Post-rock | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Late 1980s and early 1990s, United Kingdom, Canada and United States |
Derivative forms | |
Local scenes | |
Other topics | |
Post-rock is a music genre characterized by the exploration of textures and timbres as well as non-rock styles, often without vocals, placing less emphasis on conventional song structures or riffs than on atmosphere for musically evocative purposes. [3] [4] Post-rock artists can often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings with electronics and digital production as a means of enabling the exploration of textures, timbres and different styles. [5] [6] [3] The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, but as it abandoned rock conventions, it began to show less musical resemblance to conventional indie rock at the time, [6] becoming regarded as a form of experimental rock. [3] The first wave of post-rock derives inspiration from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, psychedelia, dub, and minimalist classical, [3] with these influences also being pivotal for the substyle of ambient pop. [7]
While being from separate scenes in the United Kingdom and the United States, artists such as Talk Talk and Slint were credited with producing foundational works in the style in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [3] [6] The term "post-rock" was notably employed by journalist Simon Reynolds in a review of Bark Psychosis' 1994 album Hex , with it being regarded as stylistically solidifying around this time. With the release of Tortoise's 1996 album Millions Now Living Will Never Die , post-rock became an accepted term for the music produced by them and other associated bands and artists. [3] The term has since been significantly widely used to describe bands with a stronger orientation around dramatic and suspense-driven instrumental rock, making the term controversial among listeners and artists alike. [8] [9]
The concept of "post-rock" was initially developed by critic Simon Reynolds, [10] who used the term in his review of Bark Psychosis' album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo magazine. [11] Reynolds expanded upon the idea later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire . [5] [12] Referring to the artists Seefeel, Disco Inferno, Techno Animal, Robert Hampson, and Insides, Reynolds used the term to describe music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords". He further expounded on the term that
[p]erhaps 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.
Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, said that he had used the concept of "post-rock" before using it in Mojo , previously referring to it in a feature on Insides for music newspaper Melody Maker . [13] He also said he later found the term not to be of his own coinage, writing in his blog "I discovered many years later it had been floating around for over a decade." [13] In 2021, Reynolds reflected on the evolution of the style, saying that the term had developed in meaning during the 21st century, no longer referring to "left-field UK guitar groups engaged in a gradual process of abandoning songs [and exploring] texture, effects processing, and space," but instead coming to signify "epic and dramatic instrumental rock, not nearly as post- as it likes to think it is." [9]
Earlier uses of the term include its employment in a 1975 article by American journalist James Wolcott about musician Todd Rundgren, although with a different meaning. [14] It was also used in the Rolling Stone Album Guide to name a style roughly corresponding to "avant-rock" or "out-rock". [13] The earliest use of the term cited by Reynolds dates back as far as September 1967. In a Time cover story feature on the Beatles, writer Christopher Porterfield hails the band and producer George Martin's creative use of the recording studio, declaring that this is "leading an evolution in which the best of current post-rock sounds are becoming something that pop music has never been before an art form." [13] Another pre-1994 example of the term in use can be found in an April 1992 review of 1990s noise-pop band The Earthmen by Steven Walker in Melbourne music publication Juke, where he describes a "post-rock noisefest". [15]
Post-rock incorporates stylings and traits from a variety of musical genres and scenes, including krautrock, ambient, [16] psychedelia, [16] prog rock, space rock, math rock, tape music and other experimental recording techniques, minimalist classical, British IDM, jazz (both avant-garde and cool), and dub, [3] as well as post-punk, free jazz, contemporary classical, and avant-garde electronica. [17] It can often also bear similarities to drone music, and usage of drones in psychedelic rock. [18] [3] Early post-rock groups also often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock of the 1970s, particularly borrowing elements of the "motorik", the characteristic krautrock rhythm. [3] [19] [20] [21]
Post-rock compositions can 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 who were acknowledged influences on bands in the first wave of post-rock. [19] Post-rock pieces can be lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbres, dynamics and textures. [5] 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. [3] When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals, and have abstract or impersonal lyrics. Sigur Rós, a band known for their distinctive vocals, fabricated a language they called "Hopelandic" ("Vonlenska" in Icelandic), which they described as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument." [22]
Often, in lieu of typical rock structures like the verse-chorus form, post-rock groups make greater use of soundscapes. Simon Reynolds states in his essay "Post-Rock" from Audio Culture that "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". [23] Reynolds' conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, where samples are manipulated, stretched and looped.
Wider experimentation and blending of other genres have taken hold in the post-rock scene. Cult of Luna, Isis, Russian Circles, Palms, Deftones, and Pelican fused metal with post-rock styles, with the resulting sound being 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. [24] 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. [25] 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 as it can be heard in bands like Deafheaven.
A precedent to post-rock is the late 1960s U.S. group The Velvet Underground and their "dronology"—"a term that loosely describes fifty percent of today's post rock activity". [26] A 2004 article from Stylus Magazine also noted that David Bowie's 1977 album Low would have been considered post-rock if released twenty years later. [27]
British group Public Image Ltd (PiL) were also pioneers, described by the NME [28] 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 that "rock is obsolete". [29] Dean McFarlane of AllMusic describes Alternative TV's Vibing Up the Senile Man (Part One) (1979) as "a door opening on multi-faceted post-rock music," citing its drawing on avant-garde, noise and jazz. [30]
This Heat are regarded as having predated the genre, while also being credited as an influence on bands in the first wave of post-rock. [31] [32] [33] Their music has been compared directly to Slint, Swans and Stereolab. [31] Stump were referred to as "a significant precursor to post-rock" due to the "strictness" of the band's avant-garde approach, and their musical characteristics of uncertainty and unevenness. [34]
Originally used to describe the music of English bands such as Stereolab, [35] Laika, [36] Disco Inferno, [37] Moonshake, [38] Seefeel, [6] Bark Psychosis, and Pram, [5] post-rock grew to denote experimental, jazz and krautrock influenced, often instrumental, and electronica-tinged rock-adjacent music. [6] [3] Bands from the early 1990s such as Slint or, earlier, Talk Talk, were later recognized as influential on post-rock. [6] Despite the fact that the two bands are very different from one another, with Talk Talk emerging from art rock and new wave and Slint emerging from post-hardcore, they both have had a driving influence on the way post-rock progressed throughout the 1990s.
Groups such as Tortoise, Cul de Sac, and Gastr del Sol, as well as more ambient-oriented bands like Labradford, Bowery Electric, and Stars of the Lid, are often cited as foundational to the American first wave of post-rock. [39] The second Tortoise album, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, made the band a post-rock icon, [6] [40] with bands such as Do Make Say Think beginning to record music inspired by the "Tortoise-sound". [41]
In the late 1990s, Chicago was the home of a variety of post-rock associated performers. John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke of Brise-Glace, both of Gastr Del Sol, were important for many of these groups, with them both also producing multiple albums by Stereolab in the 1990s and 2000s. [42] One of the most eminent post-rock locales is Montreal, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor and related groups, including Silver Mt. Zion and Fly Pan Am, recorded on Constellation Records; [43] these groups are generally characterized by a melancholy and crescendo-driven style rooted in, among other genres, chamber music, musique concrète techniques and free jazz influences. [19] In 2000, Radiohead released the studio album Kid A , marking a significant turning point in their musical style, with Reynolds describing it and the 2001 follow-up album Amnesiac as major examples of post-rock in the style that had been established by the first wave. [44] [45]
In the early 2000s, the term became divisive with both music critics and musicians, with it being seen as falling out of favor. [46] It became increasingly controversial as more critics outwardly condemned its use. [3] Some of the bands for whom the term was most frequently assigned, including Cul de Sac, [47] [48] Tortoise, [46] and Mogwai, [8] rejected the label. The wide range of styles covered by the term, they and others have claimed, robbed it of its individuality. [49]
As part of the second wave of post-rock, Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic, This Will Destroy You, Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mono became some of the more popular post-rock bands of the new millennium. [50] Sigur Rós, with the release of Ágætis byrjun in 1999, became among the most well known post-rock bands of the 2000s due to the use of many of their tracks, particularly their 2005 single "Hoppípolla", in TV soundtracks and film trailers. These bands' popularity was attributed to a move towards a more conventional rock oriented sound with simpler song structures and increasing utilization of pop hooks, also being regarded as a new atmospheric style of indie rock. [51] Following a 13-year hiatus, experimental rock band Swans began releasing a number of albums that were regarded as post-rock, most notably To Be Kind , which was acclaimed by AllMusic at the end of 2014. [52]
Stereolab are an Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's sound features influences from krautrock and 1960s French pop music, often incorporating a repetitive motorik beat with the use of vintage electronic keyboards and female vocals sung in English and French. Their lyrics have political and philosophical themes influenced by the Surrealist and Situationist art movements. While performing, they play in a more feedback-driven and guitar-oriented style. From the mid-1990s, the band began to draw from funk, jazz and Brazilian music.
Gothic rock is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and the Cure.
Alternative rock is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States and the shoegaze and Britpop subgenres in the United Kingdom. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock, hard rock, and glam metal acts from the 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock.
Shoegaze is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. The name comes from the heavy use of effects pedals, as the performers were often looking down at their pedals during concerts.
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. The band incorporates krautrock, dub, minimal music, electronica and jazz into their music, and their eclectic style has left a great influence on the post-rock genre. Tortoise have been consistently credited for the rise of the post-rock movement in the 1990s.
Math rock is a style of alternative and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic structures, counterpoint, odd time signatures, and extended chords. It bears similarities to post-rock.
Can were a German experimental rock band formed in Cologne in 1968 by Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), Michael Karoli (guitar), and Jaki Liebezeit (drums). They featured several vocalists, including the American Malcolm Mooney (1968–70) and the Japanese Damo Suzuki (1970–73). They have been hailed as pioneers of the German krautrock scene.
Krautrock is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in West Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electronic music, among other eclectic sources. Common elements included hypnotic rhythms, extended improvisation, musique concrète techniques, and early synthesizers, while the music generally moved away from the rhythm & blues roots and song structure found in traditional Anglo-American rock music. Prominent groups associated with the krautrock label included Neu!, Can, Faust, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Amon Düül II and Harmonia.
Slint was an American rock band from Louisville, Kentucky, formed in 1986. The band consisted of Brian McMahan, David Pajo (guitar), Britt Walford, Todd Brashear, and Ethan Buckler. Slint's first album, Tweez, was recorded by engineer Steve Albini in 1987 and released in obscurity on the Jennifer Hartman Records label in 1989. It was followed two years later by the critically acclaimed Spiderland, released on the independent label Touch and Go Records.
Spiderland is the second and final studio album by the American rock band Slint. It was released by Touch and Go Records on March 27, 1991. Slint's lineup at the time of recording comprised Brian McMahan on vocals and guitar, David Pajo on guitar, Todd Brashear on bass guitar and Britt Walford on drums. Spiderland was engineered by Brian Paulson and recorded over four days in August 1990. The music and vocal melodies were composed throughout the summer of 1990, while lyrics were written in-studio.
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Initially taking inspiration from post-punk and noise rock, post-hardcore began in the 1980s with bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. The genre expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with releases by bands from cities that had established hardcore scenes, such as Fugazi from Washington, D.C. as well as groups such as Big Black, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period.
Motorik is the 4/4 beat often used by, and heavily associated with, krautrock bands. Coined by music journalists, the term is German for "motor skill". The motorik beat was pioneered by Jaki Liebezeit, drummer with German experimental rock band Can. Klaus Dinger of Neu!, another early pioneer of motorik, later called it the "Apache beat". The motorik beat is heard in one section of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn", a song composed to convey the feeling of driving on the German highway. It is heard throughout Neu!'s "Hallogallo", from their self-titled album Neu!, and used on all subsequent Neu! albums with differing tempos and variations.
David Pajo is an American musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his guitar work, most notably with Slint. He is currently a member of Gang of Four.
Post-punk revival is a genre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as musicians started to play a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock inspired by the original sounds and aesthetics of post-punk, new wave and garage rock. It is closely associated with new wave revival and garage rock revival.
Chamber pop is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from the orchestral and lounge pop of the 1960s, with an emphasis on melody and texture.
Dead Child is a heavy metal band from Louisville, Kentucky. The band played its first show at Lisa's Oak Street Lounge on August 19, 2006, with Pusher, Lords, and Blade of the Ripper.
Allá is a rock band formed by three young Chicanos (Mexican-Americans) from Chicago: Jorge Ledezma, his brother Angel Ledezma (drums) and Lupe Martinez. As inspired by German krautrock, '60s pop productions and electronica as by Mexican trio music and Brazilian Tropicalia, they aim at producing a kind of psychedelic Latin pop/rock. The band members previously collaborated in an instrumental band called Defender, and the Ledezma brothers have played with former Can singer Damo Suzuki.
Post-punk is a broad genre of music that emerged in 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experimental approach that encompassed a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and do it yourself ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.
Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrumentation into their music. Electronic rock acts usually fuse elements from other music styles, including punk rock, industrial rock, hip hop, techno and synth-pop, which has helped spur subgenres such as indietronica, dance-punk and electroclash.
Avant-funk is a music style in which artists combine funk or disco rhythms with an avant-garde or art rock mentality. Its most prominent era occurred in the late 1970s and 1980s among post-punk and no wave acts who embraced black dance music.
Enter 'blackgaze', the buzz term for a new school of bands taking black metal out of the shadows and melding its blast beats, dungeon wailing and razorwire guitars with the more reflective melodies of post-rock, shoegaze and post-hardcore.
Post-rock has its own sporadic but extensive history, which [post-rockers] draw on as much for the suggestiveness of its unrealized possibilities as for actual achievements. In terms of electric guitar, the key lineage runs from the Velvet Underground, through Germany's kosmic rock (Can, Faust, Neu!, Cluster, et al.) and the guitar-loop mosaics of Eno and Fripp, to late-1980s neopsychedelics as Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, and A.R. Kane. The Velvets melded folkadelic songcraft with a wall-of-noise aesthetic that was half Phil Spector, half La Monte Young—and thereby invented dronology, a term that loosely describes 50 per cent of today's post-rock activity.