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When the world’s greatest young band vends a hot, merch table-only live EP, wallets come out, and trifles like a playing order out of synch with the track listing matter not. Recorded “at various locations,” a ripping “Austere” is even more ferociously “formidable” than on album or on 2009’s now-deleted, live First You Have to Get Mad; this now-optimal “Popinjay” sharpens, shapes, and shreds the haphazard non-LP single; the initial ghostly, still atmospherics of First You Have obscuro “Anemone” is a collected, counterpoint cool-down before turning big blaster; and the bracing The Big Roar standout “The Magnifying Glass” crashes with a crushing crunch, the force of a wild wind shattering glass to pointed, prickly shards. No surprise—their concerts have repeatedly proved jaw-dropping; and even without the unmitigated glee the Welsh/English trio offers as eye-candy, their stage recordings are as routinely revelatory. Holy smokes! (thejoyformidable.com)
