Austinist Album Review: Mogwai, Mr. Beast

Scotland's post-rock pioneers Mogwai knew exactly what they wanted when they set out to record Mr. Beast. The album finds them locked away in Glasgow, in their custom-built studio, The Castle of Doom, able to take the time to record, listen, re-record, and repeat until satisfied.

There's no doubt all that work has paid off. Already regarded as one of the best albums of 2006 by a wide variety of music enthusiasts, Mr. Beast is, in many ways, a clear front-runner for the title of Mogwai's masterpiece work. The typically instrumental group breaks out of that box with tracks like "Travel is Dangerous" (Braithwaite) and "I Chose Horses" (Tetsuya Fukazawa of Envy), letting the shadowed and hushed vocals carry the songs through their "Ex-Cowboy" (Come On Die Young, 1999)-reminiscent melodies.

As ever, Mogwai manage to blend unadulterated post-rock weight to their shoegazer tendencies with tracks like "Glasgow Mega Snake" and "Folk Death 95," showcasing their ability to create anthems with no words. This is where Mr. Beast really shines, in between blistering chord progressions and gradual progressions to corybantic climaxes. In some ways a throwback to earlier (and heavier) Mogwai material, Mr. Beast isn't merely a rock album. It's being regarded as a masterpiece because it has captured the group's finely tuned talent for evolution of sound and harmony amongst chaos.

Mogwai
Mr. Beast
Matador Records, 2006

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