Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
By Mogwai
| . | . | . | . | . | . |
| ||||||||||||||||
Track listing
- 1 Black Spider 4:58
- 2 Terrific Speech 2 4:04
- 3 Wake Up and Go Berserk 4:41
- 4 Terrific Speech 4:41
- 5 7:25 5:08
- 6 Half Time 6:44
- 7 I Do Have Weapons 4:12
- 8 Time and a Half 5:51
- 9 It Would Have Happened Anyway 2:32
- 10 Black Spider 2
- - Black Spider 2 4:12
- - [silence] 3:12
- - [hidden track 1] 17:43
- - [hidden track 2] 5:20
- Total length: 73:18
Rate/Catalog
Catalog
Set listening
Review
To rate, slide your finger across the stars from left to right.
4 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
-
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait [p] Film Score
-
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait 33 rpm, Film Score, Gatefold
-
-
14 Reviews
"Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait" is a soundtrack album by Scottish post-rock act Mogwai. The album was released through Wall of Sound/Play It Again Sam in October 2006. It bridges the gap between the release of the band´s 5th and 6th full-length studio albums "Mr Beast" (2006) and "The Hawk Is Howling" (2008). The material featured on the album was put together within a short timespan on request by film maker Douglas Gordon for his documentary film about French football legend Zinedine Zidane titled "Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle". The album mostly consists of new tracks but a few re-arranged and re-recorded songs from previous releases by Mogwai have also found their way unto the album.
Stylistically the music on "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait" don´t feel like a natural succession of the simpler more rock oriented sound and style of "Mr. Beast" (2006). It sounds more like an album released after "Come on Die Young" (1999). The music is generally more mellow, repetitive, atmospheric and with a more improvised feel than what we´ve gotten used to with the three preceeding albums "Rock Action" (2001), "Happy Songs for Happy People" (2003) and "Mr. Beast" (2006). Pleasant guitar driven post-rock with added piano and organ which is great for the variation is still the style on this album though (so the basis of the music is still unmistakably the sound of Mogwai). There are 10 regular tracks on the album but after the last track "Black Spider 2" ends there are a few minutes of silence before a 20 minute ambient drone starts. An unneccesary hidden track if you ask me but who knows? Some listeners may be able to appreciate it.
At this point in their career Mogwai were a well oiled engine and everything is delivered with great conviction and skill. "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait" also features a well sounding production job, and while some tracks come off a little loosely structured and probably could have benefitted from a bit more composition time, it´s still overall a good quality release from Mogwai. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
Stylistically the music on "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait" don´t feel like a natural succession of the simpler more rock oriented sound and style of "Mr. Beast" (2006). It sounds more like an album released after "Come on Die Young" (1999). The music is generally more mellow, repetitive, atmospheric and with a more improvised feel than what we´ve gotten used to with the three preceeding albums "Rock Action" (2001), "Happy Songs for Happy People" (2003) and "Mr. Beast" (2006). Pleasant guitar driven post-rock with added piano and organ which is great for the variation is still the style on this album though (so the basis of the music is still unmistakably the sound of Mogwai). There are 10 regular tracks on the album but after the last track "Black Spider 2" ends there are a few minutes of silence before a 20 minute ambient drone starts. An unneccesary hidden track if you ask me but who knows? Some listeners may be able to appreciate it.
At this point in their career Mogwai were a well oiled engine and everything is delivered with great conviction and skill. "Zidane: a 21st Century Portrait" also features a well sounding production job, and while some tracks come off a little loosely structured and probably could have benefitted from a bit more composition time, it´s still overall a good quality release from Mogwai. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
Plays like most soundtracks I have heard, fairly uneventful. I assume this is better in the context of the film, which I have not seen. The length is really oppressive as well, running well into the hour range. There just isn't enough here to interest me for that long. There are a couple decent moments but the presence of tons of dull moments makes this Mogwai's worst effort in my opinion. Not to say it's bad but almost nothing happens in over 74 minutes of run time. I really hate to be THAT guy but this album bored me to death. I could literally feel my body shutting down.
Published
It's little surprise that Mogwai's soundtrack for a biographical documentary on Zidane sounds like a big step backwards for the band - the director apparently showed the band scenes from the film with a remix of Mogwai Fear Satan (from Young Team) playing over it to give them an idea of what sort of material the film called for. It's interesting listening to the band attempt to play once more in the style of Young Team or Come On Die Young, but I rather suspect that the band left that sound behind for a good reason; they've already done all they really wanted to do in that style and, frankly, sound a little bored (and more than a little boring) here.
Published
I actually like mogwai's soundtrack to this film a bit more than the records either side of it.
Firstly because it returns to the bands minimal verging on ambient style and this is perfectly suited for soundtracking film . Somehow the music worked really well with the imagery of zidanes physical and mental exertions on the pitch ,his sheer isolation at times even when interacting as part of a team . If youre a footie fan you need to see it.
Some of it is just beautiful and mogwai fans will find much to enjoy amongst its graceful piano movements ,abstract electronics and slow building jams . "black spider" "wake up and go berserk" "half time" and "i do have weapons" are all exceptional .
Firstly because it returns to the bands minimal verging on ambient style and this is perfectly suited for soundtracking film . Somehow the music worked really well with the imagery of zidanes physical and mental exertions on the pitch ,his sheer isolation at times even when interacting as part of a team . If youre a footie fan you need to see it.
Some of it is just beautiful and mogwai fans will find much to enjoy amongst its graceful piano movements ,abstract electronics and slow building jams . "black spider" "wake up and go berserk" "half time" and "i do have weapons" are all exceptional .
Published
IMO this is the best thing Mogwai have ever recorded. I am not into all that sudden outbursts and big crescendos - it all seems unfocused and ad hoc to me. And when Mogwai turns to minimal and it actually works I find out that it is precisely the point. When they turn off rocking and focus more on sound-scaping they make their finest music. There is still that post-rock melodrama and kind of self-indulgence, but it doesn’t sound programmatic anymore (yes, this is soundtrack - but I’m talking solely about music. after all, the movie is pretty abstract, too), and thus I can take as it’s more sympathetic - no more roaring "symphonies". You know, some kind of humbleness is needed. I don’t need them to wake me up all the time - once they do fine minimal soundscapes it’s not necessary anyway.
So the simple (maybe too simple, but take that as my weak point) piano pattern of Half Time set against background static buzzing fulfills its purpose. The preluding guitars on Black Spider are nice touch. But this one wins mostly thanks to the abstract noisy soundscapes of It Would Have Happened Anyway (do you feel that existential urge? man!) and the "hidden track" on Black Spider 2 - which are also melodramatic enough. Now you know my picks - and you also know that I would disagree with someone calling this one "boring" - but that’s the point where we can hardly argue.
So the simple (maybe too simple, but take that as my weak point) piano pattern of Half Time set against background static buzzing fulfills its purpose. The preluding guitars on Black Spider are nice touch. But this one wins mostly thanks to the abstract noisy soundscapes of It Would Have Happened Anyway (do you feel that existential urge? man!) and the "hidden track" on Black Spider 2 - which are also melodramatic enough. Now you know my picks - and you also know that I would disagree with someone calling this one "boring" - but that’s the point where we can hardly argue.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
There's one reason I have this album, that that reason is Zizou. However, my man-crush for Zidane wouldn't be enough for me to also keep the music from Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait in my collection because all I'd need to satisfy that weird fixation would be the album cover. Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is very methodical musing and quite a dramatic piece of art. This is music that sets the table for you.
Published
Like most denizens of the United States I don't have a jones for soccer. I know the rules and I've watched games both on television and in person and enjoyed them, but like track and field in the Olympics it is something I get into once every four years in the World Cup. And it's hard to get too excited about Zinedine Zidane's headbutting incident since that's something that happens basically every play in American football. So what I am saying is that I have no idea how the music fits the sport, or the film about the sport (which I have not seen as of this writing).
As for the music: very mellow Mogwai instrumentals which they've been pursuing to varying degrees since Rock Action. This definitely sounds like a soundtrack, the playing seemingly at a pace that would fit celluloid unspooling, as if the band were watching the film as they improvised. The songs sound like they were built to meet a need. That said, the music is pretty darn good. More speculative and relaxing than usual, and I like that. Gave it a 4-star rating because of that soothing style. The RYM SECs (Snobby Contrarian Elitists) would call it boring, but they don't have the deft intelligence to fully comprehend its totality, and anyway they're into music (and this site) for how it makes them look, not for the pleasure of it or the creativity itself. I just call it 'nice'.
As for the music: very mellow Mogwai instrumentals which they've been pursuing to varying degrees since Rock Action. This definitely sounds like a soundtrack, the playing seemingly at a pace that would fit celluloid unspooling, as if the band were watching the film as they improvised. The songs sound like they were built to meet a need. That said, the music is pretty darn good. More speculative and relaxing than usual, and I like that. Gave it a 4-star rating because of that soothing style. The RYM SECs (Snobby Contrarian Elitists) would call it boring, but they don't have the deft intelligence to fully comprehend its totality, and anyway they're into music (and this site) for how it makes them look, not for the pleasure of it or the creativity itself. I just call it 'nice'.
Published
How did Mogwai ever become such an all-pervading reference point? Just as any the standard answer to "what does [insert exotic meat name] taste like?" is "a bit like chicken", there now exists an ever-growing list of bands who are described as sounding "a bit like Mogwai"… (Explosions in the Sky? A bit like a Texan Mogwai, Mono? A sort of windswept Japanese Mogwai, Sickoakes? A Swedish Mogwai with saxophones, R. Kelly? Sort of an R’n’B Mogwai but with less guitars and more belief in human-propelled flight etc etc). But how come? It’s not like Mogwai ever stormed the hit-parade or sold out arenas, in fact, if anything, they've become a more ubiquitous reference point as their records have become less engaging… truly a 21st century conundrum.
Mogwai's second LP of 2006 is a bespoke soundtrack to "Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle", Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parenno's art-house movie focussing solely on Zizou's contribution to Real Madrid's April 2005 game against Villareal. As might be expected, there's lots of brooding intensity here with little in the way of climaxes and crescendos. The guitars chime pleasantly, the bass meanders as if having a curiously diverting day-out whilst the drums often seem almost soporific… there's a melancholic feel to this music which sometimes makes it difficult to believe that this is the soundtrack to a film about one of the greatest sportsmen of a generation. Only on the two untitled bonus tracks are the guitars unleashed fully…
Maybe it's unfair to focus on the soundtrack when deprived of the visuals (but hey, life is tough, I'm writing about a soundtrack LP not a film)… ultimately this is background music and as such this LP is presumably intended almost as an ambient piece rather than a record to be consciously listened to. The only problem is that as an ambient collection, 'Zidane…' doesn’t really make the grade: it's melancholic, but melancholy has been done much better elsewhere many times. This is no disaster, but maybe it's best left for the more devoted fan.
Mogwai's second LP of 2006 is a bespoke soundtrack to "Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle", Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parenno's art-house movie focussing solely on Zizou's contribution to Real Madrid's April 2005 game against Villareal. As might be expected, there's lots of brooding intensity here with little in the way of climaxes and crescendos. The guitars chime pleasantly, the bass meanders as if having a curiously diverting day-out whilst the drums often seem almost soporific… there's a melancholic feel to this music which sometimes makes it difficult to believe that this is the soundtrack to a film about one of the greatest sportsmen of a generation. Only on the two untitled bonus tracks are the guitars unleashed fully…
Maybe it's unfair to focus on the soundtrack when deprived of the visuals (but hey, life is tough, I'm writing about a soundtrack LP not a film)… ultimately this is background music and as such this LP is presumably intended almost as an ambient piece rather than a record to be consciously listened to. The only problem is that as an ambient collection, 'Zidane…' doesn’t really make the grade: it's melancholic, but melancholy has been done much better elsewhere many times. This is no disaster, but maybe it's best left for the more devoted fan.
Published
Votes are used to help determine the most interesting content on RYM.
Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.
Vote down content which breaks the rules.
Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term.
Vote down content which breaks the rules.
Catalog
23 Apr 2024
1 Apr 2024
28 Mar 2024
3 Mar 2024
12 Feb 2024
5 Feb 2024
1 Feb 2024
31 Jan 2024
26 Jan 2024
-
1
Black Spider
-
2
Terrific Speech 2
-
3
Wake Up and Go Berserk
-
4
Terrific Speech
-
5
7:25
-
6
Half Time
-
7
I Do Have Weapons
-
8
Time and a Half
-
9
It Would Have Happened Anyway
-
10 Black Spider 2
8 Jan 2024
25 Dec 2023
22 Dec 2023
9 Dec 2023
9 Dec 2023
15 Nov 2023
Contributions
Log in to submit a correction or upload art for this release