Mogwai brings a different mood

The nice thing about Mogwai is that you're never certain which one you're going to get.

Since 1996, these primarily instrumental Scots led by Stuart Braithwaite have crafted noise and nuance with a brooding intensity so dense, it's as if you're crawling through the muck of the moors. (Though this writer has been to Scotland, he hasn't been to a moor. They do seem genuinely mucky, though). Call it ambient progressive punk or fuzzy math rock, these moody cats have referenced during their 13-year tenure the likes of Slint, Robert Fripp at his most spacey, and early '80s Sonic Youth.

Longtime fans who packed the Trocadero on Saturday could be heard comparing notes on previous Mogwai shows - the atonal crunch of the Starlight Ballroom, the metallic grind of TLA - either expressing how much they liked or were thrown by the changes. Yet for my money, the evening's five-piece Mogwai came across like a hipster's version of a dreamy Pink Floyd - somnolent sonic washes and thudding drums with fuzz-toned guitar breaks to bust up the halcyon hallucinations.

The slow, piano-driven "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," trod calmly and coolly, save for the bee-buzzing soaring over the steadied melody. "Flies," on the other hand, was slurred with the feel of a narcoleptic's sleep. While an aquatic "Hunted by a Freak" was touched by fluttering guitars and a quiet pin-drop finale, "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School" jangled somberly and slightly off-key until its thundering end that came out of nowhere.

Rinse and repeat.

Morphine-drip atmospherics ("You Don't Know Jesus"), "Hammer Horror" organ whirrs ("Scotland's Shame"), and thumb-plucked bass lines ("Ithica 27-9") made appearances, as did Braithwaite's high nasal vocals on the bell-toned "Cody." There, in a nearly unadorned voice reminiscent of a less creaky Neil Young, Braithwaite sang of seeing "streetlights as fairgrounds" and "road signs as Day-Glo."

"Old songs, stay 'til the end/Sad songs, remind me of friends," Braithwaite moaned.

I get the feeling that's what Mogwai's appreciative audience thought as well.