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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Utterly Essential, August 29, 2000
As I was about to write this review, I was wondering, who is going to care about Mogwai anyway? They are never going to make it to mainstream. However, this is indeed a murderously underrated album, I feel obliged to write a review. Also due to the fact that the brain behind MBV, Kevin Shield remixed 'Mogwai Fear Satan', dark, ominous, but beautiful. Arguably the best thing he has done since 'Loveless' and easily the best track on the album. In prior to that, Mogwai was often compared to MBV, after listening to this remix, I realized that in order to surpass 'Loveless', you have to inject much of the modern sound into it, clearly, the collaboration between Kevin Shields with David Holmes, Death In Vegas amongst many others indicates that he is walking towards that direction. For the rest of the album, it is a peregenation that is dangerous and creepy, probably one of the darkest album of 1998. Just immerse your soul into the music, move with the mood of the music, let all the creepy, uneasy feeling possess you, many times you want to give up and just put any other record on, any record will do,even Britney really! However, if you presevere, the fruit is sweet. After about 50times of repeated listening, I finally realized that how good these artists are in creating different moods, yet, they are so coherent that it sounds like this is a proper album instead of a remix album. Compare to 'CODY', this is even harder to get into, and it does not have Mercury Rev's producer whose production did not really match Mogwai's style, and in some way, spoilt the otherwise fantastic album. 'KADP' requires much of your patience, your time, your dedication, to get into the soundscape of this album. Once you are in, most probably you will not want to get out of it forever. It is not hard to tell that this is simply the BEST Mogwai album so far.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
burning like a log, March 13, 2005
This review is for the second disc only, the Fear Satan remixes. Given that Mogwai bears no trace of humor in any of their original music, it is not surprising that this an extremely artsy bunch of remixes. All the tracks could be described as experimental. I don't know if I'd call any of this "groundbreaking!" or "highly conceptual!" but it's got some pretty interesting music. Most of these aren't really songs at all; they are more accurately described as "sound sculptures", little journeys through texture and mood. It's very rewarding for lovers of ambient music, calling to mind songs by Fripp & Eno and Seefeel. However, in spite of all pretension, there's enough rocking on here to keep it from being awful.
Mogwai remix:
The most striking thing about this remix is its reductiveness. It relies heavily on long sustains of notes and chords and looping samples from the original material. It is slower than the original, with lots of space between notes. The result is extremely ambient. Even when distorted guitar appears at the end of the song, it seems mellow within the context of the remix.
u-ziq remix:
This is the most aggresssive of the remixes. Like many other u-ziq tracks, it has jarring changes in tempo that keep it from being danceable. That's okay though, I only dance to Mogwai when I'm at a Mogwai show and am not afraid to look stupid. The really hyper tempo of the songs main section contrasts well with the two mixes that surround it, but overall it is my least favorite.
Surgeon remix:
Did I say the Mogwai remix used a lot of sustain? Um, the ENTIRE surgeon remix is pretty much just sustaining notes fading in and out, with very subtle effects gradually appearing and disappearing. It is very reminescent of an Autechre track named "Vietrmx21", which is almost entirely made up of just one chord progression repeating infinitely up and down a scale with a lot of reverb and sustain fading in and out. However, this is even simpler than that. A fun track for electronic fans, with a systematic approach to deconstructing a song using effects only.
Kevin Shields remix:
My Bloody Valentine fans, be warned: this does not sound like My Bloody Valentine. This one is the most epic of the remixes, spanning 16 minutes, almost twice as long as the original. I used to hate this remix because I thought there were so many cool parts at the beginning and end, but the middle had an almost unlistenable amount distortion on it; so much distortion that you can hardly hear any of the notes that are being played, it's all just the sound of speaker pop in and out. I can listen to it now, but the distortion still bothers me. However, one highlight is that Kevin Shields is really good at making throbbing percussion and bass lines by looping rock n roll breakbeats. Even though the loop of the percussion repeats ad nauseum without really changing at all, the break that Kevin picked is so good that it doesn't get boring. His remix for Yo La Tengo's "Autumn Sweater" shared the same quality. Also, this remix has a bunch of worthy atmospheric moments and sound textures. Overall, definitely worth listening to.
Gwai on, Wayne. Gwai on, Garth.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Kicking mogwai, March 14, 2006
Well this is not a complete disaster, but taking any amazing bands material and playing with them will rarely even do justice to the originals, let alone emulate them..It is nice to see some of their older lo-fi material get a nice cover of sparkling sheen on top with the reinturpeted tracks..Unfortunately it is always the original brilliance of the writing, not the re-worked beat placements, that fans will appreciate..
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