Each Mogwai album ranked from worst to finest
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Mogwai have been discovering new methods to weave beautiful (predominantly) instrumental tapestries for over 1 / 4 of a century now, with their trailblazing debut album Mogwai Younger Workforce rising in October 1997.
Their epic, sweeping tracks and experiments in excessive dynamic shifts constructed on the legacy of Slint and Tortoise, and inadvertently helped outline the sound of post-rock, even when they dislike being related to the style. With time, the Glasgow band’s music grew extra formidable and numerous, spanning the electronic-enhanced introspection of Rock Motion and Rave Tapes to the extra conventional song-structures of Mr. Beast and Completely happy Songs for Completely happy Folks.
Providing conclusive proof that good issues come to those that wait, Stuart Braithwaite’s band scored their first ever UK primary album with final 12 months’s Because the Love Continues, however such plaudits, whereas welcome, have by no means been the objective of this idiosyncratic, inventive and proudly impartial unit.
10. Hardcore Will By no means Die, However You Will (2011)
Hardcore Will By no means Die, However You Will isn’t a nasty file – Mogwai aren’t able to making one – however it’s disjointed. The New Order-aping digital beats of Mexican Grand Prix and the grinding noise sludge of Rano Pano by no means fairly coalesce collectively to kind one cohesive piece, or strategy the majesty of the superbly serene Demise Rays or the forlorn melancholy of Letters to the Metro.
Each the paintings and motorik concepts employed recall Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, however the assortment lacks coronary heart, one thing the digital music pioneers have been capable of side-step by sheer will. However that this set constitutes Mogwai’s worst materials is a glowing testomony to the sheer high quality of their expansive discography.
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9. The Hawk is Howling (2008)
Regardless of Mogwai’s status as an instrumental band, it wasn’t till their sixth album that they launched a long-player completely devoid of the human voice. In line with bandleader Stuart Braithwaite, a lot of the fabric on THIH was written for a movie soundtrack that by no means materialised, making the album a hybrid between an everyday Mogwai album and one among their OST excursions (Les Revenants, Kin and Atomic to call simply three).
With hindsight, it’s tempting to see The Hawk is Howling as a transitional Mogwai album, from the giddy, sudden explosions of noise that littered their early work into the dynamic swelling and waning of their latter materials. Tracks like The Solar Smells Too Loud and Kings Meadow noticed the band additional discover the combination of electronics into their sound, early experiments which might later pay dividends on 2014’s Rave Tapes.
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8. Come On Die Younger (1999)
Of their early years, Mogwai garnered a status as one of many loudest bands on the planet, so for his or her second album, the Scots turned the tables, producing a file of primarily quiet, introspective materials that grew to a cacophonous climax throughout the course of the album.
Launched by a pattern of Iggy Pop speaking punk rock on a 1977 US TV present, Come On Die Younger confirmed a band filled with confidence, already conscious that they didn’t wish to get pigeon-holed for merely taking part in music to lose your listening to to. Even Stuart Braithwaite’s shy vocal on CODY is a baller transfer, a unconscious coax to the listener who leans in to catch each sibilant of this haunting and hushed vocal, whereas the 30-minute triple risk of Ex-Cowboy, Chocky and Christmas Steps unite to ship a most spectacular conclusion.
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7. Rave Tapes (2014)
Mogwai’s love of Kraftwerk shines on their eighth studio album as they push forth their digital facet like by no means earlier than. This shift of emphasis reinvigorated the band after a few albums which had little sense of course.
Right here, the street (or ought to that be autobahn) was clear; large analog synths, pulsating digital throbs and danceable tunes recalling an period lit by neon. However even inside this framework, Mogwai nonetheless utilise the factor of shock on the lilting and languid Replenish, set to a pattern of a Christian discuss present host decrying the evils of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.
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6. Because the Love Continues (2021)
The band’s first UK album chart-topper narrowly misses out on a spot in our prime 5. Ritchie Sacramento (a touching tribute to Frightened Rabbits frontman Scott Hutchinson) might properly take the honour for ‘Finest Mogwai Track With A Vocal’ and the grandeur of Midnight Flit reveals a band not ready to relaxation on their laurels, even 10 albums in.
As a fantastic fruits of Mogwai’s profession thus far, Because the Love Continues celebrates their storied previous while marking out new territory for the long run.
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5. Each Nation’s Solar (2017)
Mogwai’s ninth full-length album is directly acquainted and distinct from their earlier work, with loud, distorted masterworks resembling Previous Poisons co-existing with the muted, swish likes of Mind Sweeties. That is Mogwai exploring sonic templates and limits in a extra intricately superior manner than the quiet-loud dynamics that typified their earliest work.
The inviting, heat sonics of Coolverine are elegant, while Celebration within the Darkish additional pushes the band’s shoegaze credentials and accentuates the arrogance that Stuart Braithwaite has solely just lately present in his all-too-rare vocals.
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4. Rock Motion (2001)
With multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns’ now a fully-fledged member of the band, Rock Motion heralded the sound of a brand new Mogwai, one unafraid to herald sine waves and robotic chants to increase the band’s palette.
Two of the eight compositions right here, You Don’t Know Jesus and 2 Rights Make 1 Incorrect, would stay staples in Mogwai’s units for years to return, so sturdy have been these advances into unknown territory. Elsewhere, Gruff Rhys of Tremendous Furry Animals lent his delectable Welsh tones to Dial: Revenge, an acoustic lament with sinister lyrics that took benefit of a quirk within the Welsh language.
With a working time of 38 minutes, Rock Motion is Mogwai’s shortest album, and upon launch, many complained that it was too slight. With hindsight, nevertheless, it might be the largest transition the band produced from one album to the subsequent.
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3. Mr. Beast (2005)
Former Creation Information head honcho Alan McGee as soon as described Mr. Beast as “most likely one of the best artwork rock album I have been concerned with since (My Bloody Valentine’s) Loveless.”
“In truth,” he continued, “it is presumably higher than Loveless.”
Mr. McGee is properly for his mastery of the hyperbolic remark however on this case, he is perhaps on the cash. Buddy of the Night time is without doubt one of the most stunning, serene items of music Mogwai have ever authored, while Glasgow Mega Snake is one among their most devastatingly apocalyptic. Mr. Beast’s eclecticism and extra conventional tune constructions make it start line for anybody who’s terrified of that ‘put up’ pre-fix.
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2. Mogwai Younger Workforce (1997)
The one which began all of it, Younger Workforce (as most seek advice from it) comprises one of many band’s most enduring songs within the type of Mogwai Concern Devil, a 16-minute masterclass in stress and dynamics, described by Pitchfork as “by far essentially the most correct sonic illustration of the large bang principle within the historical past of music.”
Stay renditions of this and Like Herod gave Mogwai their fearsome status as one of many loudest rock bands round. However they have been additionally one of many quietest, because the light Tracy or R U Nonetheless In 2 It, that includes Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat demonstrated. Probably the most vital debut albums of the Nineties, and among the best.
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1. Completely happy Songs for Completely happy Folks (2003)
With Completely happy Songs for Completely happy Folks Mogwai achieved a near-perfect distillation of their epic sound while remaining concise, magically squeezing their definitive work into simply 42 minutes of music.
By now, Mogwai had perfected the artwork of expansive dynamics by means of broad instrumentation, skilfully shading within the aural area versus merely stomping on a distortion pedal.
Taken individually, every monitor works superbly however the album as a complete creates a masterpiece arc of launch and stress. I Know What You Are However What Am I? is as haunting as its title, a fragile looping piano motif constructing over a tidal wave of digital drums and percussion while Ratts of the Capital stays one among Mogwai’s most under-rated slow-build epics.
Whereas lists resembling this can at all times show divisive, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite has additionally singled out Completely happy Songs for Completely happy Folks as his band’s crowning achievement, as soon as telling Noisey that it’s his favorite “basically as a result of the music on it’s good.” Typically, that’s all the explanation you want.
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