The music business has slowed down in some ways and sped up in others. While bands generally don’t release multiple albums and standalone singles per year any more, instead if your first record doesn’t set fire to your career, that’s generally the end of you.
Combine that with the fact that physical releases are increasingly on the decline and one casualty of modern music is the art of the extended play.
An extended play, midway between a single and an album, often worked as a preview of an album, as a way of mopping up extra tracks that don’t fit anywhere else, or as a dry run of a different musical style.
Better yet, sometimes they end up home to material that the artist would love to do but could never get away with on their mainstream releases.
With Azealia Banks’ 1991 EP out next month, which I’m hugely excited for, I thought I’d take a look at some of my favourite EPs.
Minor Threat – Salad Days (1985) - Minor Threat, led by Ian Mackaye, were innovators in many ways but only just after having accidentally created the straight edge lifestyle they were already sick of making hardcore punk. This was released two years after they’d already broken up and you can hear the hints of a more expansive sound on the title track, given a truly epic quality by the chimes overdub.
Refused – New Noise Theology (1998) - Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come is probably the greatest hardcore punk album ever made, and it’s pretty ridiculous that after the album came out and ‘New Noise’ was released as a single and broke, they packaged it up as an EP with three separate songs each of which as good as the album. ‘Blind Date’ is a fantastic song although it wouldn’t really fit in anywhere on the album, but I can imagine the eight-minute ‘Poetry Written In Gasoline’ working as an excellent midway point for the rest of the album to swivel around, and the remix of ‘Refused Are ****ing Dead’ might be even better than the original.
The Dillinger Escape Plan and Mike Patton – Irony Is A Dead Scene (2002) - When DEP were left without a vocalist, they collaborated with Faith No More’s Mike Patton (my favourite singer of all time) and this EP is what emerged. Patton’s massive range and sheer insane inspiration works perfectly with the DEP’s spasmodic songwriting, even if the cover of Aphex Twin’s ‘Come To Daddy’ is pointless.
Hope of the States – Blood Meridian (2006) - Only about 2000 of this vinyl EP were printed, and as Hope of the States are one of my favourite bands, since their break-up it’s one of my most treasured possessions. Each of the b-sides is as good as the title track, but my favourite one is ‘Under The Wires,’ a song which turns the fiery anger of their Left album and turns it into a pitch-black resignation.
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals – Everybody Knows (2007) - The Cardinals were only ever as good as Ryan’s inspiration, and on 2007′s Easy Tiger he was hugely inspired. A couple of leftover tracks that didn’t fit on the album, plus some other offcuts, combined to make this EP. ‘Blue Hotel’ was originally written and recorded with Willie Nelson, but this version is the better one, while the recreated live version of ‘Dear John’ (from Jacksonville City Nights) is actually better than the original.
United Nations – Never Mind The Bombings, Here’s Your Six Figures (2010) - Recorded at the same time as the original album, I was very happy to hear any new material from United Nations given that they basically ceased to exist after being one of the only supergroups ever to not completely suck.
Cave In – Planets of Old (2010) - Cave In proved another nice part of an EP, as throughout their career they’d fill the gaps between albums with EPs. When they returned from hiatus in 2009 they wanted to get some new material quicker than it’d take to do an album, so they released this the next year – it was reassuring to hear the Earth-shattering ‘Cayman Tongue,’ a return to their metal/space-rock fusion of yore.
Glassjaw – Our Colour Green (2011) - I’ve discussed this EP extensively before, but it’s Glassjaw at their best and was their first release of new material since 2002. ‘All Good Junkies Go To Heaven’ is amongst my favourites of their songs.
Rizzle Kicks – Left Over Presents (2011) - Rizzle Kicks are a charming pop act, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s something slightly neutered about their album – Jordan’s best punchline on ‘Mama Do The Hump’ is bleeped (even on the album, parental advisory sticker and all), and his rapping is restrained at best. This EP, released for free during Christmas last year, shows how much more there is to them when their label isn’t paying attention – Jordan’s rapping is suddenly sparkling, twice as fast and much funnier – Harley has more room to breathe as a singer and gets a solo spot on ‘Wicked Games’ – putting ‘Miss Cigarette’ aside, ‘Coach Potato’ is probably the best song they’ve ever done.
Ed Sheeran and Yelawolf – Slumdon Bridge (2012) - Ed Sheeran is a man who is a supporter of the EP as an art form, creating thematic ones – some solo, some hip-hop tinged, some collaborations. This time around he collaborated for the whole EP with Eminem’s protege, Yelawolf. It peaks early with ‘London Bridge,’ a bizarre sort of hip hop equivalent to Bob Dylan’s ‘What Was It You Wanted?’
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I’m going to skirt a little bit outside my usual subject matter here and talk about a movie – but a musical movie nonetheless.
Ten years ago today, one of my favourite albums ever was released in North America. That album is Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
The following sentence may be one of the most horrifying things you’ll ever hear.