LIKE HEROD

{{Song_infobox
| Name = Like Herod |
| Cover = Mogwaiyoungteam.jpg |
| Artist = Mogwai |
| Album = Young Team |
| Released = 21 October 1997
| track_no = 2 |
| Recorded = MCM Studios
Hamilton, Scotland|
| Genre = Post-rock
Instrumental rock |
| Length = 11:39 |
| Writer = |
| Label = Chemikal Underground
Jetset
| Producer = Paul Savage|
| [ Chart position = ] |
| Tracks =
# "Yes! I Am a Long Way from Home"
# "'Like Herod'"
# "Katrien"
# "Radar Maker"
# "Tracy"
# "Summer (Priority Version)"
# "With Portfolio"
# "R U Still in 2 It"
# "A Cheery Wave from Stranded Youngsters"
# "Mogwai Fear Satan"
| Misc =
"'Like Herod'" is a song by Scottish Post-rock Mogwai from their 1997 debut studio album, ''Young Team''.

Contents

Overview

Musical composition

Personnel

Notes

External links

Overview

As well as being a fan-favourite, and a live staple, it is perhaps the most extreme display of Mogwai's quiet/loud contrast method. An 18 minute-long version of "Like Herod" (recorded live by Steve Lamacq from a BBC Radio Session at the BBC Recording and Broadcast Studio in Maida Vale in March 1999)^[1] appears on Mogwai's live compilation album, ''. The song title is most likely derived from Herod the Great. The song was originally titled "Slint",^[2] referring to the influential Post-rock band Slint, and their frequent usage of the quiet/loud dynamic contrast. Stuart Braithwaite has said that "Like Herod" is his favourite song from ''Young Team''.^[3]

Musical composition

The song begins with a bassline:

This is joined at (0:04) by a guitar, doubling the bassline, and at (0:16) by quiet drumming, and an additional guitar counter-melody. At (0:46), the song progresses into an alternate melody, based around the chord of C major seventh, which is repeated, then the song goes back to repeating the main melody until (1:30), where the alternate melody is repeated once more. The drums then begin to get quieter and quieter, coming to a halt at (2:15), leaving only the guitars and the bass to play the main and alternate melodies themselves, which they do until (2:57), when all the instruments explode in a barrage of deafening noise, featuring a heavy drumbeat and highly distorted, screeching guitars. This continues until (4:51), where the original bassline is introduced once more, and the original drumbeat begins playing. At (5:17), the drumbeat stops abruptly and all that is heard is the bassline, and a guitar, plucking a muted note. This continues, with the plucked note becoming gradually more erratic, until (6:15), when all of the instruments explode into another torrent of noise, almost identical to the last one, albeit with more guitar feedback in the background. This continues until (8:08), when the drumbeat becomes calmer, the guitar feedback becomes more subdued, and the bass can be heard quietly in the background, repeating a heavily distorted note at the start of each bar. At (10:11), the drumbeat ends and all that can be heard is the steady pulse of the ride cymbal, the distorted bass note, and a guitar feedbacking, until (10:20), when it seems to go gradually upwards in pitch, ending at (10:29). Snippets of feedback are heard momentarily as the bass note continues to be played, until (11:05), when the bass note plays one last time, and begins feedbacking, along with subdued guitar noise in the background, until (11:35), when all the instruments cease playing and the song ends.

Personnel

★ Stuart Braithwaite – guitar

★ Dominic Aitchison – bass guitar

★ John Cummings – guitar

★ Martin Bulloch – drums

★ Paul Savage – producer, mixer

Notes

1. ''Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2003'' on Bright Light!
2. List of Alternative Mogwai Song Titles on Bright Light!
3. 1998 Interview by Diskant

External links

★ "Like Herod" on Last.fm

★ "Like Herod" Guitar Tablature