- Much can be said about the great post-rockers now that they’ve reached an 8th full length. Is it better than Young Team? Have they aged well? Are they still relevant? Mogwai seem to be able to constantly adapt and evolve and for this release, that means embracing their electronic ideas and experimenting with synthesizers.

Mogwai have always been more rock than post but with Rave Tapes, the layers of ambience and texture have been reduced, making it harder to pin them to a genre. Krautrock influences have seeped into their songwriting with tracks like Remurdered getting an invigorating infusion of off kilter melody and sounds pulled from a distant time when synthesizers belonged in video games and experimental music. There are a few flashes of the more intense, distortion driven sounds such as on Hexon Bogon, a welcome throwback to the more driving sound of Mr. Beast but it is a fleeting moment of passion before going into the weirdly cringey Repelish. The whole piece is played around an excerpt of a man talking about hidden satanic messages in Led Zeppelin but rather than present it in an interesting way to make you question why people can be so afraid of music, it just sounds like Ben Stein reading from a high school oral from a script. Unfortunately, I feel this way about the whole album, aiming high but missing the mark.

The repetitive nature of these songs doesn’t ever seem to be going anywhere and soon becomes monotonous. The band has left ambient textures, drawn out builds and loud crescendos for the world of electronics, leaving a cold and metallic taste in the mouth. For a band that can evoke such raw emotion and build tension into soaring melodies, this new direction doesn’t seem fully fleshed out as of yet. It’s always been the moodier, more human side of Mogwai that’s drawn me to them and that’s where their forte lies on this album. Opener Heard About You Last Night is a lush and confident mood piece that feels like it would fit into a movie of self-discovery. Its leisurely pace paves the way to invite you into a hypnotic world of super cool guitar tones and electronic sounds while closing track The Lord Is Out of Control makes use of the increasingly popular vocoder, plunging the track into the deep abyss of human sorrow. On the whole, Rave Tapes just comes off a bit cold and lacklustre but their experience certainly delivers a couple great tracks. Surely, they’re not going away anytime soon.

- Krishan Meepe.