Huh - this is quickly turning out to be this year's surprise package yet. No I don't mean package, I mean album. A serious contender for the Album of the Year; and this is the year where we have seen many new releases by heavyweights like Radiohead, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, Tyler the Creator (just assume that he already is), just to name a few.
Irregardless of them being a product of an advertising agency (according to some).
REVIEWED: Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai
Seven years ago I came across an article about Blur and their seventh studio album, Think Tank, in the British music publication called Uncut. In the said article, the writer did made an interesting point about number seven, saying that the number holds a rather significant meaning to uh someone. And quite a significant milestone it was with that number since it turns out that the album was pretty poor, and added by the fact that they were in the cusp of a break-up or something with Graham Coxon leaving. In other words, number seven turns out to be not quite a lucky draw for the band because as how things stand at the moment, we have yet to hear anything new from the band again ever since. But then again, it's not all doom and gloom in the fabled land of number seven because Radiohead struck gold with In Rainbows, in 2007. So that must count as something.
2011's release Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will as you would have already guessed is Mogwai's seventh studio recording, and as how certain people would hold dear importance to that number, we figured it would be interesting to see if the album stacks up with the ever-so-mighty number. At first glance, the expectation towards this release (from us anyway) was pretty high since their last album, 2008's The Hawk is Howling is pretty special to us. As what we have said before, the album sounds as majestic as the hawk that graces the cover, and the overall final product is very solid and tight. We absolutely loved it.
With this new album, the band had managed to rope in one half of the producer for their debut, Paul Savage, to be at the helm for the recording of the new one; the other producer, Andy Miller, worked with them for their 2008 release. Not to say that it is a good thing anyway, and not to say that it is a bad thing as well but we'll make a point clear at this point in this entry: to avoid mild disappointment, maybe we should have not expected that much from a band that has a tendency to not actually make that much of a progress. Yes, after the majestic eagle has spread its wings and flew across the horizon, some idiot on the ground with a shotgun shot the bird down and quickly end the flight towards new territory. Perhaps what we're feeling actually is not disappointment but rather frustration after seeing the band delivering so much promise in the last album. Everything in this new album does not at all feel brand new - it feels as familiar, as recycled, as uninspired, and as tired as their other previous efforts. In fact, when we listened to the album for the very first time, we remembered clearly that there was no excitement on our faces - everything feels a bit too familiar, everything feels a bit too formulaic. So yes, they have added vocodered voice for "Mexican Grand Prix" and "George Square Thatcher Death Party", but they were hardly inspiring. In fact, if we're not mistaken the opening track from a certain album released in 2003 does include the use of vocoder; so it's hardly new at all.
Unlike the 2008 release which did pack quite a punch, this new one surprisingly feels very light and lacking gut. It's not the album that will stand up and look at you directly into the eye and orders you to pay attention to it, no; this album on a whole feels like it is more comfortable playing wallflower to any of its' potential owner. It won't scream at you, it won't beg at you, it won't even talk to you - it will just spend its' existence on one side, content with being constantly overlooked and forgotten. Remember Come On Die Young? Hardcore has all the characteristics of that album. Despite not sounding as dull as the former, it is just as instantaneously forgettable.
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will will be released on the 14th of February through Rock Action Records in the UK and Scotland, and on the 15th through Sub Pop in the US.
LINKED: Mogwai Discuss 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will'
Well obviously the Glaswegians are not talking with us but with Spinner on the subject of their to-be-released new album 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will'. We figure it's a nice teaser before we reveal our review of the album in its' full glory, soon - and see if we are happy, delighted, excited, or frustrated with it. In the meantime, head on over to the link provided above to read the full interview. Posted below is just a tiny excerpt...
Just weeks after sections of the press declare the death of rock, Mogwai return with 'Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.' Fighting talk or a happy coincidence?
An unhappy coincidence! We've always been at the back of the queue. We've never been cool. We're the most uncool band ever. But in terms of longevity we're cool. We've never avoided anything like that but it's quite easy not be cool when you're not very cool people. We didn't make that choice. The album title isn't fighting talk. We never attach any meaning to our album titles or our song titles. Sometimes we have the titles before the songs are even recorded. With this album we were really running out of time and someone told us this story about some drunk teenagers who couldn't get served in a corner shop in Glasgow and the guy just threw them out of the shop and one of the kids started throwing stones at the window and shouted out the album title.
Before we proceed with something else, let's just get the first business of the day done with, first - we are currently in the midst of listening to Mogwai's latest long player entitled Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will which is slated for a Valentine's Day release. Perfect really because that day is also when Kuala Lumpur will play host to the Deftones concert. Our initial impression about the album is that it is sort of like a continuation of their last album, The Hawk is Howling, sort of straddling very safely somewhere within playing it safe and being (calculative-ly) ambitious; so now that you know what to expect off of it. We will be coming up with a full review of the album next month - guaranteed.
Next, as we have mentioned in the previous paragraph (in case you missed it), Deftones will be playing live in KL on this coming February 14, ticketing details which can be obtained here. We are definitely going, since this comes hot on the heel of the release of the band's most rewarding release since White Pony, Diamond Eyes. The only downside to that is the terms and conditions that have been set by the organizers, stating STRICTLY NO PHOTOGRAPHY. That's a real let down there since the organizers for the Mogwai concert had no qualms about us snapping pictures all throughout their one hour plus set. (Look photo above. That was taken using a Sony digital camera) Our report from that show will definitely be full of words. Only.
Finally, the new semester is already in full swing so this blog might not be updated as frequent as we hoped it could. Even though this semester I'm only having 12 hours of class, but note preparation has so far not been anywhere near from smooth sailing. Couple that with the fact that this semester we have to cover grammar, reading comprehension, paragraph and essay writing, speaking and listening skills, all in a four hours a week class for 14 weeks - it's not terribly comfortable. There is hardly any breathing space I have to concur. (But thankfully there is still some space for me to do some listening) In the meantime, enjoy this leading single off Mogwai's seventh studio album called "Rano Pano".
LISTED: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009)
*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.
7. Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling (2008)
Perhaps putting a picture of a majestic-looking eagle on the album cover has paid off handsomely for Mogwai for this is the first time ever that this Scottish band sounded properly huge and purposefully dramatic in a record. When they first started out in 1995, followed by the release of their critically-acclaimed debut Young Team in 1997, the basic template for their song structure has pretty much remain unchanged ever since - lots of interweaving guitar interplay between two or three guitars, occasional outburst of distorted noise and tortured screaming feedback, (mostly) languid pace with a long drawn-out introduction part, and when they felt like it, some singing part thrown in as well for good measure. They are by all account a guitar band; meaning the focus of their songs is on the guitar. It's where they create the mesmerizing atmospherics and mood for their song.
Despite of the heaps of praises given by the media on their debut, I somehow have always felt that the album still greatly lacks in something that ultimately does not warrant its current status as a monumental record. For one, there is this repetition of leaving a vast expanse of nothingness in between all of the songs as if they're all being sucked out into vacuum. As a result, the whole record felt weak and somehow disjointed because there is nothing in between to relate all of the songs together to make it as one single and coherent package. And by repeating the same song structure of quiet-loud-louder over and over again is ultimately an exercise in futility because it doesn't serve any purpose in creating the supposed atmosphere of a cosmic post rock pomp and circumstance.
The band's second and third effort, disappointingly, is no better either with Come On Die Young being a thoroughly insipid and uninspiring fare, very rarely exciting the listener into what was supposed to be a showcase of a band with a stellar soundscape. 2001's Rock Action, though a still-born, whatnot with the band still clearly in the process of finding a solid ground, did warmed up the listener over the things to come with a more focused songwriting. It was to be in 2006 though where Mogwai finally found their true muse and is set to flex their muscle and show that when they are capable of being spectacular, then they are really earth-shattering spectacular. They are still the same calculative, slow-building, guitar-focused band that fans used to know back in 1997 but once they broke out the whip (in "Glasgow Mega-Snake"), then all Hell breaks lose: they have finally learned how to kick someone in the bottom.
Then two years later, the self-realization hits home for good and the result is The Hawk is Howling. It is almost indicative and suggestive of the cover art - this is the album where this band of little-known space explorer is finally ready to spread their wings and soar high, as majestic as the handsome eagle fronting the record. They are no longer found circling the same drain, not able to branch out for their own good. They are no longer that guitar-centered, guitar-driven band obsessed with structures while abandoning the much more important and much more rewarding aspect of atmosphere. You can hear it almost every time in every track that the band is about to explode in a wall of white noise, thanking their hordes of rabid listeners who have been listening to them very patiently all this while, waiting when would be the moment when they are finally ready to break out of the choking habit of recycling structure. While again, the whole pace to the album is still painfully slow when the previous album was a lot quicker, you can't fault them for being themselves. They might be snobs for all that I care - but very rarely that a snob can create mesmerizing pieces of rock music and be interesting.
