Mogwai
No Education=No Future (Fuck The Curfew) EP
Chemikal Underground

It seems like it has been a busy year for Cpt. Meat (John: guitar, bass, piano), pLasmatroN (Stuart: guitar, piano), Demonic (Dominic: bass) and Bionic (Martin: drums); the lads of Mogwai. This summer they've been touring, played various festivals over Europe, as well as released the single/minialbum Mogwai Fear Satan remixes and the remix-album Kicking A Dead Pig, with a number of different cooks (Kevin Shields, Arab Strap, Hood, Third Eye Foundation, plus others) in charge of the knobs and tools in the kitchen of sound. Here's an EP with new material, maybe to tell us something about what their next album will be like.

No Education... sort of continues the space-tales from their brilliant debut album of last year; Young Team. Track one is called Xmas Steps, and yet again I hear the beauty and the beast in Twin Peakish surroundings. The steps Mogwai take are gentle and quiet, before running wild in a fuzz-stenched bass-o-rama. Then again they tone things down to smooth comfort, beautifully accompanied by the violin of Luke Sutherland (of Long Fin Killie). Rollerball is not what the title implies, or what you expect it to be. It's one of Mogwai's quietest moments, like something that could've been presented in a cool and relaxed cocktail lounge. The third cut, Small Children In The Background, is more like a typical Mogwai song. Slowly building upwards, peaking at a controlled crescendo, before returning down to the ground. Not being groundbreaking. Not bad, in fact quite OK. Nothing more. A bit unfulfilled maybe, and it makes me wonder; what's up next?

Copyright © 1998 Håvard Oppøyen