EITS are a great band, I highly recommend The Earth Is Not A Dead Cold Place....
Other must-have albums in the same genre:
Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven - Godspeed You! Black Emperor
- Like EITS with a string section but the music is darker, gloomier, more multi-layered.
Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky - Mono (the Japanese band, NOT the Electronica duo).
- Like GY!BE but much LOUDER (read: more distorted ROCK guitars). This album worth it for ONE track alone, "Halcyon". Probably one of the saddest most beautiful songs I've ever heard.
Come On Die Young - Mogwai
- These guys are legends in this "genre" of course - different sounding from the above bands though - the music is less dramatic, less layered and a maybe a bit repetetive - but this gives it it's "listenability", and hypnotic feel. Live, they rock! Some vocals on this album.
The Sea And The Bells - Rachel's
- This is more "classical-music" influenced than anything else. It's like GY!BE without electric guitars. Beautiful nonetheless.
Further - Flying Saucer Attack
- This is a one-man project I believe. It fits in well with all the above but is very minimal - mostly guitars with tons of feedback, echo and some whispered vocals.
Eluvium - Talk Amongst The Trees
- Another one man project - similar to Flying Saucer Attack but without vocals and mostly keyboards. More new-agey than anything here but still great music. At first listen the whole album blends in and sounds "samey" but you have to really listen a few times to find all the subtle differences in sound, space, "melody".
E Luxo So - Labradford
- Very minimilist, keyboard-centric, ambient music. Not as gripping or up-front as the other albums listed here, probably the most low-key but still a good listen.
In my opinion, all these artists owe SOME debt to Sonic Youth - one of the first and certainly the most enduring of all experimental/avante-garde rock bands. 1987's "Sister", 1995's "Washing Machine", and 2000's "NYC Ghosts And Flowers" are all great albums. But they also released a series of albums under the name SYR on their own label which have more in common with the music above. If interested pick up SYR 1, 2 or 3!
Also, there are other awesome bands that fall under the "post-rock" genre and these are also mostly instrumental albums but with less of a classical/chamber music bent and more of a rock, jazz or ambient (or in most cases, both!) sound:
TNT - Tortoise
Millions Now Living Will Never Die - Tortoise
The Red Line - Trans Am (Awesome blend of ambient/progressive rock. A must buy if you're a fan of drummers - this guy can play!)
Futureworld - Trans Am (as above, but the ambient pieces have more of a techno feel and the rock songs are even heavier)
And one more: If you're a fan of the Cocteau Twins, Robin Guthrie's latest solo album "Continental" is a must buy. It's like Cocteau Twins without vocals, but the more I listen the more I feel this stuff fits right in with what Mogwai is doing so it deserves a place in your "post-rock" library
