Oh look everyone, Mogwai just recorded and released one of the best things they've ever done. And it doesn't sound like a nuclear apocalypse either.
Feedback intro leading to Hooky-esque bass, rolling drums, euphoric guitars and gentle singing, everything rising steadily and insistently to a crescendo. Seems to fit in with these end days of summer, the closing in of the nights, the fading sunshine and Autumn's chilly fingers poking at you.
This song, from 2008's Hawk Is Howling, is a masterpiece of flowing, ecstatic, instrumental rock, which could work equally well on a dancefloor. One of my favourite pieces of music from the last decade.
The Sun Smells Too Loud
The picture shows a statue of Friedrich Engels, imported from Ukraine and placed outside the Manchester's new arts centre Home, in Tony Wilson Place. Engels lived in the city in the middle of the 19th century and wrote The Condition Of The Working Class In England based on his observations and research here. Engels had been sent to Manchester by his father, to live in Weaste, Salford, to work at the family firm. It was supposed to 'cure' him of his radical views. It had the opposite effect. Karl Marx visited him several times during his almost thirty year stay. The rest, as they often say, is history.
The Sun Smells To Loud is one of their many highlights for me too. Listening to the new album as I type picked it up this morning when heading for the train back from yesterday's wedding in Glasgow. Helping to erase the memory of dancing to bad Scottish Rave like QTex and TTF last night. I am not proud of myself!
ReplyDeleteBad Scottish rave sounds like a proper night out Drew.
ReplyDeleteSA - Great that you pick out the Hooky-esque bass. I've always thought that Mogwai owe a lot to the more drone-y side of New Order. Sure they took that cue and certainly ran with it all the way to Post Rock, but there is the bones of New Order in so much of their music.
ReplyDeleteOne of THE songs of the year as far as I'm concerned - when it was first played to me, I refused to believe it was Mogwai.
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