Growing old gracefully. It’s not always easy, especially when it comes to music. One needs only to point at Mick Jagger prancing around onstage, or Metallica’s desperate attempts to seem relevant in the metal world. It can be painful to watch, but sometimes it can be inspiring. Take Mogwai, the Scottish quintet who have been pushing the ideas of post-rock for the last eighteen years. This month they release Rave Tapes, their eighth full length album.
In 2011 Mogwai assaulted the world with the extraordinary album Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. While still beholden to raw guitar energy and bashing rhythms, there was something transitional about the album. Mogwai were examining textures in ways they never had before. It wasn’t enough to be heavy, or belligerent, Mogwai was maturing, and bringing their sound into that maturity. In 2013 the band expanded their identity even further. First with the soundtrack to the TV show Les Revenants, and then with a string of live shows playing their 2006 soundtrack to Douglas Gordon and Philippe Pareno’s film Zidane: A 21st-century Portrait.
Gathering back to Glasgow, and entering their Castle Of Doom studios, Mogwai compiled Rave Tapes, a fifty minute semi-instrumental opus that speaks to their maturity, and a new ideology. Textures are still the key, but Rave Tapes take that notion and involve quieter motifs, as well as layered guitars that are part of the tapestry, not just loud coils wrapped around it.
“Simon Ferocious” is a more electronica based jam, but holds onto Mogwai’s need for jagged notes and heaviness through Atchison’s bass. “Remurdered” is a stand out track, with a decidedly John Carpenter-esque use of keyboards opening up into something both catchy and bizarre. Thank the drums for that. Bulloch plays off every corner of the strumming guitars, and eighties keyboard sounds, without laying into a beat. When he finally does, the results are epic and undeniable.
“Hexon Bogon” steps back into what Mogwai are known for. Heavy guitar riffage and equally as heavy bass. “Repelish” is one of the most fascinating tunes on the album. While Mogwai laydown a background filled with lush guitars, and keyboards, the foreground is rambling spoken work, brought to the album through Barry Burns’s wife, then Geoff Barrow of Portishead, and finally a random friend of Mogwai’s from Chicago. Making a long story short, Barrows sent Burns’ wife a copy of a Christian radio show for the jukebox in the bar she runs. Wanting to use the broadcast, but fearing repercussions, Mogwai had a friend from Chicago re-record it. The result is at once unnerving, and quite soothing.
The second half of Rave Tapes kicks off with the guitar heavy “Mastercard”, the opulent keyboard/guitar war “Deesh”, and the rather sweet, lo-fi “No Medicine For Regret”. Stuart Braithwaite contributes the few vocals on this album to “Blues Hour”, which is slow, melancholy, and unusual for Mogwai. They’ve dropped jams like this before, but it’s never the backbone of what they do. Finally, “The Lord Is Out Of Control” sounds like a vocoder middle finger to Daft Punk.
Rave Tapes is Mogwai growing up, without forgetting who they are. One of the first albums of 2014, this one launches the new year in music with thunderous applause.
