For me this is the most magnificent genre of music. It’s like a cross between classical music and contemporary rock/indie sound — mostly instrumental but some do have lyrics. So blissful, relaxing and at the same time thought-provoking. The best way I’d describe it is it’s the music I’d want to listen to if I were an astronaut leaving Earth’s orbit knowing I may potentially never return home because it gets me lost in thought and memories. I get great pleasure going for a run under the night sky listening to it through my little MP3 player.
My favourite band is an Irish one named **God Is An Astronaut ** and in particular of their music these are my favourites:
Forever Lost
Loss Fragile
Snowfall
Some other examples of post-rock I like
Quiet by This Will Destroy You
My Hands Are Planets by Exxasens Until The Last by The Album Leaf Samskeyti by Sigur Ros
I have just started to delve deeper into post rock in the last few months. I’ve always liked Talk Talk’s late masterpieces Spirit Of Edenand Laughing Stock, the former often being called the first post rock album. It’s a genre that’s hard to define and has overlaps with numerous other genres, but I’ve learned to love a lot of it. An early example is the British band Bark Psychosis that only made two albums (Hexand Codename: Dustsucker) within a gap of ten years, but they are both near masterpieces. Another early post rock pioneering band are Slint (American), their album Spiderland is an amalgam of post and noise rock (and some more ingredients).
An interesting example with a slant more towards electronica is Stereolab, their classical album is Emperor Tomato Ketchup. I’m confident that there is much more to discover in that field, and I’m still a novice, so I stay tuned to this thread.
I’m not up on the scene anymore but I used to be a fan.
I have seen Tortoise, Stereolab, Mouse on Mars, Slint (playing the whole of Spiderland live, was awesome) and a couple of other.
I never got to see but really loved Godspeed You Black Emperor. People seem to like “Hold Your Skinny Fists…” best these days, but 15 years ago it was F#A# infinity that I had playing for days at a time. Sigur Ros’s album () too. Just excellent music to get lost in for days. Never really got into Mogwai.
But I think my knowledge of the post rock scene ends around 2006.
I listened to a few of the tracks and don’t really get it. Sounds like background music or musical wallpaper. That kind of criticism was aimed at Pink Floyd, and I think they did this kind of thing much better. I will say, though, that it sounds like musicians and engineers have become much more competent in recent decades. So much so that everything sounds downright ordinary.
I don’t like it. What’s funny is that I love several bands now dabbling in, or considered as early purveyors of, post-rock: Talk Talk, PiL, Swans. But I like* It’s My Life*, Happy? and Holy Money much more than the noodling albums.
I like it. What I like about it is the fact that it brings an aspect into rock that usually isn’t present, namely dynamics. Dynamics are not a forte of rock music where everything has to be loud. Of course there’s the simple silent/loud formula best exemplified by Nirvana and countless other bands, but that’s different from post rock, where I hear really interesting contrast of noise and quiet parts. What I also like is the vast array of influences, you hear traces of noise, prog, kraut, punk rock and electronics (and sometimes even easy listening) transformed into something different. It’s a very exciting genre.
You should listen to it. I’d be interested in your opinion.
To me, it does sound like new age. But, I’d grant, as EinsteinsHund said, that I can hear what someone might deem elements of this or that. But, to me, it doesn’t add up to much.
I am surprised that New Age and Easy Listening are the things that are getting associated with this on first blush. I think of most post rock as being very heavy and dissonant and more than anything sort of dark and brooding, with Sigu Ros being an exception but that goes more hard psychedelic. Again, maybe this has changed over the years.
I like it, but I’m not sure what makes it a separate genre. It feels like a modern movie soundtrack. And if you added a vocalist and some verse-chorus-verse structure it could almost be considered pop rock or prog.
I’m a big fan of the post-punk revival genre, sometimes also called modern garage band I think. The Strokes, Silversun Pickups, the Killers, White Stripes.
I don’t think that’s entirely inaccurate. I’m familiar with a handful of post-rock bands such as Sigur Ros, and Explosions in the Sky. Mostly because I have them downloaded as background music from a movie soundtrack.
