Post-Rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists 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. Vocals, when present, are typically used as an instrumental layer rather than a focal point, with many bands opting for entirely instrumental compositions. 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. The post-rock sound incorporates characteristics from a variety of musical genres, including ambient, jazz, electronica, and experimental; this was especially emphasized in first wave post-rock. Post-rock compositions 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. Typically, post-rock pieces are lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbre, dynamics and texture. 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. When present, post-rock vocals are often soft or droning and are typically infrequent or present in irregular intervals. In the late 1990s, Chicago was the home base for a variety of post-rock associated performers. Both John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke of Brise-Glace and Gastr del Sol were important producers for many of the groups. One of the most eminent post-rock locales is Montreal, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor and simil

Sound of Post-Rock

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