Topic: Mogwai (Read 21746 times)

Kanno · « **on:** 10 May 2005, 05:44 »

So.. I figured I'd give this indie rock a try. I went out and bought Mogwai's Come On Die Young and now I have questions:

Is this what all of indie rock sounds like? It's like... drone rock. Every song is played at such a slow tempo. I don't mean to bash the music, I understand that liking music is merely an opinion, but I don't get why people have recommended this band to me. I was looking forward to amazing build-ups and melodies, and I got... elevator music.

I guess this came off as more of a rant then it should have.
Can anyone point me towards a different indie rock band I should check out first before giving up? I'd never thought I'd say this, but I guess I'm looking for something a little more "pop-like".

EDIT: I really dig newer singer-songwriter type stuffs.. ala Ben Folds and Ben Kweller. Or anybody named Ben.

Inlander · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 May 2005, 06:02 »

Nothin' wrong with pop. Try the Shins if it's interesting melodies you're after.

blindsuperhero · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 May 2005, 06:39 »

Belle and Sebastian

zekterellium · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 May 2005, 10:51 »

awww, mogwai are great. this makes me a sad zekterellium.

nickyandthefuture · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 May 2005, 10:58 »

I tried a mango and didn't like it. Is all food terrible?

Anyway,
Darren Hanlon
James William Hindle
Iron and Wine

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 May 2005, 11:18 »

Dude, Mogwai are totally post-rock, not indie-rock. You have to get these annoying, arbitrary labels right, or you'll never be cool.
Peace out.

ASturge · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 May 2005, 11:20 »

If you want the Indie Rock try some 'Stars'

Schmung · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 May 2005, 11:46 »

oh, fuck genres, I never know whats what anyway. Blur, Bush, Kasabian, Sonic Youth and a zillion other bands. Find a sound you like and start there. Audioscrobbler and the like are rather good ways of finding bands you'd probably like and once in a while randomly grabbing something you've heard other people rave about will expand your horizons. Thus endeth the lesson.

Mogwai are awesome though.

Kanno · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 May 2005, 12:01 »

Quote from: MilkmanDan

Dude, Mogwai are totally post-rock, not indie-rock. You have to get these annoying, arbitrary labels right, or you'll never be cool.
Peace out.

Damnit... It totally slipped my mind that I don't even need to like the music, I just need to know obscure band names and have the right clothes so I can prove that I am the mostest indyest rawker around! YESH!

Kanno · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 May 2005, 12:11 »

I've decided that I'm going to start a post-prog-nu-neo-wave-rock-funk-fusion-sludge-acid-psychadelic-band. We're going to play all Beatles covers.

Other than that, I forgot to mention that I also bought Modest Mouse's Moon and Antarctica. That was one hell of an album, kind of a weird ride. I think I'm gonna grab the arcade fire cd next.

BehringerBoy · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 May 2005, 12:21 »

man, i never got what indie is, other than indiependant. if you can call mogwai, modest mouse, sonic youth, american analog set, ambulance ltd and the blood brothers indie, then its not a real genre since those bands have very little in common...

Kanno · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 May 2005, 12:42 »

Yeah, I was under the impression that indie rock had a certain sound. I suppose it just means they are released on independent labels. Whatever... I like music.

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 May 2005, 13:09 »

Quote from: Kanno

Damnit... It totally slipped my mind that I don't even need to like the music, I just need to know obscure band names and have the right clothes so I can prove that I am the mostest indyest rawker around! YESH!

That's better. Now you are on the right path. For extra cool, make up obscure labels as well, that's always good.

rynne · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 May 2005, 13:48 »

Have you listened to any Spoon? It's probably more along the lines of what you're looking for.

Revenge_Therapist · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 May 2005, 15:13 »

First my recomendation for "Rock' stuff both bands are great
http://www.nothingnice.com/index.php?pageNum_Recordset2=40&totalRows_Recordset2=249
Second off as to the label indie
http://www.nothingnice.com/index.php?pageNum_Recordset2=184&totalRows_Recordset2=249[/url]

Johnny C · « **Reply #15 on:** 10 May 2005, 16:13 »

Dongs?

I mean, uh, try The Flaming Lips. Or The New Pornographers (or one of their members' various solo albums). Or, oh hell, just go take a gander at the "What I'm Listening To Now" thread.

Radiowar · « **Reply #16 on:** 10 May 2005, 19:42 »

It can't be all like Mogwai because Indie artists can span pretty much any genre. Too bad you don't like Come On Die Young. It's my favorite Mogwai album.

OtterErotic · « **Reply #17 on:** 10 May 2005, 19:44 »

I much prefer Young Team and the My Father, My King EP. But yeah, Mogwai is definitely a weird place to start with "indie rock."

Kai · « **Reply #18 on:** 10 May 2005, 19:45 »

Quote from: Kanno

So.. I figured I'd give this indie rock a try.

There's your first mistake. Go pick up this instead:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007LLP06/qid=1115779464/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/002-0096531-7055228?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

It's more original and melodic than anything else suggested, and it's by the best band ever.

yipjumpmusic · « **Reply #19 on:** 10 May 2005, 19:57 »

Indie or not, I would not base one genre on one cd of one band...

OtterErotic · « **Reply #20 on:** 10 May 2005, 20:29 »

A quote from Varese and a Residents recommendation! Whoa-ho-ho!

Spike · « **Reply #21 on:** 10 May 2005, 21:32 »

I like Mogwai a lot. It just takes a certain kind of person/mood to listen to them.

I end up listening to them when I want to hear some music but I don't feel like getting all excited, it's a bit more relaxing.

Jolouie · « **Reply #22 on:** 10 May 2005, 21:34 »

I prefer Happy Music, For Happy People, which is an infinitely good album.

Kanno · « **Reply #23 on:** 10 May 2005, 23:23 »

Quote from: Spike

I like Mogwai a lot. It just takes a certain kind of person/mood to listen to them.

I end up listening to them when I want to hear some music but I don't feel like getting all excited, it's a bit more relaxing.

Yeah, I decided that if I ever go the way of slow, painful suicide, I know exactly which album I would reach for.

yipjumpmusic · « **Reply #24 on:** 10 May 2005, 23:28 »

Hmph.

Kanno · « **Reply #25 on:** 10 May 2005, 23:40 »

Quote from: yipjumpmusic

Hmph.

I dunno.. am I wrong? Not that the Mogwai would induce the pain, mind you. I just listen to music and hear moods and emotion, and the mood and emotion I get from Come On Die Young is slow suicide.

yipjumpmusic · « **Reply #26 on:** 10 May 2005, 23:48 »

eh *shrugs* everything is subjective. I just think people who only listen to happy music or only listen to sad music are missing out besides the fact that much so called happy or sad music is not purely that but a mix. Not that I think you are one of these people but it just reminds me of this...if you were obviously this or completely out of line I would have followed up with some longer rant

thehoopiestfrood · « **Reply #27 on:** 11 May 2005, 07:57 »

Mogwai are so great I almost cried when I saw them live.

However the term "indie rock" has many and wide-ranging definitions. Just find something you like and go with it.

muffy · « **Reply #28 on:** 11 May 2005, 08:23 »

Mogwai Fear Satan was one of the first songs I learned to play on bass, as (by my mate's reckoning, anyway), the bass line's only one note. For 9 minutes.
I don't think I really progressed from that.

Mogwai are ok, but there are sooooo many better bands around like everyone says, I just can't think of any right now.

Tearon · « **Reply #29 on:** 11 May 2005, 09:02 »

I like Mogwai. They're great to listen to while driving.

I don't see why people have to subscribe to one style of music. I personaly see "indie", "punk", "emo", et cetera, as lifestyles and/or adjetives, not as music types.

Kanno · « **Reply #30 on:** 11 May 2005, 09:46 »

For the most part, I think I've figured out this whole genre thing:

indie: rock and roll
emo: rock and roll
post-rock: rock and roll

...

And I went and actually listened to a couple of tracks off of Young Team, and Mogwai can kick some serious ass when they up the tempo a little! I guess I just bought the wrong album.

I'm sure I'll come back to it in a month anyways and proclaim it as the best album in my collection.

blindsuperhero · « **Reply #31 on:** 11 May 2005, 10:01 »

That's just not true at all. Genres exist, although it's painfully cool to deny it.

dave86 · « **Reply #32 on:** 11 May 2005, 10:41 »

J'aime bien le Mogwai.
J'aime bien aussi l'Indie. Mais
Je n'aime pas le beouf.

A Haiku.

muffy · « **Reply #33 on:** 11 May 2005, 11:35 »

Oh no.

Please no.

Not again.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #34 on:** 11 May 2005, 11:43 »

@James: Take a motherfucking chill pill. You have to, like, diss Skyclad to my face to make me that angry.

I downloaded some of that Mogwai stuffs.

*yawns*

Also, all the lyrics sheets say they're instrumentals when there is clearly some guy singing, very, very quietly. That's cheating.

blindsuperhero · « **Reply #35 on:** 11 May 2005, 11:51 »

I think he was joking.

A full in-depth analysis of "Indie Rock" is on its way as soon as I can bring myself to listen to any of it.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #36 on:** 11 May 2005, 13:32 »

I have this horrible mental image.

Fred Durst is in a car and the only thing he will say is 'Keep Trollin' Trollin' Trollin' over and over again until I go insane.

Revenge_Therapist · « **Reply #37 on:** 11 May 2005, 16:17 »

A good alternative to Mogwai on the insturmental front is Mono. Great Japaneese stuff, totally off the wall.

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #38 on:** 12 May 2005, 00:56 »

SECOND'D
Mono are awesome. Also, Explosion in the Sky.

Kanno · « **Reply #39 on:** 12 May 2005, 03:47 »

Rock instrumentals are pointless.
No, seriously. It's like the joke without the punchline.

Unless you're Dream Theatre.

Robbo · « **Reply #40 on:** 12 May 2005, 05:21 »

Dream Theater...and how are they pointless? Words aren't even part of music. Like they say "Lyrics, just wasted time between solos"

Kanno · « **Reply #41 on:** 12 May 2005, 05:26 »

Lyrics are an extremely important part of music. Try to imagine John Lennon's "Imagine" as an instrumental, it would be great elevator music, but that's about it.

There's just so many bad songwriters out there nowadays that they seem like "wasted time between solos".

McTaggart · « **Reply #42 on:** 12 May 2005, 05:31 »

Dude, listen to Air's Moon Safari album. You don't need lyrics.

I know there are some tracks with vocals, it's just that the tracks without are awesome too. Better even.

Kanno · « **Reply #43 on:** 12 May 2005, 05:40 »

Alright, maybe I was wrong in saying that rock instrumentals are pointless. Some people can do them well and still make great music. Some.

But the other thing I'm getting at is that you can convey more in music with lyrics than you can without. Music can convey all types of emotion, for instance, you can make a guitar sound like love, sadness, hate, violence, a sunny day... whatever.

But you can't make a guitar convey that "you like grilled cheese sandwiches".

I just think that music with lyrics can reach a higher point of greatness than an instrumental piece, since you can get all the splendor of the original instrumental piece, plus (if you have talent) have a poetic message which can make it even better!

Or you could sit and tell me that John Cage's 4:33 was the best song ever.

Robbo · « **Reply #44 on:** 12 May 2005, 06:13 »

Bad songwriters...you mean writing bad words or writing bad music? And it's what you look for in the music. If I'm listening to Neo-Classical Shred (note the very niche example) stuff, I dont care if the guy is singing about dragons or his wedding, I want the solos.

I listen to planty of bands with great lyrics...but I'm not overly bothered, half of those bands come from genres where the vox are an insturment anyway.

Next you'll say Classical or Ambient pieces are piontless. Music is about the music. Take the lyrics away and you still have music. Take the music away and all you have is words.

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #45 on:** 12 May 2005, 06:23 »

99% of lyrics suck. I can't count the number of times I've heard a perfectly good song ruined by some crap singing. With very few exceptions (ignoring rapping in Hip-Hop / short samples) I can't stand non-instrumental music. Radiohead, The Eels, Portishead, John Butler, At the drive-in. That's about it.
I'm not a fan of singers.

Kanno · « **Reply #46 on:** 12 May 2005, 06:32 »

Quote from: Robbo

Bad songwriters...you mean writing bad words or writing bad music?

Bad words. Like MilkmanDan said, 99% of lyrics suck.

Quote from: Robbo

If I'm listening to Neo-Classical Shred (note the very niche example) stuff, I dont care if the guy is singing about dragons or his wedding, I want the solos.

Yeah, ok, but what if the guy was singing about something so powerful that it changed your life? That would make the song better.

Quote from: Robbo

Take the music away and all you have is words.

Yeah, and you have poetry. Is poetry worse than music? It's just a different medium of art, you can still accomplish the same things with it.

Robbo · « **Reply #47 on:** 12 May 2005, 06:37 »

Singing about something powerful it changed my life? If you can have your life changed by a song, go you or something. But music isnt going to change my life and I wouldn't like myself if it did. Listening to Goregrind hasn't made me vegan. Listening to NS Black Metal hasn't made me a Neo-Nazi. It certainly wouldn't make the music better to me.

Poetry yes...but most of it would be complete shite. As it wouldn't written to be poetry. Some bands do write poetry for lyrics but not many.

Druid · « **Reply #48 on:** 12 May 2005, 06:58 »

Adding vocals to music were just about getting people's attention. It's an exploitation of an odd quirk where humans automatically focus on the human voice. It doesn't matter what it's saying we will focus on it.

The way I look at music from an painter's pespective. The instuments provide color while the lyrics provide the shapes. That said I still look at lyrics as something abstract that should be open to interpretation.

I think where to start depends on a person's background. I liked Mogwai the first time I heard them, but they fit into what I already liked before hand.

Robbo · « **Reply #49 on:** 12 May 2005, 07:08 »

I have mixed views on the whole "open to interpretation"...some songs are, because they're about just random or abstract things. But some aren't. Mostly when the artist has stated what they mean, and if they have, that's what the words mean, not whatever you might want to think.

And sometimes, that song about killing dragons is just about killing dragons. No struggle against life and power or anything, just some DnD nerds singing about dragonslaying.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Mogwai (Read 21746 times)

Kanno

blindsuperhero

zekterellium

MilkmanDan

ASturge

Schmung

Kanno

Kanno

BehringerBoy

Kanno

MilkmanDan

Revenge_Therapist

OtterErotic

yipjumpmusic

OtterErotic

Jolouie

Kanno

yipjumpmusic

Kanno

yipjumpmusic

thehoopiestfrood

Tearon

Kanno

blindsuperhero

dave86

blindsuperhero

Revenge_Therapist

MilkmanDan

Kanno

Robbo

Kanno

Kanno

Robbo

MilkmanDan

Kanno

Robbo

Druid

Robbo