Customer Reviews

Exploding Head [Vinyl]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're thinking about picking up this album, I sure hope you like a) Isn't Anything era My Bloody Valentine and b) some dark and brutal songs. This album definitely comes across as a mix between the aforementioned MBV and the Dark Trilogy albums by The Cure, aka Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography. The focus this time around is definitely more on songs and less on sheer noise, which frankly, is a good thing for the band. I always found it difficult to get into their debut record: for me, it really was just too dense with treble and noise for me to want to work for the delicious music hidden beneath. Exploding Head strikes a delicate balance between good songs and good distortion, which is harder to do than one might think; just look at all the abysmal bands calling themselves shoegaze these days. If you're a fan of any of the records I mentioned earlier, this album is probably for you, and if you're got a soft spot for distortion, just go ahead and sign yourself right up. Just make sure you don't have the treble EQ set too high...

Heard them on KEXP live on 19 October '09 and had to sit in my parked car until their set was over. Phenomenal wall-o-sound, but definitely not background music. I recommend this as a substitute for recreational pharmaceuticals. Maybe class as 'hard shoegazer' if you need a label?

If you listen to the Cure, My bloody Valentine, Joy division, bauhaus, or such related named bands then youll like this. this is not shoegaze as some people would like to label them. This is walls of sounds and emotional lyrics. They have keep their underground sound but a lil more polished this time around.
Best tracks to start off with are:
1) Keep slipping Away
2) In your heart
3) Smile when you smile

All I can say is this band ROCKS! I've owned this album (as well as their previous) only a short time and already I've listened to it a gazillion times. You have to turn it up though to hear those subtleties that only certain musicians are able to layer into their music. There is definite talent here. They're complex, the music isn't forced and they break free from alot of the sounds these days that are so much alike. They're going to do well. Can't wait to see them live.

Let's say you combine 60's pop sentiment (by that I mean Phil Spector's Wall of Sound) and pure punk pop...if you guessed The Jesus and Mary Chain, your correct. Add 20 years to that and if your squeamish with the 80's paper drum sound (my advice: don't concentrate on them!), then stop reading here. If this is easily overcome, then let this Mary Chain influenced guitar attack wash over you. And if you wonder about the capacity for evil (or is it enlightenment?), or want to go someplace you've never been, try "Lost Feeling," or "I Lived My Life to Stand in the Shadow of Your Heart"--these guys can thank Sonic Youth and the entire Free Jazz movement for all of the hard work they did.