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post rock

Tony L

Administrator
pfm’s music room needs a post rock thread, so here it is. I bought tons of this stuff during the late 90s and have been spinning quite a bit over the past few days. Here are five that are so good they needed to be shared:

Bedhead – Transaction de Novo. An utterly fabulous album, beautifully sparse, there is always exactly the right amount going on, the drummer can go half a track before even bringing in the hi-hat. Incredibly precise and ordered, yet never stilted or contrived. Perfectly playlisted, it works superbly as a whole.

Couch – Fantasy. This is modern Krautrock in that it is rock and from Germany. It is on the ever superb Kitty Yo label and is instrumental, accessible, tuneful and powered along by some superb bass playing. As usual for both post rock and Kitty Yo it is stunningly recorded.

Dianogah – Battle Champions. Any band that comprises two bass players and a drummer is ok by me. Incredibly tight and ordered rhythms, stunning drumming and playing in all respects. Has been termed ‘math-rock’ and I can see why, very anal, but in a good way.

Kante – Zwischen Den Orten. Another Krautpostrock classic on the Kitty Yo label. Wonderful drum, bass and guitar led largely instrumental music (they occasionally start muttering stuff in German) with a hint of Vox Continental type organ. Inherently Kitty Yo in style – nearest popular reference is Tortoise, but there is something very German about this music too.

Rothko – Forty Years To Find A Voice. A totally unique and wonderful sound – mainly bass guitar, very ambient and minimal yet very powerful. No drums or beats, just overlaid bass guitar and Martin Hannett like organic ambience – has echoes of Durutti Column but all bass ‘n’ reverb and no guitar. Any band that call themselves Rothko simply have to be good - they do not disgrace the name.

Tony.
 
I'm glad someone here is interested in this stuff. There were a number of late-80's and 90's bands that were damn interesting but that got submerged, first under grunge and then under the "punk revival".

I unfortunately know little of the German post-rock scene. From my limited exposure, I suspect that U.S. and German post rock bands tend to be very different, in the sense that many U.S. bands that I've seen labelled "post rock" get there by way of noise effects (a la Bedhead, e.g.), whereas the Germans show their Krautrock roots.

Anyway, from the U.S. side:

Slint is a pretty seminal band; very good in their own right but also noteworthy for breeding numerous offshoot and splinter bands, such as Bastro, Bitch Magnet, Gastr del Sol, Don Cabellero, and most recently Bellini.

Bastro and Bitch Magnet are closest to Slint in being noisy and experimental but basically holding to a fairly traditional rock structure. There are similarities to Big Black, but frankly both bands were more interesting and innovative than Albini's endless pummeling. Bastro's "Rode Hard and Put up Wet" and Bitch Magnet's "Star Booty" are terrific, and loud, rockers.

Gastr del Sol was an offshoot of Bastro, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell from the music, which is much more spare, experimental, and open than Bastro ever was. Gastr del Sol also ditched the singer so it's all instrumental -- similar to Tortoise and Trans Am, in fact, but harder-edged. I haven't heard their last album, but of the others "Serpentine Similar" is the best starting point.

Don Cabellero sounds like a more outre (or ****ier, depending on perspective) version of Dianogah. It's propelled by an amazing drummer named Damon Che. Don Cab is not my favorite of the Slint offshoots -- I've heard only "What Burns Never Returns" and some of their 7"s.

In 2002, Damon Che formed Bellini with an Italian post rock band named Uzeda. They released only one album titled "Snowing Sun", and then broke up, apparently. Snowing Sun has been one of my favorite records of recent years; it's a terrifically intense and experimental album.

Another contemporary band that's similar to Bellini and not afraid of a little ****ery is Oneida. Their last two albums -- "Each One Teach One" in particular -- have been pretty damn fun and, suffice it to say, not really concerned with rock and roll at all.

By the way Tony, three other bands that remind me of Dianogah are The ****ing Champs, Ui, and Polvo. Polvo tries out other instruments and is a bit more experimental, The ****ing Champs pretty much stick to a hard-driving three-piece sound. I'm guessing you know Ui; if not "Lifelike" is a good starter.

Two seldom-mentioned but very interesting acts are The 90 Day Men and June of '44. Both of these latter bands have vocalists but share a sort of free-form, percussive sound with Dianogah (90 Day Men adds a piano as well). 90 Day Men's "To Everybody" is really a fine album that deserves further critcial attention. (I was underwhelmed with their recent "Panda Park"). I can't pick a best June of '44 album since they're all pretty similar and, IMO, pretty good.

Much of the Washington D.C. side of post-rock revolved around Pussy Galore and Nation of Ulysses. Pussy Galore split into the Jon Spencer side (Boss Hog, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion -- not really post rock) and the Neil Haggerty side (Royal Trux, and his self-titled stuff). Neil Haggerty's Royal Trux experiment definately pushed into post rock territory. The first Royal Trux albums are not very listenable, but then two of them magically gelled and are actually quite good. They are "Cats and Dogs" and "Thank You".

Nation of Ulysses is often consigned to the punk bin, but they were very inventive, incorporating all manner of different instrumental arrangements and some very quixotic tempos. There seems to be a definite free jazz influence. So a punk free-jazz band
:D

Bardo Pond is a sort of space-rock act somewhat akin to Bedhead; maybe a bit druggier. "Dilate" is, I think, excellent and likely to be enjoyed by Bedhead fans.

Many of the Amphetamine Reptile label bands in L.A. entered the post-rock world either by intent (Helios Creed, God Bullies, Helmet, Halo of Flies) or by sheer incompetence and accident (The Cows). Helios Creed's "Boxing the Clown" and the God Bullies' "Dog Show" are fine examples of something like metal/industrial post-rock, if that makes any sense (and it probably doesn't).

Finally, Austin had a terrific noise-rock/post-rock scene in the early '90's with bands like Ed Hall, the Horsies, the ****emos, and the Cherubs. All of these bands emerged in some way out of the Butthole Surfers, but each drove things in more experimental, angular, and invariably noisier directions. Of these, I think only Ed Hall and the Cherubs attained any recognition. The Cherubs' "Heroin Man" is a fantastic example of what was going on (and, incidentally, may well be the loudest record I have ever heard).

Eric
 
Blimey that's made my afternoon that. Seeing a thread on a hi-fi forum (albeit in the music section) mention such wonderful albums from my teenage years.

I've also got Dog Show by the God Bullies as well as the Halo of flies debut - on vinyl as well - I didn't even have a record player at the time.

I've also still got the Amphetimine Reptile Noise records "Dope, Guns and F***ing In the Streets" compilation (also on vinyl for a record player I didn't own) - some great noisy music. Some of this music was excellent - Helios Creed and the above mentioned bands but getting hold of it in sunny Redditch was never particularly easy. Although back in my younger days "The Swamp Club" when it used to be at Edward's No. 8 used to play stuff like this.

I think the record label at the time was owned by the lead guy in Halo Of Flies (I may be wrong here).

I've gone all nostalgic.
 
Interesting you mention The ****ing Champs in a post rock thread. Some of their music is used on one of the documentaries on the recent Dawn of the Dead DVD (which incidentally has been reviewed by some genius talent here). Sounded like the majestic intro part to an epic Iron Maiden song or summat.

Is that representative? I'd like to here some post-rock type stuff that sounds more textured and tuneful, rather than glazed.
 
Kit,
The ****ing Champs are indeed a bit of a stretch, but then I would have thought the same of Bastro and Bitch Magnet, yet these two always seem to make the list of representative "post rock" bands. Typical sub-genre definitional confusion here, I suspect.

The "glazed" sound is, when pushed to extremes, one way of disrupting the traditional rock song-structure (which I think is part of the idea), but of course it's not the only one.

90 Day Men, Polvo, June of '44, and Bardo Pond are all reasonably "tuneful"; although remember that I don't think the post rock thing is supposed to be about tune, per se.
 
Polvo are classified as post-rock, are they? Right, I'm going to show my ignorance here. What the hell is post-rock ?

I got into Polvo by hearing a track on the radio whilst driving through Denmark. It sounded good, so I bought "Shapes" on my return to the UK. And a bloody good album it is too!

The nearest point of reference I came up with was some of the more experimental SF bands of the late '60's (Fifty Foot Hose, Mad River, Savage Resurrection, Linn County....

Had Shapes come out on the Amos label in '69, no one would have batted an eyelid.

What goes round, comes round.
Chris
 
Trans Am and The ****ing Champs have released another collaboration, the first being Trans Champs, the new one 'Gold' by the ****ing Am.

Trans Am are sometime a bit 'clever' and post-ironic, but usefully interesting.

DS
 
I must buy a record by The ****ing Champs, simply because it's such a great name for a group.

-- Ian
 
Originally posted by sideshowbob
I must buy a record by The ****ing Champs
You'd be a brave man asking a record shop "Have you got anything by The ****ing Champs?". Expect the response "No I ****ing haven't!". :D

Mick
 
I must buy a record by The ****ing Champs, simply because it's such a great name for a group.

I like "Bitch Magnet" better; the name more-or-less guarantees that the band members will be alone and girfriendless. (A much better band too, IMO).

I forgot to mention that the Ex Models are another math-rock band akin to Dianogah that are worth checking out. Their "Other Mathematics" exhibits some family resemblance to Gang of Four's "Entertainment", complete with a bit of radical lefty/anarchist social commentary (in this their case excerpts from Jean Baudrillard's remarks on Disneyland -- no small feat).
 
I've never heard of (much less heard) any of these bands and I have no idea what 'post rock' is.

This thread's just a wind-up - right?
 
Cheers Patrick, I was begining to feel I was the only one!

On the subject of buying a record just for the name, i've always wanted to buy "Shove my rocket up your anus" by Alien Sex Feind, but I just know its going to be carp.

Paul.
 
Originally posted by Patrick Dixon
I've never heard of (much less heard) any of these bands and I have no idea what 'post rock' is.

This thread's just a wind-up - right?
Hi Patrick

I think it's for real; at least it seems to have started that way so why have we not heard of the bands? My guess: I don't think even John Peel, late at night, would have been allowed by the BBC to mention the names of half of them, so the music never got played in the UK.

I'm going to make a list of the bands mentioned and see what I can find in allmusic.com and the record shop.

Mick
 
Of course one of the problems with post-rock is that it has virtually no boundries so that it encompasses many bands that would be called 'noize' or just independent in another world.

Try the following for some names which aren't hip to mention but may be known

Bark Psychosis
Chicago Underground Duo
Do Make Say Think
Gastr del Sol
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Isotope 217
Pram
Mogwai
The Sea and Cake
Seefeel
Sigur Rós
Slint
Stereolab
Tortoise
 
Thanks Lee

From the names I do recognise on your list, I don't think 'post rock' is really my thing!

Thing is, when Tony starts these threads I just "know" that it's because he's got an excess of stock to offload - he really is an ace marketer you know ;)
 
I have no idea what 'post rock' is.

I have no idea if there is an ‘official’ definition, but IMHO post rock is the delayed reaction to Krautrock (especially Neu!, Faust and Can) in the way indie was a delayed reaction to The Velvet Underground etc.

Like Krautrock post-rock is anti-rock. There is no willy showing, no unnecessarily flamboyant guitar solos etc. It is posture-free rock. It is also (like Krautrock) largely blues free in origin. It is a largely instrumental music, and almost always throws the conventional ‘verse, chorus, verse chorus, middle eight, verse, chorus to fade’ rock rule book right out of the window. Post rock song structure tends to be far more organic and flowing; you are aware the music is totally different to what it was a minute ago, but have to figure out when and how it got there. There are strong echoes of the American minimalists (Riley, Reich, Glass) in this music.

Post-rock is a remarkably broad genre. There is little in common between the tight and rigid mathematical precision and short tracks of say Dianogah and the long evolving organic soundscapes of say Godspeed You Black Emperor. It is a wonderful genre, most of the most interesting music of the past decade has arrived from this direction.

I’ll have a go at recommending five easily available albums as a post-rock primer:

Bedhead – Transaction De Novo. I’ve mentioned this one earlier, so I won’t dwell on it other than stating once again that it is superb.

Mogwai – Come On Die Young. Still Mogwai’s best album, heavy, powerful evolving instrumental soundscapes. Wonderful, and if you can find it, the vinyl is one of the best sounding records ever pressed!

Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun. Incredibly organic and unique spacy post-rock from Iceland. Totally unlike anything else. An amazingly good album. If you find you love it also try Canada’s Godspeed You Black Emperor (F#A# is their best album).

Stereolab – Mars Audiac Quintet. Stereolab need to be included on any post-rock list as they provide the most blindingly obvious link back to Neu!, and therefore Krautrock. They made a successful career largely out of reinterpreting Neu!’s seminal track Hallogallo, they add wonderful key changes and female vocal to this most perfect minimalist blueprint. The similarity is astounding, but IMHO this shows Stereolab as having the taste and the imagination to realise that Neu! only half finished the job in the first place.

Tortoise – TNT. Tortoise are probably the band most people think of when referring to post rock, and IMHO their best is either this one or Millions of People Now Living Will Never Die. Both have the clean precise post-rock sound, but allow some American / retro / jazz influences in as well (IIRC they are from Chicago).

Most of these should be in the cheapo bins as they are not recent and were, with the exception of Bedhead (which Amazon have for £7.75) large sellers. All are remarkably good albums.

Tony.
 


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