One should never pass up the opportunity to mention Bill and Ted.

WYLD STALLIONS RULE!

That's right, it's Wyld Stallions....I had forgotten the name.

Maybe we should be discussing the merits of Bill and Ted's musical genius?

Can anyone tell me about Unwed Sailor? They're coming to a venue about an hour from where I live on Sunday, and I'm wondering if it's worth the trip. They'll be playing with J. Tillman, who I also know nothing about.

tThere's a couple songs at www.epitonic.com (which, by the way, is back! thank goodness). If these few songs sound boring to you, then you should stay away, because the two from The Faithful Anchor are the best songs they ever recorded. I always wanted to pick up their colab ep with Early Day Miners, the stuff I heard from that was pretty good, but it got bumped off my list years ago. I can't say I've heard any of the new stuff (I assume they have new stuff since they're playing out), and I can't speak to what kind of show they put on, but I'm assuming that it's nice, but pretty average.

edit: www.unwedsailor.net/music.html has some clips...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: not eric,

Help me out here. What makes post-rock different than regular rock/indie/alternative and all those other labels? What are the most prominent examples of the genre?

This is the post-rock genre entry from www.allmusic.com. I think it does a nice job of explaining the term succinctly that I didn't feel like taking the time to try and explain for the millionth time. Hope this helps.

Post-rock was the dominant form of experimental rock during the '90s, a loose movement that drew from greatly varied influences and nearly always combined standard rock instrumentation with electronics. Post-rock brought together a host of mostly experimental genres — Kraut-rock, ambient, prog-rock, space rock, math rock, tape music, minimalist classical, British IDM, jazz (both avant-garde and cool), and dub reggae, to name the most prevalent — with results that were largely based in rock, but didn't rock per se. Post-rock was hypnotic and often droning (especially the guitar-oriented bands), and the brighter-sounding groups were still cool and cerebral — overall, the antithesis of rock's visceral power. In fact, post-rock was something of a reaction against rock, particularly the mainstream's co-opting of alternative rock; much post-rock was united by a sense that rock & roll had lost its capacity for real rebellion, that it would never break away from tired formulas or empty, macho posturing. Thus, post-rock rejected (or subverted) any elements it associated with rock tradition. It was far more concerned with pure sound and texture than melodic hooks or song structure; it was also usually instrumental, and if it did employ vocals, they were often incidental to the overall effect. The musical foundation for post-rock crystallized in 1991, with the release of two very different landmarks: Talk Talk's Laughing Stock and Slint's Spiderland. Laughing Stock was the culmination of Talk Talk's move away from synth-pop toward a moody, delicate fusion of ambient, jazz, and minimalist chamber music; Spiderland, meanwhile, was full of deliberate, bass-driven grooves, mumbled poetry, oblique structures, and extreme volume shifts. While those two albums would influence many future post-rock bands, the term itself didn't appear until critic Simon Reynolds coined it as a way to describe the Talk Talk-inspired ambient experiments of Bark Psychosis. The term was later applied to everything from unclassifiable iconoclasts (Gastr del Sol, Cul de Sac, Main) to more tuneful indie-rock experimenters like Stereolab, Laika, and the Sea and Cake (not to mention a raft of Slint imitators). Post-rock came into its own as a recognizable trend with the Chicago band Tortoise's second album, 1996's Millions Now Living Will Never Die, perhaps the farthest-reaching fusion of post-rock's myriad touchstones. Suddenly there was a way for critics to classify artists as diverse as Labradford, Trans Am, Ui, Flying Saucer Attack, Mogwai, Jim O'Rourke, and their predecessors (though most hated the label). Post-rock quickly became an accepted, challenging cousin of indie rock, centered around the Thrill Jockey, Kranky, Drag City, and Too Pure labels. Ironically, by the end of the decade, post-rock had itself acquired a reputation for sameness; some found the style's dispassionate intellectuality boring, while others felt that its formerly radical fusions had become predictable, partly because many artists were offering only slight variations on their original ideas. However, even as the backlash set in, a newer wave of bands (the Dirty Three, Rachel's, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Rós) gained wider recognition for their distinctive sounds, suggesting that the style wasn't exhausted after all.

Hmmm... yeah, that sounds pretty meaningless. I'm fairly sure that post-rock is useless and any artist that fits the description could fit into an existing category.

Okay. Go about sorting them out. If it's so easy and the term is so useless please explain it's relevance and frequent use at least ten years after the fact.

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:
Help me out here. What makes post-rock different than regular rock/indie/alternative and all those other labels? What are the most prominent examples of the genre?

Scroll back two pages on the thread.

I think that the most "no-post rock" artist that sounded like post rock before this style exits is:

Codeine - the album "The White Birch"

It's kind of grunge and post-rock at the same time. And the beeeeaaaaaat isss sloooooowwww. But seriously, songs like "kitchen light" and "loss leader" are really great. If you like post rock you HAVE to listen to that band. It takes many listens before you can understand the simplicity of the songs

I think Sigur Ros and Explosions could get very, very good exposure for a post-rock band, but I think their cultural peak will come when they score some big, oft-nominated movie and maybe, maybe get to perform at the Oscars or Golden Globes or something.

I think Sigur Ros could really bring the house down at the Oscars. Could you imagine them scoring some Bergman movie that gets five noms and getting an Oscar nod for best score/original song? I would get chills.

Just recently discovered a band (hopefully they're still going) called Rock of Travolta. They've got this album they put out in 2003 called Uluru and it is freakin' amazing. It's now one of my all-time favorite post-rock albums.

Their music is kind of hard to describe. It's more poppy than most post-rock and yet experimental at the same time. They use a lot of instruments including guitar, drums, bass, strings (cello and violin I think), and electronic effects. Somebody sings on one song, and he's a pretty good singer, so it's kind of surprising he doesn't sing any more.

They also released an EP in 2001 that was pretty great. They've got a website, but I'm not entirely sure if they're still active. Definitely check these guys out if you get a chance.

Well, I read the first two pages and no one mentioned my favorite post-rock band, Talk Talk.

Someone said that allmusicguide claims Tortoise is the first post-rock band...

Talk Talk released "Spirit of Eden" in the 1980s! I think "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock" are two essential, incredible albums.

I just discovered Jesu with their Silver EP, and it's pretty good. Kind of electro post rock metal. Unique.

So what do you guys think the best post-rock albums are? I would have to put my money on "Laughing Stock" for #1. Ten greats I could think of are:

01. Talk Talk: Laughing Stock
02. Splint: Spiderland
03. Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden
04. Godspeed!: F#A Infinity
05. Sigur Rós: Agaetis Byrjun
06. Don Caballero: What Burns Never Returns
07. Tortoise: TNT
08. Mogwai: Young Team
09. Explosions in the Sky: Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
10. Mogwai: Come on Die Young

1 - Season - Avatar
2 - Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth...
3 - Rock of Travolta - Uluru
4 - Mogwai - Happy Songs for Happy People
5 - Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not A Cold Dead Place
6 - Rock of Travolta - My Band's Better Than Your Band EP
7 - Explosions in the Sky - How Strange, Innocence
8 - Mogwai - Rock Action
9 - 65daysofstatic - The Destruction of Small Ideals
10 - Autumn Project - Fable

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RavingLunatic,

Post rock and math rock artists are lumped together a lot of the time, but I usually seperate the two categories myself. So while I'll call a band like Godspeed You! Black Emperor post rock, I consider bands like Slint, Don Caballero, Rodan, and stuff like that more in the math rock vein.

Is Sea and the Cake classified as post-rock? I know they're not post rock in the explosions in the sky sense, but I love them.

Ah yes, I forgot about "Those Who Tell the Truth". I still don't like it as much as "The Earth", but it is great nevertheless.