Tag: Mogwai

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Electronic Music Experimental Post-Rock

Mogwai – Boltfor

Buoyed by the success of last years late career highlight, As The Love Continues, their first UK number one album, Mogwai return with triumphant new single, Boltfor.

Initially conceived during the studio sessions for As The Love Continues, Boltfor sees Mogwai at their epic best. Heavily dominated by atmospheric synths and glitchy percussion, the track begins lowkey, before ascending into a glorious crescendo of melodic synths and distorted guitar. The heroic melancholy of the underdog’s triumph.

Check out the fantastic video directed by Sam Wiehl, made up of generative CGI runners shedding light as they run through atmospherically lit environments. One shot might be a field of flowers while the next resembles the surface of the moon. Sam Wiehl says that it is “a visual metaphor for the constant movement in life and the unceasing urge to move forward as individuals.” Visual sentiments which reflect the music beautifully.

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Ambient Experimental Post-Rock Song of the Day

Song of the Day (Chaotic Neutral): Mogwai – Helicon 1

Day 22.

This entry is as much for the video as it is for the song. The aching nostalgia conveyed by the grainy, stop motion footage is supremely powerful. Especially when paired with the grandiose melancholy of the song.

Due to this song being an instrumental, I decided it might be both amusing & informative to quote the Wikipedia page for the song’s description of its composition:

The song begins with almost inaudible guitar, heavily delayed and reverberated, playing a descending three note melody. At (0:25), a bass riff (based around the chords of D major and B minor) enters. At (1:00), slightly distorted, heavily delayed and reverberated guitars begin playing along to the bass riff, swooping in and out. At (1:34), a relaxed, slow drum beat begins. At (2:50), all of the instruments pause for a brief second, then explode into loud guitar-driven noise, backed by a steady, heavy drumbeat (to which every snare drum beat is accompanied by a tambourine clash). At (4:28), the distorted guitars and drums end, leaving the soft bass riff to close the song, aided by the guitar melody heard at the start of song, all of which gradually fade out.

Live versions of the song are performed at a substantially slower tempo.

Looking for some great music? Check out the Song of the Day (Chaotic Neutral) Spotify playlist.

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Indie Rock Post-Rock

Song of the Day (The Chain): Mogwai – Cody

Day 8. From the swirling psychedelics of The Flaming Lips to the stark Post-Rock soundscapes of Mogwai. The connection between yesterday’s Flaming Lips song & todays is that they were both produced by the same producer, Dave Fridmann.

Cody is the title track (via acronymisation) of Mogwai’s fan favourite second studio album, Come On Die Young. Cody is a slow, melancholic track. One of the few Mogwai tracks to feature lead vocals, Cody has an almost narcotic beauty.

Of all I knew, I held too few 
And would you stop me, if I try to stop you? 

Old songs stay ’til the end 
Sad songs remind me of friends 
And the way that it is, I could leave it all 
And I ask myself, would you care at all? 

When I drive alone at night, I see the streetlights as fairgrounds 
And I tried a hundred times to see the road signs as Day-Glo 

Old songs, stay till the end 
Sad songs, remind me of friends 
And the way that it is, I could leave it all 
And I ask myself, would you care at all?

Old songs, stay till the end 
Sad songs, remind me of friends 
And the way that it is, I could leave it all 
And I ask myself, would you care at all?

Keep up to date with the Song of the Day (The Chain) Spotify playlist.

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Indie Rock Music Post-Rock Song of the Day

Song of the Day (A-Z): Mogwai – Party In The Dark

Day 16 (P). Predominately instrumental Post-Rock pioneers Mogwai trying their hand at psychedelic Dream-Pop. This is Mogwai at their most playful & seems to me to suggest shades of latter day Slowdive & (pretty much any period) New Order. Taken from their 2017 album, Every Country’s Sun, Party In The Dark came out just as my own band, Nauseous Skies, was forming & was a huge influence on our sound. We included it in our playlist of reference material we gave to the engineer when we recorded our debut singles, Only Shadows and Stay Young.

I see everything
All their suffering
Tiny vehicles
Space-age miracles

All our hearts were sore
No fight left in this war
Before the ghostly chase
All those that rearrange

I, taken from those spirals be both kind
Hungry for another piece of mind
Silent and impatient without time
Directionless and innocent

Wards are ours to keep
Definition free
Unkind and alone
End of the idea

I, taken from those spirals be both kind
Hungry for another piece of mind
Silent and impatient without time
Directionless and innocent

I, taken from those spirals be both kind
Hungry for another piece of mind
Silent and impatient without time
Directionless and innocent

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