Soundtracks to the End of the World: The Post-Rock thread™

[run2death]

I hate when these band go too "new age."

Hammock and Balmorhea were both great until they lost the plot on their daft new age noodlings.

That new Hammock album is really bad.

[BurtReynolds]

I hate when these band go too "new age."

Hammock and Balmorhea were both great until they lost the plot on their daft new age noodlings.

That new Hammock album is really bad.

I havent heard the new Hammock yet. I liked their last one.

[tree_]

i thought it was only explosions in the sky for the most part

i gotta look closely at this thread one time

[tree_]

also i thought post rock must be rock music about posts

weird

I liked Hammock better when they were christian grunge rockers Common Children.

[Brett]

It's been quite a while since I've really cared about Mono (I think I listened to their last album only one time through), but I think a few people on here are fans. They have a new album out January 25, 2019, their tenth and a commemoration of their 20th anniversary, titled Nowhere Now Here. The press releases indicates that they have incurred their first lineup change with a new drummer for this album after the original left last year, as well as the addition of electronics to their sound, and their first song with vocals.

Anyway, the preview track is "After You Comes the Flood," and it's basically exactly what anyone who is familiar with Mono would expect:

[run2death]

If there was a post-rock hall of fame, who would be the first 5 inductees?

Reddit's post-rock community says:
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
SIGUR RÓS
MOGWAI
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT

Personally, I think the top 4 are indisputable, but I'd sub out God Is An Astronaut with Caspian.

This is with full recognition that some of the "founding" bands like Labradford and Tortoise get kinda lost is some weird transition period.

[tragabigzanda]

based on popularity, i'd think Slint would be up there

[Brett]

Interesting thought experiment. The first four are definitely shoe-ins. I don't know God is an Astronaut all that well, but I don't think they're popular or influential enough to be on this list. I'm also not real familiar with Caspian's work, but if I had to choose another crescendocore type to go on the list, it would probably be them. They seem to come up quite frequently among people's favorites and in beginner post-rock recommendations.

Personally, I think that fifth slot should really belong to one of the early pioneering groups, so Talk Talk, Tortoise, Slint, Bark Psychosis, Labradford, Stereolab, etc. I'll throw my vote behind Talk Talk for this exercise.

[run2death]

I can buy that.

My other thought was maybe Russian Circles for the 5th slot to represent the harder/metal side of post-rock.

[tragabigzanda]

TALK TALK
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
MOGWAI
TORTOISE
SLINT

That'd be my list based on contributions/leadership in the genre.

[run2death]

That's too much early/founding stuff to me and not a good representation of what post-rock is now (for good or bad).

[tragabigzanda]

I guess I find the genre to have become very derivative and monotonous; not a lot of surprises now when I press play on a post-rock song. Hence my list.

[chewm]

TALK TALK
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
MOGWAI
TORTOISE
SLINT

That'd be my list based on contributions/leadership in the genre.

I agree with this list, maybe sneak Sigur Ros somewhere in there. Post Rock isn't necessarily instrumental crescendo-core, even if that's what has been the norm with many more recent bands.

[chewm]

I do get why one would pick the bands of that reddit list though.

[tragabigzanda]

TALK TALK
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
MOGWAI
TORTOISE
SLINT

That'd be my list based on contributions/leadership in the genre.

I agree with this list, maybe sneak Sigur Ros somewhere in there. Post Rock isn't necessarily instrumental crescendo-core, even if that's what has been the norm with many more recent bands.

Sure, and I'd be fine calling Talk Talk a prog band, and putting Sigur Ros in their spot.

[run2death]

Talk Talk and Tortoise are great choices and I probably wouldn't object, but giving Slint a slot for essentially one album (Tweez was pretty terrible) seems like a little much.

[tragabigzanda]

Talk Talk and Tortoise are great choices and I probably wouldn't object, but giving Slint a slot for essentially one album (Tweez was pretty terrible) seems like a little much.

I get that. That one album was so influential on so many other bands though.

[Ello Sailor]

Personally, I think the top 4 are indisputable, but I'd sub out God Is An Astronaut with Caspian.

Shit yeah, Caspian!

[BurtReynolds]

If there was a post-rock hall of fame, who would be the first 5 inductees?

Reddit's post-rock community says:
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
SIGUR RÓS
MOGWAI
GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT

Personally, I think the top 4 are indisputable, but I'd sub out God Is An Astronaut with Caspian.

This is with full recognition that some of the "founding" bands like Labradford and Tortoise get kinda lost is some weird transition period.

That's the big 4 for sure. After that there are a lot of contenders. Probably Russian Circles.