Explosion In The Sky - Snow and Lights -- How Strange, Innocence (200/2005)

It seems like forever since I posted some post rock. This might just be because of my inactivity though. still let me make it up to you with one of the major bands in the genre. And for me personally the band that made me fall in love with the genre after Joy Wants Eternity introduced me to it. Explosions In The Sky is an Austin Texas based band that is producing some of the more excellent music since the end of the last century. Honestly there isn't an album they made I did not like, I can't even name a song that I dislike. For me this band is what post rock should be, and of course taste differs for everyone and there are a lot of excellent bands out there, I know all this. But for me they just are just that little bit better than the others, until now at least.

The song is from their debut album and I especially like the drumming in this one, it was amazing to see them play this song live. Although that was the case for almost every song they played. It was my first post rock concert and I was really amazed how they made some of the sounds by just hitting (not playing) their instruments. It all seemed so random, like what other rock bands would do at the end of the gig, just to produce some noise... But here it was to make the exact sounds, not noise but music. It sounded exactly as it would sound on the album and it was just unbelievable how they did it, haha. Definitely one of the best concerts I saw in my short live and one of the very few bands I would like to see as often as possible even if it would be two days in a row, I honestly wouldn't mind. Enjoy!

Official site

last.fm artist page

Good Shoes - Morden -- Think Before You Speak (2007)

Next up is the British band Good Shoes. Apparently they formed in a part of London called Morden, which is the song title of the video I'm posting. Not 100% sure if this little fact is right or not, but it's on the Last FM bio which often seems (and is) legit. When this album first came out I was a huge fan of the catchy and fast songs. The album always succeeded in making me feel happy, and good in general. Now few years later the album is still one of my favorites when I feel a bit down. In general I listen less to the band because the second album was kind off a disappointment. It was good but I expected so much more, and maybe too much of them. I've got it playing now though so maybe the extra plays of the record are able to change my mind. Wouldn't be the first time that I wrote an album off to early...

Now that I'm looking into them a bit more I can't help but notice that they are very inactive. No news about a possible new album, no new gigs, no updates on their site... I just hope they are still together. Even though the second album wasn't that great for me, I still feel the desire to see these lads live one day. All profiles tell "2004 - present" so I still got hope. The fact that they didn't connect on their Myspace for over a year maybe just means that that site really is dead, haha. 

Anyways enjoy the song and hopefully we'll all be able to see them live soon. Like I said the song is Morden for the simple reason that it's my favorite on the album, like usual no?

Official site

last.fm artist page

Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue -- Ocean Avenue (2003)

Next up is Yellow Card, again a band I'm listening to for quite some time. To be exact since my early teenage years, age 13 more and less. Right now I'm not that much into the punk rock genre anymore, but some bands I still am able to enjoy a lot, especially Yellowcard (explains the post) and Rise Against (explains the blog title). The Ocean Avenue album in 2003 didn't actually blew me away, I wasn't that much into music back then so the album didn't really get the chance to do it I guess. I did have few songs of the album and the Ocean Avenue song itself is right now my favorite by the band but it didn't strike me as being that excellent at first. Two albums later all that changed though, I developed in huge a music freak in 2007 and played the new record over and over. So I was and still am a huge fan of the Paper Walls album when it came out. I guess I'm one of the few people that actually finds this album better than the Ocean Avenue one, but I did back then and I still do right now.

About the newer material I can't say that much, I have it but I really don't listen to it. Which is a shame, I know, but whenever I feel like it I put on Paper Walls and nothing else, Maybe I should change that tonight and put on When You're Trough Thinking, Say Yes or Southern Air or look for the two first albums online to add to my media library, who knows. For now it's Paper Walls while typing this, and I'm happy with it, haha. 

The song itself has an entertaining video and excellent lyrics to sing along to with good punk rock music supporting them. It really gets me nostalgic whenever I listen to music like this, it's a bit like Deftones and the harder music when I was a kid, but now for my early teenage years, the years right before I listened to Indie Rock a year or two years later in 04/05. So yes I'm not that much into it anymore but you may expect some bands like this, just because I have some history with them and I enjoy ranting about them. I'm not even sorry, haha. For now enjoy the song and go back to whatever age you were when you found out about Yellowcard.

Official site

last.fm artist page

Netsky - Iron Heart -- Netsky (2010)

Next up is the first Belgian artist, about time considering I'm from Belgium. Not only is he the first Belgian artist but as well is he the first drum and bass artist I will be posting here. To be more exact Netsky produces liquid drum and bass and he's doing it very well. At age 23 Boris Daenen already made two records and he's a rising star  in the drum and bass scene, if he isn't a star already. I'm not that well known with the genre so it's hard to tell for me.

Anyways I do am able to tell that in Belgium he's really popular, especially at festivals where the stages are crowded as fuck where he plays. The song I chose is Iron Heart from his first record, the video is official but doesn't contain the full song. I do advice to download/buy both his albums. The second album came out earlier this year, and I don't know it that well yet. But what I heard of "2" sounds very good,  The first album on the other hand is one of my favorite albums, and was an excellent debut record. If you still want more then he has lots of good tracks that aren't featured on one of the albums. Since i'm not that well known with the genre or Netsky in general I'll make this a short post. Just want to add that in the future I'll be posting more Belgian artists. For now you can listen to, and hopefully enjoy, one of our biggest talents with Netsky.

Official site
last.fm artist page

M83 - We Own The Sky -- Saturdays = Youth (2008)

Next up on my blog is M83, for the simple reason that I'll be seeing them live tomorrow. Not to sure what to expect since I only know half of the albums. I do am some sort of fan of them, in a way that I really like to listen to it, but I do not know how it will sound live and what the atmosphere will be like. Especially in Belgium where most people don't know any good music and a lot of folks just are there to try something new, which makes the crowd often very boring. 

Maybe tomorrow will be better though, since M83 is the project of the French artist Anthony Gonzalez. Our countries are neighbors and i'm going to a venue that is in Brussels and has mostly french speaking visitors, so maybe just maybe they actually know this artist for once. Not that I know them that well, but probably I will know more than the majority of the crowd, oh well. If you wouldn't believe the Belgian crowds actually are bad... Then I can tell you out of my own experience that we are somewhat neighbors of the United Kingdom as well if you ignore the sea in between us. But the average Belgian person doesn't seem to know anything of the music coming from there, so I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too high for tomorrow. Anyways the most important is the band, if the gig itself is good I will be a happy man. For now i'd say enjoy the song, it's We Own The Sky of the Saturdays = Youth album, which is my favorite of the three albums that I know.  

Official Site
last.fm artist page