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Post by rageman on Dec 12, 2005 13:10:49 GMT 1
Actually...nevermind, I got it!
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Post by rageman on Dec 12, 2005 13:14:22 GMT 1
a "mogwai has never been anything special" comment on a SIGUR ROS board! hahaha
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Post by AtlasLadder on Dec 12, 2005 16:27:26 GMT 1
guitarist/vocalist stuart braithwaite explains the album's impetus thus: "we consciously tried to have some louder music on this album"
Really? Where is it? There are a couple of loud ones but no more than any other Mogwai album. Mostly its full of songs you know they arent going to play again after this tour.You clearly have not heard "We're no Here" yet. That song is the heaviest song the band has EVER RECORDED. It is so fucking dense. Its like Sunno))) dense in spots. It took me awhile to warm up to this track honestly. At first it just sounded like a fucking a bomb that was hard to understand and absorb. At this point it is fucking destroying me with its presence. Play this as loud as possible and it is the essence of the "lost in a cloud of sound" tag that has followed post rock around since its inception. Between this track, MegaSnake, Travel is Dangerous and Folk Death, I think we're looking at the heaviest Mogwai record since YT hands down. "Friend of the Night" by the way might just be the most beautiful and inspiring the song the band has ever written. It is so fucking beautiful to me. Gives me so many beautiful thoughts. I LOVE THIS BAND.
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Post by bobbob on Dec 12, 2005 20:58:18 GMT 1
You're right, I hadnt yet. 'We're no here' clearly takes it up a notch I'll need to listen to it more to see if I like it, right now its pretty hard to get into. However, I am really starting to like Glasgow Megasnake a lot more, so I bet the same will happen with this one. I'm not sure if I like Friend of the Night all that much. Its a little too bland for my taste, although its certainly listenable. Auto Rock is still, IMO, the best song on the album, and one of the best Mogwai songs ever.
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Post by rageman on Dec 12, 2005 21:30:18 GMT 1
turn the volume up all the way on 'we re no here', it'll blow your mind.
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Post by megatron on Dec 13, 2005 0:13:02 GMT 1
OK, I relented. I take back what I said before. I thought why not - I know I'll buy the album - in fact the production on the download sounds a little muted, and quite bassy. Only listened once but it does sound great, Auto Rock doesn't really sound like Mogwai but I like it a lot, the drum beat made me laugh out loud - fantastic. Glasgow Megasnake is strangely fast - a class live track I bet. What got me though was Friend of the Night, Mr Burn's finest moment so far I think - it is simply beautiful - this is the song they are to release as a single isn't it? I adore that piano line, just perfect. And the other highlight on first listen was We're No Here, which is very heavy - not sure about the Sunn comparison mind. All in all - well, we'll see. Mogwai albums take me a while (still not really sure what I make of Happy Songs if I'm honest). Can't wait for the ICA gigs.
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Post by legalnonresident on Dec 13, 2005 22:38:01 GMT 1
i dont know if this is a spoiler but,... holy shit wow
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Post by postlove on Dec 14, 2005 20:59:26 GMT 1
;D Christmas has come early today, yup, they've done it again. Its awesome. With McGee at the helm now would I be first to predict Mercury Prize next year?
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Post by gus on Dec 15, 2005 23:22:30 GMT 1
Auto Rock is perfect, no arguements.
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Post by iambic5 on Dec 16, 2005 12:30:23 GMT 1
Auto Rock: 8 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 9 Acid Food: 9 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 7 Friend of the Night: 10 Emergency Trap: 7 Folk Death 95: 7 I Chose Horses: 8 We're No Here: 8
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Post by bobbob on Dec 16, 2005 20:17:54 GMT 1
I take it back. This is Mogwai's best album. I'm a bit bored with Team Handed and I Chose Horses, but everything else is just brilliant.
I think they missed a real opportunity by not making Travel Is Dangerous the single. Its radio-friendly (vocals, sub-4 minute length) and I think it would do incredibly well. I love Friend of the Night but its not really a 'single', IMO.
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Post by jimmer on Dec 16, 2005 20:22:38 GMT 1
Did someone say "vocals"?
How much singing is on the record, I cant stand the singing ones (except Cody), please tell me there is very little (havnt got round to downloading it yet).-
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Post by bobbob on Dec 16, 2005 22:17:41 GMT 1
Three songs have vocals - Acid Food and Travel Is Dangerous have singing, and I Chose Horses has a japanese-language spoken word performance (the singer from Envy)
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Post by jontosh on Dec 17, 2005 13:17:11 GMT 1
Auto Rock: 8 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 9 Acid Food: 9 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 7 Friend of the Night: 10 Emergency Trap: 7 Folk Death 95: 7 I Chose Horses: 8 We're No Here: 8 Auto Rock: 8 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 8 Acid Food: 7 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 7 Friend of the Night: 10 Emergency Trap: 8 Folk Death 95: 10 I Chose Horses: 6 We're No Here: 7
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Post by jimmer on Dec 17, 2005 18:44:49 GMT 1
Right i have it now and have listened twice. Here is my full review;
It is a hot bitch.
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Post by tazerfloyd on Dec 18, 2005 6:50:25 GMT 1
Since a few people have been rating the songs:
Auto Rock: 10 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 10 Acid Food: 9 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 7 Friend of the Night: 9 Emergency Trap: 8 Folk Death 95: 8 I Chose Horses: 6 We're No Here: 9
Really, the more I listen to this album (which is every goddamn day), the more I love it. Definitely the best overall Mogwai album ever.
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Post by bobbob on Dec 20, 2005 18:03:01 GMT 1
Why Not:
Auto Rock: 10 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 9 Acid Food: 8 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 6 Friend of the Night: 7 Emergency Trap: 6 Folk Death 95: 9 I Chose Horses: 5 We're No Here: 8
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cesar
elvis ramone
Posts: 21
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Post by cesar on Dec 20, 2005 19:14:47 GMT 1
Auto Rock: 8 Glasgow Mega-Snake: 10 Acid Food: 9 Travel Is Dangerous: 9 Team Handed: 7 Friend of the Night: 10 Emergency Trap: 7 Folk Death 95: 9 I Chose Horses: 6 We're No Here: 8
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Post by jebussabes2 on Dec 20, 2005 21:31:02 GMT 1
* My review
(all in my opinion, of course. I've listened to the album maybe 7 or 8 times. I'm glad some people are raving and really enjoying the album. I'm also terrible at describing/reviewing music in words, so don't attach too much weight to what I say...)
Summary - okay, but not great, overall a disappointment, and much weaker than their first 3 albums. Fairly predictable Mogwai sounds & structure on most of the songs, and the consistency of song length and overall relative shortness of the album are problems for me. I know Stuart goes on about making great 40 minute albums, but the preference for 3.30 to 4.30 songs on the album indicates (to me) a staleness and lack of creativity they had in abounds on earlier albums.
I’d hate to turn into one of those indie snob "their first albums were the best" type persons, but this album just confirms to me Mogwai haven't got much more to offer me. I'm glad they're picking up new fans, and they're still better than the vast majority of bands out there, but I’ve become less and less fanatical about the band over the last 3 albums.
Track by track:
Auto Rock - well, it's just a 'Sine Wave' type introduction-to-the-album song. Play the two together, and see how similar they sound. From the beginning 10 seconds, you just know where the whole song is going. A nice strong clear drum sound, however.
Glasgow megasnake - one of the better tracks, but why I am thinking of the Manic Street Preachers? I don't even own any Manic Street Preachers’ records, but this song seems oh so familiar. At least it's a new sound for Mogwai, and nicely thrashy and loud, with some Like Herod riffs 2/3 of the way through.
Acid Food - always nice to hear vocals, but once again, fairly similar to the feel of 'Secret Pint'.
Travel is dangerous - one of the best and more original songs - a nice mix of vocals and thrashy riffs, with the thrashy bit emerging quickly in the song. But once you've heard a minute or so, you've heard the whole song.
Team handed - horribly familiar - it's just 'D to E' or 'Close Encounters' rehashed.
Friend of the night - One of the better tracks, but the drum rolls, background drone and melody are all fairly standard Mogwai - 'Secret Pint' meets 'Helicon 1'. At least at around 2.30, it tries to goes in a new direction.
Emergency Trap - well, the first minute starts off quite nice with a simple melody and some nice drone behind, but at the 1.00 minute mark it's the same old Mogwai sound emerging.
Folk death 95 - Okay, but fairly standard. The noisy bit in the third quarter. Build up to the noisy bit, and then the last quarter brings us back down again.
I chose horses - the only track on the album that really moved me. The ability of Mogwai to trigger an emotional reaction in me was always one of their greatest qualities. The rumbling juggernaut of 'Like Satan'. The jump-out-of-your pants shocks of 'Like Herod'. The blissful drone of ‘Helicon 1’. The joyful chorus crescendo of '2 Rights' or 'Stop coming to my house'. This album really lacks such defining moments or qualities.
I always like singing/speech in a language I don't understand (one of the appeals, to me, of Sigur Ros) - in this song, you can imagine the vocalist is saying something really profound/deep in Japanese. For all I know, of course, the Envy singer could be reading out the ingredients of a soup packet. (Does anyone remember the noise of the three bouncing heads in the Japanese film 'Spirited Away'? I'd wager that's the inspiration for the monk chanting underneath this song).
We're no here - nice sludge/thrash metal and electronic sounds - even though it's the longest track, I’d have liked a longer version.
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cokes
elvis ramone
Posts: 11
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Post by cokes on Dec 21, 2005 5:51:30 GMT 1
hey, everyone, this is my first post on this board, so how's everyone doing? i'm glad i've found a mogwai board that gets posts on it regularly. mogwai is such an amazing band, and i can truthfully say they changed my life, more importantly, "christmas steps". but anyway, onto my review:
i'm loving the new album, it's close to perfect in my eyes. the only thing that could have made it better is if they had that one "epic" track. but with that said, this record has some of the best songs they've ever done. "acid food" and "travel is dangerous" are simply amazing, and "friend of the night" is beautiful, as someone said earlier. i can't wait to see these guys on tour.
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Post by ynnpar on Dec 21, 2005 13:50:35 GMT 1
So I also got my hands on an advance copy of the new album (full album with no corrupted tracks). After hearing Alan McGee's comment about the greatest art rock album since Loveless (what's art rock anyway?) I was really excited. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I have to say that I feel very underwhelmed.
I have very vivid memories of my the first time I listened to most of my favorite albums (both Loveless and Young Team as well as Daydream Nation, Music Has The Right to Children, The Stone Roses, Souvlaki, and The Boredom's VisionCreationNewsun, among others). On each occasions I was dumbfounded by what I'd just heard. They were real "what the f*** was that " moments, and after each I spent a lot of time listening to these albums on repeat trying to figure them out.
So what happened with this album is strange. When I first played it I was uncertain it was Mogwai. Like I said, I was expecting something with the wow factor of Young Team, so I had probably set myself up for disappointment. After a few more listens, the album doees sound like Mogwai to me. But there's nothing on it that really grabs me.
The great songs on Young Team (Yes!..., Radar Maker, Tracy, With Portfolio, Cheery Wave, Fear Satan) have this sort of drugged out weirdness that was unlike anything I'd ever heard before (a distinct bass sound, the 7 minutes of flute on Fear Satan, the tape loops, the sad-scary piano, and that woman's voice saying "if stars had to sound, they would sound like this..."). There was a bit of this on CODY (oh! how the dogs stack up, Ex-Cowboy, Chocky, ) but not much at all on the last couple of albums (maybe only Sine Wave, O I Sleep, and Killing All the Flies?).
I feel like this element of the music (the thing that really drew me to Mogwai) is almost completely absent on this album. It's a fine bunch of songs, don't get me wrong. But it does seem rather bland by comparison, a sort of CODY meets Happy Songs production. I am disappointed, too, that all the songs are pretty conventional in length and structure (3-6 minutes, all very straightforward).
The first song, Auto Rock, is good, with a lot of piano. It reminds me of Sine Wave, minus the fuzz that I like so much. The second song, Glasgow Mega Snake, is noisy and borders on boring, in that way that metal is boring to some of us. Acid Rock, song 3, has vocals, what sounds like a drum machine, and a slide guitar or something towards the end; it seems like filler. Travel is Dangerous also has vocals, but they sort of get lost in the guitar wash. The song reminds me of Hunted by a Freak. Then there's a string of songs that remind me of Chocky and Close Encounters, slowish and featuring guitar mixed with lots of sad-sounding piano. Folk Death 95 is good, like Killing All the Flies. Then there's a piano and spoken word track, I Chose Horses, that's OK. The album ends with We're No Here, which is a noisy stomp-rock closer that continues to leave me yawning.
Sorry to ramble on so long. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is a good but unexceptional album. I really like Auto Rock and Folk Death 95 but there's nothing on the album I can't live without.
As with so many bands, maybe I just accept that Mogwai only has so many ideas, and that after a point there's going to be repetition or redundancy in what they do. I mean, look what happened with MBV after Loveless. Once you hit the right note, it's kind of tough to do any more, right? It's also possible that my tastes simply no longer correspond to the tastes of the guys in the band. But man, what happened to all the cool song titles and the weird "where'd that come from" sounds? I still want to believe they have another Young Team in them. But then again, I'm still waiting for the next MBV album...
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cesar
elvis ramone
Posts: 21
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Post by cesar on Dec 21, 2005 17:42:13 GMT 1
But don´t forget, Ynnpar, that mogwai members hate "Young Team" (or at least i have read something like that). I think Mr. Beast is a correct album (some good tunes and some very good ideas), but probably Mogwai will not surprise us anymore...
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Post by ynnpar on Dec 21, 2005 18:05:13 GMT 1
Fair enough, cesar. I suppose I have extremely high expectations for the band and, as you say, they're probably not going to surprise me much anymore. I _am_ still looking forward to the ICA show in a couple weeks!
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Post by drvladx on Dec 21, 2005 18:21:59 GMT 1
i would go as far as to say if you dont like this album you're not a mogwai fan
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Post by bobbob on Dec 21, 2005 21:17:55 GMT 1
Its clear now that Rock Action -era was a transitional period to the sounds of the last two albums. Mogwai seem to be moving to a little bit more conventional song structure, maybe a little softer (despite Were No Here and Glasgow Megasnake), a little less epic. I find it to be an interesting transition but I accept that others might not.
There are no 'epics' on this album but theres clearly no filler either (ie. Robot Chant, Moses I Amnt, etc etc).
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drude
elvis ramone
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Post by drude on Dec 21, 2005 21:27:24 GMT 1
I think it's definitely got a "Happy Songs" feel to it. It's a more 'mellow' Mogwai, but there's still the elements of pure 'gwai loud-ass bliss. One thing I noticed, and find odd, is that both this early leak, and the early leak of Broken Social Scene's most recent album were both missing the last track. "Mr. Beast" is also missing a decently ripped copy of 'Friend of the Night' too, but it's strange that 2 recently leaked, big-time indie rock artist's albums were missing the last track. Is this a trend of some sorts? Friend of the Night is Track 6 on my copy, all 10 tracks are very good vbr quality
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Post by stc107 on Dec 22, 2005 16:23:47 GMT 1
Different strokes for different folks i guess. But I think the strong point of the album comes from Friend of the Night, Emergency Trap and Folk Death 95. The comparisons to HSFHP? ?? It's a vastly different album in a lot of ways and I found it much more satisfying even after 3 listens. Acid Food will really grow on you. It's a great little song. As far as the missing last song goes I have it ,so I must have a decent copy from someone. I really do hope this album sells. They deserve some decent recognition.
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azkc
elvis ramone
Posts: 1
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Post by azkc on Dec 22, 2005 21:16:49 GMT 1
First post on this board. Hello.
As per usual with Mogwai, I like the album. My one comment/complaint is that the solid wall of guitar/reverb/sound in the background of most songs could be louder. In my opinion, that would make the album great rather than good.
I have two theories of which neither will prove correct: 1) This is not the actual album and they are tricking us into believing it is as to keep the actual version from leaking. 2) This is the actual album but is not the final mix. These are the only things I can think of that would warrant the "Loveless" comment.
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Post by megatron on Dec 23, 2005 1:28:30 GMT 1
The Loveless comment makes perfect sense to me. Alan McGee has always hyped his band to a ridiculous extent. That's not to say I don't like the album....
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Post by Ryan on Dec 23, 2005 7:50:09 GMT 1
You forgot
3) Alan McGee is a tool.
I like the new record a lot.
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