Music review: Mogwai and Warpaint in FebFest 2014

There is an inexplicable sense of bewilderment that one gets from watching a post-rock band’s collective genius live.

When Scottish band Mogwai concluded their Manila set with the staggering, slow burning “Mogwai Fear Satan” last Thursday, I couldn’t tell if I was feeling pleasure or torment. But it was moving. And I know it’s too early to say at this point, but Mogwai's performance could be one the best foreign rock concerts in Manila this year.

Thank you, Satan!

Mogwai headlined the first half of this year’s two-day FebFest music festival presented by RandomMinds production. The band kicked off with  “Heard About You Last Night,” a track off their 2014 album “Rave Tapes.”

Hailed as forefathers of post-rock, Mogwai formed in Glasgow in 1995. They are Dominic Aitchison (bass) Martin Bulloch (drums), Barry Burns (guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizer, flute, vocals) Stuart Leslie Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), and John Cummings (guitar).

I discovered their debut album “Mogwai Young Team” in 2005, nearly a decade after it was released. Along with works from bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Slint, the album ushered in an obsessive hunt for more of their kind of music. Through Mogwai, I found life-changing music in the form of Sigur Rós, Explosions in the Sky (who played in Manila last year), Caspian (who will play in Manila this year), God is an Astronaut, This Will Destroy You, and so on.

The band gave its Manila audience a little bit of everything. Most songs were from “Rave Tapes” (including the “Master Card,” and “The Lord is Out of Control”), but there were also a few tracks from 2013’s “Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will” (“White Noise” and “How to Be a Werewolf”).

They even gave us a taste of the old albums, like a song from their decade-old “Happy Songs For Happy People” (“Hunted by a Freak”) and another from “The Hawk is Howling,” ("I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead").

The FebFest audience paid close attention—the attentiveness warranted by music where vocals are replaced by textured and ambient guitar work, and experimental electronics and samples. I was eagerly drowning in the middle of the band’s set when I noticed that people around me were listening with eyes closed or while looking at the floor or ceiling.

Many of the instrumental songs start off quiet, and then slowly pulsate—sometimes evoking limitless images of landscapes—and then peaks. With Mogwai, it’s always the wonderful kind of exhausting.

The monologue recited at the beginning of “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home,” which is lifted from an article written about the band, couldn’t have said it better: Mogwai is, indeed, "bigger than words and wider than pictures,” and that "if the stars had a sound, it would sound like this."

Dancing with Warpaint
    

Putting together two bands with very different styles and target audiences can be quite a gamble, but it worked with this particular festival. LA-based group Warpaint, who played before Mogwai, were also phenomenal from beginning to end.

After local act Eyedress warmed up the crowd, Emily Kokal (vocals, guitar), Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass, vocals), Stella Mozgawa (drums, vocals), and Theresa Wayman (guitar, vocals, keyboards) started off their set with “Keep It Healthy,” the first track off their eponymous, critically-acclaimed album, which was just released last month.

The members were hardly visible to the crowd during the entire set. It was mostly light shows onstage—one of the best parts being the orange and red lights creating silhouettes of the four members during “Love is to Die,” which helped build up the songs and provide an experience that differs from the usual style of having dressed up performers under the spotlight.

I have a personal, deep pining for new female-fronted acts in the same league as Bikini Kill, Sleater Kinney, Le Tigre and Yeah Yeah Yeahs before I discovered Warpaint. I don’t think I’ll put them under the punk rock Riot Grrrl category (which I hold in high regard), but their unique sound—guitar-based, melodic, alternately smooth and heavy—is a breath of fresh air.

The ethereal and danceable “Disco/Very” followed. Then, a Fleetwood Mac “Dreams” cover ushered in “Undertow,” off the band’s 2013 debut album “The Fool,” a track that has some eerie similarities with the melody of Nirvana’s “Polly” (the band later said in an interview that the song is actually an homage to the grunge band and Kurt Cobain).

After a lot of swaying and dancing (we tried, but the effortlessly cool Lindberg’s and Wayman’s hip shakes were hard to copy), the band concluded the show with “Elephants,” off the band’s 2006, John Frusciante-mixed EP “Exquisite Corpse.” With the success of the latest album as well as recent shows, I’m sure this band will keep doing great.

FebFest: Part II

I still cannot wrap my mind around some minor concert details, like the fashion photographers and the cordoned VIP section with bean bags that made it look like a misplaced beach hangout. But everyone seemed to have a great time. I know I did.

Some were there for only Warpaint, some just for Mogwai, but I’m guessing many exited the venue becoming a fan of the band they did not originally come to see.

The best part is, this is just the first half of the festival. This Thursday, it will be The National and Youth Lagoon, and if the Warpaint / Mogwai combo is any indication, the audience will be in for more good times and amazing rock music. — VC, GMA News