Saturday, February 15, 2014

What is Post-Rock? Defining the Elusive Cult Genre

(By A. I. McIntire)
         
    In a world of fast-and-dirty pop songs that give up their secrets in the first ten seconds of play, fusion genres and new ideas are emerging in the back room studios of Europe and the US. Artists with long names, and longer song titles are finding an underground niche of expressiveness with audiophiles the world over. Many are unsigned, and some publish their music straight to YouTube as a free yet effective means of delivery and distribution. So what are these musicians up to in the back rooms and alley studios of Europe, the US, and around the globe? They’re forging a cult genre known as post-rock.

            Post-rock is what could be called a response, a backlash against oversimplified pop movements and clichés in traditional rock and alternative styles. It’s a deviation from modern music in many ways, not the least of which is the usual absence of vocals, the slower development times, the atmospheric and ambient qualities, and the highly intention composition of music motifs and riffs. The melody lines are highly lyrical--only without words mucking things up. This article is one definition of the genre and the bands...it's not the "right" definition or the "only" definition. There's many ways to categorize music depending on the listener. That said, for this writer, Post-Rock is a genre of largely instrumental music that takes traditional rock instrumentation, and fuses it with other musical ideas which results in an ambient, expression, subtle, understated yet powerful musicality. It's a broad definition, but we'll narrow it down a tad as we go. One way to do this is to talk about the band instruments themselves and how they usually work in post-rock.
           
            Post-rock bands are quite often built upon a 4 or 5-piece rock ensemble idea. Most often present are electric guitars and synthesizers, followed by bass, drums, and more rarely, vocals. Samples, sections of speech, and nature audio are also used by some groups.

Guitars are often warm, dirty and wet, that is with an overdriven or distorted sound into a tube amp, and a healthy amount of reverb and delay added. Volume swells, or use of an “e-Bow” a device that acts like an electronic violin bow are also common. Guitars are regularly layered, with two or three layers being common, but up to five or even seven layers have been used by bands like Mogwai. Slides, octave units, and synth units are also common. Guitars are used in post-rock to generate riffs, and long fill lines by means of triplets, 1/16 notes, or 1/32 notes. They also serve as the “lead vocal” of the song many times, “singing” passages with repeated motifs and planned deviations off of a riff idea. Rather than improvise lengthy passages played at high speeds, the guitars often play carefully composed melody lines and arpeggios that layer with the synths and other guitars.
 Synthesizers often conjure images of 80s metal bands, hairspray overdoses, and polyester poisoning. Audiophiles shudder at the thought of the quintessential nauseous sounds of a Casio keyboard retching out a “saw-synth” tone that is akin to fingernails on a chalkboard. Yet post-rock’s second most common ingredient is a synthesizer. The secret is in the synth itself. Often the synth is a true synthesizer, not a keyboard loaded with presets. The Nord synth is one common and well loved example because it generates ambient tones and pads that add spaciousness to the music. Often it is difficult for an unfamiliar listener to hear a synth in post-rock with any distinctiveness. Instead, a wash of ambient “air”, “cloud like” or “ocean-esque” tones are heard. This is probably one of the reasons post-rock is also sometimes referred to as ambient rock.

The bass is also a key and common instrument in post-rock. Occasionally an overdrive is added to the bass, but usually the bass is a warm, filling, rumbling instrument in post-rock, with full and quarter notes holding a steady rhythm together. The bass often meshes with the synth to create a smooth and well-rounded sound to the music.

Drums in post-rock are also a defining instrument. Some bands use them extensively; such as God is an Astronaut. Some bands hardly use them at all, like Hammock. Others are in the middle—Explosions in the Sky for example, or This Will Destroy You. Drums can vary widely in playing style and approach. Double kick drums and rapid playing can help create a “wall of sound”, though a subtle approach is used as much as an aggressive style. Out of all of the instruments in post-rock, drums are one of the most widely varied, showcasing a good deal of unique approaches and styles.

Vocals are highly uncommon in the post-rock world. In this writer’s opinion this is because post-rock is supposed to put sound to feelings, and allows a listener to create personal meaning behind each song. Vocals—lyrics, more specifically, tell the listener the meaning rather than let the listeners interpret and create meaning for themselves. This is possibly the appeal and driving force behind post-rock: the ability to create a journey, to evoke emotion, and images without using words. Modern music often focuses on fusing lyrics with music to create a message that generates emotion in the listener. Post-rock creates music that draws out emotion from the listener, and lets the listener’s mind go where it will. Simply put, post-rock is music to dream and feel by.
However, there are always exceptions, perhaps most notably Sigur Ros. The band creatively circumvents the “meaning” problem of lyrics by simply having vocals with lyrics. This Enya-like approach creates an incredible amount of emotion to their music, albeit with a far different tone and timbre compared to Enya. The wordless lyrics have a distinct sound, almost like a foreign language—small wonder given that Sigur Rós is composed of band members from Reykjavik, Iceland. Sigur Rós front man Jónsi Birgisson has a tenor voice that often strays into gentle falsettos, and conveys both gentle and intense emotions.
Ambient powerhouse Hammock recently released “Oblivion Hymns” which featured limited vocal work much to the shock of the listeners. As the album title might suggest, the band used boys’ choirs for some of the “hymnal” like interludes with great effectiveness. As a final stunner the last song on the album, Tres Domine featured lyrics sung in English with a strong hymn-like motif. Despite the deviation from the normal the album has proven to be well loved.

Other sounds are often used as well: Sigur Rós has incorporated nature sound effects as well as many other bands, Collapse Under the Empire used breaking glass sounds in one track, and Hammock has several tracks that feature speech, often in an obfuscated or highly effects laden manner. Many other bands have used strings, horns, piano, and so on to help create their signature sound.

Now that we have our band, the question arises, “yes, but what does it sound like?” This is a bit like trying to explain what a painting or a stunning photo looks like without actually looking at it. Nevertheless, we’ll give it a go.
The songs are often somewhat longer than pop songs, ranging from around three and a half minutes to upwards of seven minutes. In that time, the songs often evolve in a very composed manner. A good post-rock song is like a good wine. One sip will not give you all the flavors. Instead, flavor, character, and nature are revealed over time. If you listen to a pop song, you know the nature, character, and feel of the entire song usually by the end of the first chorus, 45 seconds in. In post-rock it will take longer for the song to develop. In short, post-rock is not for the impetuous or impatient listener.
Some songs are highly aggressive, with snappy drums, catchy riffs, and a louder feel. The latest God is an Astronaut album, Origins features a number of songs in this category, such as Spiral Code, The Last March (a personal favorite), and especially, Transmissions. Generally, God is an Astronaut (often abbreviated GIAA for obvious reasons) has a more aggressive, tight, loud, rock feel with a strong synth presence. If we say they are a post-rock band, they are on definitely the post-ROCK side of things. Likewise, some post-rock tracks dive into chaotic (yet composed and defined) dissonant explosions of sound, as GIAA and If These Trees Could Talk demonstrate.
Conversely Hammock is possibly on the opposite end of the spectrum. Long, slow intros with smooth swells, and a far “spacier” feel. If you were flying through a nebula, odds are you’d want to listen to Hammock. The synth-dominated sound is anything but aggressive, and has a very soft, subtle quality to it. Strings often accompany their pads and ambient swells, giving the music a dreamy, atmospheric quality. Dissonance is rarely something Hammock uses, instead relying on clearly defined notes at the right time, like water drops on a glassy smooth pool.
GIAA may make you want to drive somewhere in a fast car on a lovely highway, but Hammock makes you want to close your eyes and dream. And then there’s everything in the middle.

In the middle is Explosions in the Sky, a band that takes a “drier” approach to guitar work, with extensive finger picking, and slower tempos, and a notable general lack of synthesizers. 
This Will Destroy You relies on powerful lyrical-like melodies played on guitar, strong crescendos, and wall-of-sound climaxes that are incredibly emotional and effective. Listen to Quiet, A Three Legged Workhorse, and They Travel on Tracks of Never Ending Light for a sampling of This Will Destroy You. 
Collapse Under the Empire is also a strong synth band, but is more aggressive than Hammock. Their style is perhaps heard best in the layered slow building track The Reminder, and their track Shoulders features a great approach to the dark, swell-driven side of post-rock. 
If These Trees Could Talk showcases the idea of a minimalist lead guitar in the slow tempo piece Deus Ex Machina, but also delivers a great example of a more controlled chaos sound in the track, From Roots to Needles
I am the Architect demonstrates a more epic composition with guitars as integrated lead instruments double-picking the melody line in the track Walk in Regret.
Want more without having to dig and sort through songs? Perhaps the best way is to find one or two songs or artists that you like, and plug the song or the artist name into Pandora and let Pandora find similar music. This will help bring the post-rock genre into your earbuds continually without having to do another search at the end of every song.

Hopefully this has created an idea in your mind of what post-rock is, and where you might start listening. Need a list to get you started? You’re in luck!
Below is a list of artists and YouTube links to full albums to listen to online. Keep in mind that style will vary from album to album! Be sure to check out the video descriptions for links to each song within the video so you can skip around.

Artist                     Album
God Is An Astronaut – Origins
Mogwai – Les Revants
This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You
Explosions in the Sky – The Earth is not a Cold Dead Place 
Sigur Rós – Takk…
Hammock – Oblivion Hymns 
Collapse Under the Empire – Shoulders and Giants Playlist
Sleep Dealer – Imminence
If These Trees Could Talk – Above the Earth, Below the Sky
Long Distance Calling – Avoid The Light

Random Samplings (single tracks) from the Post-Rock Facebook group
…Of Sinking Ships – I set Sail on Winds of Renewal 
Litro – Nera 
La Mar – Anchors
Terronaut – Return to Reality
I am the Architect – Walk in Regret

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