The Rock Blogger

Post-rock is a popular term thrown around the indie-music world to describe experimental, instrumental or high-concept music where rock instrumentation is used unconventionally, with a focus on long compositions while often omitting power chords, lyrics and hooks.

While many artists have been labeled as being post-rock, its usage is still controversial among critics who maintain that the term is too broad and outdated. Yet as prominent acts who fit the post-rock ‘profile’ begin to raise in popularity and influence, the term has yet to dissipate. So to help clear some of the confusion as to what this genre is, I thought I ‘d list my favorite albums that I would describe as being post-rock.

#10. Tortoise Millions Now Living will Never Die 1996.

One of the most revered and influential works in the genre, Millions is a kinetic and fluid album that features jazz-influenced passages interwoven with tight, fast-paced guitar work, electronic arrangements and boisterous percussion. One of the founding albums of post-rock, the style and pacing of this work would later inspire Do Make Say Think.

#9. A Silver Mt. Zion. He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms. 2000.

A Silver Mt. Zion started off as a side-project of Godspeed You Black Emperor and have since branched out into being a full-fledged band. Their sound, like GYBE is sorrowful and achingly beautiful, relying on swooning strings, bellowing bass lines and little percussion (though additional instrumentation and more vocals were introduced in their later albums). This album is the band’s first and it predominantly features string arrangements and sparse production, often mixing classical elements with bizarre (yet hypnotic) field recordings and jangly guitar lines. A brilliant exercise in melancholy.

#8. Set Fire to Flames. Sings Reign Rebuilder. 2001.

Set Fire to Flames is a collective of Montreal musicians (again including members of Godspeed) who create haunting and challenging soundscapes. This is a brilliant concept album where the musicians were holed up in a deteriorating house for several days, forced to collaborate on extended jams which feature orchestrated requiems, strange electronic drones and plenty of natural ambient noise, rounding out a work that is both atmospheric and beautiful. A stunning achievement in chamber music.

#7. Explosions in the Sky Those who tell the truth will die, those who tell the truth will live forever. 2001.

This album is a dramatic, brooding and lyrical affair, with its dynamic instrumental songs opening with delicate guitar lines that slowly spill over into crunching riffs and martial drumming. EITS always pack an emotional punch, creating masterful mood pieces that shimmer with intensity. While their later albums refined their sound with better production and more cohesive structure, this album (being their second) is the most inspiring, cathartic and uninhibited.

#6. Slint Spiderland 1991.

A landmark for the genre, Slint’s schizophrenic dynamics, dark atmosphere, sparse production and skeletal guitar work laid the groundwork for bands like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky. The songs on Spiderland are hushed, unnerving and strangely beautiful, making edgy and compelling music through the careful creation of atmosphere and tension, rather than working with traditional song structures. The result is an album that is intriguing and gripping, thrusting you across a wide spectrum of emotions.

#5. Labradford. Prazision LP 1993.

The debut album from this Virginia duo was a brilliant melding of ghostly guitar music and striking synthesized ambiance. The songs here are soothing and ethereal without loosing the dark edge provided by the hushed vocals and deliberate guitar work. When listened to in the right context, this album can make for quite a spiritual experience as the songs possess an otherworldly quality to them. Labradford are clearly one of the most underrated bands in existence.

#4. Talk Talk Laughing Stock. 1991.

Another album that has stood as a watermark for all bands designated as being post-rock, Laughing Stock is mind-bending work that takes swirling jazz elements and complements them with energized percussion, cryptic vocals and psychedelic guitar passages. Expanding beyond the conventions of rock, jazz and ambient traditions, Laughing Stock redefined experimental rock music for the 1990s.

#3. Sigur Ros Ágætis Byrjun. 1999.

One of the most critically lauded and successful post rock bands is Sigur Ros, famous for their strange yet serene vocals and otherworldy ambiance. The songs here are gorgeous as they slowly build in intensity, as the string arrangements swirl, the guitars jangle and the vocals steeply climb atop the thundering crescendos. An emotional ride that stirs up vivid imagery and memories.

#2. Mogwai. Young Team. 1997.

Young Team was this Scottish band’s first LP and it offered a blistering example of how dynamic the post rock genre is. From its relaxed and fluid bass lines and cyclical drumming to its calculated and climatic guitar squalls, the epic journeys each one of these songs take are invigorating and immersing. The album’s final track “Mogwai Fear Satan” is a 17 minute maelstrom that never lets up in intensity.

#1. Godspeed You Black Emperor. Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven. 2000.

The holy grail of post rock albums, GYBE’s second full length is a two disc juggernaut that washes over the listener with its cinematic qualities, wide emotional range and sprawling song structures. Their coveted acopyltic jams are infused with heart-breaking string arrangements, tension-filled guitar, blasting horns and other experimental elements like field recordings and vocal samples.

The album is comprised of four extremely long tracks that take the listener on an incredible trip through the darkest pits of despair to glorious bursts of light, proving themselves to be masters of composition and cohesion (I think there are over 10 people playing at a time on this record).

Orchestral and experimental, this is the soundtrack to the greatest movie never made.

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Well, there you have it, my list of The Best Post Rock Albums. I hope it has been an informative and comprehensive summation of this complex and rewarding genre. For more information on Post Rock and other bands that I did not include on this list, check out Post Rock articles on Wikipedia and Allmusic. Cheers.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Features, Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.