Additional tracks:

The box set included all three bonus tracks, Bad Magician 3 and Die 1 Dislike! on 12" vinyl and Tell Everybody That I Love Them on 7". Initial copies of both UK and US vinyl LP pressings included Tell Everybody That I Love Them on 7". Bad Magician 3 and Die 1 Dislike! were included on the Japanese CD as bonus tracks. All vinyl formats were accompanied by 320kbps mp3 downloads.

Charted at no.10 on the UK Album Chart, 26th January 2014, Mogwai's highest-ever chart placing. The week after, 2nd February 2014, Rave Tapes was at no.44.
Also no.1 in the Official Record Store Chart of sales through independent record stores.

International release dates

UK: 20th January 2014 - rock action
Japan: 17th January 2014 - hostess
USA: 21st January 2014 - sub pop
Australia: 17th January 2014 - spunk

Catalogue numbers

Stuart confirmed on the forum that an EP of the unreleased tracks will follow the album at some point.

Interviews

http://echoesanddust.com/2013/11/interview-barry-burns-of-mogwai

http://www.drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4147285-we-like-to-make-things-difficult-for-ourselves-dis-meets-mogwai

Box set

Rave Tapes was released as a limited edition box set, featuring LP, CD, cassette and download versions of the album, plus an exclusive 12" and a 7". Also included in the package was a book of studio photography by iconic photographer Steve Gullick shot during the recording sessions and 3 x 12" x 12" art prints. Two different t-shirts were also available - the black shirt with the Rock Action release and the grey shirt with the Sub Pop release.

Artwork

Creative Review ran a heavily-illustrated interview with designer Dave Thomas: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/november/cover-art-november

Rave Tapes is the fifth release designer Dave Thomas has worked on for Glasgow band Mogwai. The band usually have a photograph or film still in mind for artwork, he says, but for Rave Tapes, they were looking for something more graphic.

“It started with a few members sending me things that they liked visually as inspiration,” explains Thomas. Suggested visuals included old sci-fi illustrations and films – in particular, Phase IV, which was directed by Saul Bass. “Of course, that source material has been used a lot, so it was about [using it] in a way that the band felt was personal to them and represented their ideas,” he adds.

Thomas looked to the recurring shapes and motifs in 1960s and 70s sci-fi films - such as octagons - and when he discovered the album would be named Rave Tapes, began researching the design of analogue reel to reel tape boxes and diagrams of wave forms.

“I started to play with illustrations that took those shapes as a starting point and went back to the band with a number of designs, ranging from straight geometric patterns to something more illustrative and maybe inspired by a loose psychedelic of semi-abstract direction,” he says. “Initially I saw it all as very much a monotone world that the imagery existed in, but the band felt that having something more colourful would capture the mood of the album more."

Thomas worked with each member of Mogwai on the artwork - which he says is unusual for a band but "allows the design to go in interesting directions that otherwise might not have been taken".

He has created a series of designs to work alongside the central image - both the CD and LP versions come with a die cut in the front cover and interchangeable inserts which can be swapped to change the eye motif on the cover. A limited edition including a set of three art prints, a 7" laser etched disc, a pink 12" vinyl and a book of photographs taken by Steve Gullick while the band were recording the album will also be released in January.

http://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/album-artwork-week-mogwais-rave-tapes-11410332
http://www.keyproduction.co.uk/packaging/77

Mexican edition

Label: Arts & Crafts

Catalogue # ACMX087

Review from Norman Records, 16th Jan 2014

‘Rave Tapes’ is the eighth studio album from the Glasgow boys, pretty amazing really as personally I’ve watched them blossom from wee scamps back in the mid nineties to the stadium rock giants they are now (well almost!). From the opening track ‘Heard About You Last Night’ it’s truly evident that Mogwai have become masters of their craft, some would say this is a tried and tested formula but so many bands in the “post-rock” genre have come and gone over the last 15 years or so, Mogwai however seem to be here to stay whether you like it or not.

‘Rave Tapes’ is a much more urgent sounding record than it’s predecessor ‘Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will’, with the purely synth orientated ‘Remurdered’ being a standout track and the album as a whole being quite electronic sounding, ‘Deesh’ being another synth heavy dirge, ‘Rave Tapes’ certainly doesn’t do anything particularly surprising or groundbreaking but it’s Mogwai doing what they do best, like an old comforting armchair, you wouldn’t want it to be lumpy or uncomfortable would you?