So I just checked out a CD called "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place" by a band called Explosions in the Sky. Pretty cool shit. For those not familair, a reviewer on Amazon described it as such:
This is truly beautiful. Explosions in the Sky is a four-piece (two guitars, bass, and drums) that gets lumped into the post-rock category, but they dramatically surpass the standards generally set for the idiom. They do the episodic build-build-build-climax-repeat formula like, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but this music achieves something very different. The music is sparse and minimal with a genuine emotive power. The sparseness is present in the textural thinness (only four instrumentalists, remember), with guitars generally playing starry arpeggios with an empathetic rhythmic backing. With so much breathing room, the music fills the pockets of space left by bare instrumentation with simple emotional resonance that might not have prevailed with denser arrangements. The music is minimal not because it is in repetitive stasis, but because the song construction focuses on a collegial series of sounds development rather than linear evolutions.
Having listened to the CD once, I'd say this guy nailed it. As a matter of fact, if we reopen RC as a Post Rock review site, we should give this guy a call. But I digress...
In reading some of the other reviews, I kept seeing the name "Mogwai" pop up. I've heard of them, but never heard anything by them. Can anyone recommend a good place to start in their catalogue.
I think I need to go back and listen to Godspeed! You? Black! Emperor?
Zod
This is truly beautiful. Explosions in the Sky is a four-piece (two guitars, bass, and drums) that gets lumped into the post-rock category, but they dramatically surpass the standards generally set for the idiom. They do the episodic build-build-build-climax-repeat formula like, say, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but this music achieves something very different. The music is sparse and minimal with a genuine emotive power. The sparseness is present in the textural thinness (only four instrumentalists, remember), with guitars generally playing starry arpeggios with an empathetic rhythmic backing. With so much breathing room, the music fills the pockets of space left by bare instrumentation with simple emotional resonance that might not have prevailed with denser arrangements. The music is minimal not because it is in repetitive stasis, but because the song construction focuses on a collegial series of sounds development rather than linear evolutions.
Having listened to the CD once, I'd say this guy nailed it. As a matter of fact, if we reopen RC as a Post Rock review site, we should give this guy a call. But I digress...
In reading some of the other reviews, I kept seeing the name "Mogwai" pop up. I've heard of them, but never heard anything by them. Can anyone recommend a good place to start in their catalogue.
I think I need to go back and listen to Godspeed! You? Black! Emperor?
Zod
That was a bit silly when they did that. New one doesn't have any "Hopelandic" crap on it though, or so I've heard.
