Experimental/Post rock Appreciation Threa

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memowakeman View Drop Down

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Posted: April 07 2007 at 11:53

The WEG 2007 album is excellent, so far after 4 listens i find it full of beauty

Follow me on twitter @memowakeman

chamberry

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Posted: April 07 2007 at 10:40

Try here: http://www.noble-label.net/shop/?en

As for the collaboration, The album is really passive, it rarely raises its volume and its pretty long. But the album is really beautiful. Its very mellow and its full of strings. Its perfect for late-night listen. So if you have the patience for it then you'll definitely enjoy it and if not, then get it anyways.

Arrrghus

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Posted: April 06 2007 at 22:43

Where can I find World's End Girlfriend material, besides their/his collaboration w/ Mono? And is the Mono collab any good?

Ghandi 2

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Posted: April 06 2007 at 13:57

Someone on the other forum asked me for recommendations for groups like 65daysofstatic. What should I tell him? He also like TMV, Muse, Dredg, classical, and opera, among other things.

There aren't any groups very similar, and I can only think of Mogwai or EITS as having much similarity.

Any ideas? It doesn't have to be post-rock (and with the uniqueness of 65dos, probably won't be); I'm mainly asking here since you are the only ones likely to have heard them.

Edited by Ghandi 2 - April 06 2007 at 18:22

BePinkTheater View Drop Down

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Posted: April 04 2007 at 18:58

Yeah, it really had that improvised sort of feel to it. Very nice.

I'll have to shell some money out and order it.

I'll also check out some other things that label has.

But yeah, we're not really a band, but things went really well. The three of us ( myself on cello, a peer on guitar, and then one of our teachers on drums[or piano]) played together for the first time a couple montsh ago at my school (and it was literally the very first time). It was really cool, but that was kind of the last of it.

But then we decided to get together after school to do the same sort of thing and record it.

So we sat down, turned on the recorder and went.

It lasted for about 35 minutes, and it was great. It was, due to teh improvosational aspect, much more in the drone vein of things, but we got into some lighter, almost Bell Orchestre type things. It was really nice.

But then at the end, we realized somewhere in the middle that the recorder ran out of battery. haha

So we really didn't get much (or I would have posted) but we decided we're going to do every tuesday after school.

This week had off, and will be off still next tuesday.

But as soon as we get something, I'll definitely post it. Thanks for showing concern

I can strangle a canary in a tin can and it would be really original, but that wouldn't save it from sounding like utter sh*t.
-Stone Beard

Apsalar

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Posted: April 04 2007 at 18:27

I thought you might be a little more atuned to this than some others who visit here. It does have suspened qualities charatistic to drone. They also are supposed to have strong roots in the Krautrock scene. From my understanding all musician are quite young (not sure how young), so this album has been spoken a quite an achivement.

Generally the 'Die Schachtel' label has been doing some great things in the experiment/electro-acoustics realm. Though mainly focusing on digging up long lost gems. So it is good to see them supporting the new acts as well.

Also how is the work coming along with your band?

BePinkTheater View Drop Down

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Posted: April 04 2007 at 18:01

Beautiful

I can strangle a canary in a tin can and it would be really original, but that wouldn't save it from sounding like utter sh*t.
-Stone Beard

Apsalar

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Posted: April 04 2007 at 02:22

Thinking along the lines of my 3/4hadbeenelminated recommendation a little earlier on; I thought I might be bold enough give a little information on the following band "å". I have yet to hear the whole album, but this will most likely be my next purchase (once my funds have recuperated)

å - å

[2006, die schachtel]

the trademark echoes of what was hazily defined as post-rock all linger on in Å's debut effort, and the first of die schachtel's documents of the modern day italian scene. the overly clever track titles, locked grooves and slick production aren't enough to suffocate what seems to be best described as a mix of impulsive and archetypal sound exploration.

any comparisons you'd be tempted to draw between die schachtel's excellent reissue program over the last few years and this album probably wouldn't throw up a particularly meaningful result. instead they fit much more readily into the scope of italy's modern day "romantic electroacoustics" (see: 3/4hadbeeneliminated), which shouldn't be a shock given that the mastering was taken care of by bowindo labelhead giuseppe ielasi. the closest the other side of the atlantic seems to have come to nailing this kind of thing is collections of colonies of bees' customer, whose more rigid and inflexible approach only occasionally intersects Å's rich mercurial exoticism.

and there's your problem in trying to nail down an album like this, which thrives on an unusual (but never jarring) flow of melody and ideas. while the band themselves might've had a clear intent, the first exposure can lead to heady disorientation which makes for a great tonic but can completely drown you and leave you at a loss to follow the thread of events. give it a few listens though, and the rock structure that backbones the album ultimately offers up enough landmarks to help construct a ready narrative flow.

the wheeling out of their inaugural modern work i'm sure was reason enough for high fives all round down at die schachtel hq. deserved high-fiving too; i can't help but find the clutter homey and the ambition more ecstatic than pretentious.

words taken from: http://smoothassailing.blogspot.com/2006/10/blog-post.html

Also for a short sample, take a listen here:
http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/artists/a.html

GoldenSpiral View Drop Down

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Posted: April 02 2007 at 21:04

Thanks for the EITS links! great stuff!

http://www.myspace.com/altaic
ALTAIC

"Oceans Down You'll Lie"
coming soon

chamberry

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Posted: April 02 2007 at 20:40

Ghandi, I think it would be great to make a topic about them. Its great to promote those rather unknown bands and since its 65daysofstatic we're talking about I think they'll take it quite nicely. Go for it!

Oh and thanks for those links, Assaf. I'll be sure to download the concert when I'll have the time.

chamberry

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Posted: April 02 2007 at 20:34

I wouldn't mind seeing those bands here in PA... BUT as I previously said in other topics it would be good if people outside of the team could help us write bios and gather information for bands cleared for addition. The problem with post-rock is that there's very little info about them and it becomes very tedious to search for at least second names of the artists (not to mention the real world which also gets in the way).

So if you or any other member would like to cooperate with us it would be greatly appreciated. Smile

As for Grails... I only heard their latest album, "Burning Off the Impurities" and they didn't sound like a post-rock band at all. I know that their previous albums like the ones you mentioned can be considered post-rock, but their latest EPs and album take a different direction in their music. They are starting to sound more like a psychedelic band than a post-rock one so I'm gathering some more information and albums by them to try and make a clear decision as to what genre they'll end up in.

If anyone is interested in listening to some samples from them don't be afraid to ask.

rushaholic View Drop Down

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Posted: April 01 2007 at 11:25

chamberry wrote:

So. . . Does anyone have a band or an album that he/ she would like to share with us? Smile

How about Red Light or The Burden of Hope by Grails?

Sure like to see them and Jakob added.

BePinkTheater View Drop Down

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Posted: April 01 2007 at 08:21

Woah..cool, a whole concert!

awesome, thanks

I can strangle a canary in a tin can and it would be really original, but that wouldn't save it from sounding like utter sh*t.
-Stone Beard

avestin

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Posted: March 31 2007 at 20:21

The following is from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8073247 :

Explosions in the Sky in Concert

Eluvium, The Paper Chase Open Show from Washington, D.C.

NPR.org, March 17, 2007 · Explosions in the Sky is a quartet from Austin, TX making what they call "cathartic mini-symphonies." Known for wildly intense live performances, their songs are sprawling, epic pieces that build and evolve, often over a span of ten or more minutes a track. Though decidedly non-commercial, Explosions in the Sky has built a large and loyal following for layering beautifully orchestrated melodies against passionate sonic chaos.

Explosions in the Sky features guitarists Munaf Rayani and Mark Smith, Michael James on bass and guitar and drummer Chris Hrasky. Their debut release was 2000's How Strange, Innocence. It was followed by Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever in 2001, and The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place in 2003. In 2004 the band scored the film Friday Night Lights. They've just released their fourth album, All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone on the Temporary Residence label.

The live webcast from Washington, D.C. will begin with two opening performances, one by Eluvium and the other by The Paper Chase.

Eluvium is the music of Matthew Cooper, a native of Louisville, KY now living in Portland, OR. Cooper is a self-produced electronic artist who crafts elegant, hypnotic soundscapes using densely layered guitars and pianos. Eluvium's latest CD, Copia introduces more strings, brass and woodwinds than previous works, relying less on the rock instrumentation of earlier albums. Copia is a beautifully orchestrated collection of cinematic pieces, built more on inspired melodies than electronic ambience.

The Paper Chase is a Dallas, TX trio known for experimental, noise pop and rock music. Their songs are often brash and menacing. The opening cut to their latest CD Now You Are One of Us features a frantic phone call from someone who sounds like they're about to die, with the title "It's Out There And It's Gonna Get You." Other tracks include "We Know Where You Sleep" and "Wait Until I Get My Hands On You."

After releasing Now You Are One of Us in the U.S., The Paper Chase made an appeal to fans on its Web site saying, "Please, not in the face. It's just an album."

Download the Concerts

PC users right-click, Mac users ctrl-click and save the link to your computer.

Hanging Sounds

PA Index of prog music vendors

Ghandi 2

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Posted: March 31 2007 at 18:29

No, you have to wait until April 30th. It's going to be a long wait for me because this is also college decision month...

Oh that's right, I forgot it was an edit. I'll have to look up Magyar Posse, and Sigur Ros does have very strange videos. I never really could like them too much; I find them a bit dull and they lack enough of an edge.

I am a moderator at the Bungie.net forums, and so I am planning to post a review of The Destruction of Small Ideas in their off-topic forum because I feel it is my duty to promote such a good group (and one of the most accessible groups in all of prog, as long as people don't hate electronics). Incidentally, I am quickly gaining the reputation as the "music moderator" because I often post in music threads, since I am one of the few moderators who post frequently (glance through the forums to see why most don't bother) and I run out of things to talk about. Mostly I try to open their minds (and sometimes make fun of people) while avoiding naming specific groups I like, since there was another moderator who loved electronica and Daft Punk, and he quickly became defined by being a Daft Punk fan. Now he did have a Daft Punk avatar, and I will never go that far, but still...

However, I am digressing. My question is, should I make a thread about the music video? While such a thread is not against the rules, it would have to be really good for people not to get weird on me since the moderators make threads so rarely, especially music threads. On the plus side, that and the simple fact of my modship would guarantee a decent number of views. The lack of moderator music discussion is because since the median age is around 15, we have a bunch of stupid teenagers who think whatever mainstream crap they listen to is the greatest sh*t in the whole world, and so there are neverending Rap vs Rock and Classic Rock vs Modern Rock wars. Which, to digress again, I find hilarious since the people slamming rap then say Breaking Benjamin or AFI is awesome music and the best band ever. On the latter, as I delve more into prog, I see fewer and fewer differences between "Classic rock" and the crap that's on the radio now.

The forum has many classic rock fans (a popular genre among nerds now), as well as modern rock fans (Breaking Benjamin, AFI, Incubus, Hoobastank, My Chemical Romance, etc.), metal (including a few Tool fans), electronica (Daft Punk, in a large part because of that moderator's influence, as well as some stuff like Aphex Twin), Indie (including some prog like The Mars Volta or post-rock), and the obligatory pop and rap fans. So while I think some will like it, especially those on the more rock side, there will be people who will hate it and probably call it very weird. By the way, if any of you feel like registering there and starting a prog topic I would post in it.

Holy crap, that post was too long. Sorry about that, I guess I rambled a bit.

Edited by Ghandi 2 - March 31 2007 at 18:33

BePinkTheater View Drop Down

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Posted: March 31 2007 at 17:30

Awesome video. I HAVE to go get the new 65 days album now.

It already came out, right?

I can strangle a canary in a tin can and it would be really original, but that wouldn't save it from sounding like utter sh*t.
-Stone Beard

chamberry

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Posted: March 31 2007 at 17:19

Yeah. Nice video. The actual song is around 6 minutes, but I didn't even noticed it has parts cut off.

If you have the chance, check out Magyar Posse's video of their Random Avenger album. Its a great video.

Sigur Ros has alot of videos. Some are good and others I don't really know what the heck it suppose to mean...

Ghandi 2

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Posted: March 30 2007 at 17:22

I liked the video for the 65daysofstatic single. I made a thread about it, but it died a lonely, miserable death.

It's a great song too.

Edited by Ghandi 2 - March 31 2007 at 17:50

chamberry

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Posted: March 30 2007 at 15:28

So. . . Does anyone have a band or an album that he/ she would like to share with us? Smile

chamberry

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Posted: March 27 2007 at 19:15

Have fun in the DMST show, freekske! May I recommend you get Russian Circles since you enjoy the heavier side of post-rock as well. You can also try one of my favorites albums, Yndi Halda - Enjoy Eternal Bliss. It may not be as unique as GY!BE, but they are every bit as powerful! (I know that I already recommended this album for about a 234521times, sorry for that Embarrassed

)

On a side note, the new World's End Girlfriend album was released in March 23! The album is called Hurtbreak Wonderland.

For those of you who don't know who World's End Girlfriend are (or is) then feel free to check them out here in our beloved PA. Here's the bio and a review for all of you lazy people Tongue

:

World's End Girlfriend is the brainchild of a Japanese artist and multi-instrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda. Not much is known about him or his background, he generally seems to avoid publicity, which has ultimately made him a rather mysterious character. His love for classical music -- which already started at the tender age of 10 -- is fairly evident when listening to his surprisingly challenging albums. He was already composing music with guitars and keyboards at the age of 13 and apparently hasn't stopped ever since. The music of World's End Girlfriend defies categorization. It combines countless ideas and genres together quite effortlessly, resulting in a weird, but exciting musical world. In this world, you can find post-rock, modern classical music, electronica, all presented in a tasteful fashion. The clichés of the genre are thankfully missing, and there's one thing you can be sure of; World's End Girlfriend will not let you rest on your laurels; he will always keep you on your toes as the music often takes drastic changes in direction without any warning. A cinematic feel is one of the trademarks of Maeda's detailed compositions (which is hardly surprising in this field of music), but it's a tad more orchestrated than the average post-rock act. The music is heavy on the strings and wind instruments (while bearing little resemblance to the likes of A Silver Mt. Zion) with lots of haunting, eerie soundscapes that will stay in your head for days. Searching for comparison is a difficult and often futile task, but I guess one could hear traces of 65daysofstatic (mainly due to the electronica influence). World's End Girlfriend is certainly not for the faint of heart, but the more adventurous post-rockers will find this rather unique artist more than worthy of their time. "The Lie Lay Land" (2005) is generally seen as his best album.

WORLD'S END GIRLFRIEND — The Lie Lay Land

Review by chamberry (Ruben Dario)
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Psychedelic Prog & Post RockTeams

4%20stars The soundtrack for your dreams.

Multi-instrumentalist Katsuhiko Maeda is the mastermind behind what we know as World's End Girlfriend and with this project people took notice to what he had to say. Everything you hear in this album is made by him; The compositions, the instrumentation, you name it. He may well be one of the best unknown modern composer of our times and there aren't many people that know of him or his works.

The Lie Lay Land pretty much speaks for itself. It's post-rock like no other and it stands out aside from the bunch. The first time you listen to this album you won't even recall it being post-rock at all. It truly defies categorization. Derivative is a word that doesn't fit in World's End Girlfriend's context. But enough about that, let's talk about the album

The first thing noticeable is that Katsuhiko Maeda plays a wide variety of instruments even more so than previous World's End Girlfriend releases so it's very well orchestrated. The album also has an excellent mixture of electronica effects and more heart warming instrumentation. As I already mentioned in my review of Farewell Kingdom by them, they don't rely much on guitars as other bands. The guitar here has the same roll as the trumpets, horns, pianos and all other instrument played. It's also a pretty demanding album to listen to. It's rather unpredictable and you won't know what to expect next while listening to it, but that doesn't detract the beauty of it or the flow of the album, instead it makes it more demanding and engaging to listen to and it will keep you coming for more. Another great improvement in their sound is that none of the songs sound alike. Every song develops in its own distinct way. One of the best way to describe the atmosphere of this album is dreamy. I don't think there isn't an album that fit this description as well as this album except for Sigur Rós' Agaetis Byrjun, but they sound NOTHING alike so be warned. The album has a mystical feel to it as well. From the name of the album, cover, song names (Garden In The Ceiling, Unspoiled Monster, Phantasmagoria Moth Gate) to the actual sound and cinematic feel, The Lie Lay Land produces wonderful movie-like images of wonderful and surrealistic places that you will only find in dreams and movies. Plus the emotional factor of their melodies makes it all even more wonderful to listen to.

This album is one of the best post-rock has to offer. Katsuhiko Maeda is one of the artists that are on the vanguard of the genre breaking trends opening new ways to do their music without being bad at it or pretentious. He has my deepest respect. Recommended for every single fan of music. Dreamy, beautiful, demanding and well worth the repeated listens.

4.5

Explosions in the Sky in Concert

Eluvium, The Paper Chase Open Show from Washington, D.C.

Related NPR Stories

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WORLD'S END GIRLFRIEND — The Lie Lay Land