Post Rock: A Look Into Music Without Lyrics

March 13th, 2008. Explosions in the Sky are set to perform at the Variety Playhouse for an unprecedented two shows, one in the afternoon and another in the evening. The Austin, Texas natives are no stranger to the Atlanta area, as they have been playing here for roughly five years now, presenting their unique instrumental music to larger and larger crowds every time. The evening show has sold out early on in pre-sale but the band has added on another show showing a true sign of love for their fans. Atlanta's two show mayhem is a closing to the bands nearly three month long tour as the group have already moved on to Europe for their next two month tour.
The band emerge onstage shortly after opening act Robert Lowe entranced the audience with his single, half-hour long song consisting of self-made bird chirps playing over ambient guitar loops and his unique aborigine-like singing style. Guitarist Munaf Rayani shares with the crowd that the group is very exhausted from the prior months of shows but they will do their best to entertain us. Later that evening, and one grueling hour long set later, Manaf is down on his hands and knees, grasping the remnants of a once-intact tambourine that has been pulverized into an indistinguishable circle of tiny bent metal cymbals and cracked wood. The guitarist’s passion for the group's music is undeniable leaving an impression on me so profound that I have still yet been able to resolve its answer. What would have happened if they were not tired?

Each week The West Georgian paper comes out and as if on queue, a good many of you keep coming back and picking it up. Thank you. It wasn't till last Sunday that I realized my movie reviews just weren’t.. enough. And although I'm very enthused to be writing these reviews for you, I want my words to have more impact, more significance, more life. My review of the March 13th show is a paint-by-numbers example of a traditional movie review of mine turned-concert-review. The expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" is only so true. It's as to say a song without lyrics can never be fully understood. It's an enigma. A thousands words is merely a hundredth of what I could write to explain this. Pure irony. And to think, this my second time seeing them too.
Explosions in the Sky started in '99 when the post rock genre was just getting underway. European groups like Mogwai and Sigur Ros had already been in the game for a good few years prior, and Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Do Make Say Think were well on their way as well, leaving the states with just one band (respectively). Even to this day, Explosions can be credited with starting this genre of the instrumental rock music that has come to be. To clarify, bands like Rush and The Allman Brothers Band already proved that instrumentation was around, followed up by more independently-centered bands like Tortoise and The Appleseed Cast, and then finally brought on to a fully new kind of instrumentalization by way of Explosions in the Sky. Explosions redeveloped the minimalism genre, utilizing every instrument (guitar, bass, drums) to coincide perfectly with one another at whatever volume. Their epic six to ten minute songs can only be described as ethereal, using repetition and crescendos in a whole new manner, making everything sound organic and beautiful at the same time.
Explosions are truly the best at what they do, from the members to the production of the albums, it can never be taken for granted. A single song may have three different time signatures or ten different pedal effects (for one guitar). Bassist Michael James opts out on the bass in select songs adding on a third guitarist to the quadruplet. Despite the overwhelming amount, each guitar has it's own distinct sound and purpose, providing a different timbre for each song. As to be expected, the immensity can only be fully experienced via live show. The magnitude of this holy guitar trinity is only fully implemented in Explosions loudest songs, going one step louder each time you think it can't happen anymore. Different from rock's normal distortion and reverb, Explosions manage to develop it into the most cathartic style of music they make. It’s funny to think that they can achieve such grandeur with the most traditional instruments out there. Guitar, bass and drums; the basic three.
But I digress. Despite being the most influential in the contemporary states, there is a plethora of other bands waiting for their turn to get some press as well. Fellow Texans This Will Destroy You has been around for a few years, having released two albums in the exact vain of Explosions. Massachusetts's Caspian have been around since '03 with two albums under the belt, choosing to shorten the lengthy songs into a much more concise and compacted instrumentals. California’s Tristeza (pronounced Triz-Tea-Za) have been in the hull longer than Explosions but with far less success. Despite the setbacks, the group remains together after ten years, mixing different genres of electronica and ambience, keeping the traditional four-member crew. James LaValle left in 2003 to pursue a more electronically influenced outlet with The Album Leaf, which has since then garnered much more notoriety.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Philly's Saxon Shore perform last year, a five member instrumental band that has been playing strong since 2001. Japan's Mono is label-mates with Explosions (Temporary Residence), becoming almost a carbon copy of the group, utilizing long songs with plenty of ambience and crescendos. A post-metal genre has also started to sprout up with bands like Chicago's Pelican and Russian Circles who have mixed the beauty and sincerity of ambience with a harder feel. Europe's 65daysofstatic and God Is An Astronaut offer their own type of style, adding on to the never-ending list of weird band names in a painstakingly unknown genre.
Yet when all is said and I done, I always can come back to one band to make me feel alive again. Explosions in the Sky's third full length, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, will forever stay a favorite of mine. The beauty behind this is that nothing can be said or done that could ever take this away. It's the most reliable possession I own. There's just something about the juxtaposition between tranquility and power that can't be found in anything else. The pure unadulterated sound of music without lyrics makes me appreciate the finer qualities of life that much more. And it’s funny to think that even after hundreds of listens, witnessing certain tracks live first hand, I found new things in their music that I have never heard prior. I feel like I'm coming off too subjective so, as my closing statement, if nothing else, I at least want you to find that something in your lives that means this much to you. Have a great summer.