Mogwai - Rock Action
(Matador)
In preparation for this review, I listened to every Mogwai CD that I have,
in order, in one sitting. Including Rock Action but excluding the
remixes, that's approximately four and a half hours of Scottish bliss and
pummel. One learns from this exercise that there is a remarkable thread
of consistency progressing through each record, which is less apparent
when taking each one its own. Even Come On Die Young, much aligned
by metal heads who decried its dearth of punishing rock riffage, fits
fairly nicely in the delicate and reflective end of Mogwai's sonic
spectrum, which appears as early as the recordings collected on Ten
Rapid (though, the other frequent complaint still holds, CODY
doesn't really have the diversity of tone to support its length).
One also realizes that Rock Action has by far the lamest cover of
all Mogwai records. However, its flaws, for the most part, end there, as
it rectifies the mistakes of CODY, while the band takes a solid step forward.
It's a lush and colorful album that presents a wide array of emotional and
sonic textures. "You Don't Know Jesus" is old fashioned Mogwai, starting
off simple, with open space and ringing guitars, before building and
layering towards a massive, cathartic climax. Additionally, there is
"Dial: Revenge," the most unique track. It begins with an acoustic guitar
lead, which is overtaken by bass and strings, which accompany a beautiful
vocal melody, sung by Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys in his native Welsh.
My favorite is probably "Take Me Somewhere Nice," a slow, lyrical kind of
song, like the ones on CODY, but with a stronger feeling of heavy
melancholy, like "R U Still in 2 It" and the other downer moments on
Young Team, flushed out with a distant, rumbling guitar pushed down
in the mix and filled in with strings and keyboards. The vocals, though
nearly whispered, are more confident than those on past records, and
feature the line "What would you do if you saw spaceships over Glasgow?"
Though the song right after it, "O I Sleep," is a separate track, it feels
more like an epilogue, with simple vocals and the haunting, tweaked piano.
Not all of it works. The opening track, "Sine Wave," gets the tone right,
but loses it by using static bursts for percussion and dorky processed
vocals, coming off like an ill-planned Art of Noise collaboration.
"Robot Chant," an incoherent bunch of noise, is just stupid, (but its
mercifully short). And there are no defining moments, like the power of
"Mowgai Fear Satan," but that is something that a band is lucky to get
once in their entire career. So these are minor quibbles on an otherwise
outstanding, powerful effort, which accomplishes its purpose in an easily
digestible 38 minutes (I could have handled a couple more).
Some people may want to criticize Mogwai generally, and Rock Action
particularly, for being, perhaps, derivative. However, some of these same
people may have recently praised the outstanding band Kinski for their
blatant stealing, when, in fact, one might even characterize Kinski as
equal parts Mogwai and th' Faith Healers. So what gives? Mogwai
(and Kinski) simply recognize the validity of John Locke's natural rights
theory of copyright. Artists draw on a common cultural pool of language
and ideas for the ingredients of their creative work. By mixing their
labors with common materials, they gain, though their labor, a property
rights to their creation. However a valid property right is contingent
upon the artist leaving something in the common cultural pool that allows
for further inspiration to other artists. Thus, artists and the public
are made better off by free public access to creative works and the common
cultural pool is continually replenished and never depleted. Thank you,
Mogwai!
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