Mogwai (because that's who I was listening to on the way to work at 5am)

I have a love/hate thing with Mogwai. On one hand they are an amazing band with a sonic wall of sound vibe. As well naming themselves after a cute cuddly fictitious creature.  On the the other, they stole my idea.
Back when I was a teenager, I thought it would be cool to start an instrumental band that was sonicly beautiful, yet loud as fuck. Then, years later, I discover Mogwai. I'm not saying they sound exactly like how I heard it in my head when I was 16, but pretty darn close. But what can I say. I missed my window and hence plenty of great instrumental bands have come along sense (Dif Juz, MONO, The Fucking Champs, etc...). I do like to tell myself that no one would have gotten it back in '86, so I'm just glad someone else came along and did it.
I know Mogwai have had the tunes with vocals as well, but their non-vocal tracks are by far the best. And the best part of being a band with no words means you can call the songs anything you want. In Mogwai's case you have "I Know What You Are But What Am I?" or  I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School", "Mogwai Fear Satan." I mean they could have a song called "Fluffy Bunny" and it would sound like they where going to drive it off a cliff in a flaming car. Then they would have a song that was soft and pretty and you want to smile and be happy when you hear it and the track is called "Retarded Velociraptor Falling Off A Swing." You get what I mean. It's brilliant. It's funny.
I've read that they say Slint is one of there big influences, which I think is cool seeing as Mogwai is from Scotland and Slint broke up long before Mogwai formed. I think death metal is another, which makes sense to me because I want to write pretty songs when I'm listening to metal too. I can't say I've heard any band prier to Mogwai that sound the way they do, but I'm sure they are out there. Now I like (japanese band) MONO, but they sound A LOT like Mogwai to me. They definitely were listening to a lot of Mogwai when they started. I could be wrong, but...
If you haven't seen them live, you should. It's like getting hit in the chest with a blast of sound. AND they are loud as fuck. They are the only band that I've seen where I didn't mind wearing ear plugs, because I honestly think it help them sound better. That and the fact that I would have had ringing in my ears for days after.
Well I'm done for now. Maybe I'll explore this topic again someday. Maybe that will be a thing with this blog. If I Feel the need to expand on a topic more, I'll just do it. Why not.
In the mean time, enjoy!

~Colin