Post-rock

Post-rock is a music genre characterized by nontraditional use of rock instruments and is often assisted by the use of digital technology. Although firmly rooted in the indie scene, post-rock's style bears little resemblance musically to that of indie rock. However, as post-rock music is often recorded on independent labels, indie and post-rock often share the same level of obscurity.

The term was coined by Simon Reynolds in a review of Bark Psychosis' album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the idea later, most notably in an article found in the May 1994 issue of The Wire.^[1][2] He used the term to describe a sort of music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords," and further expounding on the term,

Perhaps the really provocative area for future development lies... in cyborg rock; not the wholehearted embrace of Techno's methodology, but some kind of interface between real time, hands-on playing and the use of digital effects and enhancement.

In 2005, Reynolds made the claim that he had used the term "post-rock" before using it Mojo, having previously used it in Melody Maker. ^[3] He also claimed that "although I genuinely believed I was coining the term, I discovered many years later it been floating around for over a decade."

Originally used to describe the music of such bands like Cul de Sac, Stereolab, Laika, Disco Inferno, Moonshake, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis and Pram, it spread out to be frequently used for a variety of jazz and Krautrock influenced, largely instrumental, and electronica-tinged music made after 1994. Bands from the early 1990s such as Slint, or earlier, such as Talk Talk were influential on this genre.

As with many musical genres, the term is arguably inadequate: it is used for the music of Tortoise as well as that of Mogwai, two bands who have very little in common besides the fact that their music is largely instrumental. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.^[4]

Slint's Spiderland and Talk Talk's Laughing Stock are often credited as birthing the genre that is now "post-rock". The band Tortoise are also widely considered as being among the founders of the movement.^[5] After the second Tortoise LP Millions Now Living Will Never Die, the band became a post-rock icon. Many bands (e.g., Do Make Say Think) began to record music inspired by the "Tortoise-sound", and were often described as post-rock.

In the late nineties, Chicago, became the home base of many different groups. John McEntire (of Tortoise) became an important producer for lots of them, as well as Jim O'Rourke (of Brise-Glace, Gastr del Sol and many more). Godspeed You Black Emperor! (from Montreal, Canada - later renamed Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Mogwai (from Glasgow, Scotland) were among some of the influential bands of the scene to arise during this time. Post-rock began to range from the slow, guitar-based ambience of Boxhead Ensemble, through the mid-tempo rock of Radiohead, to the up-tempo electronica of Stereolab.

By the early 2000s, the term had started to fall out of favour.^[5] It became increasingly controversial as more critics outwardly condemned its use. Even the bands for whom the term was most frequently assigned (for example, Cul de Sac^[6][7], Tortoise^[5], and Mogwai^[4]) rejected the label that it placed on them. The wide range of styles covered by the term, they and others have claimed, rob it of its usefulness. Bands like My Bloody Valentine are often referred to as post-rock due to the overuse of the term when categorizing rock bands with a more experimental edge to them.

Today, despite criticism of the term, the post-rock genre lives on. Explosions in the Sky and Mono are among the post-rock bands which have recently risen in popularity, due to the emphasis on melody and emotional content within their music. Some relatively "commercial" bands such as Yourcodenameis:milo and Hope Of The States have adopted the quiet-loud-quiet-loud songwriting approach used by bands such as Mogwai. However, exempting the widespread success of Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, the movement hasn't caught on significantly in mainstream music. Many new post-rock bands remain in the underground; notable examples include Mice Parade, Detwiije and Red Sparowes.

Perhaps the most eminent post-rock "scene" today is that of Montreal, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor and similar orchestral post-rock bands, including A Silver Mount Zion, Do Make Say Think, and Fly Pan Am, record on the Constellation label. These groups are generally characterized by a leftist political ethic and an aesthetic rooted in, among other genres, musique concrète, chamber music, and free jazz.

As mentioned above, the post-rock sound incorporates a wide variety of musical genres, such as ambient, jazz, electronica, experimental, and sometimes even rock. The post-rock approach to music, such as the emphasis on instrumental work and sonic texture, is similar to the earlier New Age movement, which came out of the modern folk tradition. Post-rock is characterized by repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes, with an extremely wide range of dynamics. Most often, post-rock songs are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture. Guitar timbres are usually smooth, often using delay and reverb. Harmonically, there is an emphasis on consonance, though by no means is there a definitive rule of thumb.

Vocals are often omitted from post-rock; however, this does not necessarily mean they are absent by necessity. When vocals are included, the use is often non-traditional; some post-rock bands employ vocals as an instrument, incidental to the overall sound, rather than the more traditional use where clean, interpretable vocals are important for poetic and lyrical meaning. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft and droning, and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals. Jessica Bailiff is a good example of this style of droning vocals. Sigur Rós, a band known for their distinctive vocals, have even fabricated a language they call 'Hopelandic', which has been described by the band as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument" ^[8].

Some bands such as Rachel's and Clogs combine post-rock with classical music, while others such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor are so far removed from popular music in their sparseness of arrangement and use of repetition, that they are frequently compared to minimalism.

Wider experimentation and blending of other genres have recently taken hold in the post-rock scene. Many bands, including Red Sparowes and Pelican have been fusing metal with post-rock, the resulting sound recently being termed post-metal. The Appleseed Cast's Low Level Owl 2001 project saw the previously emo band expand their sound with an ambitious double-album suite of atmospheric songs and ambient instrumental pieces. Some post-rock bands have been using vocals similar to those found in death metal, including Bossk. Pivot, 65daysofstatic, From Monument to Masses and other bands incorporate electronica and sampling elements into their tracks. The lines between post-rock and post-hardcore are also slowly being blurred by bands like Oceansize, Peace Burial at Sea and Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies.

• List of post-rock bands
• New Prog
• Post-metal
• Rhâââ Lovely Festival, a Belgian post-rock festival

• Reynolds' article