Artist Of The Day: God Is An Astronaut

With recent news about their 2013 album being finished, God Is An Astronaut will once again come out strong this year. A series of live shows to build up to the album are coming, and they will reach culmination in September, when the three-year gap will be closed with a new release. According to band frontman Torsten Kinsella, the new album will be "quite different from [their] current work," which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone after an interview about a year and a half ago, prominently featuring Torsten talking about the style of the band right now and where they want to go. The frontman vocally expressed his grievances about being classified as a post-rock band, in much the same way that Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai often does. He went on to suggest that their new material will be in much more of a progressive-rock style, and heavily emphasizes that the mixing on the album will be very professional; one of the biggest complaints the band had about themselves as well as other bands in the instrumental genre is a lack of production value. With Torsten the perfectionist leading the charge and the rest of the band working in a closely knit group to bring the best they can, it's sure that the new record, whatever they have planned, will be huge.

Artist Spotlight: God Is An Astronaut

You've probably seen all of the coverage I've done for God Is An Astronaut here on Muzik Dizcovery. At this point, you should know that they are a particular favorite of mine. They've been quite busy lately too, going on European tours and supporting themselves by playing TONS of shows. But, possibly the most exciting development from the band is a full collection of their discography thus far, in honor of their 10th year as GIAA. To make this deal even sweeter, each of their albums has been revamped and remastered, so that the records you're buying from them are records they can presently say they are truly proud of. I was able to get my hands on the collection recently, and it sounds fantastic. From The End of the Beginning all the way up to the self-titled, many little things have been tweaked, as well as much more prominent changes, such as synths boosted and more roundly balanced in general. Beautiful revamping on the earlier releases create such a difference that they have become equal to the fine, studio quality mixes on Age of the Fifth Sun. If you've ever listened to God Is An Astronaut before, these are definitely worth picking up. Not only are they collectible, but the entire listening experience has been altered for the better. And, if you've haven't listened to GIAA before, there has never been a more impeccable time to do so.

You can obtain digital and physical copies of the CDs on their store.

Interview With God is an Astronaut

After three years, God is an Astronaut is finally back. On their second North American tour, Niels and Torsten Kinsella, along with their drummer, Michael Fenton, kindly took a few minutes (that turned into a half hour) out of their busy schedule in order to answer some questions about the 2010 album, Age of the Fifth Sun, the show, and the band in general. They took some time going in-depth about which direction the band was going, some information on future releases, and how they really felt about different criticisms and comments being made about GIAA.

Live Review: God is an Astronaut

Late Saturday night, on the concert scene of San Francisco, ex-Muzik Dizcovery writer Jeff Wilde and I headed down to Bottom of the Hill in order to check out the God is an Astronaut show. The night kept swinging back and forth in terms of fortune, so we didn't really know what to expect after having gotten there an hour and a half early.

The venue itself, though it didn't seem crowded at first, just kept filling and filling. We didn't know if Bottom of the Hill was going to sell out or explode with people, at first. The place was packed with folks that could fit into just about any stereotype, all simply there to listen to God is an Astronaut and have a really great time. When we were standing outside listening to the warm up, since we'd been there so early, it sounded fine, but once we got inside, the monitors sounded pretty bad, to be honest. It was compensated by both the opener and the band blasting through it, but I wasn't too impressed. That, and the total 3 square feet I had to myself at the beginning was shrinking rapidly, much to my dismay. The overall disposition of the crowd, though, was anticipation. It was as visible as it was audible, quiet smalltalk permeating throughout, simply awaiting the stars of the show.