Quick post because I just got back from driving to and from Chicago. What was I doing there you ask? Well I went to go see Explosions In The Sky at the Congress Theater. While the boys from Austin put on a fantastic show musically, the venue was just way too big to enjoy them. What makes EITS great are the dynamic changes, and the intricacies found in the quiet parts of their songs. Yes, they know how to rock out, but so do a lot of people. No one gets to the emotionally sensitive spots in the soul like EITS.

They didn't exactly do that for me tonight because the venue was teeming with Chicago Hipsters, many of whom spent the entire show talking (loudly). I don't understand how EITS got so big, or how Chicago Hipsters got so stupid that they'd pay $18 to basically ignore what was going on in front of them.

Unfortunately, after tonight's experience, I won't go to an Explosions show unless the venue is under 300 people. They seem to have gotten a big burst of popularity within the last six months, so who knows when they'll be playing small venues again. And to think I skipped seeing them at a coffee shop in Champaign so I could play a craptacular gig at a bar I now hate. Awesome.

Anyway, if you've never heard EITS, here is a recording of them at another gig. This is the type of intimacy I was hoping for... don't know why I thought I'd get it at the Congress. Hope makes you do strange things.



Extra Special Treat

So the new Portishead album, creatively entitled Third, has already leaked. I intended to post up just one of the less strange tracks (and trust me, there are some WEIRD cuts on this album). But this just ended up on my computer. Not going to say how. But you can thank me for it later. "Machine Gun" is the first single off of Third, and Radio Slave was a very obvious choice to remix it. So here it is... in all its glory. This is gonna be a big club tune, so grab it now!

Portishead - Machine Gun (Radio Slave Remix)