attn: anyone who likes great things
So I have a lot of music, and I really love it all, but I recently got two albums that are so good that I feel the need to write a blog about it. The band is called God Is An Astronaut, and they are a post-rock band. Before I talk about the albums I’m going to explain the post-rock genre, if you don’t care then just skip to the last paragraph to hear about the two albums, or just skip this whole thing. Its up to you.
“What is post-rock?” you ask? Post-rock is like modern classical music, with its roots in rock music. It began in the late 90s and is, in my opinion, one of the best things to happen to music in decades. It is often (but not always) more “driven” than classical music, while not exactly high-energy, it does feel like it has a plan or purpose, while classical is more like meandering through a field of wildflowers with no real goal. Post-rock is instrumental and a post-rock album is like a symphony, where each track is like a movement in that symphony.
The only commercially successful post-rock group is Explosions in the Sky, and they aren’t even very successful, though their album “The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place” is a pretty big milestone in the post-rock genre and is an inspiration to almost all new post-rock bands. There is also Scotland-based Mogwai that has enjoyed pretty good success in the UK and lighter success in the U.S., but their albums aren’t really symphonies, but rather just compilations of 4-9 minute instrumentals. Mogwai is a wonderful band and I really love them a lot, but they lack the epic scope and composition that is attributed to post-rock, so I generally don’t include them while talking about other post-rock bands. While post-rock may not be widely popular, it does have a healthy and active underground scene that spans North America and Europe.
The largest undergound post-rock band is Godspeed You! Black Emporer, and their post-apocalyptic-themed album “Fsharp Asharp Infinity” is another of the most popular albums in the genre, along with their album “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.” Their albums only have 2-5 tracks each, however each track is about 15-30 minutes long. They include spoken-word dialog/sound clips in some of the movements and the music is generally dreary and depressing, but really brilliant at the same time. Godspeed You! Black Emporer is broken up, and the lead musician has a solo post-rock project called A Silver Mt. Zion.
ANYWAY the two albums I am freaking out about are by a band called God Is An Astronaut, and they are titled “All Is Violent, All Is Bright” and “The End of the Beginning.” While both are incredible, All Is Violent… was the one that REALLY blew my mind. It is like a 48 minute mental music-induced orgasm. I’m pretty sure it is condensed sonic beauty.. ANYWAY I’ve been writing this for way too long and I think it is too lengthy for Tumblr, so I might make a Livejournal and repost it there. But yeah, if you enjoy classical music, modern instrumentals, or orgasms, you owe it to yourself to check out those two albums. And if you find you enjoy the post-rock genre, just tell me and I can tell you about several other great bands/albums.
