Young Team

“Cause music is bigger than words and wider than pictures.” This was my submission, so it’s probably a bit obvious that I’m giving it five stars. If you can please listen to this album as it’s meant to be heard: loud as fuck. Here is my reasoning behind why I submitted this album: I wanted my choice to be a Scottish band, and a band that didn’t have any albums on the original list. I chose Mogwai because I think post-rock is a little underrepresented on the original list. We had Sigur Rós, Tortoise, and Slint, but it feels like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor are obvious omissions. Young Team isn’t even my favorite Mogwai album; I would rank Come On Die Young and Happy Songs for Happy People above it. However, I think it’s their most important album, being their debut and their introduction to their quiet-loud dynamics and mesmerizing guitars. Hence, in my opinion it’s deserving of the list. The standout song from this album for me is “Mogwai Fear Satan,” probably their most epic song. Also, “Like Herod” needs a special mention. If you enjoyed this, please check out the rest of their music. Clearly, this is a biased view, but I don’t think they have a bad album.

I saw Mogwai about 10 years ago, and it was the loudest concert I've ever been to. Extremely impressive band, I was in need of a reminder. Thank you for submitting this to the list!

Fantastic album. It has some regular heavy post rock, some call intermezzo's and some more experimental songs. Amazing debut

Rating: 6/10

This was pretty cool. Reminded me a bit of that band whose music was used in the show Friday Night Lights, Explosions in the Sky I think they were called. 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4.

Yes, more of this please.

didn't really do it for me

I've danced around the periphery of this band for some time as a casual fan of prog, but hadn't given one of their LPs a full listen. This was a mostly fun ride, and at times felt almost theatrical which made for a fun listen. My personal preference would've been to cut down on some of the quieter interludes that bulk up the track runtimes – this band excels at intense technical passages, and it felt those only got 40% of the limelight relative to the less-novel quiet bits.

This didn't do a lot for me. A lot of electronic noise drone ambient meandering, a lot of vocals in the "mumbling through a bad intercom" vein (and even some real stale tricks like running them backwards). I didn't hate it but I wouldn't seek more.

I've known of these guys for a long time but never heard them. They're one of those groups that enjoys crossover appeal with card-carrying, no-nonsense metalheads and tbh that's always turned me off haha. From what I understand, it's going to be industrial/electronic sort of stuff, maybe like skinny puppy (also popular with the no-fun metal crowd). Ok it's post rock. It's... alright, I guess? I struggle to tell good from bad from average in this genre. It all does the same thing to my ears. But it's not a bad thing by any means. Just can't hold my interest - fine for a once off, though. Bit of jingle jangle, drawn out songs, intentional dynamics, etc. 3/5.

Enjoyed this. Strategic uses of tension, noise and quiet, all to brilliant effect. I did find myself wishing for a good vocal on some of the songs, but that's a minor critique. Fave Songs: Summer (Priority Version), Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home, Tracy, Like Herod, A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters

I had heard of Mogwai through reference to Gremlins but had never listened to them. I'm actually surprised that it was just music, which is fine but I'm disappointed that there are no vocals making the music just an ambient background while I was doing my activities. It doesn't leave me with a great "taste" for what I had known about them.

Average

Atmospheric instrumentals. This is not my thing.