Key

^happy to hear that man. Its one of my favorite more dark atmospheric albums in my collection. I have a few others that you may enjoy. I'll post about them soon.

Key

No, not that 'first time' you sickos. I'm talking about the first time I ever heard an album. The album i'm talking about is of course one that has definitely stood the test of time and still to this day amazes me and becomes a regular listen whenever i'm in the mood for this sort of thing. I'm speaking of...


Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞

the debut album by GY!BE. Seriously, what better way to start off your career then with this album of pure beauty. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the people that saw this album on release and had the opportunity to listen to it right away, I was sort of pushed into listening to it as it was an album widely raved about on music forums and most music websites. I think my first listen to it was a few years back, can't remember exactly, but man, hearing it for the first time is seriously one of the best experiences i've had in terms of hearing post-rock albums for the first time. Speaking of which, this album was also one of the first post-rock albums I ever heard, which says how long (or little) i've been listening to the genre. But of course, it's had an everlasting impression on me, and just continues to get better with time.

I'm going to post the song everyone is already thinking of...


As a whole album, it's a beautiful piece of art, but if this album only had this one song on it, it'd still be a beautiful piece of art. This song alone has to be one of the finest pieces of post-rock i've ever heard, and yes, I am also including pg.lost's Key in that group that is under this song alone. I love the build up, I love the subtlety at the beginning, and the length is perfect for a song like this. Yeah, it's 17 minutes long, but you never really feel underwhelmed or you never feel like the song is missing something. It's all there, and you owe it to yourself to listen to it.

As a whole album, I will say that it's definitely nearing perfection. Yes, I did say it's a piece of art, but I didn't say perfection. It's close. There's a lot of great tracks and for anyone looking to get into post-rock as a genre, this is a must listen, as it basically paves the way for a great first time with the genre. I'd also highly recommend the album that come later, as the band just continues to get better over time.

Key

Yep. If there are any genres out there that are worthy of taking over another section of my journal, it's definitely post-rock.

I'm going to be posting a song that is from an album that I do talk a lot about, but trust me, it's not because i'm trying to promote this album more than I already do, i'm honestly posting it because it's the one song out of the entire album that actually makes me feel emotional. One because of the way it sounds, and two...because it's close to the end of the album and that's sad in it's own right.



I know I know, get our your torches and pitchforks, Ki is talking about pg.lost again. I'm sorry, it's really not my fault that they make amazing music. This song is one that I really don't talk about a whole lot, mostly because Key is an album you talk about as a whole, and each song surpasses the next to make the perfect album. The way this song is performed is wonderful, right off the bat you get a sense of loneliness and you feel as though a dark cloud is hovering over you. As it plays on, you start to feel that get worse, or better, depending on your mood. For me, it tends to feel worse as all the instruments start to play together, repeating the same tone, but multiplying the sadness by 10, or even 20. As the song gets to the halfway mark, it does slow down again making you feel that sort of darkness again, and once it hits 3:18, you really feel it. Everything slows down, and for a moment you really do feel alone. You feel as though you're walking down a highway. No cars, busses, taxis. No people. Nobody to take you from where you are to where you need to be. It's endless. Honestly, i'm happy to bring this song up in this section because it really does emit the feeling of sadness.

Bulldog

Really liking that pg.lost track, couldn't agree with you more on it - it really does evoke a longing and sorrowful atmosphere that it's not really easy to come by musically. Very powerful stuff.

I think if I had to pick a track that hits me more or less the same way from my own collection, it'd be Pendulum Man by Bark Psychosis. Compared to Gathering it's a lot more instrumentally sparse and leans far closer to ambient electronica (I first came across it on one of the excellent A Brief History Of Ambient compilations, after all), but that same wistful kind of atmosphere is still there, for me at least.

Key

^I can definitely see where you're coming from with that, and I think I have heard that track before somewhere. I like it!

Key

You know what I absolutely love? Bands that can combine genres and make true magic through music. There are many different examples of this, especially when it comes to post-rock. You get bands trying out a mixture of different sounds revolving around electronic, math rock, and the like. Some bands do it great, and some not so much. I'm here to talk about a band that seems to have gotten a good lead on things like this. Keep in mind, this band isn't only known for post-rock, as one of their albums "Sing The World Hope in Four-Part Harmony" was an attempt to break away from post-rock and have a heavier sound, and it worked. I'm of course talking about...



Yep, Maybeshewill. I remember a while ago I listened to their album "I Was Here for a Moment, Then I Was Gone" and man I was blown away almost instantly. The band itself like to think of themselves as a band that can merge both post-rock and some math-rock elements to make some great heavy hitters. And they do it well. Here's a great example of it...



^You can hear the heavier side that they wanted to go for, but in this one...



You can hear the more electronic side. It works really well, especially when the band knows how to use it to their advantage instead of having it be super overwhelming and out of place.

The band itself, it's been a long long time since I really sat down and listened to them, but I wanted to bring them up because it's always nice to go on a bit of a nostalgia trip with music you haven't listened to in a long time. The first album I remember hearing first, and I did have it on my mp3 player for a long time was titled "Not For Want of Trying" and that was released back in 2008, so they've been around for a while. I feel that when I listen to them now, as opposed to back then, I can finally come to appreciate the different elements in their music. The heavier post-rock/math-rock stuff wasn't my cup of tea back then, but as my music taste developed a little bit more, i've learned to appreciate it more. This band will definitely be one that goes down as being one of the lesser listened to bands in my discography, but also being one of the better ones that really helped craft my taste in music. I'll certainly be looking to pick up some albums from these guys again and really sitting down and listening again.

Key

One of the many things that I love about post-rock is the way it helps me relax. It's definitely got to do with that I find repetitiveness relaxing. Yeah, I know that seems weird, but I could listen to a song that exceeds 20 minutes long, and if it's the same rhythm the entire time, i'm happy. I have also experimented with post-rock and sleep, and for me it does work. If i'm comfortable having headphones on or having a dock on, I could easily fall asleep to it. I don't do it anymore, but I used to enjoy it. I can sleep pretty well either way now. Some really good examples of what I would listen to will be posted below: You'll notice that I pick a lot of Sigur Ros songs to set examples for this type of thing, but that's just what I've always found to happen when I listen to Sigur Ros. I really enjoy them for their talent, but they're also great when you just want to sit back and relax.

Key

So, bands who can both play fantastically in studio and at a live show are some of the best musicians you can come across, in my opinion. Post-rock is no different. There are many different ways a post-rock group can do something fantastic with their live show, and there have been times when I prefer to listen to a live version of a song that I love from a post-rock group that I absolutely love. I've got a few in mind that i'd like to share:



Part 2 coming soon.

Key

A Swarm of The Sun - The Rifts (2015)


A Swarm of The Sun are a post-rock/post-metal band that I've been heavily into for a while. Unfortunately they're a band that aren't really known for throwing out a lot of albums especially considering the only other 'full' album i've heard from them was Zenith which I have talked about before many times in this journal. I decided to do a quick search on them because I had an idea for an entry for post-rock month, but I was surprised to see that they had another album released a few months ago this year titled The Rifts, so that takes the place for the entry I had. I was extremely excited since I have grown to love Zenith in it's entirety. There's not one bad track on that album. The Rifts seems to have the same exact effect. From the couple of tracks I have heard from this album so far, I'm already loving each one in it's entirety, and I really hope that continues to be the case as I listen to this album more, and more times than now. I don't think i'm speaking too soon when I say this is one of the top 10 for me this year album wise, because that's how it was when I first heard Zenith, it became a top 10 album for me, instantly.

As far as I can tell by what i've heard on this album, they do follow the same formula as they did in Zenith, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Honestly, that's a really good thing. That unique sound that they have been known for since Zenith is definitely something I don't want to see them escape from, in fact, i'd rather they continue to use the sound that they're good at for every album they release now, which seems to be the case judging by this album.

The one thing I have probably mentioned before about this band is how they can make every second of every second interesting. Whether it's a ten minute song, a twenty minute song, or a five minute song, they use every minute, every second to do what they know how to do and it's really evident that they try to take every step they can to make sure each track surpasses the last, and they really do. Each track seems to get better than the last one, and that raises my excitement even more when I know I will be able to give this album multiple listens. It just opens up more possibilities to find good and great parts of the album.

One really good example of using the minutes they have to their advantage is done very well in this track:



It's a ten minute track, and you don't find yourself sitting there saying to yourself "man, when am I going to get to the next track, this one is boring", rather you just sit back and try to enjoy what remains in the track while also hoping that the track was longer.

I'm impressed with this album already and I know it'll continue to be good. Hopefully it matches up to my expectations. It's already impressed me to no end.

Key

"This album is so good, I just need more of it."

Yeah, I think you know what i'm talking about. There are certain mornings or nights that come after the day that you just heard a new album from a favorite artist of yours, and even though you know you enjoyed the album you listened to, you feel as though you need to listen to it again. It sort of leaves a pain in your brain until you do it. I'm of course feeling that way with The Rifts by A Swarm of The Sun. Honestly, it has been a very long time since i've heard a post-rock/metal album like this that really just left me speechless at the end. The difference with this post as opposed to when I talked about it last night is that I have listened to the album in it's entirety twice now, and I gotta say, as high as my expectations were for this album, the guys in the group exceeded expectations. Every time I come here to post something for post-rock month, i'm finding myself going to the page where I posted the song above and I just listen to it in full, then I proceed to listen to the whole album, again, and again, and again, and again.

It really is a remarkable release and it definitely makes the wait worth it. I mean...they us wait 5 years since they released Zenith. I like to think they're sort of having the same impressive reaction that Tool does for me. You know, when they take a long time to release new music, but the wait is usually worth it since the album sounds like they took the 5 or so years to make the album perfect. I feel as though A Swarm of The Sun are doing the same thing, and they are doing it extremely well. I'm seeing a bright future for these guys just judging by the 2 studio albums they have in their collection now.

After all is said and done, i've found myself going back to this track a lot more than the others:



It's a rarity for me to post two consecutive posts in a row about the same album, and although I see myself talking about this album more in the future, it's definitely an album you don't want to miss out on. And I mentioned before that it may be in my top 10 of the year, well...it's in my top 5 of the year for sure. Don't know exactly where it stands right now, but it's definitely in the top 5.