Two eves before the biggest live musical event of the spring, i.e. a life-affirming, spirit-raising, goosebump-rising, ear-splitting, finger-clenching, shiver-enticing, eye-watering, mouth-agaping, apocalypse-catalysing, fear-mongering, tail-wagging love-in of white noise and religious spirituals masquerading as a Mogwai concert, I have a thought for the boys. Lads, what do you think of the new Labradford album? One weakness of "E Luxo So", if you could call it that, was the apparent lack of guitars. Sure, they were there (if you listened very, very closely) but the abundance of strings, piano and subtle electronica pretty much masked them. But "Fixed:Context" feels like a guitar album, similar in feel (but not in execution, i.e. instrumentation) to Mogwai's "Stanley Kubrick", and the beginning and end of "Xmas Steps". The melodies convey stasis with such gorgeous hymns emanating from the fewest possible meticulously picked guitar strings. In short, "Fixed:Context" is a revelation, one-upping the grandeur and restraint of Mogwai's 1999 "ep". It's easily the best thing I've heard all year. Being huge Labradford fans, they know the gauntlet has been thrown down, so can Mogwai top it? Maybe I'll find out this Sunday.