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{{short description|1996 album by Polvo}}
{{for|the type of technical drawing|Exploded-view drawing}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Exploded Drawing
| type = [[Album]]
| artist = [[Polvo]]
| cover = Explodeddrawing.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1996
| recorded = October 1995
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Indie rock]]<ref name=OF/>
| length = 58:48
| label = [[Touch and Go Records|Touch and Go]]
| producer =
| prev_title = [[This Eclipse]]
| prev_year = 1995
| next_title = [[Shapes (album)|Shapes]]
| next_year = 1997
}}
'''''Exploded Drawing''''' is the third [[studio album]] by the [[rock music|rock]] band [[Polvo]]. It was released in 1996 as a CD and double-[[Gramophone record|LP]] on [[Touch and Go Records]]. The album was engineered by [[Bob Weston]].

==Reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="auto1">{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r235423|first=Heather|last=Phares}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[The Boston Phoenix]]''
| rev2score = {{rating|3|4}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_july-12-18-1996_25_28/page/40/mode/2up?q=polvo|title=The Boston Phoenix July 12-18, 1996: Vol 25 Iss 28|author=Matt Ashare|date=12 July 1996 |publisher=Boston Phoenix }}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev3Score = B<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1996/05/17/exploded-drawing/|title=Exploded Drawing|website=EW.com}}</ref>
| rev4 = ''[[Martin C. Strong|The Great Alternative & Indie Discography]]''
| rev4score = 5/10<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/greatalternative0000stro/page/484/|isbn = 9780862419134|title = The great alternative & indie discography|year = 1999|last1 = Strong|first1 = Martin Charles| publisher=Canongate }}</ref>
| rev5 = ''[[New Musical Express|NME]]''
| rev5score = 6/10<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000845reviews.html|title=NME.COM - POLVO - Exploding Drawing - 11/5/1996|website=[[NME]]|date=October 9, 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001009200029/http://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews/19980101000845reviews.html|archive-date=2000-10-09}}</ref>
| rev6 = [[Sputnikmusic]]
| rev6score = 4.1/5<ref name=sp>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/82062/Polvo-Exploded-Drawing/|title=Review: Polvo - Exploded Drawing | Sputnikmusic|website=www.sputnikmusic.com}}</ref>
}}
Heather Phares of [[AllMusic]] called the album "a sonic journey that encompasses nearly every kind of sound that a guitar has been known to make, and a few that might be unheard of until now." She notes the incorporation of "[[blues]], [[Eastern music]], [[Folk music|folk]], [[Country music|country]], and [[ambient music]]" into the album's sound "giving each song a twisting, unpredictable quality", despite criticizing its length.<ref name="auto1"/> According to ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'''s Ethan Smith, "despite Polvo’s ongoing virtuosic use of alternative tunings and time signatures, Exploded Drawing disappoints in one major way: The lyrics — now more audible than on previous releases — are not nearly as interesting as the music deserves."<ref name="auto"/> [[Peter Margasak]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' writes that the "foursome has discovered a glimmering netherworld at the intersection of alternate tuning, pop hooks, and off-kilter rhythms" on this album. He continued that despite "still [operating] around the noise/melody axis much like [[Sonic Youth]], the stylistic shadows of that influence seem to be receding."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/polvo/Content?oid=891065|title=Polvo|first=Peter|last=Margasak|website=Chicago Reader|date=18 July 1996}}</ref> In the 23rd issue of ''[[Ox-Fanzine]]'' published in 1996, Thomas Kerpen wrote that the album "is damn close" to being a "masterpiece" and that it "should have catapulted indie rock into the next decade."<ref name=OF>{{Cite web|last=Deutschland|first=Ox Fanzine, Solingen|title=Review|url=https://www.ox-fanzine.de/review/exploded-drawing-cd-25749|access-date=2021-02-20|website=www.ox-fanzine.de|language=de}}</ref>

James Oldham of ''[[New Musical Express|NME]]'' gave the album a mixed review, with most of the review itself focusing negatively on the American [[alternative rock]] scene of the 90s from which this album emerged, particularly [[lo-fi music]] and [[Slacker|slacker culture]]. He criticized its "fiendish pointlessness" and "utterly indulgent riffery [sic]", despite comparing "the delightfully meandering 'High-Wire Moves'" positively to [[Pavement (band)|Pavement]].<ref name=":0"/>

==Legacy==
In 1999, [[Pitchfork (website)|''Pitchfork'']] ranked it at #68 on their original "Top 100 Favorite Records of the 1990s" list, though it was later excluded from the updated version published in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Heard|first=Jaron|date=2018-11-06|title=Pitchfork's Best Albums of the 1990s: changes from 1999 to 2003|url=https://medium.com/infovizore/pitchforks-best-albums-of-the-1990s-changes-from-1999-to-2003-c70e1b3a06cc|access-date=2021-02-15|website=Medium|language=en}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2023}}

In the years following the band's reunion, the album has been viewed in a much more positive light, and has often been called their best. ''[[The Line of Best Fit]]'' called it a "sprawling double album [that] expanded the band’s sound from the surgically-focused twin guitar assaults to [[Psychedelic music|psych]], [[Folk music|folk]], [[hardcore punk|hardcore]] and all points in between. It felt like an ambitious mission statement from a group not content to simply dole out the riffs to anyone who wanted them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/polvo-siberia-138155|title=Polvo – Siberia|website=The Line of Best Fit}}</ref> A ''Treble'' review of ''[[In Prism]]'' found it to "bear the same skill and adventurousness" of this album.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treblezine.com/polvo-in-prism/|title=Polvo : In Prism|first=Chris|last=Morgan|date=September 14, 2009}}</ref> ''[[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]]'' called the "epic double-album statement" the band's "critical peak [...] which saw them successfully unraveling their bee-swarm guitar buzz to explore the polarities of their sound, from [[Psychedelic folk|psychedelic-folk]] lullabies to brutalizing [[post-hardcore]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13398-in-prism/|title=Polvo: In Prism|website=Pitchfork}}</ref> In a retrospective article on the band's discography, [[Louder Than War (website)|''Louder Than War'']] hailed the album as Polvo's best & a "masterpiece" which "represents its namesake in every single way."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Banjo|date=2020-07-11|title=A Buyer's Guide to Polvo: "Nothing less than kings of the underground"|url=https://louderthanwar.com/a-buyers-guide-to-polvo-nothing-less-than-kings-of-the-underground/|access-date=2020-12-14|website=Louder Than War|language=en-GB}}</ref> [[Sputnikmusic]] staff member Hugh Puddle similarly described the album as "definitive", praising the tight performances, "banger" songwriting, "innovative" guitar-work & lyricism.<ref name=sp/> In his book ''Gimme Indie Rock'', Andrew Earles opined that ''Exploded Drawing'' "should be put in a rocket or a time capsule as the ultimate proof that indie rock could reach perfection, years into the game, while being so ahead of its time that future generations are still trying to catch up."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Earles|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ufUBAAAQBAJ&q=polvo|title=Gimme Indie Rock: 500 Essential American Underground Rock Albums 1981-1996|date=2014-09-15|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-0-7603-4648-8|language=en}}</ref>

==Track listing==
#"Fast Canoe" – 6:41
#"Bridesmaid Blues" – 3:30
#"Feather of Forgiveness" – 3:45
#"Passive Attack" – 1:12
#"Light of the Moon" – 2:12
#"Crumbling Down" – 3:06
#"Street Knowledge" – 1:51
#"High-Wire Moves" – 4:21
#"Monoloth" – 2:52
#"In This Life" – 4:05
#"The Secret's Secret" – 2:03
#"Snowstorm in Iowa" – 2:23
#"The Purple Bear" – 3:27
#"Taste of Your Mind" – 3:50
#"Missing Receipts" – 1:47
#"When Will You Die for the Last Time in My Dreams" – 11:43

==Personnel==
*[[Ash Bowie]] - [[Singing|vocals]], [[guitar]]
*Dave Brylawski - [[Singing|vocals]], [[guitar]]
*Steve Popson - [[bass guitar|bass]]
*Eddie Watkins - [[Drum kit|drums]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Polvo}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Polvo albums]]
[[Category:1996 albums]]
[[Category:Touch and Go Records albums]]

Exploded Drawing - Revision history

imported>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* top */ add {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}