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Underground > Radio & Music >

Explosions in the Sky

10:53 / 01.11.05

So anyone a fan of this Austin quartet?

Anyone go up to see them this past weekend? Anyone going to the London gigs this month?

I was lucky enough to catch them up @ South Street in Reading on Sunday, amazing gig, and a pretty awesome venue. I saw them last at the EYOE thing at The Coronet last year. Their stage performace has improved quite a bit, I think, perhaps more theatrical? I was a bit unimpressed by them spending so much time on their knees fiddling with their 50 or so effects pedals though. Then again that is a small complaint for the music they make.

Bought their new Travel in Constants effort "The Rescue", nice to hear some new stuff from them, seems less epic, all the tracks are only about 4-5 mins each, but still the EITS I know and love. Anybody heard? Comments?

Currently looking forward to the Hammersmith Palais gig, with Four Tet again and Kid Koala as well. Should be good, have't seen Kid Koala in about 5 years.

12:36 / 01.11.05

I saw them supporting ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead in Toronto a few years ago (the night before WrestleMania X-8. Man that was a great weekend!). I didn't have any expectations, I'd only heard of them beforehand, but I was impressed. I did automatically think 'Mogwai', though. And I haven't heard them on record at all. Probably worth revisiting, methinks.

14:44 / 01.11.05

I like Explosions in the Sky.

I heard them on John Peel a few years back, subsequently saw them at ATP and was much impressed - I think I was moved to write some pretentious stuff about how their music put me in mind of great, epic novels and dying civil war soldiers and that sort of thing.

Obviously it's dead easy for any bunch of losers to pick a couple of minor chords and "do a Mogwai", as any number of tedious eternal support bands doggedly continue to prove, but I think EITS are far and away the best of the second (third? whatever) wave of 'post-rock' ; their music is distinctive and dramatic and conveys that indefinable something that makes me think they're far more concerned with generally making great music than with giving a fuck about who they may or may not sound like.

Funny you should mention their pedal-wanking, cos one of the things that I thought stood out about them when I saw them (which was admittedly a couple of years ago) was that purposefully they DIDN'T rely on that sort of thing, and instead created the same emotional effect via fairly straight clean-toned playing with little in the way of obviously sign-posted 'loud bits' or apocalyptic noise.

Shamefully, I still don't actually own any of their studio albums - just a downloaded live performance, a taped Peel session and some good memories.

14:47 / 01.11.05

Aw, bloody hell. Touring in the UK after I emigrated to the US (to Austin, even!).

They're supposed to play live around Texas all the time, but they've been lying low since I came out here to work on a new record. Hopefully the UK tour means the new record it coming soon. I guess I can take that comfort from it.

I love EITS - I'd heard a bunch about them, then one day picked up both Those Who Tell The Truth... and The Earth is Not A Cold Dead Place..., and was blown away so much by the first one that it was a week or more before I even popped the second into my CD player, then was even more blown away by how pretty their music is when you strip away the noise.

A while after I came out to the US I picked up a bootleg of How Strange Innocence (their first album, which had a pathetically small run) which I believe has just recently been reissued. It's not as good as their other records, but still worth a listen.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:14 / 01.11.05

You know I never heard of these guys until I decided to watch Friday Night Lights on a whim one day, a film for which they provided a really exemplary score. It elevated what was pretty much an average (if slightly nihlistic) high school football movie into something that really connected nicely.

I'll have to check out the rest of their work.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

09:59 / 02.11.05

Currently looking forward to the Hammersmith Palais gig, with Four Tet again and Kid Koala as well. Should be good, have't seen Kid Koala in about 5 years.

And Faust too!

20:49 / 02.11.05

Faust, I don't know them, but will check them out, cheers. :-)

EITS new EP, is quite good, I've already got a few favourite tracks. Only thing is that it's now only available at their gigs and was available by mail order through the Travel in Constants website, still it will probably be available on a p2p somewhere soon.

As for the pedal wanking, the last time I saw them (about a year and a half ago), I didn't really notice them messing about with all the effects pedals. This time round we were right up front so could see everything. Don't know if I just didn't notice last time, or if they've added the pedals in, they did sound the same.

Anyway if anyone's interested some photo's from the gig my mate posted here.

foot long subbacultcha

13:08 / 09.11.05

I know I'm cheating here, but is there even a slim chance of anyone here having a spare ticket for the performance at the Garage on Friday night?

Tryphena Absent

14:40 / 09.11.05

This thread can only mean that I'm meant to be beastly today. I hate Explosions in the Sky. I went to see them at ATP and I found them intensely annoying. The speed of their music, the way they inject emotion in to
every chord
that
they
play. The position in which they play, the staging, the lights. Basically if I were in hell, EitS would be playing constantly. I mean, seriously, people think Muse are melodramatic?

22:38 / 09.11.05

Harsh words for a pretty good but fairly meat-and-potatoes rock band. Are they very different live to on album, then?

08:32 / 10.11.05

They're freaking amazing live!

I'll give you they're a bit theatrical in their performance, which does irk me a bit. But otherwise all good!

Tonight, I'm seeing them tonight!!

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:43 / 10.11.05

I found them a bit 'Sigur Ros' live, as they say. (Well, not many people say that. But I do.) Nevermind, they're not my cup of tea but to each his own, etc etc. I'd recommend a band called Good Morning Captain to any fans of Explosions In The Sky though, they do what to my ears sounds like a more effective take on a similar thing.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

09:58 / 10.11.05

Tonight, I'm seeing them tonight!!

So am I, probably; I'll be at the gig, anyway, but for Faust.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:11 / 10.11.05

Me too. Probably.

11:16 / 10.11.05

It's funny. I always considered EitS to be very stripped down and unpretentious on album. They have a very lean sound, just the four of them with no overdubs or frills, playing songs that reference Joy Division and the Cure but never stray into cosmic or experimental territory. They're much more basic a proposition that Mogwai, even. How can their live show differ that much?

12:51 / 10.11.05

I think, Seth, it's more that (IIRC) they pull very 'emotional' facial expressions with every strum, like they really mean it... Didn't really bother me, but I can see how that could grate after a bit.

11:26 / 11.11.05

Oh. I do that. Well, I grimace, it's more linked to effort than emotion. And most of it's a put-on job for a good show. It's probably quite a lot like my Sex Face. Is that annoying then?

13:57 / 11.11.05

Well I've not (afaik) seen your "Sex Face" Seth, so I couldn't possibly comment on that. :-) I suppose people think it looks a bit like they're trying to hard. It doesn't bother me much, I do love their music.

The gig last night wasn't as good as I was expecting. Kid Koala was good, probably the highlight of the evening for me, I didn't stay for Four Tet. EITS I dunno the PA was messed or a guitar was out of tune or something, because something was off with the sound.

Actually that could've been the two wankers in front of me having a loud chat about their plans for their weekend. At least they moved away after I swore at them for the nth time.

Stoatie, TangoMango, just what was Faust trying to achieve ironing a shirt on stage while putting an angle grinder to work? I fear this was lost on me. Well they were interesting I'll give you that. :-)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:19 / 11.11.05

I missed it unfortunately. TM went, though...

but Faust just love their angle grinders, bless 'em.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

08:54 / 12.11.05

just what was Faust trying to achieve ironing a shirt on stage while putting an angle grinder to work?

That piece is called "This is not music" - which may or may not be correct. It's a performance piece, as is the whole of the Faust set, and is there to surprise the audience, and make them wonder just exactly what constitutes music.

This was a very much truncated set; 45 minutes instead of the usual 2 hours, and in my opinion they should have played more of their psychedelic freakout tracks to get the crowd moving.

I fear this was lost on me. Well they were interesting I'll give you that. :-)

For me, way more interesting that EITS, but then Faust were the only reason I went at all. I watched EITS for about 10 minutes, then gave up. They were competent, but I knew I'd not remember a single note they'd played after the evening was over. I might check out some of their records in future though, just to hear what they are like by comparison.

10:39 / 22.12.05

Nothing to say about The Rescue?

08:36 / 23.12.05

Nothing to say about The Rescue?

Yeah, in my first post.

Day One and Day Six are probably my favourites now. I was a slightly dissapointed that the songs are in general shorter to previous EITS efforts, just love those 10 minute songs. However I do think "The Rescue" is a worthy successor to the previous three albums.

Would be nice to hear EITS play these songs at gigs. They seemed to be playing the exact same sets while on tour.

Is "The Rescue" the new album that was spoken of upthread? I understood that this was only an EP. Is this available on general release?

08:39 / 23.12.05

Ah, sorry dude. I missed that.

Anyway, you're right about it being less epic. I think it's all the stonger for that, it's extended their range considerably and contextualised those guitars with some nice extra instrumentation. Plus there's a sense of fun added by the writing/recording methodology that really suits them. A great record to have in time for the winter months, it's really warm sounding and cosy.