Appreciation and Discussion of Post-Rock

btw if you ask me, Radiohead's Kid A and Amnesiac are pretty damn postrock as well......though not in a very direct way.........

I love post rock. Was playing in a post rock group today, or something like that.

Asyte2c00 wrote: Bryan wrote: The unfortunate part about post-rock is that there are legions of bands copying the sounds of the genre's big acts (GYBE, Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai), which has earned it sort of a bad reputation.  Here are some groups I would recommend who stear clear of this pitfall. Tortoise - It could almost be said that they ARE one of the genre's big acts, but they're totally unique from the rest. Envy - If you can stand some sceamed vocals, this is as beautiful and intense as music gets.  I hope to include them soon if the other post-rock team members are in agreement. Jaga Jazzist - Jimbo gets credit for turning me on to these guys... not the genre's most traditional band, but very interesting and experimental music which I also hope to get included in the coming while. Bell Orchestre - Upbeat post-rock?  It's as good a concept as it sounds. Rachel's - A controversial entry amongst our team, it may be quite awhile before we actually see them included on the archives... but this is amazing, strongly neo-classical music which I've managed to absolutely fall in love with.     I am at a loss with this band.  Its an off-shoot of the Arcade fFire.  But to label tham as post-rock is a misnomer.

Huh? Care to elaborate on that a bit?

Anyway, back to the topic, Assaf and Bryan gave some excellent recommendations. Not much to add, there are indeed countless Explosions In The Sky/Mogwai clones out there, so you better check the aforementioned first before fully entering the scene.

World's End Girlfriend is pretty good and fairly original as well, and I seem to recall that Samuel Jackson Five sounded quite intriguing, although I haven't heard a full album by them yet.

Regarding Jaga Jazzist, I love them to bits, but I'm a bit torn about whether to consider them post-rock or not. Their sound does often veer towards post-rock (similar to Tortoise), but they're still essentially a jazz band IMO. Very innovative and progressive regardless of the genre though, and I definitely wouldn't mind seeing them on here.

Hmm, I have only heard their latest, so I'm afraid I can't be of much assistance on this one. It's a fine album though, and should work as a starting point.

Prog-jester wrote: SIGUR ROS - Takk.Nice,but I expected more...must get something else ...

Trickster F. wrote: A kid cries everytime Mono's Com (?) reaches that noisy part.

when I saw Mono live a few months ago, some kids were definitely on the verge of tears, but only because the band was so damn loud!  At one point, they all just stood in front of their amps and looped a bunch of reverbed-out feedback for about 5 minutes straight.  I've seen dozens of metal bands live, but Mono was by far louder than all of them.

Jimbo wrote: World's End Girlfriend is pretty good and fairly original as well, and I seem to recall that Samuel Jackson Five sounded quite intriguing, although I haven't heard a full album by them yet.

I have Easily Missunderstood by The Samuel Jackson Five and I really like their approach to the genre. It has more similarities with prog than with minimalism. It's a rather upbeat album and more complex than other bands from the genre too.

World's End Girlfriend is another good band, but its a hard to get into really or at least the album I have by him and, as pointed out by Jimbo, it's fairly original as well. Would you believe that all of the instruments played on the album is actually performed by a singles person?

Bryan wrote: Bell Orchestre - Upbeat post-rock?  It's as good a concept as it sounds.

Don't forget Saxon Shore! I call it my morning band because of their powerful sound and upbeat melodies puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Regarding Jaga Jazzist, they're definitely a bit of a strange entry... even if not directly post-rock themselves, I think they'd definitely appeal to fans of the genre.  I'd very much like to see them on here, albeit (as some others have said) perhaps not under post-rock.

As for Bell Orchestre and Tortoise... it's true that both aren't quite standard for post-rock (I know for a fact that the latter despise the term), but I still feel that they both fit comfortably under the title... something about them just screams "post-rock!" to me.

Ivan, go for either of the previous two Envy albums (A Dead Sinking Story, Insomniac Doze).  The latter is my personal favorite, but it's fairly derivative of the former.

Another magnificent band listed under this genre is Ulver... they're a bit of an odd inclusion under post-rock, but they do have several slow, majestic instrumental pieces and tons of experimentation.  Perdition City and the film soundtrack Svidd Neger are both very much worth a listen for fans of the style, though they've covered so many genres in their career that it becomes impossible to categorize them.


Edited by Bryan - September 17 2006 at 13:44

I'm reviving this thread to re-recommend Envy... those who claim that post-rock has hit a standstill need to check out 2006's Insomniac Doze and weep to yourselves.  This is one of the most beautifully constructed albums of all time, I can't stop listening to it.

Mmm Post Rock...