I nearly had a heart attack when I first listened to Like Herod. Especially the live version on the Government Comissions record. I made the mistake of listening to it for the first time through in-ear phones and the volume turned all the way up. I really wish I'd known it kicked in, and that I wasn't on the metro surrounded by loads of people looking at me when I found out.

ahaha I've done similar things on the bus. I can see that with "Like Herod".

Mogwai can get on it.

I also once genuinely "laughed out loud" on the metro to something I was listening to. I forget what it was but it was spoken word and everybody looked at me like I was retarded. It was really early in the morning too so everyone was silent and half asleep until I woke them up with my amplified laughter. Even the fit girl I was sat next to. I failed.

hahaha thats so funny.

Yeah, I was listening to an old Space Ghost album a few weeks ago on the bus and a song by Brak came on called "Don't Touch Me!". I was laughing so loud and I was drawing weird glares from everybody around me. Glad to know I'm not the only person.

I can imagine how you must have reacted when "Like Herod" came on.

It was a joke, woman.
I didn't think anyone would actually take it seriously.
:confused:

Don't backtrack, Freebase. We all know that considerablechanceyou'dhearthisinamovie was a serious submission

Ok.

Heyyy, I was kidding, too. Since when do you take me seriously?

When... you uh... I um...
*runs away*

Have you heard the My Father My King EP? Its based on an Irish hymn, is one 20 minute song, but definitely builds up to those 'big sounds.'

Is that EP still readily available? I would like to hear that, it sounds quite interesting, and the "big sounds" Mogwai can produce are definitely a favorite of mine, in spite of the fact that I love their blissed out mellow side, too...

I think I have that somewhere and heard it a long time ago - don't remember it much though. Really, I started losing interest around the time of 'Rock Action' and didn't pay Mogwai any attention again until Mr. Beast (haven't heard their most recent stuff yet either).
Plenty of big sounds on their 'EP+6' which I consider essential.

Just got my copy of 'Burning' in the mail today and I'm watching it now... sssoooo incredible.

Cool!! May have to get me a copy of Burning before too long!

i go through phases with mogwai. i'm indifferent for years at a time, then i binge on them for a week or so, then my interest fades.

I do this, too. I still like them quite a bit, but you have to be in a certain mindset/ mood to be able to enjoy them.

I've always considered them quite exceptional, first album I bought was "Happy Songs..." and I had a Peel Session tape in 2003 [recorded at Maida Vale] how I'd luv to get hold of that set again, I listen to so many things that I couldn't say I go out of my way to hear Mogwai these days but always enjoy listening when my mp3 is set to random and throws up "Fear Satan" or whatever...

Where do I start?

My last.fm is mrguy2039 if that helps...

^Young Team

Hmm... Someone else I talked to said Young Team wouldn't be a good starter, and recommended the live one or Mr Beast....

Well it's where I started and I love the band. So I guess it's each to their own.

where are you already at? as in who are you listening to that is making you think you'd dig this band.

for example - if you're getting to Mogwai through more of a Radiohead direction the go with Mr. Beast. on the other hand if you're getting there from My Bloody Valentine then go with The Hawk is Howling.

either way it's really not hard to sample their stuff on youtube.

Mr. Beast is verrrryyyyy lukewarm -- it won't give you any idea how Mogwai handle dynamics or anything more than pedestrian. I second Young Team as a starting point; it's climactic, serene, and cacophonous at times.

I love Mr. Beast, it rekindled my love of Mogwai which had dwindled after the previous couple.

I started with ten rapid and have been a fan ever since so that one worked for me. Young Team is also great but in a more typical sort-of-heavy post rock way. It's definitely not a bad place to start.

If you like it slow then listen to Come On Die Young which is my favorite album among the meandering, going-nowhere-fast post rock styles.

this is pretty much exactly why i said it as a crossing gap getting in from Radiohead. Glasgow Mega Snake does give you a glimpse of things that could be. the rest kind of just gets you halfway there

Hmm, thanks guys... I guess I'll probably get Young Team in a few days...

If it helps, I love music that have "epic" build ups and climaxes... (65DOS, Porcupine Tree, sleepmakeswaves, etc)

Ha, then trust me, this album gives you more than enough of those. There are 3-4 songs that avoid a dramatic volume shift, but most of them do (and are better for it).

I would categorize them in post-rock which they are labled as. I could also hear elements of shoegazing to. That being said there music is good. I've only listened to a few of there songs outside of there debut. Any other albums I should check out?

Definitely listen to these 3:

-'ten rapid (collected recordings 1996-1997)'

-'EP+2'

-'come on die young'

New Mogwai has leaked onto the interwebs. Don't know what this forum's stance is on this kind of thing, so whatever you do, dont PM me looking for links or anything.

<.<

getting it now...

I hear it's better than their last effort.

it's on sub pop! and wow, hawk is howling was in 2008? I guess that reinforces how insignificant an effort it was for me personally.

The only Mogwai album I've listened to is Happy Songs For Happy People... maybe I'll get through Mogwai Young Team and the new one today.

I just recently started listening to Mogwai based on some recommendations I saw on this forum. I like so far...will continue to update with my thoughts.

Young Team is such a great album, and I don't even really like Post-Rock.

Fuck POSTROCK. If you like that album then at least listen to the music they made previous to Young Team as well.

Err what? :confused:

If it wasn't for post-rock groups like Slint and Tortoise Young Team wouldn't exist.

I can not comment on Mogwai in general as I've only heard Young Team, which to me, sounds like them two bands only with the intricacy and subtly removed and replaced with cheesy quite-loud dynamics.

The Slint and Tortoise influence is debatable but all I meant was don't worry about Mogwai being too 'post-rock' for your tastes. At least not their oldest stuff.

I've been listening to the new album (it leaked, if you were wondering) and i must say it's pretty bland... maybe it will grow on me, the last two did, but not a good first couple of listens

Not really debatable by any means. Mogwai's emphasis on bass and the way it carries the band more than anything else is almost a carbon copy of Tortoise's first few albums (not that I'm complaining about it, though). Slint's ugliness and the dystopian pictures that their music painted was very importance for Mogwai's loudest, most cathartic moments, such as the climaxes of "Mogwai Fear Satan", "Like Herod" and others (yeah, "MFS" is a happy song but the utter power it exudes is classic Slint for you). Not saying they sound the same and that Mogwai's work is simply a rehash, but their influences are quite obvious at this point.

Indeed, Mogwai has stated that they don't really sound like Tortoise, which is a fair claim to make on some grounds. But the bass-riffing on "Katrien" off of Young Team is so utterly Tortoise that you would probably mistake it for Tortoise if it weren't for the very different style of drumming. The influence is just too obvious to be called into question at any time. Obviously they've strayed away from it now, but their roots lie in a very close ballpark to Tortoise, and to a lesser extent, Slint.