Mogwai: Rave Tapes

Ron Hart on March 25, 2014

So what’s a band to do after scoring a zombie television series? If you are Mogwai, then you apparently find inspiration in the theory of transmogrification. The cool thing about Rave Tapes, recorded at the band’s own Castle of Doom Studios in Glasgow, is how much they seem to be relishing in the malleability of their sound, toying with an arsenal of seemingly analog synths on tracks like “Remurdered” and “Deesh,” utilizing audio from a fundamentalist Christian book-on-tape about backward masking throughout “Repelish” and locking into a groove sprung from the rib of King Crimson’s Lark’s Tongues In Aspic on “Master Card.” And then you get to “Blues Hour,” so beautifully sung by guitarist Stuart Braithwaite that you actually look forward to the next Mogwai ballad. Truly intoxicating stuff, these Rave Tapes.

Artist: Mogwai
Album: Rave Tapes
Label: Sub Pop