Post-rock
Encyclopedia
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music
characterized by the influence and use of instruments
commonly associated with rock, but using rhythm
s and "guitars as facilitators of timbre
and textures
" not traditionally found in rock. Post-rock musicians typically produce instrumental music.
Don Caballero
and Tortoise
were among the more prominent bands described as post-rock in the 1990s, but their styles are very different, despite being instrumental bands centered on guitars and drums. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.
Although firmly rooted in the indie
or underground
scene of the 1980s and early '90s, post-rock's style often bears little resemblance musically to that of contemporary indie rock
.
in his review of Bark Psychosis
' album Hex
, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo
magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the idea later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire
.
He used the term to describe music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre
and textures rather than riff
s and power chord
s". He further expounded on the term,
Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, claimed he had used the term "post-rock" before using it in Mojo
, previously using it in music newspaper Melody Maker
. He also said he later found the term to not be of his own creation, saying in his blog, "although I genuinely believed I was coining the term, I discovered many years later it had been floating around for over a decade." The term was used by American journalist James Wolcott
in a 1975 article about musician Todd Rundgren
, although with a different meaning. It was also used in the Rolling Stone Album Guide
to name a style roughly corresponding to "avant-rock
" or "out-rock".
Another pre-1994 example of the term in use can be found in an April 1992 review of '90s noise-pop band The Earthmen by Steven Walker in Melbourne
music publication Juke, where he describes a "post-rock noisefest".
and their "dronology" — "a term that loosely describes fifty percent of today's post rock activity".
British group Public Image Ltd (PiL) were also pioneers, described by the NME
as "arguably the first post-rock group". Their second album Metal Box
(1979) almost completely abandoned traditional rock and roll structures in favor of dense, repetitive dub- and krautrock
-inspired soundscapes and John Lydon
's cryptic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. The year before Metal Box was released, PiL bassist Jah Wobble
declared, "rock is obsolete". Flowers of Romance
(1981), their third album, was an even more radical departure, emphasizing rattling percussion and abstract tape music
.
, or earlier, such as Talk Talk
, were later recognized as influential on post-rock. Slint's Spiderland
and Talk Talk's 1988 Spirit of Eden
are credited as giving birth to post-rock.
Originally used to describe the music of English bands such as Stereolab
, Laika
, Disco Inferno
, Moonshake
, Seefeel
, Bark Psychosis
, and Pram
, post-rock grew to be frequently used for a variety of jazz
and krautrock
influenced, largely instrumental, and electronica
-tinged music made after 1994.
Groups such as Cul de Sac, Tortoise
, Labradford
, Bowery Electric
and Stars of the Lid
are cited as founders of a distinctly American post-rock movement. The second Tortoise LP Millions Now Living Will Never Die
, made the band a post-rock icon. Many bands (e.g., Do Make Say Think
) began to record music inspired by the "Tortoise-sound".
In the late 1990s, Chicago
was the home base for a variety of post-rock associated performers. Both John McEntire
of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke
of Brise-Glace
and Gastr del Sol
were important producers for many of the groups.
One of the most eminent post-rock locales is Montreal, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor
and similar groups, including A Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think
, and Fly Pan Am
record on Constellation, a notable post-rock record label. These groups are generally characterized by an aesthetic rooted in, among other genres, musique concrète
, chamber music
, and free jazz
.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Scottish group Mogwai
were among some of the influential post-rock groups to continue their music career or end before the turn of the 21st century.
, Tortoise
, and Mogwai
, rejected the label. The wide range of styles covered by the term, they and others have claimed, rob it of its usefulness.
Today, despite criticism of the term, post-rock has maintained its prominence. Sigur Rós
, with the release of Ágætis byrjun
in 1999, has become among the most well known post-rock bands of the 2000s. In part this has been due to the use of many of their tracks, particularly their 2005 single "Hoppípolla
", in TV soundtracks and film trailers, including the BBC
's Planet Earth
. Their popularity can at least somewhat be attributed to a move towards a more rock oriented sound with simpler song structures and increasing utilization of pop hooks. Explosions in the Sky
, This Will Destroy You
, Do Make Say Think
, and Mono
are some of the more popular post-rock bands of the 2000s. With a few exceptions, most notably Sigur Rós
and Mogwai
(album Mr.Beast in particular), the post-rock of the 21st century has generally eliminated vocals from its repertoire.
The post-rock sound incorporates characteristics from a variety of musical genres, including ambient
, jazz
, electronica
, and experimental
. Early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock
of the '70s, particularly borrowing elements of "motorik
", the characteristic krautrock rhythm.
Post-rock compositions often make use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich
, Philip Glass
, and Brian Eno
, pioneers of minimalism
. Typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre
, dynamics
and texture.
Vocals are often omitted from post-rock; however, this does not necessarily mean they are absent entirely. When vocals are included, the use is typically non-traditional: some post-rock bands employ vocals as purely instrumental efforts and incidental to the sound, rather than a more traditional use where "clean", easily-interpretable vocals are important for poetic and lyrical meaning. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals. Sigur Rós
, a band known for their distinctive vocals, fabricated a language that critics call "Hopelandic" ("Vonlenska" in Icelandic, a term even used by the band), which has been described by the band as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument."
However, in lieu of typical rock structures like the verse-chorus form
, post-rock groups generally make greater use of soundscapes. As Simon Reynolds
states in his "Post-Rock" from Audio Culture, "A band's journey through rock to post-rock usually involves a trajectory from narrative lyrics to stream-of-consciousness to voice-as-texture to purely instrumental music". Reynolds' conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, where samples are stretched and looped.
Some bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor
and Fly Pan Am
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. Cult of Luna
, Isis
, Russian Circles
and Pelican
have fused metal
with post-rock styles. The resulting sound has been termed post-metal
. More recently, Sludge metal
has grown and evolved to include (and in some cases fuse completely with) some elements of post-rock. This second wave of sludge metal has been pioneered by bands such as Giant Squid
and Battle of Mice
. This new sound is often seen on the label of Neurot Recordings. Similarly, bands such as Altar of Plagues
, Lantlôs and Agalloch
blend between post-rock and black metal
, incorporating elements of the former while primarily using the latter. In some cases, this sort of experimentation and blending has gone beyond the fusion of post-rock with a single genre, as in the case of post-metal, in favor of an even wider embrace of disparate musical influences.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
characterized by the influence and use of instruments
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
commonly associated with rock, but using rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
s and "guitars as facilitators of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
and textures
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
" not traditionally found in rock. Post-rock musicians typically produce instrumental music.
Don Caballero
Don Caballero
Don Caballero are an American rock group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The group took their name from the character Guy Caballero, portrayed by Joe Flaherty, on the sketch comedy show Second City Television...
and Tortoise
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
were among the more prominent bands described as post-rock in the 1990s, but their styles are very different, despite being instrumental bands centered on guitars and drums. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.
Although firmly rooted in the indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
or underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
scene of the 1980s and early '90s, post-rock's style often bears little resemblance musically to that of contemporary indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
.
Origin of the term
The term "post-rock" is believed to have been coined by critic Simon ReynoldsSimon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
in his review of Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key bands defining the genre...
' album Hex
Hex (album)
Hex is a 1994 album by Bark Psychosis. The term "post-rock" was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in his review of this album for Mojo magazine.-Reception:...
, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the idea later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
.
He used the term to describe music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
and textures rather than riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s and power chord
Power chord
In music, a power chord is a chord consisting of only the root note of the chord and the fifth interval, usually played on electric guitar, and typically through an amplification process that imparts distortion...
s". He further expounded on the term,
Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, claimed he had used the term "post-rock" before using it in Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
, previously using it in music newspaper Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
. He also said he later found the term to not be of his own creation, saying in his blog, "although I genuinely believed I was coining the term, I discovered many years later it had been floating around for over a decade." The term was used by American journalist James Wolcott
James Wolcott
James Wolcott is an American journalist, known for his critique of contemporary media. Wolcott is the cultural critic for Vanity Fair and contributes to The New Yorker. He also writes a blog....
in a 1975 article about musician Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
, although with a different meaning. It was also used in the Rolling Stone Album Guide
Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that, along with its sister publication Rolling Stone magazine, contains professional reviews of popular music...
to name a style roughly corresponding to "avant-rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
" or "out-rock".
Another pre-1994 example of the term in use can be found in an April 1992 review of '90s noise-pop band The Earthmen by Steven Walker in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
music publication Juke, where he describes a "post-rock noisefest".
Early precedents
Post-rock appears to take a heavy influence from late 1960s U.S. group The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
and their "dronology" — "a term that loosely describes fifty percent of today's post rock activity".
British group Public Image Ltd (PiL) were also pioneers, described by the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
as "arguably the first post-rock group". Their second album Metal Box
Metal Box
Metal Box is the second album by Public Image Ltd, released in 1979 by Virgin Records.The title refers to the album's original packaging, which consists of a metal 16mm film canister embossed with the band's logo and containing three 12" 45rpm records...
(1979) almost completely abandoned traditional rock and roll structures in favor of dense, repetitive dub- and krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
-inspired soundscapes and John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
's cryptic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. The year before Metal Box was released, PiL bassist Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
declared, "rock is obsolete". Flowers of Romance
Flowers of Romance (album)
The Flowers of Romance is the third studio album by Public Image Ltd, released in the UK in April 1981 by Virgin Records.The title of the album makes reference to The Flowers of Romance, an early punk band of which Keith Levene was a member...
(1981), their third album, was an even more radical departure, emphasizing rattling percussion and abstract tape music
Tape Music
Tape Music is an experimental 10" vinyl release by Jack Dangers. The vinyl release was coupled with the album Sounds Of The 20th Century No2 when released as a flexi disc vinyl....
.
1990s post-rock
Bands from the early 1990s, such as SlintSlint
Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...
, or earlier, such as Talk Talk
Talk Talk
Talk Talk were an English musical group, active from 1981 to 1991. The group had a string of international hit singles including "Today", "Talk Talk", "It's My Life", "Such a Shame", "Dum Dum Girl", "Life's What You Make It" and "Living in Another World"....
, were later recognized as influential on post-rock. Slint's Spiderland
Spiderland
Spiderland is the second studio album by the American post-rock band Slint, released on March 27, 1991 on Touch and Go. Featuring dramatically alternating dynamics and vocals ranging from spoken word to shouting, the album contains narrative lyrics that emphasize alienation...
and Talk Talk's 1988 Spirit of Eden
Spirit of Eden
Spirit of Eden was the fourth album by the English band Talk Talk. The songs were written by Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene, and performed by numerous musicians using a diverse combination of instruments. In 2008, Alan McGee of the Guardian wrote: "Spirit of Eden has not dated; it's remarkable...
are credited as giving birth to post-rock.
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
, Laika
Laika (band)
Laika is a British alternative rock band founded in 1993 by ex-Moonshake members Margaret Fiedler and John Frenett, and producer/engineer Guy Fixsen. The band was named after the first animal to orbit the earth, the Russian dog Laika.-Sound:...
, Disco Inferno
Disco Inferno (band)
Disco Inferno was an English experimental rock band, formed in Essex in the late 1980s, by Ian Crause , Paul Wilmott , Rob Whatley and Daniel Gish .-History:...
, Moonshake
Moonshake
Moonshake was a UK-based experimental rock/post-rock band existing between 1991 and 1997. The only consistent member was singer/sampler player/occasional guitarist David Callahan, who initially co-led the project with Margaret Fiedler...
, Seefeel
Seefeel
Seefeel are a British electronic/post-rock band formed in the early 1990s. They are currently signed to Warp Records.-Biography:Seefeel formed during 1992 in London, England; with Mark Clifford on guitar, Mark Van Hoen on bass, Justin Fletcher on drums and Sarah Peacock on vocals and guitar. During...
, Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key bands defining the genre...
, and Pram
Pram (band)
Pram are an experimental band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham, England in 1990.-History:Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch...
, post-rock grew to be frequently used for a variety of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
influenced, largely instrumental, and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
-tinged music made after 1994.
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
, Labradford
Labradford
Labradford is a U.S. post-rock musical group from Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1991. They have released six full albums from 1993 to 2001. Though not officially disbanded, its members have since been active with separate projects.-Biography:...
, Bowery Electric
Bowery Electric
Bowery Electric was an American indie band formed in New York's East Village in 1992 by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener.-Music:Bowery Electric's music defies easy classification...
and Stars of the Lid
Stars of the Lid
Stars of the Lid is a duo specializing in drone-based ambient music. They list among their influences minimalist and electronic composers such as Arvo Pärt, Zbigniew Preisner, Gavin Bryars, and Henryk Górecki, as well as Talk Talk , post-rock artists Labradford, and ambient innovator Brian...
are cited as founders of a distinctly American post-rock movement. The second Tortoise LP Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Millions Now Living Will Never Die is the second album by the Chicago-based band Tortoise. Released in 1996 by Thrill Jockey Records, Millions... is renowned as a groundbreaking album for post-rock; an uncredited review from Outersound.com declares that not long after the album's release, the group...
, made the band a post-rock icon. Many bands (e.g., Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental post-rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Their music combines jazz style drums, distorted guitars and wind instruments, as well as a prominent use of the bass guitar.-Biography:...
) began to record music inspired by the "Tortoise-sound".
In the late 1990s, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
was the home base for a variety of post-rock associated performers. Both John McEntire
John McEntire
John McEntire is an American recording engineer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best-known for being in Tortoise and The Sea and Cake, as well as being a highly in-demand producer and engineer....
of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...
of Brise-Glace
Brise-Glace
Brise-Glace was a 1990s instrumental avant-rock "supergroup" composed of Jim O'Rourke , Darin Gray , Dylan Posa , and Thymme Jones ....
and Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol
Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....
were important producers for many of the groups.
One of the most eminent post-rock locales is Montreal, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
and similar groups, including A Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental post-rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Their music combines jazz style drums, distorted guitars and wind instruments, as well as a prominent use of the bass guitar.-Biography:...
, and Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am, or Le Fly Pan Am, are a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Montreal in 1996. They release their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect.-About the band:The band was formed in...
record on Constellation, a notable post-rock record label. These groups are generally characterized by an aesthetic rooted in, among other genres, musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, and free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Scottish group Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
were among some of the influential post-rock groups to continue their music career or end before the turn of the 21st century.
2000s post-rock
In the early 2000s, the term had started to fall out of favour. It became increasingly controversial as more critics outwardly condemned its use. Some of the bands for whom the term was most frequently assigned, including Cul de SacCul de Sac (band)
Cul de Sac are a rock music group formed in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts and led by guitarist Glenn Jones. Their music is primarily instrumental. Jones and keyboardist Robin Amos have been the only constant members....
, Tortoise
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
, and Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
, rejected the label. The wide range of styles covered by the term, they and others have claimed, rob it of its usefulness.
Today, despite criticism of the term, post-rock has maintained its prominence. Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
, with the release of Ágætis byrjun
Ágætis byrjun
Ágætis byrjun is the second album by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, which was released in 1999. Ágætis byrjun was recorded between the summer of 1998 to the spring of 1999 with producer Ken Thomas, and became Sigur Rós's breakthrough album, both critically and commercially...
in 1999, has become among the most well known post-rock bands of the 2000s. In part this has been due to the use of many of their tracks, particularly their 2005 single "Hoppípolla
Hoppípolla
"Hoppípolla" is a song by Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their 2005 album Takk.... It was released as the album's second single on 28 November 2005. The lyrics are mainly in Icelandic, with some nonsensical phrases, a "language" the band calls Vonlenska . Written with spaces, the song's title would...
", in TV soundtracks and film trailers, including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Planet Earth
Planet Earth (TV series)
Planet Earth is a 2006 television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and also the first to be filmed in high definition...
. Their popularity can at least somewhat be attributed to a move towards a more rock oriented sound with simpler song structures and increasing utilization of pop hooks. Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky
Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elaborately developed guitar work, narratively styled instrumentals, what they refer to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," and their enthusiastic and emotional live shows...
, This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You
This Will Destroy You, often abbreviated to TWDY, is an American post-rock band from San Marcos, Texas, formed in 2005. The band consists of guitarists Jeremy Galindo and Chris King, bass player and keyboardist Donovan Jones and drummer Alex Bhore...
, Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think is a Canadian instrumental post-rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Their music combines jazz style drums, distorted guitars and wind instruments, as well as a prominent use of the bass guitar.-Biography:...
, and Mono
Mono (Japanese band)
Mono are a Japanese post rock band, formed in 1999 in Tokyo, Kantō, Honshū. The band consists of Takaakira Goto , Yoda , Tamaki Kunishi , and Yasunori Takada .Mono have released five studio albums...
are some of the more popular post-rock bands of the 2000s. With a few exceptions, most notably Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
and Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
(album Mr.Beast in particular), the post-rock of the 21st century has generally eliminated vocals from its repertoire.
Musical characteristics
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, and experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
. Early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
of the '70s, particularly borrowing elements of "motorik
Motorik
Motorik is a term coined by music journalists to describe the 4/4 beat often used by "Krautrock" bands such as Neu! and Kraftwerk...
", the characteristic krautrock rhythm.
Post-rock compositions often make use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, pioneers of minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
. Typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
, dynamics
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
and texture.
Vocals are often omitted from post-rock; however, this does not necessarily mean they are absent entirely. When vocals are included, the use is typically non-traditional: some post-rock bands employ vocals as purely instrumental efforts and incidental to the sound, rather than a more traditional use where "clean", easily-interpretable vocals are important for poetic and lyrical meaning. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals. Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band with classicaland minimalist elements. The band is known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. In January 2010, the band announced that they will be on hiatus. Since then, it has since been announced...
, a band known for their distinctive vocals, fabricated a language that critics call "Hopelandic" ("Vonlenska" in Icelandic, a term even used by the band), which has been described by the band as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument."
However, in lieu of typical rock structures like the verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form
Verse-chorus form is a musical form common in popular music and predominant in rock since the 1960s. In contrast to AABA form, which is focused on the verse , in verse-chorus form the chorus is highlighted...
, post-rock groups generally make greater use of soundscapes. As Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
states in his "Post-Rock" from Audio Culture, "A band's journey through rock to post-rock usually involves a trajectory from narrative lyrics to stream-of-consciousness to voice-as-texture to purely instrumental music". Reynolds' conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, where samples are stretched and looped.
Some bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
and Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am, or Le Fly Pan Am, are a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Montreal in 1996. They release their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect.-About the band:The band was formed in...
are so far removed from popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
in their sparseness of arrangement and use of repetition, that they are frequently compared to minimalism
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
.
Wider experimentation and blending of other genres have recently taken hold in the post-rock scene. Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå. They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna and The Beyond ; however, it is 2004's Salvation that can...
, Isis
Isis (band)
Isis was a Los Angeles, California-based post-metal band, founded in Boston, Massachusetts, with a career spanning from 1997 to 2010...
, Russian Circles
Russian Circles
Russian Circles is a three piece instrumental rock/metal band from Chicago. Russian Circles play instrumental, sprawling music which runs the gamut of heavy discordant metal, to soft delicate passages...
and Pelican
Pelican (band)
Pelican is a post-metal quartet from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography and description:The band is known for its dense combinations of different melodies and extended track lengths. Its distinctive sound draws from stoner rock, doom metal, post-rock, and other influences...
have fused metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
with post-rock styles. The resulting sound has been termed post-metal
Post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal.Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating that his band was trying to move away from common metal conventions...
. More recently, Sludge metal
Sludge metal
Sludge metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting...
has grown and evolved to include (and in some cases fuse completely with) some elements of post-rock. This second wave of sludge metal has been pioneered by bands such as Giant Squid
Giant Squid (band)
Giant Squid is a post-metal band from San Francisco, California, currently signed to Translation Loss and Vega Vinyl. They were previously signed to The End Records.-Early years :...
and Battle of Mice
Battle of Mice
Battle of Mice was a post-metal supergroup consisting of Julie Christmas , Josh Graham , Joel Hamilton , Tony Maimone , and Joe Tomino .The band was formed when vocalist Julie Christmas and guitarist/keyboardist Josh Graham met in Austin, Texas while...
. This new sound is often seen on the label of Neurot Recordings. Similarly, bands such as Altar of Plagues
Altar of Plagues
Altar of Plagues is an Irish atmospheric black metal / post-metal band. After gaining attention in the metal community with a series of demos and EPs, the band released their first studio album, White Tomb, in April 2009 on Profound Lore Records. Following a year of gigging and some changes to the...
, Lantlôs and Agalloch
Agalloch
Agalloch is an American metal band formed in 1995 in Portland, Oregon. The band is led by vocalist and guitarist John Haughm and so far have released four limited EPs, four full-length albums, two demos, one split album, one compilation album and one live DVD....
blend between post-rock and black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
, incorporating elements of the former while primarily using the latter. In some cases, this sort of experimentation and blending has gone beyond the fusion of post-rock with a single genre, as in the case of post-metal, in favor of an even wider embrace of disparate musical influences.