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Jan 21, 2014Once adjusted to the band's change in dynamics, you're left with the distinct feeling that this is perhaps their most engrossing effort since the Young Team's debut.
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Jan 16, 2014It is perhaps the most immediate and musically diverse album they’ve recorded.
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Jan 14, 2014Mogwai’s newest offering, Rave Tapes, is a brooding masterpiece of a record.
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Q MagazineJan 28, 2014They sound leaner and more quietly aggressive than ever--a streamlined, seething version of themselves. [Feb 2014, p.118]
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Jan 24, 2014Each record provides exactly what you want (and a little bit more) and this should be applauded. Whether you're a seasoned fan or only just discovering the band for the first time Rave Tapes deserves a spot in your collection.
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MojoJan 23, 2014Rave Tapes does not find Mogwai colonising new territory, but that seems fair when their own stretch of land is still giving up such gold. [Feb 2014, p.89]
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Jan 23, 2014Rave Tapes is a diverse and supremely confident record.
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Jan 22, 2014Rave Tapes is the sound of a band equally unafraid to strike out in a markedly different direction, one confident in its voice and skills in a way that, along with the quality and control of the songs here, speaks well for Mogwai’s future.
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Jan 21, 2014Mogwai’s nuanced focus is largely dependent upon the illusion of synthetic expansion rather than their trademarked barebones guitar-band meandering on Rave Tapes.
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Jan 21, 2014Best of all, though, is the opener “Heard About You Last Night”. Though typically methodical, it glows with a kind of staid, epiphanic inner-beauty, the most elegant, graceful thing they’ve ever recorded.
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Jan 21, 2014Rave Tapes is a cohesive piece of work, its perspective blended despite variance in approach.
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Jan 21, 2014Their eighth album proper is clearly designed to be played very loud indeed; the tension here comes from the interplay of taut structure and fierce bursts of noise.
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Jan 21, 2014This album is not just exciting for its sound, but for what it promises too.
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Jan 17, 2014Rave Tapes may not be their definitive album, and even if that never comes, it adds another clutch of undeniably brilliant songs to their arsenal. The hawk is very much still howling.
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Jan 17, 2014Rave Tapes may not see them moving too far from their widescreen template but it’s an assured record that sees them draw from right across their rich palette of textures.
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Alternative PressJan 17, 2014[Rave Tapes is] some of the prettiest work they've recorded. [Feb 2014, p.92]
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Jan 16, 2014Mogwai, those consistent providers of dirge and delicate depression, have made an excellent follow up to 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, on which they seem to be recalling a rave of sorts.
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UncutJan 15, 2014A powerful and accomplished album. [Feb 2014, p.78]
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Jan 14, 2014An apt step forward, Rave Tapes finds its makers matching grace and irreverence, noise and beauty with the don’t-give-a-f*ck bravado of people who can only know better.
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Jan 21, 2014Though it’s great that the years haven’t sapped the group’s energy, this record’s greatest achievement is putting seasoned songwriting abilities to good use.
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Jan 14, 2014Rave Tapes doesn’t quite reach the euphoric heights of Hardcore Will Never Die, but it is an elaborate and intelligent album from a group that isn’t interested in grabbing their listeners by the scruff of their collective neck anymore; instead, today’s Mogwai are purveyors of nuance and subtlety, and fine ones at that.
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Jan 29, 2014Though not perfect, Rave Tapes shows a band comfortable in the expansion of their sound.
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Jan 21, 2014Rave Tapes doesn’t stray far from the Mogwai comfort zone, but nor is it the sound of a band clapped out. Nineteen years in, there are still crescendos left to climb.
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Jan 21, 2014On their eighth album, they go with what they know.
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Jan 21, 2014Rave Tapes takes a while to hit its stride, but it delivers plenty of moments to keep fans intrigued once it does.
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Jan 14, 2014It’s not that Rave Tapes is disappointing, it’s just underwhelming--but it’s beautiful enough that maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe.
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Jan 23, 2014More than a decade out from the band’s shift into electronic music and their reinvention as what at times seems to be a soundtrack band, it’s hard to tell if Mogwai have aged well or just sort of boringly mellowed.
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Jan 21, 2014So far, so Mogwai. However, a few surprises have been chucked in, too.
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Jan 21, 2014Mogwai’s cautionary approach all but drowns out the faint echoes of the once brave band struggling to get out from within.
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Jan 21, 2014Rave Tapes sees Mogwai doing what they do best in the way they’ve always done it. For better or worse, this is archetypical Mogwai.
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Feb 4, 2014Sadly, post-rock heroes Mogwai continue to plod along by either replicating their former triumphs in a less effective, less effecting, and generally sheeny-shinier manner or by loafing around with the cack-handed utilization of "progressive" electronic elements.
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Jan 21, 2014They are pros, the best at what they do, but this is running on empty.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 31 out of 45
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Mixed: 11 out of 45
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Negative: 3 out of 45
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Jan 21, 2014
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Jan 21, 2014
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Jan 26, 2014