hippy
ONE<br>love, blood, life
<img src="http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/16762explosions-sml.JPG" alt="" />
<strong>By Luke Pimentel
2008.03</strong>
You?ve gotta hand it to Explosions in the Sky; they can never be accused of taking the easy way out with first impressions. Any band that decides to put a word as bombastic as ?explosions? in their name has some mighty big coffers to fill every time they hit the stage.
Fortunately the Austin, Texas quartet is more than capable of backing up their moniker, a fact they proved ably with an awe-inspiring collection of fireworks at San Francisco?s Great American Music Hall on March 22nd.
Saturday?s gig ? the last in a stint of three sold-out shows at the Hall ? served as an early Easter present for a throng of young folks, median age about eighteen, apparently kicking off their Spring Break with something a bit more somber than a trip to Florida. To be fair, there were some older people there, too. Me, for example; at a ripe old 29, I was a relative geezer.
<!--more-->
The skewed demographic underscored the rapid increase in popularity the band has experienced since they dominated the main stage at last year?s Coachella festival. Not only did they drop one of 2007?s very top rock albums in <em>All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone</em>, but the band has also put in national television appearances, toured in countries as far-flung as Malaysia, and recently been tapped with the prestigious honor of curating performances at the famed U.K. music orgy known as All Tomorrow?s Parties. Quite a winning streak for a so-called ?post-rock? outfit with no singers or lyrics.
Calling their music ?epic? or ?cinematic? would normally be ripe with the smell of cheddar, but in this case it?s perfectly apt; they are, after all, best known for scoring Peter Berg?s football drama <em>Friday Night Lights</em>. That soundtrack features their signature sound ? triple-guitar harmonics ? albeit accompanied by more traditional string arrangements. It is a combination that makes them sound much more delicate and vulnerable than on their other records, where they tend to be more volatile. Working off the quiet-to-thunderous template of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions? lengthy sonic tapestries thrive on quiet pools of loops and tangled chord cycles that rapidly give way to full-on attacks of guitar noise, making the occasional tantrums of early Radiohead seem tame by comparison.
Naturally, the songs ? instrumentals with titles like ?First Breath After Coma? and ?Your Hand in Mine? ? all fall somewhere between the melancholy and the anthemic, but they embrace enough intangibles to where they can convey a whole range of emotions, depending on the listener. This, coupled with the band?s considerable melodic skill, keeps Explosions from being a one-trick pony churning out the same record over and over again.
On Saturday night, The Great American Music Hall proved far too small a venue to house their sound, an avalanche of drone and crash so overpowering it damn near rivaled Arcade Fire for sheer emotional catharsis.
<img src="http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/16762Explosions2.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
<em>Explosions in the Sky (Photo credit: Luke Pimentel)</em>
Following an all-improv set by solo vocalist/guitarist Lichens ? think Shankar, but with Frippertronics ? Explosions took the stage, with guitarists Mark Smith, Michael James and Munaf Rayini standing side-by-side, a small mountain of loop triggers and effects pedals at their feet, rarely looking at each other, and swaying back and forth as though in a collective trance. When they began melding melodies, it was through intuition and well-polished timing bordering on the telepathic.
Rather than using their guitars for facile showoff solos, Explosions weaved intricate textures and patterns that almost made them seem like a Philip Glass ensemble, or the rock ?n roll equivalent of the Kronos Quartet. One guitar provided a droning base, while the other two traded off melody and counter-melody. Chris Hrasky gave the work an appropriately propulsive backing with his cymbal-happy drumming.
Rayani ? the band?s spokesman, and its most animated member - spent nearly as much time on the ground as on his feet. When he wasn?t creating eerie slide guitar effects or fiddling with pedals, he was smashing a tambourine against the stage floor, or enacting a time-honored indie-rock clich? by banging away on a snare drum in duet with Hransky.
<img src="http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/16762Rayani1.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
<em>Munaf Rayani (Photo credit: Luke Pimentel)</em>
The set ? unfolding over about seventy minutes ? featured a smattering of tunes reaching back as far as the 2001 LP <em>Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever</em>. <em>All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone</em> was well-represented, with ?Welcome, Ghosts,? ?Catastrophe and the Cure? and especially ?The Birth and Death of the Day? getting superlative reads. The latter provided a ridiculously big set-up for the searing intensity of show closer ?Memorial? (from 2004?s <em>The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place</em>), the climax of which saw James trading in his guitar for a bass, then proceeding to hammer the bass with repeated blows from his right fist.
The finale was a prime example of how Explosions use the live setting to its best potential, making the quiets extremely quiet, and the louds extremely loud. During the quiet bits, audience members could be seen closing their eyes, or leaning over to watch the band members pluck and twang. Although the performers said nothing, they were extremely open with their playing, letting the audience get sucked into the details. Then ? when they unleashed an eruption of sonic bravura mere seconds later ? it was like getting flattened by a pile of bricks.
On Saturday night, trapped underneath an amp stack at the front of the stage, I got flattened several times. I couldn?t have been happier about it.
<em>For more information about Explosions in the Sky, please visit the band?s official website at <a href="http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/." target="_blank">http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/.</a></em>
<strong>By Luke Pimentel
2008.03</strong>
You?ve gotta hand it to Explosions in the Sky; they can never be accused of taking the easy way out with first impressions. Any band that decides to put a word as bombastic as ?explosions? in their name has some mighty big coffers to fill every time they hit the stage.
Fortunately the Austin, Texas quartet is more than capable of backing up their moniker, a fact they proved ably with an awe-inspiring collection of fireworks at San Francisco?s Great American Music Hall on March 22nd.
Saturday?s gig ? the last in a stint of three sold-out shows at the Hall ? served as an early Easter present for a throng of young folks, median age about eighteen, apparently kicking off their Spring Break with something a bit more somber than a trip to Florida. To be fair, there were some older people there, too. Me, for example; at a ripe old 29, I was a relative geezer.
<!--more-->
The skewed demographic underscored the rapid increase in popularity the band has experienced since they dominated the main stage at last year?s Coachella festival. Not only did they drop one of 2007?s very top rock albums in <em>All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone</em>, but the band has also put in national television appearances, toured in countries as far-flung as Malaysia, and recently been tapped with the prestigious honor of curating performances at the famed U.K. music orgy known as All Tomorrow?s Parties. Quite a winning streak for a so-called ?post-rock? outfit with no singers or lyrics.
Calling their music ?epic? or ?cinematic? would normally be ripe with the smell of cheddar, but in this case it?s perfectly apt; they are, after all, best known for scoring Peter Berg?s football drama <em>Friday Night Lights</em>. That soundtrack features their signature sound ? triple-guitar harmonics ? albeit accompanied by more traditional string arrangements. It is a combination that makes them sound much more delicate and vulnerable than on their other records, where they tend to be more volatile. Working off the quiet-to-thunderous template of bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions? lengthy sonic tapestries thrive on quiet pools of loops and tangled chord cycles that rapidly give way to full-on attacks of guitar noise, making the occasional tantrums of early Radiohead seem tame by comparison.
Naturally, the songs ? instrumentals with titles like ?First Breath After Coma? and ?Your Hand in Mine? ? all fall somewhere between the melancholy and the anthemic, but they embrace enough intangibles to where they can convey a whole range of emotions, depending on the listener. This, coupled with the band?s considerable melodic skill, keeps Explosions from being a one-trick pony churning out the same record over and over again.
On Saturday night, The Great American Music Hall proved far too small a venue to house their sound, an avalanche of drone and crash so overpowering it damn near rivaled Arcade Fire for sheer emotional catharsis.
<img src="http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/16762Explosions2.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
<em>Explosions in the Sky (Photo credit: Luke Pimentel)</em>
Following an all-improv set by solo vocalist/guitarist Lichens ? think Shankar, but with Frippertronics ? Explosions took the stage, with guitarists Mark Smith, Michael James and Munaf Rayini standing side-by-side, a small mountain of loop triggers and effects pedals at their feet, rarely looking at each other, and swaying back and forth as though in a collective trance. When they began melding melodies, it was through intuition and well-polished timing bordering on the telepathic.
Rather than using their guitars for facile showoff solos, Explosions weaved intricate textures and patterns that almost made them seem like a Philip Glass ensemble, or the rock ?n roll equivalent of the Kronos Quartet. One guitar provided a droning base, while the other two traded off melody and counter-melody. Chris Hrasky gave the work an appropriately propulsive backing with his cymbal-happy drumming.
Rayani ? the band?s spokesman, and its most animated member - spent nearly as much time on the ground as on his feet. When he wasn?t creating eerie slide guitar effects or fiddling with pedals, he was smashing a tambourine against the stage floor, or enacting a time-honored indie-rock clich? by banging away on a snare drum in duet with Hransky.
<img src="http://forum.interference.com/gallery/data//585/16762Rayani1.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
<em>Munaf Rayani (Photo credit: Luke Pimentel)</em>
The set ? unfolding over about seventy minutes ? featured a smattering of tunes reaching back as far as the 2001 LP <em>Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever</em>. <em>All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone</em> was well-represented, with ?Welcome, Ghosts,? ?Catastrophe and the Cure? and especially ?The Birth and Death of the Day? getting superlative reads. The latter provided a ridiculously big set-up for the searing intensity of show closer ?Memorial? (from 2004?s <em>The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place</em>), the climax of which saw James trading in his guitar for a bass, then proceeding to hammer the bass with repeated blows from his right fist.
The finale was a prime example of how Explosions use the live setting to its best potential, making the quiets extremely quiet, and the louds extremely loud. During the quiet bits, audience members could be seen closing their eyes, or leaning over to watch the band members pluck and twang. Although the performers said nothing, they were extremely open with their playing, letting the audience get sucked into the details. Then ? when they unleashed an eruption of sonic bravura mere seconds later ? it was like getting flattened by a pile of bricks.
On Saturday night, trapped underneath an amp stack at the front of the stage, I got flattened several times. I couldn?t have been happier about it.
<em>For more information about Explosions in the Sky, please visit the band?s official website at <a href="http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/." target="_blank">http://www.explosionsinthesky.com/.</a></em>
Last edited:
