonnie bunch are somehow continuing to break new ground and for that they deserve nothing but the most eloquent praise. Sadly, they won't find that sort of thing here, so they'll have to just settle for, "bloody Nora, this is flippin' top this" 9/10--
from NME (who again bandy musical terms around without having the faintest idea what they might actually mean):
--As the years roll by, you gradually begin to appreciatenew Mogwai material like the arrival of an old friend who always drones on about the same thing - let's say the maintenance of vintage sports cars - perhaps starting quiet, then getting progressively louder, then probably getting rather quiet again. Ignore alan McGee's promise that this is a new chapter in recorded sound (he is their manager, after all), for "Friend Of The Night" is essentially chintz-like aural wallpaper in avant-rock's clothing, a rolling guitarscape dotted with crashing cymbals and fading-sunset piano. Epically pretty, yes - but if you believ this band is any more radical than Snow Patrol now, Sir, you kid yourself.--
from Rock Sound magazine
--Everyone's favourite Blur-baiting Glaswegians have returned at long, long last with what is possibly their most graceful five minutes to date. Led by shimmering pianos and a delicate, waltz-time beat, "Friend Of The Night" finds the guitars, feedback and ear-destroying levels of noise taking a back seat, with Mogwai's much-underrated melodic aptitude taking preference. Despite post-rock's increasingly well-established limitations, this not-so-bonnie bunch are somehow continuing to break new ground and for that they deserve nothing but the most eloquent praise. Sadly, they won't find that sort of thing here, so they'll have to just settle for, "bloody Nora, this is flippin' top this" 9/10--
from NME (who again bandy musical terms around without having the faintest idea what they might actually mean):
--As the years roll by, you gradually begin to appreciatenew Mogwai material like the arrival of an old friend who always drones on about the same thing - let's say the maintenance of vintage sports cars - perhaps starting quiet, then getting progressively louder, then probably getting rather quiet again. Ignore alan McGee's promise that this is a new chapter in recorded sound (he is their manager, after all), for "Friend Of The Night" is essentially chintz-like aural wallpaper in avant-rock's clothing, a rolling guitarscape dotted with crashing cymbals and fading-sunset piano. Epically pretty, yes - but if you believ this band is any more radical than Snow Patrol now, Sir, you kid yourself.--