Mogwai: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

Mogwai
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Rating: Woof Daddy

Oh Mogwai! What a strange career you have had. Bursting onto the music scene with 1997's masterpiece of noise and controlled chaos Young Team, you have never quite scaled those heights again. Which isn't to say that you have ever put out a substandard album. You have just varied your sound slightly for each new release, not really knowing how to take it to the next level. To be honest though, Young Team was such a perfect album, there really was nowhere left to go but down a little bit.

The perfect thing about Young Team was that from moment to moment, you never knew what path the band was going to take. It was never a template of slow build, catharsis, slow outro; the songs could whiplash you with their odd time signatures, and blast your ears with loud, Sonic Youth noise experiments. Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (which is up for album title of the year) is not Young Team, but it is by far their most dynamic album since then.

Starting with the delicate motion of "White Noise," Mogwai show they are still one of the tightest bands out there. The song moves effortlessly from its slow beginnings, with each instrument moving with the others into a cohesive blast of noise. Which then moves into album highlight "Mexican Grand Prix," with its motorik beat, driving guitars and pulsing keyboards, featuring the rare vocal.



The album is perfectly paced, with each song fitting well into the song cycle. "Rano Pano," the first single, and best track on the album, is perfect Mogwai. Guitars start normal and then switch into heavy effects, building into a maelstrom of sound. This will definitely be the song to experience live.



The album is not all about carefully controlled noise and bursts of sound, Mogwai also find time to slow things down and create beautiful instrumental passages. From the delicate "Death Rays;"



and the haunting pianos and sad slide guitars in the lament "Letters to the Metro:"



But of course, the standout tracks are always the songs with the trademarked Mogwai driving force and carefully crafted builds. "San Pedro," is one of Mogwai's most forceful, straightforward rockers, with a tight, controlled rhythm section, and an assault of amazing interlocking guitar parts;



and "Too Raging To Cheers," featuring hypnotic synths, organ, and piano, buffeted with electronic percussion, building majestically into a drone of guitars and strings:



The best thing about Hardcore is that with each listen you find something new; an interesting guitar part, a keyboard line buried in the mix, or an odd use of samples or auto-tune, as in the closing track "You're Lionel Richie:"



Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is not necessarily a return to form for Mogwai; as they have never put out a bad album. But it is their most direct work since Young Team, and feels like it all works together as a whole, but with each song standing on its own as well. I know an album will be in my top list when I can't stop playing it over and over on my iPod. Hardcore has rarely not been played in the last few weeks. I hope you find it as intoxicating as I do.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.