Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack)

Mogwai – Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack): B-Side Breakdown 62 (D-) from 6 critic reviews.

Album cover for Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack) by Mogwai
Released October 29, 2006
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Mogwai

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack)

62
B-Side BreakdownGrade D- · 6 critics · 33% approval
B-Side Breakdown62Grade: D-
Approval33%2 of 6 critics scored it 75 or higher
DivisivenessDividedHow close the scores are: most critics land within 34 points of each other

Early reviews. Critics give Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack) an early B-Side Breakdown of 62 (D-), from 6 reviews so far. It will settle as more outlets weigh in.

The verdict on Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack)

Critics split on this one: scores run from 40 (Tiny Mix Tapes and 1 other) to 80 (Drowned in Sound and 1 other).

020406080100Tiny Mix Tapes: 40Q: 40Pitchfork: 64AllMusic: 70Drowned in Sound: 80musicOMH: 80 Breakdown 62
The gist
Drowned in Sound via Wikipedia 8/10 80 2006 “Anyone even remotely familiar with Mogwai would surely concur that their introspective, atmospheric oeuvre naturally lends itself to film soundtrac…”
musicOMH via Wikipediaby Tom Woods 4/5 80 2006 “From a film that strives to portray a new cinematic art form, comes a soundtrack in perfect keeping with its message. Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait,”
AllMusic via Wikipediaby Heather Phares 3.5/5 70 2006
Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Rob Mitchum 6.4/10 64 2006 “Scottish post-rockers provide the soundtrack for an experimental feature that follows Zinedine Zidane throughout the course of one full Real Madrid match.”
Tiny Mix Tapes via Wikipediaby Grant 'Gumshoe' Purdum 2/5 40 “As an admitted Mogwai enthusiast, I approach Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait with lowered expectations. It’s a soundtrack, after all; its first-and-foremost quota is syncing up with images of slide-tackles,…”
Q via Wikipedia 2/5 40 2006

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack) in Mogwai's catalog

75Mogwai Young Team (1997): 83Come On Die Young (1999): 72Rock Action (2001): 74Happy Songs for Happy People (2003): 79Mr Beast (2006): 82Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (soundtrack) (2006): 6262This oneThe Hawk Is Howling (2008): 73Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will (2011): 75Les Revenants (2013): 77Rave Tapes (2014): 76Atomic (2016): 81Every Country’s Sun (2017): 77As the Love Continues (2021): 80The Bad Fire (2025): 7519972025
Mogwai's albums by B-Side Breakdown, in release order. Above the dashed line, most critics liked it. Every Mogwai album, ranked

How these critics usually treat Mogwai

  • Q Harsher than usual27 points below the other critics here. Usually 3 points below on Mogwai's other albums (6).
  • musicOMH Kinder than usual21 points above the other critics here. Usually 11 points above on Mogwai's other albums (7).
  • AllMusic Kinder than usual9 points above the other critics here. Usually 1 point above on Mogwai's other albums (10).
  • Pitchfork About usual for them2 points above the other critics here. Usually 6 points below on Mogwai's other albums (13).

More from Mogwai

See all Mogwai albums ranked

More Indie & Alternative from around 2006

Would you spin it again?

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How the Breakdown works

Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.

A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.

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