Xmas Steps
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| “Xmas Steps” | ||
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| Song by Mogwai | ||
| Album | No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) | |
| Released | June 29, 1998 | |
| Recorded | CaVa Studios Glasgow, Scotland |
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| Length | 11:10 | |
| Label | Chemikal Underground, Jetset | |
| Producer | Geoff Allan | |
| No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) track listing | ||
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| from the album EP+6 | ||
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"Xmas Steps" is a song by Scottish post-rock group Mogwai, which originally appeared on the 1998 EP, No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew), then later on the 2000 compilation album, EP+6. An alternate version of the song, entitled "Christmas Steps" appears on the 1999 album, Come On Die Young.
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[edit] Overview
"Xmas Steps" is an eleven minute long instrumental, in the key of C♯ minor. The song is named after Christmas Steps, a road in Bristol, South West England.[1]
[edit] Musical composition
"Xmas Steps" begins with a guitar melody based around the chords of C♯ minor and A major:
This is repeated until (0:30), when a second guitar begins doubling the melody, with slight variations. At (0:45), the Hi-hat begins quietly keeping time, and the melody is repeated until (1:31), where it is joined quietly by a bass guitar, playing a counter-melody. At (1:46), both the guitars begin playing a counter-melody, until (2:01), where one guitar plays an independent counter-melody, which is repeated until (2:44), where both guitars begin to steadily strum chords. At (3:20), the Hi-hat stops keeping time, leading the guitars into a gradual crescendo, joined at (3:27) by the bass, which plays the same chords as the guitars, with a different rhythm. The guitars increase steadily in volume and tempo, until (4:20), where the drums enter and the guitars begin playing a chord structure based around the chords of C♯ minor, C♯ suspended 2nd, and A major. At (4:52), the guitars suddenly turn distorted, repeating the chord structure, until (5:21), when a distorted guitar solo is played. At (5:46), the guitars repeat a C♯ minor chord, until (5:55), when the guitars turn clean and begin repeating the chord structure. At (6:11), a violin solo begins to play and the guitars begin playing a counter-melody. This is repeated until (7:54), when the drums cease playing, the guitars repeat the counter-melody and the violin solo continues improvising. At (10:06), the sound of the tape being wound back by hand is heard.[2] The violin ceases playing at (10:42), followed soon by the guitars, which end on a C♯, which fades out.
[edit] Music video
The music video for "Xmas Steps" was filmed by English film maker Brian Griffin, and released in 1998. The video is set in the Age of Steam, and was shot on location in the Chiltern Hills, and at the Great Western Preservation Society in Didcot.[3] The video tells a Post Modernist story about a male worker forced across time by the persistence of his wife through the symbolic power of a pair of furry boots.
[edit] Personnel
- Stuart Braithwaite – guitar
- Dominic Aitchison – bass guitar
- John Cummings – guitar
- Martin Bulloch – drums
- Luke Sutherland – violin
- Geoff Allan – producer, mixer
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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