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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
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Happy Songs For Happy People
by Mogwai
Don't let the title fool you; the Glaswegian instrumental post-rockers are just as dour as ever on this fourth studio LP.
| LABEL: |
Matador |
| RELEASE DATE: |
17 June 2003 |
| DISCS: |
1 disc |
| GENRE(S): |
Indie, Rock |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Playlouder
This is Mogwai distilled to their essence, and the result is an album of huge power, emotional depth and feeling, with vocals submerged under a claustrophobic blanket of effects and guitars battling with viola, cello, violin and piano. It's just as Eno as it is S***t, and all the greater for that.
100
Alternative Press
A sonically cinematic experience that will leave the listener feeling at once elated and emotionally drained. [Aug 2003, p.94]
100
PopMatters
In the end, Happy Songs might sound like Mogwai's earlier work or be unapproachable to the listener who spends his time chilling in Sam Goody, but that doesn't mean it's not one of the most amazing albums of the year.
100
Mojo
Represents an ultramodern rock masterpiece, low-key yet ominous, offering new yet comforting ways of singing familiar tunes. [Jul 2003, p.98]
90
Junkmedia
Happy Songs is epic and subtle, technically savvy and emotionally charged and visceral all at once -- in short, it's a summary of everything that is great about Mogwai's music.
82
Stylus Magazine
The highlights would be far better suited to lesser status on a great album, and turning away from the impressive vocal performances of Rock Action to fully retreat into vocoders and hushed mumbling is a step backwards. [Note: Score listed is an average of two separate reviews, scoring 91 and 72.]
82
ShakingThrough.net
May well come to be regarded as Mogwai's graduation from unproven Young Team to mature, veteran rock outfit.
80
New Musical Express
Their most intriguing, beautiful and dazzling record to date.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Happy Songs finds middle ground between brevity and meandering.
80
Dot Music
What really makes this record engaging is that the simmering tension often chooses not to explode, yet somehow it works.
80
Splendid
Though the group largely downplays their skull-splitting excesses, their songs resonate with a fury that a lifetime worth of broken power-chords couldn't match.
80
Q Magazine
They've crucially learned that musical light and shade need not only be flaring explosions, but melodic sunrises too. [Jul 2003, p.109]
80
Dusted Magazine
Moving well beyond the claustrophobic and listless tendencies of earlier releases and doing away with their predictably two-dimensional dynamics, this is Mogwai's strongest album to date.
80
All Music Guide
With Happy Songs for Happy People, Mogwai gets to have it both ways -- it's ironic and sincere, concise and expansive, challenging and accessible, and it's one of the band's best albums, no two ways about it.
73
Almost Cool
Several of the shorter tracks feel like little more than filler.
71
Pitchfork
The Stephen Kings of menacing post-rock, it seems that in absence of Young Team's glorious cacophany their tremendous build-up often comes to nothing. And it sounds as though they've come to terms with that.
70
Uncut
Refines their grandiose panoramics via electronic gurgles and glitches. [Jul 2003, p.111]
70
Rolling Stone
The music by bands on this kind of eternal blissful bummer trip walks a fine line between bewitching and dire; in the case of Mogwai, it's usually the former.
50
Austin Chronicle
Happy Songs for Happy People offers many of the thrills of Rock Action, but without the diversity and succinctness that made that album shine.
The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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