Band of the Day - 02: Mogwai

"Music is bigger than words and wider than pictures." The most powerful set of words put to ominous, soothing static before the gentile rolling bass sets in.

Oh Mogwai, how I love thee. Let me count the ways...

Having recently purchased Young Team, Mogwai's debut album, in it's repackaged 10th anniversary edition, I felt it necessary to remind myself why Mogwai - of all the post rock options out there - seem to have such an effect on me. Travelling back from Tunbridge Wells to Archway, Young Team soundtracks the journey. Every rubble strewn garden, each smoke chimney stack spouting out billious white clouds, masquerading as cumulus, each wandering soul following their own path - it's all filtered through Mogwai's anti-melodies (melodies which don't seem melodic, but rather rhythmic and elemental rather than harmonic and emotional) and heart-stopping, thunderous dynamics. Like Herod, for instance, scares the shit out of me.
My first experience of Mogwai was a chance purchase of Come On Die Young. The first track, Punk Rock, is one of the most thrilling, brooding and intense openers to any album. Iggy Pop's fascinating monologue about the violence and freedom of his music running counterpoint to a carefully plucked arpeggio ringing throughout, it's truly one of my favourite pieces of music.

Mogwai are a constant - they don't need to reinvent or innovate - they simply exist and seethe. Their first four records are sublime, with Rock Action and Happy Songs For Happy People all containing highlights. Mr Beast is certainly a great record too, but at this point they've said all they've needed to say - now they are simply satellites orbiting around a sphere they helped create with chunks of their creativity, and consistently threaten to tear away from the gravitational pull.

Here's an example of why Mogwai should never go unheard.



If you haven't fallen in love with this, maybe music isn't your thing.

A 10 track mixtape, which will accompany all bands who have more than one album release.

Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/artbaretta/playlist/2zxpX4XLr2Ojq9AHsp6Kah

1) Punk Rock (from Come On Die Young)
2) Like Herod (from Young Team)
3) Killing All the Flies (from Happy Songs For Happy People)
4) We're No Here (from Mr Beast)
5) Sine Wave (from Rock Action)
6) You Don't Know Jesus (from Rock Action)
7) My Father The King (from My Father The King single)
8) Helicon 2 (Max Tundra Remix) (from Kicking A Dead Pig: Mogwai Songs Remixed)
9) Kappa (from Come On Die Young)
10) Mogwai Fear Satan (from Young Team)