Customer Reviews

The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I feel my title for this review is very appropriate, but do not infer an incorrect suggestion. This is nothing like the asinine, cheesy music put out by new age artists who claim the ability to put its listeners into divine states of love and affection with sappy, pretentious synth pianos and ocean sounds.

This is truly beautiful. Explosions in the Sky is a four-piece (two guitars, bass, and drums) that gets lumped into the post-rock category, but they dramatically surpass the standards generally set for the idiom. They do the episodic build-build-build-climax-repeat formula like, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but this music achieves something very different. The music is sparse and minimal with a genuine emotive power. The sparseness is present in the textural thinness (only four instrumentalists, remember), with guitars generally playing starry arpeggios with an empathetic rhythmic backing. With so much breathing room, the music fills the pockets of space left by bare instrumentation with simple emotional resonance that might not have prevailed with denser arrangements. The music is minimal not because it is in repetitive stasis, but because the song construction focuses on a collegial series of sounds development rather than linear evolutions.

Explosions in the Sky's first album was bleak with a glimmer of hope. Here, everything is brushed away and the beauty is fully exposed. Rather than describe each piece, I will just say that the music here evokes lovely images: spending time by the sea with a special someone, the earth in bloom, looking to the nighttime sky full of stars through a branchy canopy of trees, love & friendship, rebirth, etc. Just look at the song titles -- they have very fitting names.

Highly recommended, along with their first album, _Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever_.

To be honest I can't think of a word that can explain the emotional link with this album apart from it being the most beautiful sound I've heard. For me listening to this album makes me feel emotionally confused but absolutely complete at the same time, never before has an album stopped me in my tracks as firmly as this one. My favourite songs on the album are "the only moment we were alone" and "six days at the bottom of the ocean" every time my ears are blessed with these artworks I'm am fixated on nothing else but them. I literally cannot communicate with anyone or anything I just have to listen to them intently. This album is not as experimental as "those who tell the truth shall die those who tell the truth shall live forever" but I feel it is just as good and the songs are put together impeccably well, with no song being neither longer nor shorter than it has to be. I love the pure, clean sound of this album and see it as light as the wind. The trance that this album provides is indescribable; I'm not saying if you buy this album it will have this exact effect on you this description is merely from a personal note. Either way I strongly recommend this band and album to anybody who is looking for a purchase, for you can have no doubt that this album is extremely well produced, written, recorded, thought out and sounding. Buy it, you will not regret your choice one bit.

Before I had this CD, all I wanted to listen to was their last CD (Those Who Tell the Truth . . .), and now that this epic, sweeping, intricate, powerful, and intelligent (yes! provocative without lyrics--imagine that!) album has been released, it's all I can play, and it's showing no signs of getting tiresome. I will repeat the sentiment of others here by saying: see them live!, simply because it's very very true. In the midst of a hot, crowded venue, you will find yourself enveloped in the music, swept into a pocket of calm or intensity or transported a million miles away; whatever it is, something will be evoked. (Not to mention how hard these guys play--astounding! They seem utterly possessed by what they are doing). If on my way to work and back, all my fellow subway passengers could hear what I'm listening to, a subtle but inarguable glow would slowly fill the car.
If only . . .

It was hard for me to determine if this recording deserved a 4 star rating or a 5 star rating. I've been a prog fan for years but only recently did I get into post-rock material. I started off by listing to Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mountain Zion, and Sigur Ros. While impressed a times, I found some of their compositions kind of boring and repetitive after a while. I definitely wouldn't say these bands are "heavy rotation" bands in my music playback lists.

But that's where Explosions in the Sky are different to me. I find EitS to be more engaging. They eschew the orchestral intricacies and bombast of GYBE and aSMZ in favor of a more simplified approach. They use just the basic bass, drum, and two guitars to create their sonic landscapes. I think sonic landscapes is an accurate description. Each song feels like a journey full of hope and optimism. If you're a fan of technically difficult musicianship, this probably won't be your ticket. I wouldn't say any of this music is particularly difficult or challenging. However, their songwriting is utterly amazing.

As mentioned elsewhere, the songs do flow into each other without great distinction. Then again, this album plays more like a continuous soundtrack than a collection of individual distinct songs. As such, it is a perfect album to just sit back and let your mind wander where it will. Because of the sheer beauty and captivation of the music, I have to give this a 5 star rating because I think this album is one of the best examples of the post-rock genre and a great place for people new to this form of music to get their start. This is the kind of album that would appeal to people that aren't even fans of progressive music. Most highly recommended.

In the sleepy, isolated hamlet of Odessa, Texas, there's not much to do. In this part of the world, you can travel for miles and miles, and see nothing but miles and miles. While this kind of drab existence could drive some insane, it is thankfully inspiration for others. Explosions in the Sky perfectly capture that essence of sitting on your porch, and staring across a seemingly endless prairie, of beholding the sunset across this vast expanse of land. That feeling of sitting with friends on a warm summer night, and just feeling happy to be alive, even though you don't have a damn thing to do.

Like most "post rock" bands, EITS are very minimalist in structure. With 5 songs, each totalling around 10 minutes, the arrangements are huge and sparse, allowing the beautiful, sweeping melodies to breathe, and take hold of the listener. There's a not a lot of distinction between the songs. Instead, they all fit together, like one mammoth composition full of very gradual but undeniably exhilirating dynamics. It's also notable that as compared to many other post rock heavy-hitters, such as Godspeed You Black Emperor or Sigur Ros, they have a much more accessible and easily digestable sound. This means that you don't necessarily have to be a post rock fan, or even know what the hell post rock is to enjoy this band. And, while some may equate accessibility with inferiority, I personally think they're every bit as talented as the aforementioned (excellent) bands.

Simply put, this is some of the best instrumental rock there is. Pure bliss, that cannot be missed.

I don't recall how I happened upon Explosions in the Sky, but I remember I was on amazon.com. I think I was looking into Sigur Ros, and saw EITS mentioned under "Those Who But ( ) also bought..."

When I got this album, my reaction upon first listening to it was, "That was interesting," but it didn't blow me away the way I expected it to. That has changed, however, the more that I listen to this album. Also, I recently purchased their other two albums ("How Strange, Innocence" and "Those Who Tell the Truth...").

I also was very pleasantly surprised to hear 'First Breath After Coma', the first song on this album, playing in the background of the trailer to Steve Martin's "Shop Girl."

This music really moves me in a way that is difficult to describe. It evokes powerful emotions, and images. If you are the kind of person that uses visual images in your daydreams, or imagination, I think this music will deeply affect you.

I would recommend this album over "Those Who Tell the Truth..." and "How Strange, Innocence," but I would also suggest that all three are worth owning.

The warm, transcendent tone of this Texan quartet hasn't diminished at all in the past three albums. Here you will still find the beauty of their emotional minimalism and the quiet ingratiating endurance of their gingerly designed songs (each of them clocking in between 8 and 10 minutes). For people who seek a deeper experience, a hand to hold during daydreams and soul searches, this is definitely your ticket. This album, particularly, contains a more cathartic (almost gleeful) element than the previous, more melancholy record (Those Who Tell The Truth ...).

There WILL be people who will not like this album. Perhaps the similarity of the songs will get to you; there are a lot of the same progressions and tonal structures (even the band members have mentioned that sometimes their music tends to reflect itself). Or maybe the music will be a bit too ambient for your tastes. Every song is, essentially, an instrumental narration of a tale ("Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean," for example, is about the ill-fated crew of the Russian submarine, the Kursk; other titles, like "The Only Moment We Were Alone" and "First Breath After Coma" are more self-explanatory). With this in mind, it's likely that some people just won't like the stories, or the distant and drifting manner in which they are told. Looked at with this in mind, there are moments where the songs do grow hazy, where the tenderness seems to run less on inspiration and more on auto-pilot.

What it really boils down to is less a matter of music and more a matter of mind. Some people allow (and even want) the music to conjure up their own thoughtscapes, and that's exactly what EITS is about. If you are the type who is all about allowing the head and heart to surf on swelling and swooping rushes of sound, if you occasionally need a reason to burrow into your own soul, or if you just need an excuse to get goosebumps for no reason, this album is for you.

Everyone else should probably look for something with lyrics.

Close to the sound of Godspeed You Black Emperor and Mogwai, but not far from Tristeza, Explosions in the Sky, never sounds as minimalist as the former two. It's not about the duration of the songs in the album either, all of which break the 8-minute mark. They simply craft beautiful instrumental rock songs centered around gently plucked guitars that create an perfectly balanced atmosphere of melancholy without ever being pretentious or boring. When you listen to Explosions in the Sky, the whole world comes to a halt, and you don't want to let their music end. I have no favorite tracks in "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place". The entire album is my favorite.

I just saw Explosions in the Sky in philly, and bought the cd at the concert. Both the performance and the cd were and are excellent. Explosions in the sky have a definate sense of how to tell a story without using words. Be it the noticable heart beat and heart monitor-like sounds that begin "first breath from a coma" to the subtle overlapping tempos in "six days at the bottom of the ocean", something is always being worded out in magnificent sillibles of sound.
If you have been a long fan of instrumental indi-rock and you think that Mogwai and Godspeed have got the genre pretty much locked down (Mogwai more on the indy-rock side, and Godspeed more on the instumental side) then you'll be surprised with this album. To me Explosions fits right in between the two bands, with beautiful compositions that are flowing and patient, but at the same time dynamic and shocking.
"Total silence to total violence" as Explosions in the sky calls it, will force you to experience ultimate intensity with the only forshadowing being the lack of intensity. Also, this music has the feel of a consistantly evolving entity, and the use of multiple rythyms and drum beats throughtout keep everything interesting without hindering the overall consistency of the pieces.

I was very pleased with this album, and although I don't think it can replace "Lift your tiny fists like antennie towards heaven" as the most grand of all instrumental indy-rock, it doesn't seem to try to do that. To me, this cd is trying to tell a series of stories, and at that it succeeds to a degree I had never seen...

- Seth[money]

There are plenty of words that come to mind when listening to this CD. Awash, beauty, melancholy, transcendence... the list rolls on. Unfortunately, these aren't exactly words that can be put together to form sentences, just as the songs of Explosions in the Sky can't easily be translated into a review. This album, as a blurb on the cover says, will destroy anyone who has a soul. Anyone who has been in love, has a heart, or has awoken in the morning feeling like things just might end up okay. The melancholy that the album brings also carries with it an intense feeling of hope, especially in the first song, First Breath After Coma. As it crescendos, one can't help but just feel that things will be alright, and there's something to this life, if we can just get it right. And that's what this album seems to be about; destroying anyone with a soul, and leaving them okay.