Mogwai : " ZeroZeroZero"

I bought "Come on Die Young" after reading they were Robert Smith' favorite band back in 1999.  I have followed their career and the many turns it has taken. They are in my opinion the best at this whole post-rock thing. The reason being they bring so many sounds to the table. The first few songs of this album feel like they are trying on sounds. as they are in the three minute mark so the slow build to dynamics they normally use is not there making them feel like interludes rather than fully formed songs. It also makes the album play like it would if this was classical music where it is written in movements. "Chicken Guns" is the first that expands upon this in the normal way these guys write songs. It has a slow throb with the distorted bass rumbling in the distance. So far they have not touched on anything that is heavy in the way they do heavy though this song is darker than the first three. It is however heavy on atmosphere so much so that it never fully coagulates.

There are hints they have been crossing over into Kraut Rock and "Nose Pints" certainly is another sign of that. There were also vintage synth sounds on the second song, this however sounds like something that should be on the soundtrack to the Dune remake. Well it is a sound track to a Netflix show about drugs which is what I figured out have way into the  21 songs that make up this  double album. It is a lot to digest, though easy to swallow due to the more ambient nature of what they are doing you get something closer to rock music on "Fears of Mind" that shows what they do the best. They follow this with a light piano piece that is not what I think of when it comes to this band. They do everything so tastefully it is hard to find fault, not is that something I seek out with these guys. I often want more of a "Rock Action" feel when it comes to this band, but have learned to embrace their evolution. The one thing I will continue to ask from this album is more drums.

They begin to honor this request ten songs in. Still not making actual rock music no matter how experimental. But I can live with this compromise. I can work with the more synth wave pulse of " Lesser Glasgow". "Frog Marching" works off of this, but I can't under stand why the drumming is all about jazz tapping and won't lay into this fucking drums .  "Major Treat" has the groove doing a little more "Rivers Wanted" sounds like it could be the intro to a Nine Inch Nails song. The more ghostly side of the atmospherics here I am certainly down with. Then the album takes a turn into almost country like David Lynch music. The guitar tone is so wonderful I do not care about the minimal drums here. The guitars are more minimal for :the Winter's Not Forever"

My argument could be they did not have to compromise intensity and could have pulled this off more along the lines of what Godspeedyoublackemperor did for "28 Days Later" . However they have already been heading in this direction. There are moments that are more song oriented , I now understand they were doing what they were paid to do, for a movie about what looks to be cocaine, I would think more tension is in order, though I think of these guys as a more heroin band. That might just be because that is what I used them as the soundtrack for. This does not quite hold up to their actual albums , but is better than most who do this kinda of thing. I will give it an 8.5

Report to the Dance Floor: Dark Model

Here is something very unique and I think will appeal to many of those among us who might normally shun anything that could be given the term dance music and in this case it is at the fringe of the term being more classical than dance at times. It's not until the second song that I would even call this dance. 

The song writing chops are finely tuned here as this guy has collaborated and remixed James Brown, Diana Ross, Chic, Simon LeBon, Ron Sexsmith, Serge Gainsbourg, Hotei, Puffy, Digikid84, Yoshihide Otomo, Radiopilot, Dune. What this project is brings back memories of the old Hooked on Classics album that came out in the 70's .The soundtrack vibe is heavy here so it should come as no surprised some of his music was used in the first promo reel for Elysium. There is something inherently epic about this so sci-fi and fantsy flick would benefit from this type of backing. 

"Close to Infinty" the classical elements tend to dominate though the songs works dynamically work like the build of a dance tack where you are waiting for the beat to drop. "Broken Arrows" drops down into a piano piece the strings come in with an almost Nightwish sense of drama to them. So fans of orchestral metal will appreciate this album. To be honest any one who just likes music will dig this. If you play epic MMO's then you need this as your soundtrack.

The more electronic elements re-surface on "Onibi". It has a very Matrix type techno throb to it , though the string hits accent the song and aid the sense of movement it carries . Of course songs like this that have a darker element to them are the ones on this album I tend to connect to more. "Hope is Never Gone" does posses this , though its moodier than most of the songs up to this point ,especially when the songs breaks down into the piano section. The song ebbs and flows from more uplifting sections though there is a tension throughout. 

The ambiance of "Candle in the Desert " comes across more like an interlude in this otherwise uptempo pounding album. '' Ran" has the blares of harsh sense that seem to be in every trailer for an end of the world type film. The dub step elements lurk on the edges of the other Omen like dramatics of the score. There is more industrial undercoating to " Double Cross" carries a bit of a Liabach feel to it , though with more groove than the more militant and stiff feel industrial carries.It strays from the darker feel as the song progresses into a more dub step tinged espionage sort of thing. 

Themes are more of an influence with Dark Model than other composers. Sure there are familiar sounds being integrated to ensure a modern market, despite the heavy use of strings, The Eastern vibe of "Prayer for the New Moon" is very different than the more Hollywood sounds on this album. Fans of Dead Can Dance would dig this as it is very dark but with a lot of ethereal atmosphere. 

The album's fastest moment comes in "Moment of Truth" that races against a break beat.This creates a hug dynamic shift when "Judgement Day" follows, as that song is more string driven, almost having a more chamber music cadence.When juxtaposed against the harsher throb of the dub step elements that come in midway, it's a pretty powerful moment. The song builds even further with added layers of strings and piano, before it's allow to collapse into the sob of the piano line. 

The dark ballad like pacing of "Abandoned" returns the album to a more brooding pace.While the album is well balanced it is a monumental listen that overloads you if you sit down and just listen to it on headphones as I did. It serves much better as a back ground piece, even though with "Abandoned" there is a more rock like melody to sink into. Until "Oath" the other songs towards the albums final act following "Abandoned" stay in variation on the epic themes of Hollywood. "Oath is much more a straight up dub-step song , which given the nature of the rest of the album is odd, but works . The piano part that surfaces helps tie it back into the more classical build that the song leans into. 

If you want to feel like you are in a movie this is the album for you. It's dark enough that the classical edge might appeal to goths  and more educated rave kids , digest as you can as it is a lot to swallow , but worth the digestion process.