New Mogwai LP: As Love Continues (Feb. 19, 2021) *

So bummed I ordered the violet pressing from Temp Residence and even though I’m less than an hour from them in Brooklyn it’s still “in transit”!

 

The WAV download from Bandcamp weighs in at just under 2GB. Sounds pretty ***king epic via the Oppo, too.

 

Really surprised at that. Is there not much else out this week?!

My CD copy is on its way. Love getting a new gwai album

 

I watched the stream last weekend and enjoyed it. Also enjoyed disc 1 of the new album but only when I played disc 2 (demos) did it strike me it still sounded like the Mogwai I fell in love with back in the 90s.

 

It’s a slow week for new releases, but regardless, “Mogwai’s #1 album” would be a nice honorific, so let’s do our part and buy the colored vinyl variants and the digital downloads and the tacky badges (well, maybe not the last one)...

 

Where did you order it from? Did you get deluxe?

 

Got the CD, only played it once so far as I have bought a lot of new stuff last week, so difficult to from an opinion but sounds solid from that one listen through.

When I saw the sales figures for Monday (which typically includes all the preorders) it seemed pretty low at just under 4K. But between Tuesday and Wednesday it has jumped from 4.8k to a pretty healthy 7.8k, so perhaps some preorders were not counted in the Monday release and they have now been added.

Has a good lead, seems unlikely that it could be caught in two days left.

 

Seems like there's nowhere to buy the 2CD version in the US? Hmmm!

 

My vinyl is lost in the mail apparently! Not happy to put it lightly

 

Officially the No1 album in the UK this week, and they didnt even have to release about 20 different coloured vinyl and 5 different cd versions to do it!

 

The download at Bandcamp is 24/96. Anyone who orders the CD or LP through Bandcamp will also get the 24/96 download.

I ordered the CD through Bandcamp. In part so I could compare the CD to the high-res. The high-res version sounds a little better than the CD. Mogwai is doing the recording, production, and mastering in a way that allows the high-res to sound better than CD. They know what they're doing.

 

Only just got the CD and played it once so far. The music is great as always, but a few of the songs do not sound good on the CD. Will play it some more and report back as I'm not sure which songs just yet, one listen in. A few songs just sounded a murky mess, and/or overly loud. I wasn't sure if it was just the Dave Fridmann thing, that made Every Country's Sun so over the top.

Why would they intentionally have the CD sound worse than other formats such as download / vinyl? I don't get why any band would do that?

 

Yeah, it’s really lovely for them to have that accolade of a number 1 album after all this time. Buying the CD means I contributed in a tiny way.

I’ve played it a few more times now and really enjoying it. Last night I had some peace from the family and was able to play it through the speakers, first time without headphones and it sounded so much better to me.

 

They aren't intentionally making the CD sound less good than the high-res. It's just that a properly done and well done recording will sound better in high-res than CD. Mogwai is doing their recordings well enough that the high-res version ends up sounding better than the CD version. I get more concerned about sound quality of the recording when the high-res version sounds the same as the CD. Then I wonder what they did during recording and production to mess that up.

Mogwai's sound is heavily compressed. It's the sound they're after and want. The DR numbers for the album tracks are 4, 5, and 6. Some things are going to sound murky because of that. Mogwai manages to pull it off without as much harm to the sound as you would otherwise expect with such low DR numbers.

I do think that Every Country's Sun has better sound quality than As the Love Continues. Despite Every Country's Sun having an even lower DR in the range of 3 to 5. Every Country's Sun has more drive and forward momentum in the sound and the playing. Every Country's Sun also sounds better in 24/96 high-res than the CD release. And more noticeably so than As the Love Continues. I don't know why. I wonder if the remote and distanced production and studio work due to covid affected that.

Since I'm discussing sound quality I'll mention that I'm listening on headphones. Good headphone and good gear. But headphones.
Gear used is Cavalli Liquid Fire headphone amp, Schiit Gungnir multibit DAC, Audeze LCD-2 headphones.

 

And with a new Arab Strap album out too it’s a great time for Scottish music....

 

I ordered the deluxe vinyl off their website but it’s apparently been sitting ‘ready to depart’ a British airport for a week & a half now. (I’m currently hoping the tracking is just wrong and it will turn up soon without warning. Given how much I paid for shipping, this slowness is a bit disappointing.)

Anyway, I love the first two singles - especially 'Dry Fantasy' - but have stayed away from the videos of other songs and streaming so far. Am listening to random bits from their back catalogue while I wait. (Incidentally, what an odd little release the Earth Division ep is. I wonder what was the story behind those songs & that release.)

 

I bought both the deluxe CD and the iTunes Apple Digital Master mp3 download (a steal for only £4.99!) and the iTunes version sounds much better.

 

And the song ‘Earth Division’ isn’t even on it, though it is excellent. It’s on a V/A comp on also on their own ‘Central Belters’ comp

 

I'm a bit confused by their catalog - how many actual studio albums are they up to?

 

If you mean, excluding soundtracks & compilations, they now have ten:
Young Team
Come On Die Young
Rock Action
Happy Songs For Happy People
Mr Beast
The Hawk Is Howling
Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Rave Tapes
Every Country's Sun
As the Love Continues

however you could plausibly include the following soundtracks as basically extra studio albums:
Zidane
Les Revenants
Atomic
Kin
ZeroZeroZero

and also the compilations Ten Rapid (early singles) and EP+6 (early EPs), which collect entirely non-album tracks (several of which are essential).

... then there’s the later EPs, the remix albums, live albums and other compilations...

 

Thank you - and that is why I'm confused about discography!

I lost touch with these guys after Mr. Beast and was a bit overwhelmed looking online.

 

I was much the same a few years ago, so I know the feeling... and it’s only gotten worse since then as they’ve massively increased their soundtrack work! All their albums have merit - they’ve not made a bad one - but if you’re looking to catch up, I’d recommend the Central Belters compilation (covers through to Rave Tapes) and the live albums Special Moves & 2018.

 

So, Frank Arkwright cut the UK vinyl and Bob Weston cut the US version. I wonder if there is much difference between the two.

 

Thank you - it helps clear things up. @jamesc was even more confused than me.

 

I saw that too I’m still awaiting my pre ordered violet vinyl and saw that the US versions are RTI and Chicago, while the uk/Europe are Pallas...