Albums by this artist

Mogwai EP (1999)

Young Team (1997)

Mogwai

Mogwai EP

---

» MARK DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Mogwai Mogwai EP Matador, 1999 RiYL: Slint, Ganger, Rodan, Codeine

Fresh off a pretty amazing tour and a six-month-old album that my ears are still hearing new things on, Glasgow's Mogwai return with an icy EP that will probably confuse its oldest fans even further. 'Gwai gained notoriety for taking the angular, noisy instrumentals of American indie legends Slint to the logical extreme, with lengthy, feedback squeal-laden numbers like "Mogwai Fear Satan" and "Like Herod" securing their reputation. Mogwai EP, however, features nary a distortion pedal -- and on one song, a brass band.

"Stanley Kubrick," the band's tribute to the late director, and the beautiful "Christmas Song" (a Mogwai original, not the chestnuts-roasting-on-the-open-fire one), start the recording off in typically hypnotic but uncharacteristically concise fashion. "Burn Girl Prom Queen," featuring the Cowdenbeath Brass Band, sounds a great deal like the later work of revisionist classicists Gastr Del Sol, particularly in its oscillating fadeout. The closing "Rage: Man" is so quiet as to nearly drift away, it's pretty enough, but it would have been nice if Mogwai had dropped in just a little bit of guitar noise at one point or another.

Throughout, the increased presence of Barry Burns, who joined the band around the time of second album Come On Die Young, is definitely felt: Mogwai EP is the most synthesizer-heavy Mogwai release yet. The additional instruments don't really hurt as such, but by taking away the opportunity for the guitars to roar, they're leaving behind the thing that made Mogwai great in the first place.

The CD version of Mogwai EP includes two fantastic bonus tracks, "Small Children In The Background" and "Rollerball," which originally appeared on the UK-only Fuck The Curfew EP.

MARK DONOHUE | Known to some as "Western Homes," Mark is a graduate of UC Berkeley, a starving musician, and a Cubs fan. Be afraid. Very afraid.