[photo courtesy of Brian C. Reilly and Bowery Houselist]
It’s no longer news when an “indie” band sells out a mega-sized venue. But the story of Explosions In the Sky – an instrumental rock band on the tiny (and uniformly outstanding) label Temporary Residence Limited – has got to be one of the strangest of all. Sure, EITS are an absolutely killer live band, and their music is incredible – but that could also be said of their brethren in the instrumental rock scene, the next-most-popular of whom isn’t selling out venues one third this size. No, it was a bit of a quirk of fate that EITS’ music ended up becoming the soundtrack for the football movie Friday Night Lights and, perhaps more importantly, the surprisingly good TV series based on the movie that followed. Now, their eight-minute rock mini-symphonies may forever be associated with sandblown prairie, abandoned oil rigs, and of course, football fields set against the lonely Texas sky, but they are fitting-enough images for a style of music that is so grand in its sweep. In one song, EITS can be capture the mute pain of loneliness, the thrill of motion, and the ecstasy of victory. I don’t doubt that they take inspiration from the outsize land from which they came, from Friday night lights and the great swaths of darkness in between.
As to this set, its most exciting aspect was that it gave EITS a chance to debut songs from their forthcoming album, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, which, if pre-release hype is any indication, will be their most massive yet. They led off with the new number “Postcard From 1952,” a classic slow-builder in the usual EITS style, that wraps up with cascading waves of feedback. Also on display were the mellower “Let Me Back In” and the closer, the short-burst rocker “Trembling Hands,” which may well end up being their bid for radio airplay. As EITS sets go, this one was a bit short, topping out at only 75 minutes, but the band made them count, adding to the new songs some of their biggest classics like “The Only Moment We Were Alone” and “Your Hand In Mine”. But perhaps the most moving part of the performance for me wasn’t what happened during the music, but the sincere gratitude the band showed both before and after the show in their thanks to the fans. A lot of bands can give the perfunctory “thanks for coming” etc. and you may or may not believe them; for EITS, it was evident how incredible this unlikely achievement was for them. As a truly great group of guys as well as outstanding musicians, this success couldn’t have happened to a better group of people. Good for them, and good for us.
I recorded this set with the DPA microphones. My location in the venue was not optimal, but Radio City is a beautiful-sounding venue, so the sound is still good after a bit of tweaking. The crowd was very respectful, and therefore crowd noise is minimal. I apologize in advance for any tracking errors. Enjoy!
Stream “Trembling Hands”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/E3060EITS9992/10 Trembling Hands.mp3]
Download the MP3 and FLAC files and stream the entire show on the Live Music Archive [HERE]
Explosions In the Sky
2011-04-06
Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY USA
An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Equipment: DPA 4021>Denecke PS/2>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (EQ, set fades, tracking, amplify and balance, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 1:15:48]
01 Intro
02 Postcard From 1952
03 The Birth and Death of the Day
04 Yasmin the Light
05 Last Known Surroundings
06 The Only Moment We Were Alone
07 Catastrophe and the Cure
08 Let Me Back In
09 Your Hand In Mine
10 Trembling Hands
If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Explosions in the Sky, visit their website, and pre-order Take Care, Take Care, Take Care directly from their online store [HERE]
Recent Comments