Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batcat!, 9 Sep 2008
Mogwai return , and as a taster for their forthcoming long player "The Hawk Is Howling here is a three track E.P. which in three tracks manages to encapsulate why this band , when they are on form , are so essential.
Main track "Batcat" is a five minute plus thunderous deluge of dense power chords that could have wandered of the God Machines magnificent 1993 album Scenes from a 2nd Storey or some wondrous organic heavy metal album that I've yet to discover. It's both massively compact yet alive with empathy and raw emotions. It sounds like it could crush asteroids then give the world a hug while the shattered fragments deluge the atmosphere. It moves you on two levels .Batcat gives you the powerful visceral thrill of truly passionate rock music while on some primal level moving you like a particularly compelling piece of classical music. Some achievement. The video is like The Railway Children meets The Village [2004] directed by David Lynch .
By way of true contrast comes the wonderfully titled "Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend " a glistening veil of vibrant electronic music over which plangent guitar arpeggiations twinkle like tin foil stars while skittish percussion underpins it all . Once again this band take you completely by surprise . Just when you expect some post punk style shambolic swish through the gutter they give you this lambent beauty.
"Devil Rides" is a more considered slow jam of bramble like chords and chiming xylophone notes over which the great Roky Erikson of the 13th Floor Elevators provides a coarse but empathetic towering vocal. Really this is like the great days of the late 80,s /early 90,s when bands regularly used to release E.P.,s stuffed with quality tracks. ( , Curve ,Kitchens of Distinction , Moose, Ride, My Bloody Valentine) Batcat is in one way a throwback but is also eerily of this time. But most of all it's quite superb. Its so good it will drive you batty .
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3 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
...noise for people scared of noise..., 6 Sep 2008
Mogwai. Loud music for people who're afraid of proper loud music. Those of who have endured the cacophony of a Cannibal Corpse gig will point and laugh at the indie shysters who bang on about the Mogwai sonic assault. We have to point and laugh, because our hearing is shot to pieces and we can't mock them mercilessly, as they so richly deserve
But as indie bands go, Mogwai have usually been one of the better ones, as this pleasant instrumental sortie confirms. It's not as mad, bad and dangerous to know as it thinks it is, but if I had to choose between this and a lifetime of mewling Radiohead soundalikes, I'd be shouting "Mogwai, Mogwai, Mogwai" from the rooftops.
There is a new album in the offing called "The Hawk Is Howling", which is doubtless a album of Hawkwind covers done in instrumental stylee, and I salute them for that. If you buy the proper "Batcap EP", you'll also get the splendidly title 'Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police and Loses His Slut Girlfriend' and 'Devil Rides', the latter featuring the utterly batty Roky Erikson from the 13th Floor Elevators.
I urge all indie kids to buy this immediately and help bring about the demise of Embrace.
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0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
On fire!, 29 Sep 2008
I genuinely believe that the music Mogwai are creating right now amongst the best they have ever done.The title track,taken from the phenomenal album The Hawk Is Howling is a great example of heavy-Mogwai,on a par with 'Mogwai Fear Satan' or 'Glasgow Mega-Snake'.Second track Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend (No-one does titles like Mogwai!)is on the opposite end of the Mogwai sound,and has a much less linear structure than Batcat.It's just as good though.And,last but not least,comes Devil Rides,featuring Roky Erikson (most well known for the Thirteenth Floor Elevators' You're Gonna Miss Me).While some may have been hoping for some kind of unholy alliance between My Bloody Valentine and Red Temple Prayer,what we actually get is a hushed ballad (plus xylophone!) that deserves to be heard,and makes this EP truly essential.
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