Search - Mogwai :: Young Team

Now is the time to (re)visit one of indie rock's most epocha

Aquarius Records | San Francisco | 05/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is it! The one. The record that launched a MILLION other records. Half the bands I love and freak out about wouldn't even exist if it weren't for THIS RECORD. Or if they did, they sure as heck wouldn't sound the way they do. Sure there was Spiderland. And the theory that everyone who heard Spiderland started a band. And the Pixies. Same thing. And let's not forget Nirvana. Between Slint, Nirvana and the Pixies, the template for angsty loud/soft indie rock was pretty much defined FOREVER. Until Young Team that is.



Mogwai most definitely owed a huge debt to the above mentioned big three, but there was just something special about Young Team. The ultimate brooding post rock stumble into massive epic metallic crush record I had ever heard. This is heavy, but oh so pretty, dark and romantic, but also creepy and seriously ominous sounding. Soft, super blissed-out meandering almost-ambient soundscapes, dark brooding passages of near silence, eventually shattered into a million pieces by bursts of frenzied, rhythmic noise a la Godflesh, crushing and metallic and machinelike, but always ready to drift and fade back into soft swooning tranquility. But even the loud heavy parts are strangely melodic and ridiculously catchy.



This record is so f-cking great. Even now, a decade after it was first released, and after I've heard about a million bands do their own versions of Young Team. Maybe the best way to really drive home how massive and amazing and incredibly influential this record is, would be to list a handful of bands who would probably not exist, at least not in their present forms, if it weren't for this record. No disrespect to any of these groups AT ALL (I love them every single one of them) but you gotta give credit where credit is due... the sons of Mogwai include Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Isis, Timeout Drawer, Snowblood, the Ocean, Magyar Posse, Gregor Samsa, Aereogramme, This Is Your Captain Speaking, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, Pelican, Mono, Grails, Tarentel, Jimmy Cake, Switchblade, Minsk, Conifer, Tides, Eden Maine, Rosetta, Red Sparrowes, Indian, Baroness, Cult Of Luna, Mouth Of The Architect and I could go on and on.



So if you love any or all of the above mentioned bands, and how could you not, and you've somehow never heard Young Team, you are in for it in a big beautiful way! Now's your chance. Don't blow it. You will not be sorry. As for the rest of you, who for one reason or another just haven't listened to Young Team in years, lent it, lost it or whatever, now is the time to revisit one of indie rock's most epochal releases, you just may very well have forgotten how devastatingly fantastic this record is!"

Amazing

John Q. Smith | West Texas | 04/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The newer post rock genre has its many faults, pretentious, boring, and depressing. Mogwai attempts to transcend this partly because of there father of the genre status and there shorter songs that a tight and faced paced. Young Team is a master peace. Probably there best album but hardest to listen too. They do fall into the pitfalls of the genre the music is very very on the sad mellow side, there best song on the album(my opinion) Mogwai Fear Satan is about a pretentious a rock song can get, but they are never boring."

One of the best from Mogwai.

Elizabeth L. Hyzy | Buffalo, NY | 10/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Mogwai's debut album, but it is also one of their best and helped to define what their sound is. It features many songs that have a development of quiet and loud, and most are instrumental (with the exception of R U Still In 2 It). This is a must-hear if you like newer Mogwai and want to find out what they were like in the beginning. Highly recommended for anyone who likes post-rock or instrumental music as well.



Many excellent songs here:

Katrien

Summer (Priority Version)

R U Still In 2 It

Mogwai Fear Satan"