Sundaze 1701

Hello, 2017 it's hard to imagine we'll loose more big names in the musicscene as last year, it could spell the end for the Daesh too certainly in Iraq and Syria, something to consider as we drift into the new year, a year where Europeans feel uncertain, in contrast to those in brash America we'll see how far it goes, meanwhile the Chinese have made a goodwill move by prohibiting the trade in ivory, smart move by them after all isn't the elefant the logo of the Republicans.....


Today's artists are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects. The band were for several years signed to renowned Glasgow indie label Chemikal Underground, and now use their own label Rock Action Records in the UK, and Sub Pop in North America. The band were frequently championed by John Peel from their early days......N'Joy

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The cosmic post-rock band Mogwai was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist Dominic Aitchison, and drummer Martin Bulloch, longtime friends with the goal of creating "serious guitar music." Toward that end, they added another guitarist, John Cummings, before debuting in March 1996 with the single "Tuner," a rarity in the Mogwai discography for its prominent vocals; the follow-up, a split single with Dweeb titled "Angels vs. Aliens," landed in the Top Ten on the British indie charts. Following appearances on a series of compilations, Mogwai returned later in the year with the 7" "Summer," and after another early 1997 single, "New Paths to Helicon," they issued Ten Rapid, a collection of their earliest material.

Around the time that Mogwai recorded the superb 1997 EP 4 Satin, former Teenage Fanclub and Telstar Ponies member Brendan O'Hare joined the lineup in time for the recording of Mogwai's debut studio LP, Mogwai Young Team. He exited a short time later -- returning to his primary projects Macrocosmica and Fiend -- to be replaced by Barry Burns. Mogwai next issued 1998's Kicking a Dead Pig, a two-disc remix collection; the No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP appeared a few months later. In 1999, they released Come on Die Young. Rock Action arrived in early 2001. Late that year, Mogwai released the My Father, My King EP; two years later, they issued the ironically titled Happy Songs for Happy People. Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2004 arrived early in 2005.

Mr. Beast, which was released in 2006, found the band going in a softer, more reflective direction. Late that year, the band's collaboration with Clint Mansell on the soundtrack to The Fountain arrived; Mogwai also crafted the score for Douglas Gordon's Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which was released in the U.K. in 2006 and in the U.S. the following spring. The Batcat EP, which featured a collaboration with garage-psych legend Roky Erickson, arrived in late summer 2008, heralding the release of The Hawk Is Howling -- which reunited the band with producer Andy Miller for the first time in a decade -- that fall. In 2010, Mogwai released their first live album, Special Moves, as a package with the Vincent Moon-directed concert film Burning.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will For 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, the band reunited with Young Team producer Paul Savage for a more streamlined set of songs. Later that year, they followed up with an EP of unreleased material from the Hardcore sessions, Earth Division, released on Sub Pop. Late in 2012, the band issued A Wrenched Virile Lore, a collection of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will remixes. Early the following year, the first taste of their score to the French zombie TV series Les Revenants (which was based on the 2004 film of the same name) arrived as a four-song EP; in February 2013, the full-length album appeared.

Mogwai filled the rest of the year with recording their eighth proper album, Rave Tapes, at their Castle of Doom studio, live performances of their Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait score in Glasgow, Manchester, and London, and other live performances. Rave Tapes, which boasted a more streamlined and electronic direction than Mogwai's recent albums, was released in early 2014. Late that year, the band issued the Music Industry 3. Fitness Industry 1 EP, a collection of Rave Tapes remixes as well as new songs.

Cummings left the band in 2015 to work on his own solo projects. Mogwai's first release after his departure was 2016's Atomic, a collection of reworked tracks from their music for Mark Cousins' BBC 4 documentary Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise. They returned later that year with a number of compositions on the collaborative soundtrack for Fisher Stevens and Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary about the impact of climate change, Before the Flood.

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Ten Rapid compiles the bulk of the singles Mogwai released between 1995 and 1997, but the tone of the music is so consistent, it could have all come from the same session. Like a post-rock band, Mogwai is about subtle, shifting sonics and repetition, but they are hardly as precious or cerebral as any post-rock group. Each of their songs sounds as if it goes around in a circle, surrounding itself in interlocking, mathematical patterns. While there are waves of feedback washing over the album, the music itself sounds like it's in the distance. Their habit of burying vocals (which aren't featured that often in the first place) also keeps Mogwai from reach, and nothing on Ten Rapid is immediately engaging, even though it is intriguing. With repeated listens, the album reveals its hidden layers, and the music becomes hypnotic in its gradual, deliberate pace and interwoven guitars.

Mogwai - Ten Rapid  (flac  168mb)

01 Summer 4:26
02 Helicon 2 2:38
03 Angels Versus Aliens 5:50
04 I Am Not Batman 3:31
05 Tuner 2:58
06 Ithica 27-9 2:58
07 A Place For Parks 2:14
08 Helicon 1 6:00
09 End 2:43

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Like Ten Rapid but with a more awkward name, Mogwai [EP+6] collects some of the experimental rock titans' singles and EPs with such a natural feel that it almost seems like it was designed as an album. In this case, 1997's 4 Satin EP is joined with 1999's self-titled EP and "Xmas Steps," the single version of Come on Die Young's track. The 13-and-a-half-minute "Stereodee" is just as compelling an epic as any of the tracks that wound up on either of those albums, showcasing the band's masterful way with ebbing, flowing, letting a song explode, and pulling it back together again. "Xmas Steps" -- which is a minute longer than the album version of the song -- also shows how expertly Mogwai can play with time and dynamics as they scale a mountain of sound that turns out to be a volcano when they get to the top. This pair of tracks makes up the heart of Mogwai [EP+6], but "Stanley Kubrick"'s limpid pedal steel and "Burn Girl Prom Queen" round out its melancholy soul. These tracks surrounding the Young Team/Come on Die Young era show that Mogwai distribute their wealth pretty equally among their long and short-form releases, and make this collection necessary for any fan who doesn't own these songs already.

Mogwai - EP+6  (flac  395mb)

01 Superheroes Of BMX 8:05
02 Now You're Taken 7:00
03 Stereodee 13:39
04 Xmas Steps 11:14
05 Rollerball 3:47
06 Small Children In The Background 6:51
07 Stanley Kubrick 4:19
08 Christmas Song 3:26
09 Burn Girl Prom Queen 8:33
10 Rage Man 5:05

Mogwai - EP+6    (ogg 149mb)

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Sripping away much of the noodling and noise of their earlier work in favor of tighter structures, more immediate melodies, and vocals, on Rock Action Mogwai recaptures the excitement that surrounded their first releases. Like so many groups stuck with the post-rock tag, Mogwai needed a way to expand beyond the term without changing their sound completely, and aided by guests like producer Dave Fridmann and Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys, they've found it. Rock Action incorporates bristling distortion, propulsive drums, and electronic textures similar to Tortoise's Standards -- particularly on the opening track "Sine Wave" -- but the album's most remarkable moments revisit and reinvent more traditional sounds. Buoyed by lush string arrangements and Fridmann's detailed, warm production, the brooding ballads "Take Me Somewhere Nice" and "Dial: Revenge" couldn't be further from "rock action," but they display the album's refreshing restraint and immediacy. In particular, "Dial: Revenge" -- so named because "dial" is the Welsh word for "revenge" -- benefits from Rhys' emotive yet cryptic vocals in his mother tongue, but the general emphasis on vocals adds to the album's organic, emotive feel. Nowhere is this more evident than the nine-minute epic "2 Rights Make One Wrong": With its lush layers of brass, strings, banjo, guitars, and vocals, it sounds like the rock-oriented cousin of Jim O'Rourke's pocket symphonies. Meanwhile, "You Don't Know Jesus" uses its eight-minute length to reaffirm that the group is still at the top of its game when it comes to guitar-driven catharsis. "Secret Pint" sends the album out on a serene note, proving that in the proper hands, the quietest ballad is just as commanding as the loudest rock action; Rock Action shows that Mogwai have mastered both styles.

Mogwai - Rock Action  (flac  306mb)

01 Sine Wave 4:55
02 Take Me Somewhere Nice 6:57
03 O I Sleep 0:55
04 Dial: Revenge 3:28
05 You Don't Know Jesus 8:02
06 Robot Chant 1:03
07 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong 9:31
08 Secret Pint 3:37

Mogwai - Rock Action   (ogg  114mb)

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It doesn't get much weirder than seeing indie rock darlings Mogwai and Magoo do a split EP of classic Black Sabbath songs, but it really does exist. It seems as though both bands just wanted to rock out, and that's exactly what they do with these metal anthems. Magoo is up to bat first and takes on "Black Sabbath," one of the best numbers in Sabbath's catalogue. Magoo actually covers the song faithfully, but the outer space vocals and lo-fi production make it a very interesting take. Mogwai also plays it pretty straight, although their cover of the marijuana anthem "Sweet Leaf" seems even murkier and drug induced than the original. The sticker on the disc is intriguing enough, calling it a "companion to their recent Rock Action album" and "two parts serenity and one part death metal." My Father My King is a single track of the same name that lasts over 20 minutes. The meat is somewhat similar to the band Earth's sludgy, monotone feedback or Caspar Brötzmann Massaker sans singing, with a nicely noisy production job from a man accustomed to such things, Steve Albini, bookended with relative tranquility. Call it mood music for mood swings and unlike anything the Scottish troupe has endeavored, but it still retains the experimental, arty flair Mogwai is identified with.

Mogwai - 4 EP's  (flac  388mb)

Do The Rock Boogaloo
01 Magoo - Black Sabbath 5:50
02 Mogwai - Sweet Leaf 5:55
Travels In Constants
03 Untitled 6:07
04 Quiet Stereo Dee 4:06
05 Arundel 2:59
My Father My King.
06 My Father My King 20:12
UK Tour EP
07 Close Encounters 3:57
08 Drum Machine 3:31
09 D To E 6:06
10 You Don't Know Jesus (Live) 6:14
11 Helicon (Live) 7:53

Mogwai - 4 EP's    (ogg  155mb)

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Can't get enough of these last century Mogwai EP's  have another one, it's New Years day after all. Four versions of "Mogwai Fear Satan," the closing track from the band's 1997 release, Young Team, are offered up here from the likes of Surgeon and My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, while the first and best remix was actually prepared by the band itself. Drenched in echo and high-contrast flute melodies, this track features the group's familiar and quite satisfying undulating half-crescendos. Unfortunately, the remaining treatments amount to three flavors of white noise, for only the most extreme of art rock lovers to contemplate. The overall abrasiveness of Mogwai Fear Satan Remixes is probably too much for casual Mogwai fans. For the collectors and fanatics...

Mogwai - Fear Satan Remixes  (flac  262mb)

01 Fear Satan (Mogwai Remix) 9:50
02 Fear Satan (µ-Ziq Remix) 7:21
03 Fear Satan (Surgeon Remix) 6:26
04 Fear Satan (My Bloody Valentine Remix) 16:12


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