Mogwai’s discography is a bit difficult to sort out. With an enormous catalog and the mythos to match, it can be difficult to get a handle on which records stand out from among the rest of their output.
But I’ve noticed two matters of consensus among the Mogwai fanbase. First, that Young Team is their best album. Second, that Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is absolutely fantastic.
As far as prolificity is concerned, few groups can top Mogwai. Their discography is a veritable black hole, including nine full length albums, six soundtracks, and a number of EPs and remixes.
Among that wealth of output, it’s widely considered that 2008’s Hawk is Howling is not exactly the best place to start. And yet, that’s exactly where I did.
“If someone said that Mogwai were the stars, I would not object. If the stars had a sound, it would sound like this.”
So states the voiceover that opens Young Team, the debut record from post rock legends Mogwai. It would smack of pretention—if they didn’t spend the next sixty-four minutes backing it up.
For as long as I’ve been familiar with the Appleseed Cast, I’ve never done a deep dive into their discography. Ten years passed between hearing them on Deep Elm’s Emo Is Awesome/Emo Is Evil compilation and purchasing Low Level Owl. It’s taken me six years to buy anything else in their catalogue.
And when it comes down to it, I basically purchased Peregrine at random while looking at the severe lack of Appleseed Cast in my collection and deciding I needed to do something about it.
I was previously unaware of gates when I discovered 2016’s Parallel Lives. But I quickly fell in love with that album’s blend of tender indie rock songwriting and epic post rock composition.
So when my friend Rob offered their debut full-length up in a trade for a copy of my band’s full-length, I took him up on it.
And while Bloom & Breathe is a little less tight than its follow up, there’s a rawness here that makes it just as rewarding.
Ever since Alcest’s 2005 Le Secret, bandleader Neige’s fascination for shoegaze, dream pop, and post rock have been no secret. Throughout their career, they had fused elements of those sounds with traditional black metal to make something truly special.
But on 2014’s Shelter, they leaned heavy on the gentler side of their sonic palette.
Black metal has been undergoing a bit of a revolution in the last few years. Bands like Deafheaven, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Lantlôs have been augmenting their metal chops with elements of post rock and shoegaze. It’s a simple formula, but surprisingly effective.
But at the forefront of the “blackgaze” movement is a French group called Alcest, who wrote much of the blueprint on their breakthrough record Écailles de lune.
I was first introduced to Metavari as a post rock band (by a friend of mine who later joined the line up). They played the same intricate, introspective instrumental music as bands like Collection of Colonies of Bees, Do Make Say Think, and The Album Leaf.
And when my band was booked alongside them for analecta‘s album release show, that’s what we went in expecting. But somewhere along the road, bandleader Nate Utesch transitioned the project into a dreamy synth pop. Yet when paired with their post rock sensibilities, they created something incredibly special.
If ever there was a post rock crossover pop hit, it’s M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
This record debuted at number fifteen on the Billboard Top 200. The bouncing single “Midnight City“, complete with a screaming saxophone solo, was ubiquitous. The group appeared on a number of late night talk show performances. Songs were played in commercials and movie trailers.
This is only made more impressive by the fact that it’s a double album by a band that made their name playing synth-driven drone music.
The last couple years, I’ve been noticing a trend of female singer-songwriters picking up electric guitars and coating their otherwise gentle compositions with thick layers of doom metal and shoegaze (see also: Chelsea Wolfe, King Woman). It’s a simple enough formula, but it works, and I am here for it. Continue reading