Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 08/09/08
Label: Wall Of Sound

Strange bunch, Mogwai. Took what was already a recognisable and established formula (Slint, "Spiderland", released in 1991), beefed it up slightly, developed a rampant ego, and then just did the same thing again and again, pretty much, convinced they were blazing brave new trails in music. Depending on your mood, their sonic barrage could (almost literally) blow you away live, or leave you feeling like they were a one trick pony. It was up to you. They were always the same.

To their credit, "Batcat" is not that. A rock song rather than a post-rock one, it's the backing to a long lost Tool (formed in 1990) track, played with typical bone-headed determination. It sounds fantastic, as every Mogwai song does before you start thinking about it. So again, how highly you rate this depends on how much slack you want to cut Stuart Braithwaite and company. And how irritating you found Braithwaite's latest outburst. Today, we like it.

    by Ian Watson