TEN RAPID (COLLECTED RECORDINGS 1996-1997)

Before MOGWAI's quick ascent to the top of the post-rock world with the release of its debut album "Mogwai Young Team," the Scottish band released a compilation of tracks that were recorded in 1996-97 that preceded its career and was comprised of various singles and unreleased material that they released as TEN RAPID early in 1997. The album finds MOGWAI in its infancy as it carves out its own niche within the world of post-rock that officially was christened into existence with the declaration of a new rock genre with the release of Bark Psychosis' 1994 debut "Hex."

TEN RAPID finds the band already having established its core sound of guitar-based instrumentals that feature melodic bass grooves and the use of distortion and effects that offer the dynamic contrasts that the band continued with its long canon of releases that followed. The album featured nine tracks that generated the expected cyclical loops, patiently delivered build ups and thundering crescendoes which in the case of TEN RAPID featured louder and more rocking aspects of guitar distortion with the occasional outbursts of high energy freneticism. In the case of "Tuner" guitarist Stuart Braithwaite also added vocal accompaniments.

Generating the same sort of hypnotizing effect that many slow-burning post-rock bands deliver, TEN RAPID doesn't offer sprawling tracks with climactic endings like contemporary acts such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor but rather short poignant ones that pacify your senses before pummeling them into submission at least on select tracks like "Ithaca 27-9." The main focus on TEN RAPID seems to be on the myriad tones and textures afforded by modern technologies that allow various shades of nuances of distortion, feedback and warm tones eking out emotional responses to otherwise rather simplistic slowcore styled compositions that to the inattentive ear will sound dull and overly repetitive.

Considered to be the debut album by some and a compilation to others, TEN RAPID is more of a supplemental album's worth of material that hallmarked the band's development as it became an influential act in the world of late 90s post-rock but really the tracks on here aren't anything to get overly excited about as they don't deviate from the band's usual repertoire that followed. While many went gaga over MOGWAI in the early 2000s personally i've never warmed up to them in the way i have to other more engaging post-rock bands of the same era due to the rather bland delivery system this band more or less has coasted on for well over a quarter of a century now.

Infinitely less experimental than Swans, Talk Talk or Sigur Ros, MOGWAI started out and has remained a more stripped down post-rock type of act that has accented the tonal swells that ebb and flow throughout its rather monotonous processions. While TEN RAPID offers a bit more of an extreme contrast between the soft and the heavy, it's basically MOGWAI in its already established form. It's a pleasant listening experience but not one that really gets my juices flowing for the same reason the majority of the band's subsequent releases fail to inspire me. For those already indoctrinated into the MOGWAI cult, this one will surely provide a much needed extra dose of slightly augmented MOGWAI tracks but to my ears the extremes distract from the main purpose of what MOGWAI offered on its spacier albums that followed.