Sunday 25 December 2016

EXPLORATION, THE

GenresPunk / Indie Rock / Emo / Alternative / Ambient
Related artistsOliver Houston and Xerxes.
CountryGrand Rapids, Michigan USA
Years Active2009-2015
Song: "Meeting"
Album: "For Cabana"
Year: 2013
For fans ofOliver Houston, The Advantage, Native, Mouse Fitzgerald, I Love Your Lifestyle, American Football, Dakota/Dakota, Piglet, Clever Girl, This Town Needs Guns, Tottoro, Tera Melos, La Dispute and The Reptilian.
Label(s): Self Released / Too Far Gone Records / Quiet Year Records / Fawning Records / Driftwood Records
This post's artist is from the December 2016 Mix. This is track #6.
You can download: the December 2016 Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2017 Mix#1 here.

When I first started out as a label I traded with a few labels, some which I still fully support and others that have imploded as a catalyst of their owners' terrible decisions as human beings. Regardless, I was introduced to a killer band through a trade with a US label that no longer operates. In early 2014 I nabbed five copies of THE EXPLORATION's 'For Cabana' 7" because out of the twenty bands I had the option to trade with on the label, this was the only one I enjoyed. The band played stripped down indie rock mated with twinkly, dreamy and tappy as fuck emo music. Here is a brief history, from what I know.

In 2009 the band released a four song demo titled 'Basement Demos' and apparently people lost their collective shit for almost half of a decade before the band finally started dropping more releases, including the 'For Cabana' 7" and tape as well as the 'Demography' cassette. On that debut cdr the recording quality may be lo-fi but everything comes out nice, balanced and raw with the keeper here being "The Ocean" with its awesome guitars and strained yells. The 'Demography' tape was released in 2013 and includes the 'Basement Demos' as well as six other songs, with "An Ending" being my personal favourite with an eerie, dreamlike aura that makes everything feel slightly hazy and as if in slow motion. The 'For Cabana' EP was their final release and came out on 7" in 2013 and cassette in 2015. This EP is an excellent final release, including the best version of "Meeting", which happens to be my favourite THE EXPLORATION song, and three others including the bouncy as hell "Nostalgical" that is an instant headbobber.

While on, or perhaps even during, their 2015 tour in the US and Canada I was able to capture an entire seven-song set in Toronto on March 13th (linked here) just a few days before they broke up and formed the mathy emo/pop-punk band Oliver Houston.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2009 - Basement Demos cdEP (stream/donate/download here)

2013 - For Cabana cassette/7"EP (stream/donate/download here)
2013 - Demography cassetteLP (stream/donate/download here)
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(2015) THE EXPLORATION - "I'm Sorry I'm Leaving" live video

(2015) THE EXPLORATION - "The Ocean" live video

(2013) THE EXPLORATION - "Meeting" (from 'For Cabana')

(2013) THE EXPLORATION - "Nostalgical" (from 'For Cabana')

(2013) THE EXPLORATION - "An Ending" (from 'Demography')

(2009) THE EXPLORATION - "The Ocean" (from 'Basement Demos')

(2009) THE EXPLORATION - "I Guess I'm Leaving" (from 'Basement Demos')

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THE EXPLORATION additional links
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