Mogwai: Rock Action : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Still blurring the theoretical line between symphony and rock, Mogwai's latest effort solidifies the Glaswegian outfit's cult credibility. Eschewing the sprawling, double-album ethos that marked the group's early entries into indie rock, Rock Action is also more concentrated and less elliptical. Not that the group's recombinant post-rock squiggles have vanished entirely. "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong," in many ways the album's centerpiece, features a gorgeously warped blend of programming and banjo, while a one-minute burst of post-industrial squawk ("Robot Chant" sneaks in neatly between the daring, hypnotic "You Don't Know Jesus" and "2 Rights." Other new developments in Mogwai-ville include more vocals. Co-founding guitarist Stuart Braithwaite mumbles his way through a track or three, while Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys sprinkles Welsh verse in the aching strings-fueled "Dial: Revenge." Given Mogwai's debt to Slint's dynamic prowess, indie-rock genealogists won't be too surprised to find that group's David Pajo turning up to sing backups on "Take Me Somewhere Nice." Rock Action is Mogwai's intelligent and haunting hybrid of tradition and revisionism. (MARK WOODLIEF -- April 24, 2001)