Mogwai

Item: Government Commissions
Author: Peter Veness

Government Commissions

(2005)

Reviewed by Peter Veness

Discogs Apple Music

Label Rock ActionDecapolisMarch 2005

art rock experimental post-rock

When the voice of the late John Peel introduces any record it's wise to put all your money on the nose of the idea that you're about to experience something wonderfully special.

The former BBC radio host revered Mogwai, he invited them to play on his show repeatedly and those sessions are captured here, on the snappily titled Government Commissions.

Working well as both introduction to the Scottish post-rock pioneers and a live album, Government Commissions spans all of Mogwai's albums and several of their EPs. As with all media, the true interest is the silences. The band has left off the crunching beauty of Christmas Steps or the awkward, short warble of Oh! How the dogs stack up - both from Come on Die Young. Instead, concentrating on their most obvious anthems including the under recognised Superheroes of BMX.

Government Commissions proves, without hesitation, Mogwai are one of the truly mighty live forces in music today, they are occasionally overbearing and always intensely emotional.

Set around the tempest of Like Herod, the album shows what the band thinks is their best work. Unlike the soft and occasionally airy side of Mogwai (see Hunted By a Freak), Like Herod when not explosive and sonically impenetrable is heavy and ominous.

From the first squall of erupting guitars, the rhythm is as inescapable as the loss of hearing on your high end, for Mogwai should only ever be listened to loudly.

I wonder if Tony Blair understands exactly what he commissioned in Mogwai; a proud, inventive and bloody good band right at the top of their game.

3/4