Mogwai, now more than ever

My self-imposed exile from the isle of Mogwai is now officially over. These Scotch F—er’s simply rock. I don’t know why I’d been so apposed to these guys over the past 9 years. Yes…now I remember. The Beans (The Hive Top 10 review coming soon) are to blame for this. Back in 97 I was painfully attached to the sounds of said Beans and nothing close to that could shake my faith in them. Whether it be God Speed you black Emperor, Fridge, or whatever Post-Rockers were making serious inroads back then, none could enter the sonic domain that the Beans held. I now know there is room for many flavours of the tasty pudding that is Drone-rock.

I downloaded the album a couple of weeks ago and last week I decided to buy the physical Disc. I went down to Zulu (something I haven’t done for a while) and once I saw the gorgeous packaging and read that it contained a “making of DVD”; I couldn’t rightly ignore the impending purchase. At 16.98 it was a true bargain.

The sound: Solid and enveloping (Glasgow Mega-Snake) to ethereal and spare (Emergency Trap, I Chose Horses, Team Handed) but always with an undercurrent of tension. On Glasgow Mega-Snake the guitars come in heavy and continually up the intensity until you are wrapped in dense curtains of noise. It’s not all guitars all the time as there are enough synth-y bits and piano flourishes to keep the ambience alive. I know heavy guitars are an easy out when it comes to manipulating the listener but these guys have been at it long enough to know when to employ it for amazing effect. As always; listen and get back to me. I'm sure you'll agree. On I Chose Horses we are treated to Japanese spoken word via the singer Tetsuya Fukagawa of Tokyo Hardcore rockers Envy. Not knowing what he’s saying only adds to the aural scenery that Mogwai has captured on this impressive CD.

Since I have a background in recording I also can't ignore how great the pure sonics of the album are. When you have that many layers of guitars going it can almost get counterproductive. Eventually the whole mess can implode on itself and when you add too much in the end it sounds like a tiny muddy mess. Their producer/engineer Tony Doogan (Belle and Sebastian, Delgados, Mojave 3) knows how to keep things dynamic, alive and is extremly skillful in maintaining precise separtation throughout the stereo field. The quieter songs breathe beautifully which isn't an easy task for a lot of volume-centric knob twisters but that is his forte as he comes from more of a folk background, that was to be expected of him the latter was a great surprise. He's done a great job on this CD especially since it was all conceived and mixed in the digital domain. To me it sounds as good as any analog recording, so no, that isn't a small feat at all. I am glad I left the recording arena because guys like this make it seem too easy.

It’s a well rounded album that I have found works well to keep me motivated when I’m running through East Van with my ipod.

The DVD isn’t that great cause you can hardly hear their voices (it doesn’t help that those harsh Scottish accents aren’t the easiest for a Canadian to comprehend under the best of conditions) and not much of a story to it. It does look great and the mood of the album is captured pretty well. I guess that’s all you can really expect in a free DVD. I really liked the look of it though and if anyone knows that camera they used could you please email me the technical info ( I emailed the band but I guess they are too busy to respond).

I will be there once they play at the Commodore in May. Mark my words. Even thought it is pretty steep at 37 bucks people have told me they are best digested in the live setting. So I’ll see you there.