easycure

Well, if we start discussing how much it can be worth as a definition, goodbye!! we’ll get lost... : ) It’s obvious that any definition is forced, and it’s very hard to establish its boundaries.. anyway, the way you "read" the music of the last decade is very interesting.. for me, the '90s were a great decade too.. however, I don’t agree with you when you say that Post Rock is still an expressive genre.. for me, it’s already dead and buried, in fact, the REALLY interesting and innovative things were said as far back as the late '80s, with Tweez by Slint (though Spiderland is a beautiful album, eh, but for how much more complete and mature it is, I find it less groundbreaking). As for the rest, only interesting offshoots that lost their momentum by the end of the '90s. This is probably because I have a more narrow view compared to yours of what Post Rock is. Sure, though, Low and Broken Social Scene are not really post rock in my opinion, even if Low definitely draws a lot from Slint. Bye ; )

Oh, but there are only three of us who know this record?? That's not right!

Yes, and I don’t know if you know that Scotland has been part of Great Britain (hence the term "British") for at least 500 years. : D

Oh my God, it seems to me there’s a pretty obvious difference between Captain and Slint. Sure, the deconstructive awareness is present in the latter, but in Captain, I don’t know; even though the Slint have definitely listened to them over and over. Royal Trux are certainly closer to Slint than Bardo Pond or Tortoise are, but even Royal Trux start from bai Blues, then like Slint, they grind it from multiple perspectives. Nevertheless, it seems to me that within a "broad" definition of post rock, two coordinates can be clearly identified. As I already told you: those who deconstruct and those who seek a truly new style; in my opinion, this second “wave” is definitely less successful than the first in its intent.

Magma were one of the most original French groups in the progressive scene. Among the few to conceive their sound in a non-self-referential but purely evocative way. Look for the live performance, as Stormino said, or the album "Kohntarkosz."

Hi Ajeje. Indeed, you are perfectly right; I hadn't thought about it, but post-rock draws a lot from progressive rock. However, I have to point out that Slint, probably the first post-rock band, and I think perhaps the only true one, took very little from progressive. Paradoxically, Slint were almost antithetical to the subsequent post-rock groups; they were driven by an almost entirely DE-structuring tendency. They took the track and twisted it, crushed it, made it perceptively unsettling, destabilizing the listener (even more so in Tweez than in Spiderland). Listening to Slint, the definition of post-rock really comes naturally, because it's incredible how they managed to stay so tied to the canons of Hardcore in terms of interpretation and sound, and how much they managed to play with this until they completely scrambled the cards on the table. In the subsequent rock bands, however, there’s more of a RI-structuring tendency, a reformulation of new themes that turned out to be incredibly mannered (just as happened with progressive rock). In fact, the first album by Tortoise, or the first two by Mogwai, or the first by Godspeed You Black Emperor are surprising, but there’s no one among these bands that, as time went on, didn’t fossilize, didn’t become terribly self-referential and sterile. This leads me to think that the influence of progressive rock wasn't all that positive. Sure, Slint, very little progressive if not in a very filtered way, were much dryer, more concrete, humble, and proactive than the post-rock groups that followed.

To me, Psycho makes me think more of Pink Flag by Wire... so many incredibly fast and intense tracks... even though the punk spirit is filtered through a different sensitivity in the Minutemen, as the review says, more in a 360-degree way.

Absolutely in agreement with Ajeje, in every way... great note. rock bottom, very true, is one of the highest (CREATIVE) expressions of progressive (even though it's so genius that it transcends genres), but it has nothing, and I mean nothing, showy at a technical level.

Well, listen.. I heard King Crimson ten years ago with the double trio. Amazing. Then I heard them again two years ago in four: pathetic. In theory, of course, Robert Fripp can do whatever he wants, but artistically, alas, it feels very much like dead and buried.. I have nothing else to say. Bye ; )

I was just listening to it again. monstrous.