Boards

is the only minus the bear release i've ever been able to get into and thats an ep

it wouldn't have worked stretched to album length but it is so much more than an extended single
its a prefectly self-contained piece that's just the right length to do what it sets out to

Brilliant EP.

Besides Air France's No Way Down, I'd put Epic45 - In All The Empty Houses, and Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place In The Country, and The National - Cherry Tree as similarly near perfect quality ep's.

brilliant EP.

James Blake's first two EPs were much better than his album, I listen to them a lot.

Aphex twin - too many to mention.. didgeridoo, on, windowlicker etc
flying lotus - Reset
mu-ziq - brace yourself
venetians snares - hospitality
death from above 1979 - heads up
pixies - come on pilgrim
radiohead - airbag/how am i driving
the locust - S/T
godspeed - slow riot
my bloody valentine - all of them...

...is comfortably the best thing they've ever done. After the pleasant enough, but ultimately Depeche Mode sounding, Pretty Hate Machine, Broken upped the ante massively in terms of aggression (both musically and lyrically) and Reznor's awesome production skills (still the main string to his bow in my opinion).

With eight tracks (or 99 depending on what you think counts on the CD version) it is relatively long for an EP, but nonetheless seems to only ever be counted as a stepping stone release between Pretty Hate Machine and The Downward Spiral, the two albums that seem to get the most love from NIN fans. Personally, I remember being pretty disappointed when The Downward Spiral came out that it failed to reach the heights scaled by The Broken EP. Never bettered...

the transition from Come to Daddy, one of the most disturbing things I've ever heard (coupled with the music video) to Flim, one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard, is just incredible.

Such an incredible, incredible record.

Ride
Adorable
early Blur ones
....lots of other no mark bands from the early '90s

Lush too...

They used to do them periodically as well - what's going on Dean and Toni?

love pretty much everythign hes done.

i did attempt to snog Toni at a Sundays gig though. I failed.

I've still got a couple of their EP's, Abstain! And 13th Disciple for sure, maybe Air Conditioned Nightmare too. Very lively, shame they fizzled out but I didn't buy the album so I'm partly to blame.

I really like the album, but those two EPs were not much short of stunning in places.

It's not exactly a choice of much musical sustenance but it's one of the few releases in recent years that I've found myself enjoying every single track an enormous amount. It's both aggressive and groovy, noisy and sexy. I suppose his kind of music is one of said genres which promotes and endorses in the release of the EP format more, and that Major Lazer album only had 5 decent tracks on it and would have worked much better as an EP, in my opinion.

tut tut, the album is tops. came out the day my GCSE results were out....and i was more concerned about that than said results...which probs explains the direction my life has taken :/

Don't get me wrong, I love the albums, but Sanddollars just sums up what's great about them in one tight, cohesive package

TNGHT - TNGHT
The Most Serene Republic - Phages
The Soft Moon - Total Decay
All the Burial ones
GYBE! - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
BoC - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country / Tran-Canada Highway
Jetplane Landing - Els Quatre Gats
Games (before they were Ford and Lopatin) - That We Play
Pariah - Safehouses
Space Dimension Controller - Temporary Thrillz

Best thing they ever did.

Every track is great, the artwork with the pop-up city is excellent, full on cracking EP

Just really, really, REALLY good. The Is Is EP is pretty great as well but that was more of a stopgap I guess as most of those tracks were recorded between FTT and SYB but it was released after SYB and they were more FTT style tracks that wouldn't have fitted on the other records. Good though, really good

You could argue that those 3 early EPs (Alice, Reptile House and Body and Soul) launched a whole subculture and aethetic, if not a genre.

I find EPs can sometimes be my favourite thing to go to for short fixes of good bands, because there's none of that pressure that comes with a full album, but a lot of the time there're better songs.

/thread

beautiful slices of shoegaze perfection.

Come to Daddy EP is the best EP ever. Contains the greatest piece of electronic music ever strung together too.

"Alice in Chains was the first band to ever have an EP reach number one on the Billboard album chart. Its EP, Jar of Flies, was published on January 25, 1994."

I always thought that was a 'mini album' rather than an EP. Surely an EP should chart on the singles chart? Probably a really straight-forward technical definition out there but, well.....

Aereogramme - Glam Cripple
Arab Strap - Girls of Summer
Bis - Secret Vampire Soundtrack
The Delgados - Lazarwalker
Mogwai - Xmas Steps

Also some others worth a mention...
Primal Scream - Dixie Narco
Therapy? - Shortsharpshock
Mansun - Two EP
SFA - Ice Hockey Hair
Beth Orton - Best Bit
Regular Fries - Free The Regular Fries

Apart from not scoring, along with everyone else in the crowd

It just lends itself perfectly to 'no filler, all killer':

Stapleton, Chez Chef
Aereogramme, Seclusion
Macha/Bedhead, Macha Loved Bedhead
The Charlatans, Over Rising
The Chemical Brothers, Loops of Fury
Battles - B, C
65dos - Hole

Love those ones.

It's just wonderful, uplifting, positive, GONNA HAVE A GREAT TIME/LET'S GET SMASHED-style. Also the drumming is superb.

Only 6 tracks and one of their best releases.

Rough and noisy and good.

Thought you saw a shooting star...
There when you need it
Certain Songs
NAMES

are all fantastic.

came out in 2001

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeah_Yeah_Yeahs_(EP)

I remember cos I bought it before FTT.

Great ep though, never been into there other stuff as much.

one of my all time favs

listened to this for the first in ages today and its still ace, I much prefer it to their album

is also way better than either of their albums.

Contains some of their heaviest and grooviest stuff, and Afghamistam is just too beautiful. Every heavy music fan should hear this.

CMYK itself is a monster of a song - just heavy enough to be ominous but playful and odd too. Even that little vocal cut-in before it goes back to the thudding is great.

Something about their strand of pop music that sounds so different and does so well to put you in a particular place/mood. Sad that they won't be making anymore music - I heard "It Feels Good to be Around You" and was hopeful they had at least another ep in them.
I would also throw in Burial's Street Halo ep - I have a lot of love for a lot of his work but this one in particular is flawless to me. For some reason I think of abandoned animals huddled somewhere for warmth and company when I listen to this, and it makes me rather sad.

Brilliant.

though I think 'Truant / Rough Sleeper' was the best

Animal Collective - Water Curses
Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind
Ballboy - All The Records On The Radio Are Shite
Belle & Sebastian - Dog On Wheels
Belle & Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane
Belle & Sebastian - 3...6...9 Seconds Of Light
Burial - Kindred
Godspeed - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
Joanna Newsom & The Ys Street Band
Joy Zipper - The Stereo And God
Mogwai - 4 Satin
Mogwai - No Education = No Future (Fuck The Curfew)
Mogwai - EP
Mogwai - My Father, My King
Mogwai - Earth Division
MBV - Glider
MBV - Tremolo
Pulp - The Sisters
Radiohead - My Iron Lung
Radiohead - Airbag/How Am I Driving?
Spacemen 3 - Transparent Radiation
Stereolab - Space-Age Batchelor Pad Music
Stereolab - Music For The Amorphous Body Centre
The Wildhearts - Don't Be Happy...Just Worry

Probably missed some. Yep, EPs are awesome...

Well, my favourite out of that bunch is probably Spacemen 3 - Transparent Radiation EP. "Ecstasy Sympony" and "Transparent Radiation (Flashback)" provide 16 minutes of pure bliss. Kindred EP is virtually perfect as well, as is Dog On Wheels - every single song a winner (although the demo version of "The State I Am In" can't help but be inferior to the peerless "Tigermilk" version).

seeing as their whole reputation was made by 3 excellent EPs.

I was thinking listening to this the other day that this is perhaps, of all the many Guided By Voices releases, my favourite, and one of the greatest lo-fi releases of all time. It took me a good thirty or so listens, and this is with me already being a GBV veteran, but it is just so brilliant. 23 minutes of beautifully flawed emotional pop perfection.

If you don't think so on first listen, well, maybe given time you'll agree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI8fbN9e154

also his other ones. But especially that one.

1. Trying to make them stand alone, and not just singles from albums with b-sides.
2. Understanding that EP's can actually compliment albums and even produce defining moments beyond those on albums - the EP's made the songs more special than had for example had 3..6..9, Lazy Line and Dog On Wheels been released together as the third album.

the EP with Stanley Kubrick on is very high quality all the way through

is fucking great.

Iron and Wine's (including the collaboration with Calexico) yet? Or any of Konkurrent's In the Fishtank project?

Absolutely lovely

Some great collaborative tunes, and a solo each. The sort of thing EPs are great for: Jenny Hoyston doesn't normally play country, but she aquits herself well with the Whit man, who's great as ever.

The format lets them experiment with playing together and separately, using sounds they otherwise tend not to (occasional drum machine). Maybe they had an album's worth of songs, but the EP is all good. How many albums have you though, 'this would be a better EP'? Loads of those in this thread may well be edited albums with filler removed.

So I definitely agree with this. I've always loved that kind of approach.

In fact, I think I prefer the EP version of "The State I Am In" to the Tigermilk version.

This was the precursor to King Vision, from 2007. This EP fulfils all the roles an EP can, in just five tracks!

1. Dark Autumn. Single from forthcoming album, so EP as promo.
2. It Feels Good to Move ft. Gil Mantera's Party Dream. Collaborative track. Grand Buffet rarely did collabos, so this gets an airing here.
3. Cool Treasure (Jackson). A solo track each. Jackson's is a song about appreciating cool stuff and being naive and creative, and it's one of GB's best tunes.
4. Total Control (Lord Grunge). Grunge's solo is a straight rap track, laying out Grunge's libertarian-influenced world view. Better than it sounds.
5. Bears and Bricks. An old track, but incredible - EP as clearing the archives.

16, Maybe Less might be my favourite song by either artist.

Only five tracks, but five which rank among the best stuff they've done.

Also, the Spy Versus Spy s/t EP is a UK hardcore/emo classic.

But I only heard of them when The 3 EPs was released as an 'album' - I never saw the individual releases. So the Beta Band was always on my 'albums' CD shelf, not 'EPs and singles'.

Probably how people will/already do regard EP's 1988-1991 by My Bloody Valentine (with its fucking greengrocer's apostrophe): as a full-length, but not exactly an album.

Fugazi - Margin Walker
Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff

Chez Chef is a fucking classic EP.

Can't believe I forgot them. EP3 in particular is flawless

Hudson Mohawke's 'Polyfolk Dance' and Rustie's 'Sunburst EP' were both far superior to the full length albums that followed them.

Such a perfect little record, two upbeat stompers - London Girl and Body of an American (familiar to all fans of The Wire), one freewheeling instrumental - Planxty Noel Hill and then Rainy Night in Soho the finest ballad MacGowan ever wrote, maybe the finest song full stop.

Cooper Temple Clause - Hardware/Warfare EPs, especially the former.

but quite a few others in this thread I'd class as mini albums as well (Vaya, Slow Riot for example). Where do you draw the line?

How could I forget Chronic Town? It's a masterpiece, easily the greatest EP ever recorded.

I've betrayed everything I hold dear. I hate myself now :(

Panties Please! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN7NPr2XZ14

I quite like it.

But they never matched the power of those early eps

But surely a mini album?

Sunburst and Snowblind, Aikea Guinea, The Spangle Maker and Peppermint Pig are all amazing records.

I think the length of an ep (4 songs, about 20 minutes) really suits a band who basically do one thing really, really well but have a very pronounced 'sound' that can flag a bit over the length of a full album.

I love Cocteau Twins albums, especially Treasure, but none are as awesome as Sunburst and Snowblind

Both have ace EPs.

Rustie: Jagz The Smack (2007), Bad Science (2009), Sunburst (2010).

Hudson Mohawke: Oops (2008), Polyfolk Dance (2009), Satin Panthers (2011).

And Maybes are so damn good as EPs.

they wrote 5 almost perfect indie pop songs and then realised they didn't have anymore songs in them

But I'll add :

Birthday Party - Mutiny & Bad Seed EPs to the list.

Although there's a definite case to be made re: 'a band showcasing a new sound before bringing out an album' on both of them, I think both Fluorescent Grey and Rainwater Cassette Exchange are brilliant.

Also between them they possess three of my favourite ever Deerhunter tracks (Fluorescent Grey, Wash Off, Disappearing Ink)

not necessarily in a way that points to a new direction, just to briefly explore a different sound.

like the EP The Twilight Sad released after the first record... 'Here, It
Never Snowed. Afterwards
It Did'. (mini-albums are EPs, okay?).

or Low's 'Murderer' EP. and 'Songs For a Dead Pilot'. which pointed somewhat to 'Secret Name', but stands alone.

LITERALLY can't believe no one's mentioned this. LITERALLY UNBELIEVABLE

within my immediate field of vision I can see Forest Swords - Dagger Path and Codeine Barely Real . those are both good

because of the stupid band name.

the only copies sold were in "high fidelity"

But who knows, maybe in 5 years...

Global Communication - Keongaku EP
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Metric - Static Anonymity
Primal Scream - Dixie Narco
Sky Ferreira - Ghost EP
Spooky - Stereo EP
Slowdive - 5 EP
Slowdive - Holding Our Breath
FSOL - Cascade
FSOL - My Kingdom
FSOL - Lifeforms
Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
Cocteau Twins - Aikea-Guinea
Orbital - Times Fly

they only managed to release one self-titled EP on Hydrahead before splitting up, but it's one of the most phenomenal pieces of music I've ever heard. A rough, possibly inaccurate description could be through-composed prog-doom, I haven't heard anything like it apart from Kayo Dot's first album.

Anyone here who likes any sort of heavy music seriously needs to get on this

had some great EPs. Particularly the Llanfwrog EP - three of their best tracks, including Miss Trudy off Bwyd Time and a Soft Machine cover. Their Amber Gambler EP was ace too.

Universal Frequencies by His Name is Alive is a good un too. Some excellent stealing from the Beach Boys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka6VFtF9yDs

As mentioned above - Beta Band, early Belle & Sebastian and Ice Hockey Hair are all superb.

Features an amazing Everything Must Go remix, a pretty incredible DJ mix

more adventurous than songs on his previous album, but his ep songs still beat it. curious to hear what kind of range he has on the new one