Genre story · Rock
Post-Rock
Rock instruments used to build pieces that often leave the conventional rock song behind.
Post-rock began to be discussed as a recognizable idea in the early 1990s. Critic Simon Reynolds used the phrase in a 1993 discussion of Insides and developed it further in writing about Bark Psychosis and the experimental guitar music then emerging. Bands such as Talk Talk, Slint and Tortoise supplied different musical precedents and directions; later groups including Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor developed longer, larger-scale approaches. The history is broader than the familiar formula of quiet guitar followed by a loud climax.
Composing through texture
The guitar may repeat a small figure for several minutes, serve as a rhythmic texture or become almost indistinguishable from electronics. Repetition, patient changes in volume and unusually structured Instrumental passages are common. Some post-rock is concise and rhythmically detailed; other recordings stretch a phrase across an entire side of a record. Vocals can appear but are rarely the organizing center of the style's best-known examples.
Its own history, and a connection to post-metal
Post-rock's structural ideas influenced some Post-Metal bands, but post-metal adds particular forms of heavy guitar music and has its own roots in sludge and experimental metal. The names are related without forming a simple parent-child historical chain.
Essential recordings
- 1991Talk TalkLaughing StockA key precursor using restraint and ensemble space.
- 1991SlintSpiderlandNarrative tension and unpredictable guitar dynamics.
- 1996TortoiseMillions Now Living Will Never DieMinimalism, dub and studio experimentation in a new kind of rock composition.