Atmospheric Rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings with electronics and digital production as a means of enabling the exploration of textures, timbres and different styles. Vocals, when present, are often used as an instrumental layer, with many bands opting for entirely instrumental compositions. The genre began in indie and underground music scenes, but deviated.

The term ''post-rock'' was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds, being popularized in a review of Bark Psychosis' 1994 album '' Hex'', and he later expanded the concept as music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes". The term has since developed to refer to bands oriented around dramatic and suspense-driven instrumental rock, making the term controversial among listeners and artists alike.

Groups such as Talk Talk and Slint were credited with producing foundational works in the style in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With the release of Tortoise's 1996 album '' Millions Now Living Will Never Die'', post-rock became an accepted term for the associated scene of artists. Over time, post-rock diversified, spawning fusion subgenres like post-metal and blackgaze, and influencing indie rock, electronica, and forms of metal.

Characteristics

Post-rock emphasizes the use of textures, timbres, and non-rock influences, often featuring little or no vocals. Rather than relying on traditional song structures or riffs, it—as a musical aesthetic—focuses on atmosphere and mood to create a musically evocative experience. Post-rock incorporates stylings and traits from a variety of musical genres and scenes, including indie rock, krautrock, slowcore, ambient, psychedelia, progressive rock, space rock, math rock, tape music, minimalist classical, British IDM, jazz (including avant-garde jazz and cool jazz), dub, post-punk, free jazz, contemporary classical and avant-garde electronica.

First wave post-rock groups often exhibited strong influence from the krautrock of the 1970s, particularly the motorik, the characteristic krautrock rhythm, and its one- or two-chord melodicism. Post-rock artists frequently blend traditional rock instrumentation and stylistic elements with electronic and digital production, using this combination to explore a wider range of textures, timbres, and musical styles. The first wave of post-rock derives inspiration from diverse sources including krautrock, psychedelia, dub, minimalist classical, ambient, electronica, and jazz, with these influences also being pivotal for the substyle of ambient pop. The genre originated in the indie and underground music scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, but as it moved away from traditional rock elements, it became increasingly distinct from the conventions of indie rock of that era.

Instrumentation

Though typically performed using standard rock instrumentation—guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards—post-rock compositions often subvert the expected uses of these instruments, for example by employing guitars as noise generators or focusing on sonic texture rather than melody. However, instruments were often used in non-traditional ways, acting as a "palette of textures" rather than for their conventional rock roles. It can be lengthy and instrumental, containing repetitive build-ups of timbres, dynamics and textures, often making use of repetition of musical motifs and subtle changes with an extremely wide range of dynamics. In some respects, this is similar to the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Brian Eno, pioneers of minimalism who were acknowledged influences on bands in the first wave of post-rock.

Guitars, rather than serving melodic or riff-driven purposes, are often employed as tools for texture and atmosphere. Artists manipulate timbre through alternate tunings, effects like delay and distortion, EBows, and looping, sometimes processing guitars to the point of becoming unrecognizable. Drums and percussion in post-rock frequently defy traditional roles, drawing inspiration from krautrock's hypnotic "motorik" beats and dub's spacious, bass-heavy rhythms. It can feature, as is prominently the case in the first wave, multiple drum kits, irregular tempos, or minimalist patterns that prioritize mood over groove. The bass guitar often assumes a central role in shaping post-rock's atmospheric depth, diverging from standard rock's rhythmic lock with the bass drum, extending from post-punk. Influenced by dub and ambient music in addition, basslines may consist of sustained drones, pulsating loops, or sparse, resonant notes that anchor the composition's harmonic framework.

With the increasing accessibility of samplers in the late 1980s, bands gained tools for restructuring their compositions with sampling. Samplers, along with sequencers and MIDI setups, allowed for both ordered and chaotic elements to coexist within a single piece. The recording studio is regarded as an essential component of the creative process in post-rock. Bands such as Seefeel, Disco Inferno and Insides made the recording studio an active component of composition, employing hardware for live processing, and software like Cubase to—in the case of Seefeel—fragment and reassemble guitar sounds, or process vocals as abstract sonic material.

Vocals

Vocals are often de-emphasized or entirely absent. When vocals are included, the use is typically non-traditional: some post-rock bands employ vocals as purely instrumental efforts and incidental to the sound, rather than a more traditional use where clean, comprehensible vocals are used for poetic and lyrical meaning. When present, vocals may appear in unconventional forms, including spoken word, found audio samples, or stylized delivery such as murmured or shouted passages. Bands often treat the voice as an additional instrument. Lyrics, if included, are often non-narrative, poetic, or opaque, reflecting themes of alienation, ambiguity, or abstraction, such as in Stereolab's didactic lyrics which are sung with simplistic melodies.

While the verse-chorus form is not exempt from the ethos of post-rock, in lieu of typical rock structures, groups make greater use of soundscapes and abstraction. Reynolds states in his essay "Post-Rock" from ''Audio Culture'' that "a band's journey through rock to post-rock usually involves a trajectory from narrative lyrics to stream-of-consciousness to voice-as-texture to purely instrumental music". Reynolds' conclusion defines the sporadic progression from rock, with its field of sound and lyrics to post-rock, where samples are manipulated, stretched and looped. Many instrumental pieces of the genre include climactic endings, used to provide closure in otherwise linear compositions. This structural trope became a hallmark of second wave post-rock, where bands focused on dramatic, suspenseful instrumental rock; this usage of the term became controversial among both listeners and musicians.

Etymology

The term ''post-rock'' was initially used by English music journalist Simon Reynolds in a ''Melody Maker'' article in late 1993, which he remembers as the first time he wrote of ''post-rock''. He later employed it in a review of the 1994 album ''Hex'' by Bark Psychosis, which appeared in that year's March issue of ''Mojo'' magazine. Reynolds further developed the concept in the May 1994 issue of ''The Wire'' defining post-rock as music "using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures rather than riffs and power chords". He further expounded on the term that:

Reynolds, in a July 2005 entry in his blog, said he later found the term not to be of his own coinage, writing in his blog "I discovered many years later it had been floating around for over a decade". In 2021, Reynolds reflected on the evolution of the style, saying that the term had developed in meaning during the 21st century, no longer referring to "left-field UK guitar groups engaged in a gradual process of abandoning songs nd exploringtexture, effects processing, and space", but instead coming to signify "epic and dramatic instrumental rock, not nearly as post- as it likes to think it is".

Earlier uses of the term include its employment in a 1975 article by American journalist James Wolcott about musician Todd Rundgren, although with a different meaning. It was also used in the ''Rolling Stone Album Guide'' to name a style roughly corresponding to "avant-rock" or "out-rock". The earliest use of the term cited by Reynolds dates back as far as September 1967. In a ''Time'' cover story feature on the Beatles, writer Christopher Porterfield hails the band and producer George Martin's creative use of the recording studio, declaring that this is "leading an evolution in which the best of current post-rock sounds are becoming something that pop music has never been before an art form". Another example of the term in use can be found in an April 1992 review of the single "Stacey's Cupboard" by 1990s noise pop band the Earthmen by Steven Walker in Melbourne music publication ''Juke'', where he describes a "post-rock noisefest".

History

1970s–1980s: influences and precursors

The " dronology" of The Velvet Underground, most apparent on their 1967 album ''The Velvet Underground & Nico'', was referred to by Reynolds in 1994 as having significantly influenced much "of today's post rock activity" in the first wave, especially with regards to the 1990s space rock revival. In addition, the 1970s krautrock bands Can, Neu!, Faust and Cluster influenced post-rock acts, including Stereolab and Mogwai. The no wave and post-punk movements—via artists like Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, and Ut—experimented with dissonance, non-linear structures, and noise, challenging rock's expressive norms. Similarly, This Heat, which formed in 1976, are regarded as having predated the genre with their significantly unconventional musical stylings and repetitive structures, and were an influence on bands in the first wave of post-rock.

''Stylus Magazine'' observed that David Bowie's 1977 album ''Low'', produced by Brian Eno, would have been considered post-rock if released twenty years later. ''Louder'' also described the English post-punk band Wire as "the genre's godfathers", highlighting their 1979 studio album ''154'' as an early precursor that signposted the beginning of post-rock.

British post-punk band Public Image Ltd have been seen as pivotal for post-rock, with the ''NME'' describing them as "arguably the first post-rock group" when referring to their first few albums. Their 1979 album ''Metal Box'' almost completely abandoned traditional rock structures in favor of dense, repetitive dub- and krautrock-inspired soundscapes and John Lydon's cryptic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. The year before ''Metal Box'' was released, PiL bassist Jah Wobble declared that "rock is obsolete".

1990s: first wave

Critics have retroactively regarded the Louisville, Kentucky-based rock band Slint's 1991 album ''Spiderland'' as a foundational work that anticipated and inspired the indie rock-derived area of the genre; the album is characterized by its dramatic shifts in dynamics both instrumentally and vocally, as well as its deliberate, bass-driven grooves. The English art rock band Talk Talk's album ''Laughing Stock'', released in the same year, has been identified as influential on post-rock by critics for its drawn out song structures, relying on influences from jazz, contemporary classical music and space rock.

Post-rock was initially applied to a wave of primarily English bands in the early 1990s who drew from genres such as psychedelia, electronica, hip-hop, free improvisation, and the avant-garde. Examples include Stereolab, Moonshake, Laika, Disco Inferno, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis, Pram and Insides, many of which began in post-punk and shoegaze roots; these were largely deemed post-rock as such in Reynolds' music journalism, and they were also pivotal for the substyle of ambient pop. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bristol, England, emerged as a notable hub for post-rock, characterized by a loosely connected group of musicians working with home-recording setups and a distinctly lo-fi aesthetic. Trip hop, which began as a scene in the same city, influenced Bristol post-rock in the turn of the millennium. Bands such as Flying Saucer Attack, Third Eye Foundation, and Movietone were central to this movement, initially releasing music on the local Planet label and gathering around Recreational Records before later partnering with Domino Records.

North American post-rock tended to maintain the traditional rock band format, drawing on earlier experimental and avant-rock traditions. Influences include krautrock, minimalism, the Canterbury scene, and no wave, as well as the work of composers such as John Cage and Alvin Lucier. Groups in Chicago, United States such as Cul de Sac as well as more ambient-oriented bands from the Kranky label like Labradford, Bowery Electric, and Stars of the Lid, are often cited as foundational to the American first wave of post-rock. The second Tortoise album '' Millions Now Living Will Never Die'' made the band a post-rock icon according to music critics, with bands such as Do Make Say Think beginning to record music inspired by the Chicago school. John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke of Gastr del Sol were prominent figures in the post-rock movement. Both musicians also contributed as producers on multiple albums by Stereolab throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2000, Radiohead released the studio album ''Kid A'', marking a significant turning point in their musical style. Reynolds described it and the 2001 follow-up album ''Amnesiac'' as major examples of post-rock in the style that had been established by the first wave, incorporating influences from electronica, krautrock, jazz and space rock into the band's indie rock music; he noted that the success of the albums showed that the style had made a mainstream breakthrough.

2000s–present: second wave

In the early 2000s, the term became divisive with both music critics and musicians, with it being seen at the time as falling out of favor. It became increasingly controversial as more critics outwardly condemned its use. Some of the bands for whom the term was most frequently assigned, including Cul de Sac, Tortoise, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor rejected the label. The wide range of styles covered by the term, they and others have claimed, robbed it of its individuality. Kenny Bringelson, writing for '' Consequence'', commented that the bands' music is "rife with creative recontextualization and categorically fresh sounds, but rarely does it transcend what's defined as, and cool about, rock music."

An eminent post-rock locale was Montreal, Canada, where Godspeed You! Black Emperor and related groups, including Silver Mt. Zion and Fly Pan Am, released music on Constellation Records; these groups are generally characterized by a melancholy and crescendo-driven style rooted in, among other genres, chamber music, musique concrète techniques and free jazz influences. Notable albums from Montrealer bands include ''F♯ A♯ ∞'' (1997) and Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven, ''Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven'' (2000), both by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Set Fire to Flames's ''Sings Reign Rebuilder'' (2001).

As part of the second wave of post-rock, the bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic, This Will Destroy You, Do Make Say Think, and Mono (Japanese band), Mono became some of the more popular post-rock acts of the new millennium. Sigur Rós, a band known for their distinctive vocals, fabricated a language they called "Hopelandic" (), which they described as "a form of gibberish vocals that fits to the music and acts as another instrument". With the release of their album ''Ágætis byrjun'' in 1999, they became among the most well known post-rock bands of the 2000s due to the use of many of their tracks, particularly their 2005 single "Hoppípolla", in TV soundtracks and film trailers. These bands' popularity was attributed to a move towards a more conventional rock-oriented sound with simpler song structures and increasing utilization of pop hooks, also being regarded as a new atmospheric style of indie rock. Following a 13-year hiatus, experimental rock band Swans (band), Swans, who had been regarded as influencing post-rock, began releasing a number of albums that were described as post-rock, most notably ''To Be Kind'', which was acclaimed by AllMusic at the end of 2014.

Wider experimentation and blending of other genres took hold in post-rock. For instance, bands such as Cult of Luna, Isis (band), Isis, Russian Circles, Palms (band), Palms, Deftones, and Pelican (band), Pelican fused Heavy metal music, metal with second wave post-rock, with the resulting sound being termed post-metal. Sludge metal grew and evolved to include (and in some cases fuse completely with) some elements of post-rock, with this second wave of sludge metal being pioneered by bands such as Giant Squid (band), Giant Squid and Battle of Mice. The label Neurot Recordings has released music by bands in this genre. Similarly, bands such as Altar of Plagues, Lantlôs and Agalloch blend second wave post-rock and black metal, incorporating elements of the former while primarily using the latter. In some cases, post-rock experimentation has extended beyond blending with a single genre—such as in post-metal—to embrace a wider range of influences. A notable example is blackgaze, a fusion of black metal and shoegaze, post-rock and post-hardcore, exemplified by bands like Deafheaven that combine intense metal elements with the atmospheric textures of post-rock.

See also

*List of post-rock bands
*Post-metal

References

Bibliography

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1980s in music
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