Mogwai Is Howling In The Casino

Mogwai live @ Paris again. Why not? Waited the last day to decide myself, bought a ticket during lunch time - it was not completely sold out –, choose a balcony seat, first row on the right. When I arrived at the Casino de Paris at 8 o'clock, The Twilight Sad was already playing. From outside the room, the music was quite attractive, but the guys from Glasgow left the stage greeted only with polite applause. No encore.
At 9, the Casino de Paris, an old prestigious cabaret like The Moulin Rouge, was totally filled and ready to welcome Mogwai. I guess I saw them each time they came to Paris since 2001. I think they have improved their set; the lights now are an important actor of the scenery and give the songs not only colors but also strengths. But overall, despite few amazing moments – no The Sun Smells Too Loud, the best song from The Hawk Is Howling, too sad… -, Mogwai on stage are now too technical to give me some thrills like seven years ago. At that time, during the encore after a perfect set, Mogwai was fighting with the French venue to be able to play as loud as possible; they had to stop the show and promised to never come back again to that f... country. Yesterday they were less loud, more polite and thanked the crowd several times for coming.

Web: fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artist/the+twilight+sad
MySpace: myspace.com/thetwilightsad

Web: mogwai.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/mogwai
Label: matadorrecords.com

Mogwai - Stanley Kubrick .mp3 (2001-05-14 - Café de la Danse)
Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud .mp3
Mogwai - Wake Up And Go Beserk .mp3 via My Old Kentucky
Mogwai - Auto Rock (errors remix) .mp3

Photo: Leaky Sparrow – Mogwai – Casino de Paris, Paris – October 28, 2008 (more pictures here)

Mogwai - Hawk And Dove

What to say about The Hawk Is Howling, the new Mogwai album? The first listening left me… cold. As days passed I felt a little bit more comfortable with it and now the record doesn’t leave my CD player! Looks like Mogwai return to their roots, the songwriting is more in a traditional Mogwai style, the one from the firsts CDs (Come On Die Young, for example). It’s less sophisticated than Rock Action, that I like very much, it’s not Zidane, but still very powerful. It’s a question of taste; you may like the "old" Mogwai or the more refined one or both, like me, or not at all.
Anyway, in The hawk Is Howling, there is enough good songs for them to put the fire on stage once again. Remember, Mogwai is a stage band above all, the sound is always awesome and it’s one of the loudest bands that I ever saw. There is a European Tour scheduled for October/November with a stop in Paris - yeah! Go but don’t forget your earplugs…
More on Leaky Sparrow: Live 2006 - Zidane the Movie - Zidane Soundtrack

Web: mogwai.co.uk
MySpace: myspace.com/mogwai
Label: matadorrecords.com

Mogwai - The Sun Smells Too Loud .mp3

Mogwai - Hunted By a Freak .mp3
Mogwai - Folk Death 95 .mp3 via Toolshed
Mogwai - Cody .mp3 via Vague Space