This was my first concert in possibly close to three years. The pandemic played a major part in that but I also don’t remember what the last show I was before the pandemic closed everything down over two years ago. It had been a little while. This was my third time seeing Godspeed. Regrettably, it …
Tag: Post Rock
Upgrade & Afterlife (1996) by Gastr del Sol
I’m doing it again, coming at a band backwards. (For the nth time.) I’ve only ever heard Camoufleur, reputed to be Gastr del Sol’s most accessible album – a claim this one bears out.
Rock Action (2001) by Mogwai
I don’t know what I would have done if I had found this Mogwai record when it came out or, honestly, any of the early Mogwai album when I first discovered post rock. I probably would have lost my mind with excitement and would be insisting to this day that it is an absolute classic. …
G_d’s Pee at STATE’s END! (2021) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
From the first moments of Lift Your Skinny Fists, I was in love. I was at the height of my prog rock phase and I had no idea post rock existed. I had no idea Canadians were making ambitious music vaguely in the prog rock tradition at the very time that I was alive and …
Standards (2001) by Tortoise
I like the title, it’s funny.
He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… (2000) by A Silver Mt. Zion
Less ambitious and grand Godspeed You! Black Emperor, with a slowcore song stuffed in the middle of it, basically.
Rusty (1994) by Rodan
Whether or not you have read the comparisons, it’s pretty much impossible to listen to this record without thinking about Slint if you have ever heard Spiderland. Because these guys have heard Spiderland, and they want you to know that they liked it. They liked it a lot.
Come On Die Young (1999) by Mogwai
Mogwai is one of those bands I’ve been meaning to listen to forever and I just didn’t get around to it until the last year or two. This is their second album that I’ve ever heard (in addition to being their second record) and, though I don’t like it as much as the debut, I …
Quique (1993) by Seefeel
I don’t know ambient music much beyond the 1970s, aside from a few 1990s albums I’ve encountered due to my podcast. But I do know that the vast majority of ambient music in existence has been created with synthesizers and other electronic instruments, keyboards hooked up to synthesizers and now computers, not rock band equipment. …
Shrink (1998) by The Notwist
I don’t know anything about this band but my understanding is that it’s a left turn from previous albums. That’s likely a good thing but, because I’ve never heard those previous albums, I’ve left with just this.
Mark Hollis (1998)
Given how world-changing the final Talk Talk albums were, I guess we could be forgiven that Holli’s solo debut (and only record to this point) would somehow also be world-changing. I think there’s a natural desire for us to believe that artistic innovators will always be innovative, and always to the degree that they were …
Mi media naranja (1997) by Labradford
This is my first Labradford record and so I have no idea how it compares to their earlier or later work. I hear their earlier work was more electronic, but I have no idea.
“Luciferian Towers” (2017) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
I think it’s easy to listen to GY!BE and think that all their albums sound (somewhat) the same. I get that at some level. (I think it’s wrong, but I get it.) Rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. The pattern of their compositions is certainly familiar even if the music within them …
Mogwai Young Team (1997)
By 1997, post rock had existed for some time but I think you could make a compelling case that the sounds we most associate with post rock were still not that common within this horribly named genre, which is really a bunch of different genres. The grandeur and epic scale of much post rock was …
Laughing Stock (1991) by Talk Talk
Though Hex is generally considered the official beginning of post rock, you could make a very strong argument that post rock begins with this record. [An argument that, in 2019, I’d agree with.) Already very much hinting at it on the previous record, Spirit of Eden, the music here is often even less recognizable as …
Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) by Tortoise
Whether or not Post Rock actually began in 1994 with Hex is something we can argue about, but you could say that Post Rock, for Americans, started with Tortoise. Now, I’ve never heard their earliest albums, but it’s hard not to look at this record – with its suite-like 20 minute opener, and its genre …
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Live at the Danforth Music Hall, Friday September 25, 2015
This was my second time seeing Godspeed You! Black Emperor in Toronto. The first time I had a terrible angle but was rather close to the stage (at Lee’s Palace). This time I had pretty great seats in the balcony of the Danforth Music Hall but they were quite far from the stage. I guess …
Niagara Falling: Tales for the Stage III (2012) by Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Bossi
This is an EP rounding out Kihlstedt’s and Bossi’s “stage” music. It’s sparse and different from their usual stuff, but there’s not a lot here (and some of the running time is taken up by the creators of the performance piece) and it really isn’t essential. Only of interest to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Kihlstedt …
‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (2012) by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
I love this, and so I have a dilemma.
Zettel (2001) by Deep Dark United
I have listened to music since before I can remember. My mom recently reminded me of a Big Bird record I had as a toddler which taught me about the different instruments in the orchestra. I have been listening to music seriously – as a snob – for at least half my life. So by …
Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Lee’s Palace 04/24/11
This is the new punctuation of the band’s name, so I hear. Speaking of hearing, I can’t any more.