Post-Rock Gems
CAUTION: Sounds not fit for delicate ears or hearts
I started this Substack on my birthday two years ago:
Last year, I celebrated another spin ‘round the sun with a 42-track playlist of my favourite Radiohead songs:
In celebration of my upcoming birthday, I’ve created another highly indulgent playlist, this time showcasing my favourite genre of music: post-rock.
For the uninitiated, my definition of post-rock:
predominantly instrumental music
primarily features rock ‘n’ roll instruments
occasional flourishes of strings, synths, vocals, beats, brass
commonly used adjectives: epic, intense, cinematic, dynamic, otherworldly, loud
I first heard the name for this enigmatic genre in my late teens, courtesy of my cousin Dann. I recounted the memory of hearing Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the first time in a letter to Dann in 2020, reposted here last April:
One of my favourite posts I've written in the past two years, in October 2024, connected my childhood love of scary stories and films to my obsession with post-rock and similarly thrilling music:
If you’ll indulge me for my birthday, I’ve curated a playlist of my eight favourite post-rock bands — a notable omission is my #3, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, because they’ve removed their catalogue from Spotify and YouTube.
To ease you in, I’ve posted some introductory tracks and commentary below.
Warning: this music is not for the faint of ears or heart!
Mogwai
Second only to Radiohead in my favourite band rankings. I’ve seen them live more than a dozen times, in smelly clubs and fancy concert halls and green fields. Mogwai is the band I’d most like to play guitar in. Come on lads, hurry up and ask me already!
Sigur Ros
The most beautiful music, post-rock or otherwise. I recognise that there are humans behind the instruments and yet I don’t comprehend how they can conjure such an alien sound. A consistently awe-inspiring live show. I first saw them at a tiny theatre in Detroit in September 2001 and I've been chasing that high ever since. Their performance at Royal Albert Hall, accompanied by an orchestra and a boys’ choir, was by far the best concert I saw last year.
Do Make Say Think
A jazzy, percussive take on post-rock; easier on the ears than the other bands here. I wrote about their album Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn as one of the only winter-themed things I can tolerate, let alone celebrate.
Explosions in the Sky
Russian Circles
I’ve grouped these two American bands together because they have a similar, stripped-back sound — distorted guitars, thundering bass and drums, the occasional synth. Interweaving guitars are centre stage; so rich and melodic that I don’t miss the absence of vocals. Case in point:
In the case of EITS, as with Mogwai and Godspeed, a song with a spoken word introduction — in this case, sampled from an American war film I’ve never seen — is what initially hooked me on them.
Jambinai
Easily the most unique of my post-rock faves, this South Korean quintet features two traditional stringed instruments supported by electric guitar, bass and drums. The sound is bold, brash, punishing at points… and yet the band performed during the Closing Ceremony of the 2018 Olympics. Wild!
Sonic Youth
Swans
I deliberated — and consulted with Cousin Dann — if these bands are really post-rock. They are more commonly classed as noise-rock, having emerged in New York’s “no wave” scene of the early 1980s. Both bands were renowned for their punk attitudes, uncompromising artistic integrity, and regularly abusing their audience (Swans) or instruments (SY). Call it noise-art-punk-proto-post-rock ?
While curating this playlist and reflecting on my most beloved genre of music, I realised that the first post-rock song I fell in love with was “The Diamond Sea” by Sonic Youth. It was 1995 or ‘96, and I probably heard it on a late-night alternative music show on 89X radio or MuchMusic’s The Wedge. Sonic Youth’s symphony invited my ears with washed-out guitar effects and Thurston Moore’s forlorn vocals, then expanded to increasingly intense sections of jagged, hypnotic noise. The epic outro ain’t easy listenin’ but I was (and am still) captivated by it: 20 minutes of post-rock bliss.
On the 25th of February, have a listen to these 14 post-rock gems and think of me!