Happy Songs? Stuart Braithwaite Of Mogwai's Favourite Albums | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

Happy Songs? Stuart Braithwaite Of Mogwai’s Favourite Albums

Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite takes us through his favourite albums, and explains why it's Margaret Thatcher's fault that everyone in Scotland is a goth and how John Peel funded the Scottish music scene

Stuart Braithwaite is very much looking forward to this year’s Incubate Festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands. In fact he’s getting there well in advance of Mogwai’s headling set on the Saturday night so that he can watch none other than the legendary Fields of The Nephilim. Yep, the Mogwai guitarist is an old goth – although he tells us that while he technically still is, "I just have no hair to dye black anymore." So sounds dark and heavy characterise his Baker’s Dozen, with a bit of a divergence at the end into hip-hop and folk.

As for putting the list together, the diligent Braithwaite had a tricky time of it: "The records that I’ve crossed out of this list… it’s shocking," he says. "It’s really hard to do! I’m quite a listy person so I thought it’d be a lot easier, and apart for one or two it’s quite obvious as well, but I suppose the reason why acclaimed records are acclaimed records is because they’re so good. And you’ll be happy to know there’s no Dylan on there." Indeed we are, indeed we are. So without further ado, here are Stuart Braithwaite’s 13 favourite albums. Click the photo below to begin.

First Record

Don’t Miss The Quietus Digest

Start each weekend with our free email newsletter.

Help Support The Quietus in 2025

If you’ve read something you love on our site today, please consider becoming a tQ subscriber – our journalism is mostly funded this way. We’ve got some bonus perks waiting for you too.

Subscribe Now