Music Banter - Mogwai

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- - Mogwai (https://www.musicbanter.com/avant-garde-experimental/18426-mogwai.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dac (Post 987986)

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

Hrm, was gonna seek out a leaked download but now I'm not too sure if I'll bother... I heard some stuff off it on an indie radio station out here and I remember thinking it wasn't very interesting at all.

There were like two or three really good tracks, and then a whole lot of filler.

I did REALLY enjoy this song:

Quote:

Originally Posted by clutnuckle (Post 988006)

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.

Those are valid comparisons but what about the fact that Mogwai was making their loudest, most cathartic music within a couple of years of Spiderland? Was that album even very well-known in Scotland at the time? It wasn't here in the US where Slint lived. Most people I knew at the time didn't even seem to notice them until the Kids soundtrack. I could be wrong but I have a hard time giving Slint that much credit for Mogwai's music.

And Tortoise? I just don't hear such an obvious influence. However, again, if there is one it would have to have occurred really quickly as Mogwai were recording Young Team at almost the exact same time that Tortoise made Millions Now Living.... Similar basslines isn't enough for me to recognize Tortoise as an obvious influence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Engine (Post 988249)

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for Slint. But Tortoise's actual style of using basslines as the music's focal point, to express the key aspects of each song, is a definitive impact on Mogwai's sound. It's not 'similar basslines', it's the exact same aesthetic. I never said the basslines sound the same, but in both Mogwai and Tortoise the bass represented a lot more than in other acts. It'd be only natural for Mogwai to pick up something off of other acts.

Tortoise's first album (1994) is where you hear the similarity at its peak, anyhow, far before Young Team was released. Also, Mogwai have mentioned Tortoise in various reviews, showing that they have had knowledge of their existence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clutnuckle (Post 988280)

Well at least we can see it's debatable, eh?
Really though, the more I think about, you are probably more correct. I have to grant you back the benefit of doubt for Slint because for all I know, they were Mogwai's favorite band before they even picked up instruments. I don't really know much about Mogwai, biographically speaking.

And as for Tortoise, I do happen to remember that Mogwai were introduced to me by someone who described Young Team as 'Tortoise but heavier'. So, while I think Tortoise's bassist, Doug McCombs, is highly influential all over the indie-sphere, I'm sure he did indeed influence Mogwai.

For me, all of these bands came in kind of a lump so I have always thought of all three (Slint, Tortoise, Mogwai) as just parts of a general movement. Your historiography is probably more sound than mine.