Il y a quelques jours de cela, me voilà encore une fois frappé d’insomnie. C’est drôle quand j’y songe, en remontant de pas grand-chose dans le temps, au cours de mes années lycée, je me couchais, j’avais un mal de dos à en crever à tel point que cela faisait mal de s’allonger, le temps que la douleur passe. Puis, je dormais. Je ne rêvais pas (du moins, dans plus de 80% des cas, je n’en avais aucun souvenir), je colmatais rarement. J’ai toujours eu le sommeil léger, c’est une chose, mais je ne souffrais pas d’insomnie en ce temps-là. Plus les années passent, plus cela devient commun, et je crois que les mois sans une nuit d’insomnie devienne rare. Mais bon, tout ceci ne doit être que psychologique, et je n’ai pas les moyens de me payer un psy, alors je dors moins bien et j’ai quelques insomnies à l’occasion.

Dans ces cas-là, on prend le livre et cela finit avec de la musique. Cette fois-ci, j’ai pris le dernier National Geographic, même si je n’ai toujours pas lu le numéro du mois précédent. Il avait pour lui d’avoir pas mal d’images. J’en ai lu les ¾.

Et puis, je prends le baladeur, et j’écoute Mogwai. Et pour être précise l’album Mr Beast. L’incontournable album de mes nuits d’insomnie. Il est toujours sur mon baladeur, quoi qu’il arrive ou que j’aille. Je le connais par cœur. Certaines musiques sont associés à certains état d’esprit. Quand je suis malade, j’écoute Transatlanticism de Death Cab. Quand je fais le ménage, je mets souvent Robbie Williams. Quand je révisais, Saint Germain passait. Quand j’ai une insomnie, j’écoute Mogwai.

Je crois que l’album Mr Beast est mon préféré du groupe. Un incontournable de mon existence. De ceux dont je ne me lasse jamais.

Voici un petit échantillon, mes trois morceaux favoris :

Emergency Trap, álbum Mr. Beast (2006), Mogwai

(vídeo não oficial)

My initial intent in starting this blog was as an avenue to rant about politics and world affairs and super interesting and intelligent things like that. Instead, all I feel like writing about at the moment is how much I am enjoying listening to a certain Mogwai album. Mr. Beast, specifically. Admittedly, I have not been the best Mogwai fan ever – after they released the My Father the King ep, I completely lost interest in them. I love that ep, but everything I’ve heard after that release has, in my mind, ranged from super boring to terrible shit…and that’s just no good. But here I have this Mr. Beast record playing and I think it is pretty gawd-damn good. Amazing, one might say. And that Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait soundtrack they did is also a fine thing. And I picked up that new record, The Hawk is Howling, but I have not listened to it, yet. I think I will pretty soon, though. And rest assured, there will be a 10% chance that I will take the time to sit down and write a little blog thingy about it.

I wonder…I wonder why I am doing this. I mean, why I am I starting up a blog again? For a few years, like ten years ago or something, I had a Live Journal within which I regularly brooded, and for reasons I don’t remember and are likely as interesting and edifying to share as the rest of this entry, I stopped writing in it. Hmm. Hmm. hmmhmm hmm. What makes one wanna share and share anonymously? What’s compelling me to want to write publicly, in the vaguest of terms, about how awesome I think a Mogwai album is, the plight of the Palestinian people and what my cat did today? Where am I going with this? Do I have a point? Do I need one? Why am I asking these questions? Why do I actually want the answers? Why do I think so much? And why can’t those thoughts form in a more linear way? Dang… How is it that turning on Mogwai inspired such a sophomoric train wreck of half-assed thoughts revolving around the edges of my brainpan? What the fuck?

Oh, my! So now I am listening to the Hawk is Howling and this is nice! It is making me think that Mogwai have been very naughty with a kind of laziness these last few years, because this album is fucking great! And this is what I have loved about Mogwai in the beginning: that wide range of spacial and glorious noise accented by quiet minimalism, all of it dreamy, all of it rock. Dreamy Rock songs. I like dreamy rock songs. I do. Why were they not doing things like this all along? It is fucking great.

Speaking of fucking great! In the last 18 days 971 Palestinians have been killed by Israel including 311 children & 100 women, 4281 injured. Brilliant, move by Israel. Nothing says “working towards peace” like years of blockades preventing basic, every day essentials from entering Gaza and a disproportionate military response to rocket attacks that initially killed one person. It’s not like I think Hamas is some glorious organization, or even working in the best interests of the Palestinian people, but what the fuck? There really is no reasonable explanation to what is going on there – it just boils down to pure, unadulterated hatred, and why the United States feels compelled to support Israel to the tune of $3 billion a year makes so sense at all, especially considering that it is of no economic or strategic importance to the United States. Not that strategic or economic importance should be the primary motive for supporting the stability of another country. Ideally, United States foreign policy, in the form of economic assistance, wouldn’t be based purely on strategic or economic self-interests. But, alas, that is the MO of the USA today and yesterday and in the instance economic support for Israel, US foreign policy makes not one bit of fucking sense.

Download:

- The Hawk Is Howling (2008)

- Mr. Beast (2006)

- Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006)

- Happy Songs For Happy People (2003)

- Rock Action (2001)

- Come on Die Young (1999)

- Young Team (1997)

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Información: No hay que poner mucha info de esta banda, todo un clásico, desde 1995 dando guerra.

Enlaces: Mogwai en last.fm

Género: Post Rock

Año: 2006

Descarga: Mogwai | Mr. Beast

as swedish musician kristoffer ragnstam shares with our readers, the song he’s waking up to now is “acid food”, taken off mogwai’s mr beast album. it’s funny he’s chosen the least noisy song from that album, going for the finely laid out textures on the song over the denser sound we all know mogwai for. in a way, his new album wrong side of the room, just released by the friendly guys at bluhammock music, is just as counter-intuitive. while his swedish pop counterparts consistently exude their typical coolness in delivery, ragnstam chooses instead to have as much fun as he wants, even to the brink of being unfashionable. “swing that tamborine”, for example, begins with such earnestness you wonder if this guy’s for real. but it wastes no time in winning your heart over when the light, if naive, opening makes way for an exuberant singalong party which finally ends in a dreamy car ride home.

mp3: kristoffer ragnstam – swing that tamborine

Mogwai. Mr. Beast. Eine Bestie von Album. Ich habe die CD heute nicht zum ersten mal gehört, und ich fand sie auch schon immer wirklich gut. Großartig sogar. Aber ihre wirkliche Schönheit offenbarte sich mir erst heute, als ich sie im Bett liegend, in der sanfte rote Licht einer IKEA-Lampe getaucht, das Album mit geschlossenen Augen hörte.

Es gibt Musik, die einem einfach Bilder in den Kopf zaubert, die zu beschreiben man eigentlich garnicht erst versuchen sollte. Bei Mr. Beast war es eine wahre Bilderflut. Fallen, stürzen, von der höchsten Klippe in den tiefsten Abgrund, wehmütig der eben abgesprungenen Klippe hinterherschauend, voll furcht voraus in der ungewisse Dunkel der Tiefe schauen. Der Wind peitscht einem ins Gesicht, dann wieder schwebt man auf einer Wolke, genießt die Freiheit, fliegt durch die Luft und dann doch wieder abwärts. Gespannt was kommt, das endlose dunkle Nichts, der weite Ozean, oder das sichere Ende nach einem langen Sturz.

Das klingt alles nach einem brutal übertrieben-kitschigen Fanboy-Review, aber ein Fanboy bin ich sicher nicht. Mr. Beast ist bisher das einzige Album das ich von der Band kannte, und wie eingangs beschrieben, habe ich es auch bereits mehrmals gehört. Doch nie war das Erlebnis so intensiv wie heute. Nie hatte ich mich so auf die Musik konzentriert, die Melodien, die Arrangements, die Dramatik. In meinem Magen hatte ich noch eine Stunde danach ein wohlig mulmiges Gefühl.

Dieses Jahr habe ich die Band auf dem Hurricane gesehen. Dort fand ich sie gut, aber ehrlich gesagt auch ein klein wenig langweilig. Wahrscheinlich weil ich ihnen zugeschaut habe, und nicht der Musik.