Music PREVIEWS
POST-ROCK EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY O2 Academy, Glasgow, Mon 23 Jan
There’s a long tradition of guitar bands scrabbling around trying to define the zeitgeist or whatever. Then there are the more restrained bands who quietly go about the business of being casually awesome. Explosions in the Sky fall into the latter category. Hailing from Austin, Texas, the foursome emerged as pioneers in a second post-rock mini-wave, citing Mogwai and The Dirty Three as influences, and creating monstrous slabs of guitars and drums that flew in the face of commercial rock yet saw them carve out a niche for themselves.
It’s now been 12 years since they formed, thanks to an ad in a music shop for a ‘sad, triumphant rock band’, and their six albums since have seen the band hone their organic sound to a sumptuous peak, displaying a near telepathic understanding of musical dynamics on stage.
The band’s most recent offering, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, has been four years in the making, and had a genesis more fraught than previous outings. At one point they toyed with the idea of writing an album of short and snappy rock’n’roll numbers. Then they had a sabbatical and seriously considered quitting altogether. They eventually wound up with over 50 demos, from which they carve out the six monumental tracks on the final album. Even then, it seemed hard to get their shit together. This from their self-penned press release: ‘Two of us can’t get to sleep most nights. Two of us wake up early in the morning and can’t get back to sleep. No joke, it’s a challenge schedule-wise.’ But it’s a challenge they’ve overcome, at least enough to head out on the road. If you’re a fan of gently epic guitar genius, and let’s face it you should be, it’s a gig not to miss. (Doug Johnstone)
SHOEGAZE/POP M83 The Arches, Glasgow, Thu 19 Jan PERCUSSIVE GUITAR RM HUBBERT Stereo, Glasgow, Thu 27 Jan, support by Tattie Toes
The Associates’ Alan Rankine once said the best way to make an album is to ‘start with a climax, then go further.’ It’s a maxim Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez – an Antibes-born, LA-based songwriter/multi-instrumentalist with an idiosyncratic taste for refracting luxuriant 80s pop through a prism of hazy electronica and shoegaze – could be said to have taken to an extreme on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, the sixth album of M83’s now ten-year lifespan. From the pummelling ‘Intro’, featuring a glistening vocal from Zola Jesus, to the Mogwai-with-synths quiet-loud crash of ‘Echoes of Mine’, it’s epic, stargazing crescendo piled-upon epic, star-gazing crescendo from a band appropriately enough named after a galaxy.
The critical reception has been fairly mixed. Pitchfork rated it their third best album of 2011 and declared single ‘Midnight City’ their track of the year. Others expressed frustration at Hurry Up. . .’s sprawling length and drifting focus. Still, you have to admire Gonzalez’ bloody-minded ambition to stride on from his ambient instrumental roots, and beyond the new big pop direction he realised so exquisitely on Saturdays = Youth – a record that raised M83 out of club venues and into arenas opening for Kings of Leon and The Killers. Some of M83’s more atmospheric moments appear to fancy themselves as being reminiscent of Brian Eno’s Apollo, which would pretty much be the sound of the cosmos itself if it had one. If that all seems a bit much, that’s probably the idea. (Malcolm Jack)
76 THE LIST 5 Jan–2 Feb 2012
RM Hubbert’s debut album First & Last was more than just an instrumental record by a talented Glaswegian guitarist. Rather it was the result of Hubbert’s attempts to document a tumultuous three-year period, which saw the loss of both parents, the break-up of his marriage, alongside being diagnosed with chronic depression. Not many people can deal with circumstances like these in quick succession, let alone express themselves creatively, but it was through a compulsion to communicate, beyond conversation, that drove Hubbert to create a collection of pieces that are beautifully intricate yet heartbreakingly emotive. Having rigorously learned technical flamenco exercises, simply to keep busy, Hubbert coupled these with unorthodox flourishes of melody and percussion to create a style that pulls as much from traditional Spanish sounds as his own musical history, having been in several Glasgow act these past two decades – perhaps most notably, math-rock crew, El Hombre Trajeadeo.
First & Last was picked up by Chemikal Underground last year, a relationship which has since spawned another record, [see review, page 79]. Album guests Aidan Moffat, Alex Kapranos, Ali Roberts and others will also join Hubby for a run through of the entire album as part of what is sure to be blinder of a launch show. (Ryan Drever) ■ Keep an eye on list.co.uk for an upcoming interview with RM Hubbert.