Explosions In The Sky – Radio City Music Hall

[Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by a longtime friend Yishai. When he mentioned to me that he was heading to the Explosions’ show, I asked him to do a review, and that’s what you’re about to read. Enjoy]

To give you a sense of Explosions live show, the last time I saw them back in 2008 at Terminal 5, after they finished an incredibly intense set, the audience stayed and cheered, hoping for an encore. After a few minutes, guitarist Munaf Rayani came out and said something along the lines of “Thank you so much for cheering, but we really leave everything we have on the stage, so we have nothing left to offer but we hope to see you again soon.” And honestly, it made complete sense. Nobody grumbled or cursed him out. Because everyone in the room had just been transported to another place watching this band literally throw themselves in their music, playing every note of their intricate compositions perfectly while thrashing in place on stage. And though we all wanted to go back there one last time, we really did get the feeling that the band just gave us everything they had, leaving the stage dripping with sweat as our ears still rung with feedback.

Day Three

So it goes. Here I am in Boston, MA, sitting down to my desk on my third day of work.

To go along with this theme, I thought I’d share a song by Explosions In The Sky, called Day 3. Of all their albums, this one is probably the most intriguing to me. Maybe it’s because they have the entire album for free download on their site.

But I don’t think my frugality is what drew me to this album; I think it’s the story. From what I can glean (and I haven’t listened to the entire album all the way through in some time), the band’s van broke down thousands of miles from home, and they had no money or way to get back.

It’s difficult for a lyric-less band to tell such a story, and this track, which includes some “spoken-word” does help a bit. But overall, it’s the mood of despair that jumps out at the listener which seems to confirm those fears of wrong decisions and poor choices. This regretful despair is what this entire album signifies.

My third day of work will hopefully not be marred by such a mood (so far the first two days have been great), but since this was the only song I found with “Day Three” in the title, and since I haven’t shared Explosions in a while, I figured it was worth giving it a go.

Explosions In The Sky – Day 3

Israel Remembrance Day

Today is Israel’s Remembrance Day, a day when Israel mourns the loss of its nation’s soldiers and victims of terror. As everyone in the country has spent some time in the army, this is not like Memorial Day in America; there everyone knows someone who has died; everybody has someone to mourn for.

Since many of us are in school or at work, maybe we can take these songs as our own personal way to remember those who have fallen.

Elliott Smith – Memory Lane

Explosions In The Sky – Remember Me As A Time Of Day

Miles Davis – Israel

Wilco – I’ll Fight

Explosions In The Sky: 3-21-08

To open the new blog, I thought we’d start with a bootleg that I’m not sure I’ve ever posted, and if I have, it was eons ago. (Though, if you really wanna check, you can look in the Archives.)

But that’s all irrelevant. Here’s to the first musical post of the new blog, and here’s to the music.

IntroFirst Breath After ComaCatastrophe And The CureThe Birth And Death Of DaySix Days At The Bottom Of The OceanGreet DeathIt’s Natural To Be AfraidYour Hand In MineThe Only Moment We’re Alone