Like many of the match-ups in the MDM, it becomes hard to judge different styles. Comparing these two albums is like comparing apples to Radiohead (I, or someone else, may have used that joke in the last tournament, but if so I forgot, and besides, there are newbies here). In Rainbows isn’t a groundbreaking Radiohead album, but that is probably why I like it. Finally the jag-offs just sit and make some good music without everything being a nudge, nudge wink, wink see-what-I-did-there you weren’t expecting that were you moment. It’s just a really fantastic rock record. I still don't like Thom Yorke, but this is the least grating I've ever found his voice to be.
Explosions in the Sky are great. They seem fairly derivative of Mogwai, but I love Mogwai. (Side note – I’m going to see Mogwai in Chicago on April 30th if anyone wants to join me). I’m going to call this type of music ‘epic noise’ and EITS do epic noise very well. And, as previously stated, I love Friday Night Lights. And yet, I have trouble advancing this album. You know it will be loud. Then you know it will be quiet. And then at some point it will get loud again suddenly. The biggest question is whether the drums and guitar will come in together, or a few bars apart, and how staccato they will be. Mogwai, on the other hand, may have thrown a sample of an answering machine or some such shit in there, just to keep it real.
So I’m giving the nod to In Rainbows. My apologies to Karl.
