I first heard Mogwai when I went to see them play upstairs in The Riverside in Newcastle, way back in January ‘98. The NME had been calling them the bastard sons of the Velvet Underground, so myself and my then girlfriend wandered in to see what the fuss was about. Thanks to the magic of setlist.fm, I now know that they opened with New Paths to Helicon pt.1 and followed it with Christmas Steps, so is it any wonder I instantly fell in love with them?
But like all good things, it seemed not to last.
By 2003, I’d long given up on post rock, and I’d been clean since a Godspeed gig bored the love of the genre out of me, and Rock Action (the album) had left me cold. I’d walked away from Mogwai and had no intention of ever looking back. But for some reason, I’d started playing CODY for my then girlfriend and she was getting into it. I saw that Mogwai were doing a small, pre album, Dublin gig and we decided to check it out. 90 minutes of one of the best gigs of my life later and I was back on the Mogwai train. I mean, just fucking look that this setlist!
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/mogwai/2003/the-village-dublin-ireland-13d0ed7d.html
As album openers go, Hunted by a Freak is one of the best. Its harmonising Vocoder adds so much texture as the song builds, and gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. It’s something the band does a few times on this album, but here it’s just perfect. (The video for the song is very good, if upsetting). But unlike a lot of post rock bands, Mogwai aren’t one note. There’s a lot of variation here, and the bass going for a walk during Killing All the Flies is one of my favourite things Mogwai has ever done. It’s just so good. The absolutely beautiful Disintegration era guitar sound on Kids will be Skeletons makes for one of Mogwai’s most beautiful, plaintive songs.
Happy Music may not have the explosive guitar attack of Like Herod or Mogwai Fear Satan but the doomy majesty of Ratts of the Capitol shows that Mogwai can throw down riffs with the biggest metal bands and easily hold their own. It’s a glorious wall of guitar noise and feels like being bludgeoned in the best way, and can lead to headbanging and air guitar very easily if you’re not paying attention.
The album is based on the idea of the wave that never breaks and the last two songs kind of blend into one. The piano lead into I Know What You Are But What Am I? brings a mournful feeling before Stop Coming to my House brings us out of the album with a gentle swirl of piano and guitars. It seems to build for a huge crescendo but instead of crushing the listener, it just fades out. Normally, I hate a fade out on an album, but this works for me, a gentle release after an album of heightened emotion.
Happy Music is only a few minutes longer than Rock Action but feels so much more substantial, and for me is peak Mogwai. The really long songs are gone but it’s made the band focus more, and this album hits harder for that. As much as I love the band, and they have made many great albums after this, this is the band at their best.
https://lynkify.in/song/ratts-of-the-capital/ycU2teq5
The ways of exile 