Album Review: Mogwai - Rave Tapes

Mogwai
Rave Tapes
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

When Mogwai released their debut record Young Team almost 20 years ago it wasn't called a classic because of its complete originality, in fact in was quite easy to name and pinpoint each influence, instead, it was how the band took those influences and made them into something all their own. The album was intense and confrontational, constantly keeping you on edge, never knowing where a gorgeous passage would erupt into noise-fueled chaos or vice versa. This constant tension and release is still consistently stunning after all these years. While the band would still put out some really good records over the years, they never quite reached the heights that Young Team scaled, tending to fall back into familiar patterns, losing that once great edge.

The focus on their 8th proper album (not considered soundtracks and remix albums) Rave Tapes is on more electronics, however, Mogwai over their past few records have been integrating more keyboards and synthesizers into their sound anyway, so it is not like the record takes off into dubstep and drum n bass territory. While overall Rave Tapes is a solid record, there is just a lack of forward movement for the band. Most of the tracks play off the soft/loud dynamic that the band can pull off in its sleep, and at times it feels like Mogwai is checking boxes on a list, you have the track with voice samples, the one track with soft vocals, and the track with vocoder. There is a remarkable lack of surprise here that keeps me from really embracing the record wholeheartedly, but with that said, it is still a gorgeously produced album that is at least entertaining through its run. I was just left wanting more.

The tracks that spoke the most to me on Rave Tapes were the ones where the mix of guitars and keyboards coalesced into something almost sublime. The driving and pulsating "Remurdered" casts swooning synth lines against a current of booming drums and aching guitars,



the delicate bell synth tones that ring throughout the opening guitar laced tone poem "Heard About You Last Night,"



and the slow burning churn of "Deesh" with its rising tides of keyboards.



The remaining tracks on the record, aside from the relatively brief guitar workout "Hexon Bogon,"



and beautiful piano led ballad "Blues Hour,"



make more of an impression than it's a Mogwai song and it's done well but perfunctorily so. There is a distinct lack of adventure with this album, as if they are stuck in a holding pattern.

Rave Tapes was a ridiculously hard record to review for me. Had I not been a follower of the band and this was my first entry for them, my opinion may have been different, however, seeing as I have been an ardent follower over the past 18 years, I can't help but be a little bit disappointed. The odd thing is Rave Tapes is not a bad record at all, I can easily have it on and it is an enjoyable listen, but it becomes background, lacking the in-your-face forcefulness of prior albums. As such, this record, for me, definitely gets graded as a minor work for Mogwai.

Rating Scale:

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 releases of the year.

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

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

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.