[Distroyed]

Mason, thanks for the recommendations. What about more melancholy and ambient?

 

[markl]

OK, quick comment, then I'll leave this thread alone:

1. Show me a musician who insists he wants to be poor and have no one listen to his music or come to his shows, I'll show you a liar.

2. The name "post-rock" implies rock is "over" and here is the music that replaces it.

No big deal, just a humorous aside, no need to take it personally. Cheers.

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally posted by Masonjar w/o vocals.. check out Cul de Sac's CRASHES TO LIGHT, MINUTES TO ITS FALL. A Wonderful, psychedelic album of instrumental bliss.. these guys paint some awesome musical pictures. Kind of proggy, sometimes folky, with touches of middle-eastern vibes thrown in.

Yeah, what Jar said. One of my favorites. I actually posted about it once around here in a thread asking for good sounding HDCD recommendations. Here's what I said at the time, although not much different from what Jar already said...

Cul de Sac - Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall - Surf rock meets post-rock in a guitar drawn, synth enhanced, middle eastern desert, albeit one that might not be on our planet. 1999 release on Thirsty Ear. Brilliant music and one of my favorites of the last few years. Kind of like a merging of the souls of John Fahey and Brian Eno, but these guys will take you on a real magic carpet ride. All instrumental and a very nice recording with mucho heaphone delights too

Rachel's - Selenography is another favorite that is completely different than most others. More of a classical chamber orchestra type sound, but with guitar and occasional electronic textures. I think only one song has a female vocal, but it's used more like an added sound as opposed to being lyrical.

Lots more, but....

Hey Jar, have you heard the last Do Make Say Think album? Almost like a combination of Cul de Sac and Rachel's. All instrumental and in this case, three long movements that follow the title, Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn. Very nice. They're a Toronto band and label mate of GY!BE. Susan sent me a copy of it and I've been enjoying it myself. Gotta get a "real" copy one of these days. Nice review at PopMatters last year (although maybe just a bit over the top) .... http://www.popmatters.com/music/revi...k-winter.shtml

 

[Davey]

Quote:

Originally posted by markl 2. The name "post-rock" implies rock is "over" and here is the music that replaces it.

Well, it does if you take it that literally, but post-punk didn't mean that punk was over, only that bands were taking the punk ethos and using it as a basis for more experimental music, ie Joy Division. Similarly, I think the term post-rock was used initially to label bands that had roots in indie rock but embracing more experimentation in their music. But ultimately, just a silly label and one that I think most of the bands dislike as well because of the vagueness it implies.


Quote:

Originally posted by markl No big deal, just a humorous aside..... Cheers.

That's the way I took it, although it would've been more fun and more fruitful for a discussion if you listed some of the albums that you thought were boring instead of just making a general statement against the entire genre. But I always invite negative opinions when I post something, even if the site does try to regulate against it

 

[Masonjar]

Quote:

Originally posted by Davey Hey Jar, have you heard the last Do Make Say Think album? Almost like a combination of Cul de Sac and Rachel's. All instrumental and in this case, three long movements that follow the title, Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn. Very nice. They're a Toronto band and label mate of GY!BE. Susan sent me a copy of it and I've been enjoying it myself. Gotta get a "real" copy one of these days. Nice review at PopMatters last year (although maybe just a bit over the top) .... http://www.popmatters.com/music/revi...k-winter.shtml

haven't heard that one yet. Sounds very interesting though. They got quite a scene going on up there.

-jar

 

[minya]

My post-rock suggestion of the day: Aarktica's "Pure Tone Audiometry." Gorgeous album.

- Chris

 

[minya]

And that being said, I need more good post-rock. Someone please recommend a good Mogwai starter album.

- Chris

 

[stymie miasma]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya My post-rock suggestion of the day: Aarktica's "Pure Tone Audiometry." Gorgeous album. - Chris

Yeah, that's a gorgeous album. I have been meaning to get his previous album No Solace in Sleep which from the soundbytes I have heard, is a lot more in the 'guitar ambient' vein than Pure Tone Audiometry.

 

[stymie miasma]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya And that being said, I need more good post-rock. Someone please recommend a good Mogwai starter album. - Chris

I really dig Rock Action as a 'whole', but I have read a a few reviews from people who suggest this is not Mogwai's best work. Next, for me, would probably be the recent Happy Songs for Happy People followed by Young Team.

Check out the animation for Hunted by a Freak on the Mogwai webpage - awesome in a sobering sort of way! Fits the music perfectly.

 

[Kali]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya And that being said, I need more good post-rock. Someone please recommend a good Mogwai starter album.

If you can get it (I know its available over here on Chemikal Underground anyway), then EP+6 is probably the best release to get after Young Team.. if just for the wonderful Christmas Song & Stanley Kubrick and easily my favourite track by them Now You're Taken (I cant say enough good things about this track).

 

[Guardian]

You must get Do Make Say Think - Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn

do not delay it is magic

 

[Guardian]

Mogwai seems to me to be the quintessential example of post-rock. excellent Mogwai tracks include:
My Father My King
Burn Girl Prom Queen
Small Children in the Background
Christmas Steps
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong
0 1 Sleep (vocals here)
May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door (my first post-rock piece, still seems quintessential to me)
Ratts in the Capitol
Tracy
Summer
Helps Both Ways

I never thought that Mogwai Fear Satan was nearly as good as these tracks.

Labradford - Mi Media Naranja

for experimental pop songs with plenty of vocals and a lot of post-rock influence, try The Notwist - Neon Golden. The American release has three bonus instrumental tracks, very nice. Download "This Room" and "Consequence".

Mono - One More Step and You Die has its moments.

Brian Eno is mostly ambient and experimental pop, but a lot of his instrumentals have post-rock in them, and they are well worth checking out, to say nothing of the fact that he has been incredibly important. Try the album Another Green World.

I hear a great analogue to rock -> post-rock in punk -> post-punk. I can't stop enjoying Interpol's album, Turn On the Bright Lights. download "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down", "The New", "Obstacle", "Leif Erikkson".

wonderful, wonderful post-rock -ish IDM -ish album is Four Tet - Rounds. Download "Unspoken", "Hands".

GYBE was at their best, I think, with the ep Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada, but their recent Yanqui U.x.O. is one of the most amazing things I have heard. You must turn out the lights and listen to its nuances straight through.

Explosions in the Sky are fantastic, particularly The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place and the album before it, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever.

Download Quickspace - "They Shoot Horse Don't They"

GYBE's side project A Silver Mt. Zion is worth looking into.

Juno. (Post-Hardcore?) Download "Up Through the Night", "Things Gone and Things Still Here", "A Thousand Motors Pressed Upon the Heart", "The Sea Looked Like Lead", "Killing it in a Quiet Way". You can hear lots of post-rock in non-post-rock.

Sigur Ros, but everyone knows that.

I like Slint's Spiderland a lot.

Talk Talk's Laughing Stock is wonderful.


Some of the artists that I have listed are not strictly representative (though many are), but can serve as parallels or entry points to post-rock. My own entry point was Radiohead's Kid A.


Other things that have nothing (?) to do with this but that I am freaking out about include:
John Zorn - The Circle Maker (disc 1)
Erik Satie
Scott Walker - Scott 4
Can - Tago Mago


What is post-rock? I'm not sure these days. I think it may be an ideal, a kind of hypnotic, post-psychedelic, explosively meditative and minimalistic music that uses repetition as its most powerful instrument. It's my favorite.


I'm very excitable and rambling, but I hope this was helpful and I hope it will be beautiful for you. God I love it.

 

[Guardian]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kali If you can get it (I know its available over here on Chemikal Underground anyway), then EP+6 is probably the best release to get after Young Team.. if just for the wonderful Christmas Song & Stanley Kubrick and easily my favourite track by them Now You're Taken (I cant say enough good things about this track).

Yeah, I started with EP+2, which is obviously EP+6-4. So get EP+6. I once argued with someone over which was better, Christmas Song or Christmas Steps. It was fun.

 

[Guardian]

Hi, Minya. We used to have a cool musical dialogue, before I took a hiatus. I want to smack C. G. Jung and show him the marvelous fact of conscious existence. Please tell him for me to leave that damn light out.

If you're looking to download, please try the various Mogwai tracks I listed above. They come from a variety of albums.

 

[momerath]

I got Cul De Sac - Crashes to light..., Four Tet - Rounds, and Explosions in the Sky - The Earth.... because of this thread. They are all in my top ten now. Anyone have more suggestions for someone who's just LOVING those three?