This album makes me grin from ear to ear. Which is no bad thing when you’re working.
The title’s always amused me too. Even more so when I found out where it came from – an overheard conversation in an off-licence. Apparently, some teenager just came out with it after the shopkeeper refused to serve him. You don’t get that in Tesco.
The music itself is a 6-pack of sound. Crashing drums. Rampant guitar riffs. Hammering bass lines. Stabbed keyboard patterns. It really shouldn’t be any good to write words to. But because it’s all woven together by weirdly beautiful melodies, it makes for an uplifting soundtrack for happily hammering at a keyboard.
Okay, it probably won’t work for everyone. In fact, some of you may end up reaching for ear plugs during some of the livelier moments. Stick with it though, and you’ll end up with ear worms instead.
Mogwai of course named themselves after the character in Gremlins. It means ‘evil spirit’ or ‘devil’ in Cantonese. Makes sense. As the proverb says, the Devil has all the best tunes. 😈