clips and gear	15/01/06
in addition to the normal updates there are a few bonus items from the ica shows. there are clips from various songs - all from cameras and of reasonable quality - and give a good feel of the gigs. check out the ica shows from the 2006 gigs page. also for those who love their guitar fx units, check out the photos of the current mogwai setups here -iain
italian dates	15/01/06
tickets are on sale from ticketone.com for three italian shows in april: 18 april - firenze, flog 20 april - milano, rolling stones 21 april - roncade, new age thanks, massimo. -rob
cambridge	11/01/06
first confirmed uk date: cambridge junction on 4 april 2006. tickets are on sale at the hideously expensive seetickets. thanks, dan. -rob
setlist controversy	11/01/06
the setlists for the belfast (8th jan) and ica (10th jan) shows are proving contentious at the moment. if anyone can confirm the lists for these shows (preferably with setlist scan/photo, or even better recording) it'd be appreciated. both setlists can be found here: 2006 gigs page. thanks to the many people who've mailed already. update - 10th jan is confirmed - 'a place for parks' in the main set and 'may nothing but happiness come through your door' in the encore. -rob
the times in dublin	10/01/06
there is a half page review of the dublin show in today's times newspaper and it has to be the best review that i have ever read the times give! a couple of soundbytes : "what is beautiful about mogwai is the mix of magic and mayhem within a single song..." and "mr beast is a thrillingly ambitious record that adds to the mix everything from neo-classical piano to computerised electronica - from mozart to mac". more details here: 2006 gigs page -iain
pod	10/01/06
saturday's daily telegraph included a brief interview with stuart in the 'load down' column, detaling some of the contents of his ipod. his picks included the orb, bertha lee & charley patton, amina, iggy pop and smog. click here for a scan. thanks, clare. and prior to that, friday's belfast telegraph had another stuart interview. this one contains some bits on the origins of some of the 'mr beast' track titles, and another great quote: this obsession with pete doherty - it's just junkie porn click here for a scan - but be aware that it's huge. thanks, matt. -rob
belfast	09/01/06
sounds like last night's belfast show (sunday 8th) was a more enjoyable experience for both band and audience than mogwai's last visit. thanks to matthew crothers for the details: 2006 gigs page -rob
dublin	08/01/06
an eventful first show of 2006 in dublin last night. set highlights included live debuts for 'friend of the night' and 'auto rock', the addition of a sixth musician (graeme ronald, formerly of multiplies) on guitar and keyboards, ferocious takes on 'glasgow megasnake' and 'summer', the reappearance of 'take me somewhere nice' after a long absence, and a substantial setlist revision in the second half of the show due to technical problems. more details here: 2006 gigs page new merch includied 'mr beast' t-shirts, and celtic scarves with mogwai embroidered in red on one end. edylc. there's a preview piece for the belfast show here: http://www.newsletter.co.uk/story/25325. thanks, steve. roll on next week! -rob
maida vale	06/01/06
onemusic, bbc radio 1's replacement for john peel, has been on air for one year at the start of february. to celebrate, three nights of live music will be broadcast from the bbc's maida vale studios in london. the shows take place on 31st january, 1st and 2nd february, and mogwai have been confirmed as one of the acts taking part, playing live on the huw stephens show on tuesday 31st january. tickets will be given away by the bbc over the coming weeks - more details when we get them. thanks, alan. -rob
three single friends and a japanese bonus	06/01/06
playloudershop.com suggests that the download verion of the 'friend of the night single may be on sale on 29th january, a full day before the cd and 7". track timings are: friend of the night (5m 30s) fresh crown (4m 44s) 1% of monster (3m 47s) hmv.co.jp has the tracklist for the japanese version of 'mr. beast', including '1% of monster' as a bonus track. thanks, steve. -rob
two single friends	04/01/06
pias have confirmed that the tracklist for the forthcoming 'friend of the night' cd single will be: friend of the night fresh crown 1% of monster initial listings suggested a fourth track (the 'friend of the night' video) but this will not now be included. the single is released on 30th january. thanks, nic -rob
happy new year	03/01/06
further mainland european dates for april 2006: 9th april - strasbourg, la laiterie 24th april - berlin, fritzclub im postbahnhof update: a further four french shows added, ending in paris on 13th april. check the gigs page. thanks, jean-paul and fab. -rob
crutch	29/12/05
the supporting line-up for the ica shows in january has been announced - see the gigs page -rob
collection hiver	28/12/05
thanks to ben for this: yesterday night, french radio station 'france inter' said that mogwai might play in saint malo (france) at the festival "la route du rock - collection hiver". it takes place on 17th or 18th of february, but is not confirmed yet. update: we're definitely not doing that french festival in february as we are recording. thanks stuart. presumably further recording sessions for the project that has seen mogwai spend much of the christmas period in their 'castle of doom' studio in glasgow? -rob
single friend	27/12/05
'friend of the night' single sleeve art. click on the image for larger version. amazon has the cd tracklist as: friend of the night fresh crown 1% of monster friend of the night presumably the last track is either a video or alternate mix? the single is released on 30th january. thanks, nick -rob
stubbs	27/12/05
mogwai's show at the sxsw festival in austin takes place on 15th march. the line-up also includes belle & sebastian and cat power - quite a night! -rob
köln	26/12/05
first confirmed mainland european dates for 2006: live music hall, köln on 15th april ab, brussels on 16th april georg-elser-zusatzhalle, munich on 23rd april grünspan, hamburg on 25th april thanks, jean-paul, fred and adrian. -rob
whirlyball	21/12/05
we're presuming this is a gig, rather than a sporting event? tickets here: http://www.ticketalternative.com/TicketSelection.aspx?ScheduleKey=2187 thanks, henry. also added to the gigs page - shows in columbus, lexington, new york, baltimore, asheville, nashville and houston. is it too much of a wild guess to suggest that, with sxsw running from 15-19 march, a show in austin will be added after houston? -rob
eskimogwai	19/12/05
ignore the link in the photo above! from pias.com: a special limited edition cd of 'mr beast' will include a dvd with a documentary - "the recording of mr beast" -rob
hear 'friend of the night'!	19/12/05
mogwai's forthcoming single 'friend of the night' has been added to http://www.myspace.com/therealmogwai -rob
satellite	17/12/05
first confirmed date of the us tour - satellite ballroom, charlottesville va on saturday 4th march 2006. thanks, cory. and the second - logan square auditorium, chicago il on wednesday 1st march, with support from growing. tickets from http://www.ticketweb.com. thanks, josh. and third - cat's cradle, carrboro nc on wednesday 8th march. -rob
oliver twist	15/12/05
stuart is interviewed about his favourite album of 2005, in this month's mojo magazine: lightning bolt's new album, 'hypermagic mountain' - i'm definitely feeling it. it's pretty much the same as the other ones. i just really like them. they're a two piece from providence, rhode island, the spiritual successors to sonic youth. they make pretty extreme music, but it's also quite colourful. it's a bass player, and a drummer who has a microphone gaffer-taped to his face. he also wears a jesters mask. it's quite scary. they're a great band, and they don't dress up like oliver twist like all the british bands do. thanks, ray. -rob
off the map	12/12/05
'yes! i am a long way from home' features towards the end of campbell scott's recent movie 'off the map'. at the end of the film, the writing credit for the song goes solely to dominic. the film was released on dvd in august. thanks, matt. -rob
take control	08/12/05
ticketmaster.ie and tbmc.ie seem to suggest that the show at temple bar music centre, dublin on 7th january 2006 may be sold out? if anyone knows of any outlets that still have tickets, please let us know. -rob
le danger	08/12/05
french radio station aligre fm's 'planet claire' show included 'travel is dangerous' from 'mr beast' in their broadcast last week (weds 30th nov). the show is on 'listen again' here: http://prevot.denis.free.fr/Player/Playergh.htm 'travel is dangerous' starts around the 30 min mark. thanks, jon. on monday 12th december at 1am, bbc radio 1 will broadcast a 75 minute documentary celebrating the first 10 years of chemikal underground records. it will feature interviews with bands past and present, and plenty of the label's back catalogue including mogwai. the broadcast is part of the one world programme. it will also be on 'listen again' for a week. -rob
hot licks	07/12/05
quicktime movie footage of stuart recording two takes on the guitar solo at the end of malcolm middleton's 'a moaning shite' can be found in 'audio/video' section of www.malcolmmiddleton.co.uk. whilst you're there, pick up a copy of malcolm's 'into the woods' album for a bargain £7, if you haven't already - one of 2005's best, y'know. -rob
more glasgow photos	06/12/05
further photos of the glasgow show, taken by neale smith, can be found at neale smith.com. click 'press' and then 'm'. -rob
xmas preps	05/12/05
from mogwai.co.uk: busy, busy, busy, busy. this week we'll be sweating our peely wally wee (and not so wee) bums off learning a bunch of music for a very exciting project that we're recording over xmas and new year. while we're doing that the 'friend of the night' video is getting filmed. thankfully we won't be in it! then after that martin and me are scooting all over europe to do interviews. it doesn't seem that long ago that all we spent our days doing was counting down the days 'till star wars and batman came out.we're also getting our touring schedule together for next year. bloody hell, i need a lie down! stuart -rob
metro life	03/12/05
'mr beast' sleeve art - further artwork will be included on the back and inside. the font looks art nouveau/paris metro? click on the image for larger version. and the rear sleeve of the promo cd: -rob
d-bag	03/12/05
last week's edinburgh setlist included "d-bag" as the first song of the encore. the song in question is 'emergency trap' from 'mr. beast' - d b a g are the chords! thanks, stuart. -rob
edinburgh and glasgow photos	01/12/05
the edinburgh show page now includes some photos taken by erik baurdoux: gig281105.php (thanks, erik), and the glasgow show page has some photos taken by susie young: gig291105.php (thanks, susie). the full set of susie's photos can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastal/sets/1486923/ -rob
promo tracklisting	01/12/05
final 'mr. beast' tracklisting, taken from the promo cd: auto rock glasgow megasnake acid food travel is dangerous team handed friend of the night emergency trap folk death 95 i chose horses we're no' here there are three vocal tracks - 'acid food', 'travel is dangerous' and 'i chose horses'. the first two are stuart/barry vocals, and the last is sung in japanese by tetsuya fukagawa of envy. thanks, fab. -rob
moscow	01/12/05
mogwai play at apelsin in moscow on 21st january 2006. -rob
moor shows	30/11/05
the glasgow and edinburgh shows this week have seen the live debut of more tracks from 'mr. beast', namely 'emergency trap', 'travel is dangerous', and 'folk death'. the glasgow setlist is here: gig291105.php (thanks, james) and the edinburgh set list is here: gig281105.php (thanks, erik). the edinburgh setlist includes "d-bag" as the first song of the encore, apparently another new song - anyone know any more? apparently stuart was less than complimentary about bbc scotland's music show during the edinburgh show - seems that they decided to retitle 'ratts of the capitol' as 'rats in the city' last week. and finally - seems that the track titled 'misery' when it was played at the abc, glasgow back in august has been retitled 'emergency trap' on the album - can anyone confirm this? update - no it's not - 'misery' is now called 'team handed'. thanks, stuart. -rob
moor friend	27/11/05
from the paper version of this week's nme: 'what's on the nme stereo' mogwai - friend of the night ultra-advance listen of the post-rock vets' new single. they might have gone acoustic, but they're still as pleasingly evil as ever not quite sure where they've got 'gone acoustic' from... -rob
moor beast	20/11/05
more details on 'mr. beast' on the matadorwebsite: these days - when membership of the rock army can be symbolised by the simple purchase of a ramones t-shirt - dedication has become a debased currency, subject to the hyper-inflationary dictates of fashion. raw recruits sign up for the short term, soon surrendering their affections to whichever sexy "scene" might spring up next. unswerving commitment to rock's righteous cause is rare; it demands a troop of seriously single-minded dudes with their collective heart and soul fixed on one goal - to bring the noise. scottish five piece mogwai formed in 1995 and debuted a year later with the single "tuner/lower", released on their own rock action label. they've since gone on to develop their distinctive style of apocalyptic, yet deeply humanised noise across four albums, establishing the transcendentally effective quiet-loud/quiet-loud dynamic as their very own and spawning a generation of imitators. usually tagged a post-rock band because of their slow-build, instrumental workouts and the neo-classical majesty of their more ambitious songs, mogwai are rather a bunch of a-rockers, drawn to whatever serves their cause - be it the stripped-down delicacy of erik satie or the boiling rage of big black. mix light and dark together, mogwai understand, and you make magic. "mr beast" is the band's fifth studio album and, as the title suggests, sees them returning to their first, true love - rock with a capital "r" - after using a softer palette with more varied instrumentation for album number three ("rock action") and delivering a balanced summary of their work to date with 2003's "happy songs for happy people". mogwai of course, make their own rules in order to break them, so, alongside huge blocks of thrillingly implacable guitar noise, "mr beast" features exquisitely poignant piano passages (most of them played by keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist barry burns) and great, limpid spaces. guitarist/vocalist stuart braithwaite explains the album's impetus thus: "we consciously tried to have some louder music on this album, because we had begun to realise that there was a big difference between our live shows and our records, and there was no real reason for that. we wanted to make a record that we were going to enjoy playing live, because when we're on stage, we like the songs where we're really going for it more than the ones where we're just kind of plinking away. "the quiet-loud/quiet-loud formula that was our trademark became pretty clichéd," he adds, "and also a lot of other people started doing it, so we consciously tried to stop. not that we invented it, but it got to the point where people thought that was all we did, plus we were getting tired of it ourselves. we'd taken it to extremes on songs like "like herod" [from 1997's "mogwai young team"] and we thought there wasn't much further we could go with it. what we ended up doing then was being really quiet and minimal, but later we realised that we really missed making a lot of noise! now felt like a good time to get back to that, because in a way, it's what started the band. although only about 25 per cent of the new album is actually noise, that's the one thing we consciously had in mind when we set out." recorded between april and october 2005 in the band's own castle of doom studios in glasgow, "mr beast" was produced by tony doogan, who also produced "happy songs. . ." and was the engineer on "rock action". it opens with "auto rock" - whose sweetly melancholic, central piano motif is gradually engulfed by a swell of fulsome guitars and pummelling drum beats - and closes with lurching, psych-rock behemoth "we're no here" (sic). in between are eight future mogwai classics, including the heads-down "glasgow mega-snake", where what must surely be a dozen guitars swarm around a molten metal core like crazed killer bees, the drum machine-driven country gospel of "acid food," which features pedal-steel guitar, the wintry splendour of "friend of the night" and the impossibly poignant "i chose horses," featuring guest vocalist tetsuya fukagawa (of japanese hardcore band envy) and a keyboard contribution from composer/arranger craig armstrong. whether light and lean or dark and monstrous, however, these songs underline mogwai's belief that to have meaning, rock needs both mass and monumentality. if "mr beast" has one thing, it's presence. "i like music that has weight," admits braithwaite, "even if it's not sound weight. if i think of a really 'heavy' record, i think of 'songs of love and hate' by leonard cohen as much as i think of the latest record by sunn o))). it is a bit weird when people think our music is depressing, because i find bad music depressing and we all think sad music is incredibly uplifting. even if a piece of music is melancholic, if it makes you think, or has some weight to it, then i find that really uplifting. it's like seeing a beautiful painting - it makes your day a bit better." of mogwai's continued interest in pushing their own parameters, braithwaite declares, "we didn't want to be a band that made a few good records and then made a series of increasingly shitty ones that were like fading photocopies of the earlier records. i've seen that happen a lot of times. the fact is, none of us can do anything else - it's not like we dropped out of architecture school and can go back to it one day! we knew we were in this for the long haul and we knew we wanted to be making worthwhile, important music until the day our hands stop working, so it serves our purpose to challenge ourselves, on every level." the beauty expressed by "mr beast" is the sound of those challenges being met - fearlessly. as to the noise, it's mogwai's design for life. sharon o'connell thanks, steve. -rob
gwai vs murdoch	19/11/05
it had to happen eventually: http://www.myspace.com/therealmogwai -rob
tokyo	17/11/05
http://smash-jpn.com/mogwai.html has tickets for mogwai shows at unit, tokyo on 24th and 25th january 2006. it appears that the show at the arches, glasgow on 29th november may be sold out? if anyone knows where tickets are still on sale, please get in touch. -rob
rock action say "vote chimp"	14/11/05
part chimp are up for the mtv2 nme chart show - vote now! -rob
'mr. beast'	13/11/05
from the matador newsletter: february signals the arrival of mogwai's new full length studio album, 'mr. beast.' produced by longtime associate tony doogan and mogwai at castle of doom studio, it's nothing short of a monumental moment in mogwai's storied tenure. though there are still hints aplenty of the subtle beauty that adorned big chunks of 'rock action' and 'happy songs for happy people', there are an equal portion of headcrushers on this one that will leave you gasping for air. particularly if you've been wearing a plastic bag over your face (which we do not recommend, by the way). though mogwai will be hitting the us early next year, the band have already announced a slate of intimate gigs at london's ica for next january, along with a couple of shows to benefit mental health organization one in four in glasgow and edinburgh respectively, later this month (28 november at cabaret voltaire, 29 november at the arches) update 16/11/05 - nme.com says 'mr beast' is out on 6th march? update 17/11/05 - from the press release: as the title might suggest, a large part of ‘mr beast’ finds mogwai returning to the bone-crushing volume and intensity of earlier recordings, but like all folk-lore’s greatest monster stories, this beast has a quieter, more sensitive side, as single ‘friend of the night’ shows. in the words of manager alan mcgee the album "is probably the greatest art rock record that i’ve been involved in since my bloody valentine’s 'loveless'. its possibly better than 'loveless'. it is the record that they have always threatened to make. it is a shockingly good record – fucking masterpiece." -rob
more remixes	08/11/05
out next week on cd (wichita), followed by a 12" single on 28th november (tigerbeat6): kid606 done with scene the new single… released 14th november 2005 two of the most applauded songs from kid606's 'resilience' album, along with a sizzling fuzzed out methadone-influenced cover of current chart hit 'heartbeat' by norwegian europop sensation annie that has to be heard to be believed (and understood!). remixes come courtesy of three of kid606's favorite post-rock-tronica acts of today, the scottish anthemic sweethearts mogwai, californian master of melancholy her space holiday and tigerbeat6's very own swedish psychedelic warrior, dwayne sodahberk. track listing: 1. done with the scene 2. heartbeat 3. done with the scene (444mix by mogwai) 4. spanish song 5. king of harm (dwayne sodahberk remix) 6. spanish song (her space holiday remix) thanks, geoff and ben. mogwai also remixed the magnificents 'greenprint' back in 2004. this one has escaped our attention previously as it's never been given a full release. it's scheduled to appear as a single b-side but "it will be a while before that's happening". in the meantime, it may be possible to track down one of a handful of three track promo cds, featuring mogwai and david jack remixes, sent out by kfm records in 2004. thanks, scott and alex. -rob
take control pt. 3	07/11/05
mogwai's series of shows at london's ica in january have all sold out, as has the edinburgh show on 28th november. tickets for the glasgow show (29th november) can be bought here: http://www.thearches.co.uk/livemusic.html -rob
questionable content	06/11/05
mogwai on questionable content thanks, martin. -rob
take control pt. 2	04/11/05
tickets for mogwai's series of shows at london's ica are available from seetickets, although it appears that their allocation for the thursday and friday shows have sold out already. update - at the time of writing (friday 4th november, 6pm), it appears that the edinburgh show (28th november) and the last two ica shows (13th and 14th jan) are all sold out. tickets for the tuesday, wednesday and thursday ica shows (10th - 12th jan) are on sale via seetickets (with their usual extreme booking fees) or from the ica box office (personal callers or phone 020 7930 3647, no booking fee). update 2 - seems we were wrong - tickets for the edinburgh show (28th november) are still available from http://www.rippingrecords.com by phone (0131 226 7010) or in person. thanks, andy. -rob
friend of the night	01/11/05
from nme.com: following their tour dates, mogwai will release new single 'friend of the night' on cd, 7 inch and as a digital download on january 30. the as-yet-untitled album was recorded in the band's new castle of doom studio in glasgow with producer tony doogan. it is due for release next march. thanks, mo. -rob
take control	31/10/05
mogwai have announced a series of shows at london's ica. the five shows take place between 10th and 14th january 2006, and each night will feature special support bands, dj's and films. venue capacity is limited. tickets are on sale, priced £17.50, from the ica box office to personal callers, by phone on 020 7930 3647 or online: www.ica.org.uk (although there doesn't seem to be anything on the website yet). in addition to the belfast date, ticketmaster.ie now has tickets for a show at temple bar music centre, dublin on 7th january 2006. further details on the forthcoming album have also been published. the record, recording at mogwai's own 'castle of doom' studio in glasgow with tony doogan, was mastered last week in new york with greg calbi, and is 43 mins 7 seconds long. in a break from mogwai tradition, the album will be preceded by a single. -rob
making plans for nigel. well, craig anyway	31/10/05
rock action records news: new part chimp single - new cross (rockact25cd) will now be released on 28th november. featuring brand new material - 'new cross', 'dirty water' and a tremendous 9 minute epic 'and hell is behind me', it's coming out in a lovely ltd. edition digipack and there should be a video to go along with it...so there!? new part chimp video - we've literally just been handed the master tape of the new part chimp promo clip. it's for the 'war machine' single taken from the 'i am come' record and it looks great. hopefully you'll see it on mtv2 soon. feel free to request them to play it at mtv2europe.com, and by all means badger them to play it on their other shows. seriously! in other news, rock action/part chimp are teaming up with the lovely people at gringo/johnson family/southern to do a 4 label/4 band split single. it's in the pipeline just now but will be hella great...bands involved are part chimp, todd, lords and hey colossus, so you can start getting excited about it now. part chimp finish their uk tour on monday 31st: eat your own ears and cargo present part chimp, bullet union + comanechi + notorious hi fi killers rock action djs cargo, 83 rivington st, kingsland viaduct, shoreditch, london, ec2a 3ay errors have just completed their brand new ep for rock action, currently scheduled for a february '06 release. it sounds awesome...more info to come with details and videos. november sees them return to their studio to start work on new material for the debut errors album due for '06. check them out on mary anne hobbs 'breezeblock' show on november 15th: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/dance/breezeblock/ errors are also going to be working alongside glasgow based directors forest of black on a soundtrack for their new project with glasgow school of art. rock action are pleased to announce that they will be releasing chris brokaw's new record 'incredible love' on january 16th...more information about this tremendous record to follow in the coming months. you can also befriend rock action records through the rupert murdoch-owned myspace: http://www.myspace.com/rockactionrecords -rob
black keys	31/10/05
according to the poptones website, there's a song on the forthcoming mogwai album called 'black keys'. -rob
belfast show in january	28/10/05
ticketmaster.ie has tickets for a mogwai show at spring & airbrake, belfast on 8th january 2006 - part of a wider tour? let's hope so! thanks, james. -rob

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