EPs have always been a strange phenomenon to me for whatever reason, but in the current world of short attention span music lovers, they seem to make sense. Who wants to wait on a full album when a band can go in, record 5 - 6 songs and quickly release something for their fans?

What I really want discuss is your favorite, unfuckwithable, perfectly done EPs.

The thread was inspired by two things: shmoo's post in the "Drinky does 2010" thread re: Spoon - Love Ways EP


and the below EP by New Zealand band Surf City (named after JAMC b-side, "Kill Surf City"), which after 2+ years, I can't quit listening to because it possess a near perfect mixture of what I like in my modern/indie rock: guitar riffs with just enough guitar effects, hooky basslines and memorable melodies all done with an "artful" and melancholic/moody touch. The only downside to the EP (and it's not much of one) is that the singer's vocals/lyrics are covered up with too much reverb. I know there are a few fans of the band on the board already, but I think this EP deserves a lot more attention.




LINKS:
MySpace (where they have a few new songs, "Autumn" and "Kudos" posted)
Stereogum profile
Under the Radar profile

I'm sure i own a bunch but I can only think of Spoon's Love Ways and MMJ's Chocolate and Ice. I hate the format and never listen to the ones I have unless something from them comes up on random from my ipod.

only EP's that I listen to at all, really, are some of the Belle and Sebastian EP's.

the archers of loaf vs the greatest of all time

i'm sure there's others but i can't think of anything at the moment.

I love the format. A few off the top of my head:


Pixies - Come On Pilgrim


Les Savy Fav - Rome (written upside down)


Fugazi - s/t



Dead Kennedys - In God We Trust, Inc.

I'll think of some more and post later.

Just a trio great ones off the top of my head that I've played to death over the years.

love the format too
low made some excellent EPs: my favourite that comes to mind is:
"bombscare" w/ springheel jack
and of course there's their fishtank volume w/ dirty three and "songs for a dead pilot", to start with
thanks for surf city

Two of my favorites from the past few years; Iron & Wine - Woman King and M. Ward - To Go Home

some good ones not mentioned yet

Are we talking EP's other than the "collection of b-sides and rarities" type discs that are referred to as EP's like The Verve's No Come Down and The National's Virginia EP.

For fully formed EP's, this is the first that comes to mind:

The Verve's Verve EP


Also, The National's Cherry Tree

man, i used to think that vs. the greatest of all time was the BEST EP EVER. it's still up there.

good call on b&s...always strong ep's. also love that iron & wine ep as well. never knew about that m. ward, thanks for the tip.

Eh...three more...

fuck yes! except proper artwork:


damn, two of my favorites right there probably.

I love a good EP. Some great ones already mentioned, and I'll add:


The Fall - Slates


Gang of Four - Yellow


Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy

nobody - hell yes on Boards of Canada and Mudhoney
Drinky - agreed on Come to Daddy

Huh...i wouldn't have thought of that as an ep just because its long enough for me to like it.

I threw all of those Belle & Sebastian eps on one disc to make it more like a full length. I don't listen to B&S very much anymore but it's about as good as any of their albums.

As much as i don't like the format, REM's Chronic Town is pretty great. I might like it more than any of their albums if I could bring myself to listen to it more.

Yeah, I'm also a big fan of that Boards of Canada EP. At this point, it's probably the one thing of theirs I'd most want to listen to.

Of course those Pavement, Fugazi, Les Savy Fav, and Pixies EPs are all great.

I never actually listen to these by themselves - rather as part of the Post-Mersh sets, but these are great:





Minutemen - Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat & Project Mersh

Also, this is a great Mouse on Mars EP that has gotten very little attention (probably because it was only released on vinyl):


Pickly Dred Rhizzoms

You can find it digitally, but I don't know if it was ever officially released that way.

I forgot about Chronic Town; that's definitely a great one, and my favorite REM record. I'm in the minority on this I think, but I have always really liked this thing:

Yeah, I have the old EPs on vinyl, but for the iPod it was easier to just download the postmersh sets. I need to go back into the iPod sometime and rename everything so it shows up as the individual EPs because I always forget which one was on which postmersh and all that. But, lots of good stuff on those for sure. Not sure if What Makes A Man Start Fires? is an EP or full length. Either way, it is damn good.

Yeah, it blurs the line, for sure, but there are so many songs on it that I consider it to be an album, even at 26 minutes.

love the format. this thread elicited decent response a few years back:
http://www.obner.org/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10305&p=167487&hilit=SOME+GOOD+EPS#p167487

At least I'm fairly consistent.

from that thread:


lol

I think it is the artist's best friend creatively...

most of the Radiohead EPs
and two others that come to mind...

Jucifer- Lambs
paperchase - Ctrl-Alt-Del-U

shit, add MBV- Glider