― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
(70's Miles Davis doesn't seem to, but I always think of this as somehow unclassifiable, or beyond labelling. I guess some of this is subjective, surely.)
― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
..."post-rock" can't escape from its pretentious "rock is dead" implications.
You might wanna blame the coiner of the phrase then (aka Mr. Simon Reynolds) and not the bands saddled with it.
The post-rockers seem to aspire to professional artists/muso status by comparison, the emotion and politics (if at all) are consiously very muted...
Uh, do you mean muted like a shredded American flag on the cover of Standards?
― hstencil, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
I do! As I wrote before, I don't blame the bands for trying to disown the tag. I think you're right about this turning out to be as hard to pin down as "post-modernism". In fact, both terms suffer from the same weakness - an inherent lack of substance. Both terms are defined in terms of what they are NOT. But lots of things are NOT modernism, just as lots of things are NOT rock. Therefore, before too long you find the term can be applied to just about anything.
― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
oy, I meant "lame" in the literal sense of "ineffectual" or "weak", cause an (artfuly?) shredded american flag (particulary on an album cover) (of instrumental music) is an ambiguous symbol at best. I think it has as much political impact as the use of the american flag on the Black Crowe's "Amorica" album ;-)
And "valid" was not my word...
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Hurlothrumbo (hurlothrumbo), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 17:58 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
This is Post RockLiving In A Post Rock NationPo 'StroXXX: VolumesIt's Only Post Rock To Me
― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 18:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
(the term shoegazing alone annoys me)
― H (Heruy), Wednesday, 23 April 2003 21:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Thursday, 24 April 2003 07:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
well the comparison to post-modernism is completely valid, but I don't think that makes it useless. AT best, you could say that post-rock is a way to define a method or a mindframe rather than an actual recognizable signature sound. Maybe in that case the term cannot qualify as a "genre" but I'm happy with that. As with post-modernism, some guys reached the conclusion that there was really nowhere/nothing to look ahead and therefore started to look sideways (or in many cases looking behind). In other words, as with most other art forms, a general consensus emerged at some point in the 90s around the idea that linear musical "progress" was futile and that, to grow, rock had to incorporate approaches from other genres (and here i'm not talking about merely borrowing sounds or production tricks from other styles of popular western music, ie. "adding a dance element to your music")I guess the idea is not that new and that's why some of the post-rock stuff doesn't sound all that fresh (hello Can, jazz-rock, ...) but, hey, I still see a point in having a term for it.oder?
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Thursday, 24 April 2003 09:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:12 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:17 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dzdaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― hstencil, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
If "post-rock" exists at all, it exists as a common tendency that is visible in a number of otherwise dissimilar bands of the mid to late 90s: the tendency to downplay certain traditional elements of the rock sound (loud guitars, riffs, blues influence, short songs, emotionally direct lyrics) and to deliberately adopt elements of other genres (tropicalia, jazz, classical, exotica). The bands that went the furthest in this direction are the ones to whom the term applies best (e.g., Tortoise), but for most bands that get tarred with the "post-rock" brush, these tendencies were only one part of a sound that still remained solidly within the confines of a recognizably "rock" style.
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
You're thinking of Mark Perry on ALternative TV's first album. He has a lot of albums spread out on the floor and they're all fucking great, I think he has Beefheart, van Dyke Parks, Gil Scott Heron, lots of stuff.
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:47 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― arch Ibog (arch Ibog), Thursday, 24 April 2003 14:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― duane, Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
There is no substance to this label (but then again that applies to a lot of labels).
There isn't much substance to the music either.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 24 April 2003 15:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― original bgm, Thursday, 24 April 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus, Friday, 25 April 2003 11:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Friday, 25 April 2003 11:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 25 April 2003 11:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
I can't stand these historically revisionist inaccuracies! We ALL had capes, but they were strictly for religious ceremonies.
― Sasha Frere-Jones (Sasha Frere-Jones), Friday, 25 April 2003 11:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
what about henry cow? area? 'lark's tongues in aspic'?
― j fail (cenotaph), Friday, 25 April 2003 15:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Saturday, 26 April 2003 05:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
I go on the internet a few days later, and apparantly they have SURPASSED rock. Wow.
― David Allen, Saturday, 26 April 2003 05:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 26 April 2003 05:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Saturday, 26 April 2003 05:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
Postrock. A relatively new genre which continues to evolve in scope and definition, postrock is a treat to the ears. With bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós, Do Make Say Think, and Mogwai at the helm, it has slowly grown in recognition through movie soundtracks. Yes, there's quite a plethora of postrock bands, but is anything necessarily revolutionary, or just a rehash of past ideas brought into contemporary context?
― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Tuesday, 8 March 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link
Is this true? ''Very few things are easier to play than adequate post-rock, which is why so damn many bands do it.''
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 20 October 2009 11:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I wouldn't apply it to that album, which I've enjoyed a lot, but it's certainly easy enough to make a tongue-in-cheek post-rock bingo checklist and see it all played out to cringeworthy effect in any number of sub-par uninspiring instrumental bands.
― krakow, Tuesday, 20 October 2009 11:51 (fourteen years ago) link
I would say that statement is pretty true, you do need to attain a certain level of proficiency at your instrument, however once you have, there are a whole mess of songwriting & structural issues that you can completely ignore if you wish.
Play a lot of really vague, noodling open string interweaving guitar with practically no harmonic movement, add occasional noisy guitar effects and some laptop glitch/circuit bent toys for a bit of that modern flavour. If the drummers girlfriend plays violin or cello even better.
Thinking about it Drone music is maybe more applicable to that statement, trouble is both genres are easy and enjoyable to play, hence the surfeit of draggy-arsed post-rock and drone.
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 20 October 2009 12:21 (fourteen years ago) link
fearlessTHE MAKING OF POST-ROCKJEANETTE LEECHThe definitive guide to some of the most groundbreaking music of recent decades, from Talk Talk to Slint to Godspeed You Black Emperor.Cover designed by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis.Published June 6th 2017‘The best thing about the so-called post-rock thing was it had this brief moment where the concept of it was to make music that came from the indie scene but had no limitations.’ KIERAN HEBDEN, FRIDGE/FOUR TET‘There was no earthly reason, no logical reason, no pragmatic reason, to function the way that most bands functioned.’ EFRIM MENUCK, GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR‘The main reason we were coming together to try these songs was as an alternative flavour to being in a rock band. Not to replace that experience, but in addition to it.’ RACHEL GRIMES, RACHEL’S‘We were young and naïve.’ STUART BRAITHWAITE, MOGWAI‘When you don’t know anything, you’re much more fearless about it.’ GRAHAM SUTTON, BARK PSYCHOSISIn 1994, the music critic Simon Reynolds coined a new term: post-rock. It was an attempt to give a narrative to music that used the tools of rock but did something utterly different with it, broadening its scope by fusing elements of punk, dub, electronic music, minimalism, and more into something wholly new.Post-rock is an anti-genre, impossible to fence in. Elevating texture over riff and ambiance over traditional rock hierarchies, its exponents used ideas of space and deconstruction to create music of enormous power. From Slint to Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tortoise to Fridge, Mogwai to Sigur Rós, the pioneers of post-rock are unified by an open-minded ambition that has proven hugely influential on everything from mainstream rock records to Hollywood soundtracks and beyond.Drawing on dozens of new interviews and packed full of stories never before told, fearless explores how the strands of post-rock entwined, frayed, and created one of the most diverse bodies of music ever to huddle under one name.Published June 6th 2017 • 392pp paperback, with dozens of rare imagesJeanette Leech is a writer, researcher, DJ, and music historian who contributes regularly to magazines including fRoots and Shindig!. She also writes extensively in the health and social care fields. Her first book about music, Seasons They Change, a history of acid folk, was widely praised as ‘an engaging celebration of music from the fringes.’ She lives in Canterbury, England.
The definitive guide to some of the most groundbreaking music of recent decades, from Talk Talk to Slint to Godspeed You Black Emperor.Cover designed by Graham Sutton of Bark Psychosis.
Published June 6th 2017
‘The best thing about the so-called post-rock thing was it had this brief moment where the concept of it was to make music that came from the indie scene but had no limitations.’ KIERAN HEBDEN, FRIDGE/FOUR TET
‘There was no earthly reason, no logical reason, no pragmatic reason, to function the way that most bands functioned.’ EFRIM MENUCK, GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
‘The main reason we were coming together to try these songs was as an alternative flavour to being in a rock band. Not to replace that experience, but in addition to it.’ RACHEL GRIMES, RACHEL’S
‘We were young and naïve.’ STUART BRAITHWAITE, MOGWAI
‘When you don’t know anything, you’re much more fearless about it.’ GRAHAM SUTTON, BARK PSYCHOSIS
In 1994, the music critic Simon Reynolds coined a new term: post-rock. It was an attempt to give a narrative to music that used the tools of rock but did something utterly different with it, broadening its scope by fusing elements of punk, dub, electronic music, minimalism, and more into something wholly new.
Post-rock is an anti-genre, impossible to fence in. Elevating texture over riff and ambiance over traditional rock hierarchies, its exponents used ideas of space and deconstruction to create music of enormous power. From Slint to Talk Talk, Bark Psychosis to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Tortoise to Fridge, Mogwai to Sigur Rós, the pioneers of post-rock are unified by an open-minded ambition that has proven hugely influential on everything from mainstream rock records to Hollywood soundtracks and beyond.
Drawing on dozens of new interviews and packed full of stories never before told, fearless explores how the strands of post-rock entwined, frayed, and created one of the most diverse bodies of music ever to huddle under one name.
Published June 6th 2017 • 392pp paperback, with dozens of rare images
Jeanette Leech is a writer, researcher, DJ, and music historian who contributes regularly to magazines including fRoots and Shindig!. She also writes extensively in the health and social care fields. Her first book about music, Seasons They Change, a history of acid folk, was widely praised as ‘an engaging celebration of music from the fringes.’ She lives in Canterbury, England.
― heaven parker (anagram), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 13:11 (seven years ago) link
I'll definitely pick that one up. Curious where she ends, on what subset of bands.
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 5 April 2017 13:15 (seven years ago) link