Post-rock is a type of experimental rock music that focuses on sounds, moods, and unusual ways of arranging songs instead of traditional rock methods. Artists in this genre often mix rock instruments and styles with electronic music and digital tools to explore different textures and sounds. When vocals are used, they are usually treated like another instrument, and many bands choose to create music without any singing. This style started in independent and underground music communities but later became more widely recognized.

The term "post-rock" was first used by music writer Simon Reynolds in a review of the band Bark Psychosis's 1994 album Hex. He later described the genre as music that uses rock instruments for purposes outside of traditional rock. Over time, the term came to describe bands that create dramatic and suspenseful instrumental rock music, which has caused some debate among listeners and musicians.

Bands like Talk Talk and Slint helped create early examples of this style in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The release of Tortoise's 1996 album Millions Now Living Will Never Die helped make "post-rock" an official name for this genre in music writing. Later, post-rock expanded into different styles, influencing other types of music such as indie rock, electronic music, and certain kinds of metal.

Characteristics

Post-rock focuses on using different types of sounds, tones, and influences from other music styles. It usually has few or no vocal parts. Instead of following typical song structures or repeating guitar riffs, it creates a musical experience that highlights mood and atmosphere. Post-rock draws from many genres, such as indie rock, krautrock, ambient music, progressive rock, jazz, and electronic music.

Early post-rock bands were strongly influenced by krautrock from the 1970s, especially its rhythmic patterns and simple chord progressions. These influences also shaped a substyle called ambient pop, where post-rock techniques are combined with indie pop. Post-rock artists often mix traditional rock instruments, like guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, with electronic production methods. This blend allows them to explore a wide range of sounds and styles. The genre began in the indie and underground music scenes of the 1980s and 1990s but became more distinct from traditional rock as it evolved.

Post-rock typically uses standard rock instruments, but these are often used in unexpected ways. For example, guitars may create noise or focus on sound textures instead of melodies. Instruments are treated as a "palette of textures" rather than for their usual roles in rock music. Post-rock songs can be long and instrumental, with repeated patterns of sound, dynamics, and textures. These patterns often change subtly over time, similar to the work of composers like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Brian Eno, who were early influences on post-rock.

In post-rock, guitars are used more for creating atmosphere than for melodies or riffs. Musicians use techniques like alternate tunings, effects (such as delay and distortion), and looping to shape sound. Drums and percussion often follow non-traditional rhythms, inspired by krautrock and dub music. Bass guitars play a key role in creating the deep, atmospheric feel of post-rock, moving away from the rhythmic patterns common in standard rock.

In the late 1980s, the availability of samplers allowed post-rock bands to use electronic music techniques, such as sampling and sequencing, to reshape their compositions. Recording studios became central to the creative process, with bands like Disco Inferno, Insides, Seefeel, and Third Eye Foundation using hardware and software to process and rearrange sounds.

Vocals are rarely used in post-rock and are sometimes absent entirely. When present, they are often used in non-traditional ways, such as spoken word, audio samples, or stylized delivery. Lyrics, if included, are usually abstract or poetic, focusing on themes like alienation or ambiguity.

While post-rock sometimes uses the verse-chorus structure, it often relies more on soundscapes and abstract arrangements. Songs may build up textures and sounds to create dramatic or emotional climaxes, a feature common in second wave post-rock. This approach became a defining characteristic of the genre.

Etymology

The term "post-rock" was first created by Simon Reynolds, an English music journalist, in a Melody Maker article from late 1993. This was the earliest known use of the term by him. He later used it in a review of Bark Psychosis's 1994 album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo. In a May 1994 issue of The Wire, Reynolds explained that post-rock involves using rock instruments for purposes not typically associated with rock music. He described it as using guitars to create sounds and musical textures instead of focusing on riffs or power chords.

In a July 2005 blog post, Reynolds noted that he later learned the term "post-rock" had been used more than a decade before 1993. In 2021, he discussed how the meaning of the term changed over time. He said it no longer referred to unconventional UK guitar groups exploring texture and space, but instead came to describe large, dramatic instrumental rock music.

The earliest use of the term that Reynolds found was in September 1967. In a Time magazine article about the Beatles, writer Christopher Porterfield praised the band and producer George Martin for their creative use of the recording studio. He wrote that their work was "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."

Other uses of the term include a 1975 article by American journalist James Wolcott about musician Todd Rundgren, though the meaning was different. The term also appeared in the Rolling Stone Album Guide to describe a style similar to "avant-rock" or "out-rock," which later became linked to post-rock. Additionally, in April 1992, a review of a song by the 1990s noise pop band the Earthmen described it as a "post-rock noisefest."

History

In music journalism and criticism, examples from the past that helped create post-rock have been discussed. For example, in the 1960s and early 1970s, The Velvet Underground used a style called "dronology," most clearly heard on their 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico. In 1994, Reynolds said this style had a major influence on early post-rock, especially the 1990s space rock revival. Bands like Silver Apples from the United States and groups in Germany's krautrock scene, such as Can, Neu!, Faust, and Cluster, were also important influences on post-rock in its early stages.

The post-punk and no wave movements, led by groups like Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, and Ut, experimented with clashing sounds, unusual musical structures, long tones, and noise. These movements challenged traditional rock music. Similarly, the British band This Heat, formed in 1976, focused on texture, very unusual musical styles, and repeated musical patterns.

Stylus Magazine noted that David Bowie's 1977 album Low, created with Brian Eno, might have been called post-rock if it had been released 20 years later. Louder described the English post-punk band Wire as "the genre's godfathers," pointing to their 1979 album 154 as an early example that helped start post-rock.

The British band Public Image Ltd was seen as very important for post-rock. The NME called them "arguably the first post-rock group" when talking about their first few albums. Their 1979 album Metal Box almost completely avoided traditional rock structures, instead using dense, repeated sounds inspired by dub and krautrock, along with lyrics that were cryptic and stream-of-consciousness. The year before Metal Box was released, PiL's bassist Jah Wobble said, "rock is obsolete."

Critics have later said that the Kentucky-based band Slint's 1991 album Spiderland predicted and inspired the part of post-rock that came from indie rock. Spiderland is known for big changes in musical and vocal intensity, deliberate, bass-driven rhythms, and moody compositions. The English band Talk Talk's albums Spirit of Eden (released 3 years earlier) and Laughing Stock (released the same year) were also seen as important for post-rock because of their long song structures, influenced by jazz, classical music, and space rock.

The term "post-rock" was first used in the early 1990s for a group of mainly English independent bands that used styles like psychedelia, electronic music, hip hop, free improvisation, and avant-garde. Examples include Stereolab, Moonshake, Laika, Disco Inferno, Seefeel, Bark Psychosis, Pram, Insides, Papa Sprain, and A.R. Kane, many of whom had roots in post-punk and shoegaze. These bands were considered post-rock by music journalist Reynolds and were also important for the substyle of ambient pop. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bristol, England, became a center for post-rock, with bands like Movietone, Crescent, Flying Saucer Attack, and Third Eye Foundation using home-recording setups and a lo-fi style. Trip hop, which started in the same city, influenced Bristol's post-rock scene in the early 2000s. Bands in this scene first released music on local labels like Planet and Recreational Records before working with Domino.

American post-rock bands often used earlier experimental and avant-garde traditions while keeping the structure of indie rock bands. Influences included jazz fusion (like the "electric" era of Miles Davis), krautrock, space rock, minimalism, the Canterbury scene, no wave, and the work of composers like John Cage and Alvin Lucier. The second album by Tortoise, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, made the band a post-rock icon. Bands like Ui and the Canadian group Do Make Say Think were seen as inspired by the Chicago school of post-rock. John McEntire of Tortoise and Jim O'Rourke of Gastr del Sol were important figures in the scene, with McEntire also part of The Sea and Cake. Both musicians worked as producers on many Stereolab albums in the 1990s and 2000s. Meanwhile, bands like Cul de Sac and groups from the Kranky label, such as Jessamine, Labradford, Bowery Electric, Stars of the Lid, and Windy & Carl, were important for the first wave of American post-rock and the 1990s space rock revival. Reynolds wrote in an essay in November 1995 that these American bands were "rewiring rock according to the legacies of European space rock, avant jazz, and ambient sound design," in contrast to the "spent forces of Grunge and lo-fi." In 1996, Virgin Records released the double CD compilation Monsters, Robots and Bug Men: A User's Guide to the Rock Hinterland to show the variety of music described as post-rock, with many of the mentioned bands appearing on it.

In 2000, Radiohead released the album Kid A, a major change in their musical style. Reynolds said Kid A and its 2001 follow-up, Amnesiac, were important examples of post-rock, blending influences from electronica, krautrock, jazz, and space rock into their indie rock sound. He noted that the success of these albums showed post-rock had become popular in mainstream music.

In the early 2000s, the term "post-rock" became controversial among critics and musicians, with some saying it was no longer widely used. Bands like Cul de Sac, Tortoise, Mogwai, and Godspeed You! Black Emperor rejected the label, arguing that the term covered too many styles and lost its uniqueness. Kenny Bringelson of Consequence wrote that these bands' music was "full of creative ideas and fresh sounds, but rarely goes beyond what is already defined as rock."

Montreal, Canada, became a major center for post-rock, with bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor and related groups, such as Silver Mt. Zion and Fly Pan Am, releasing music on Constellation Records. These bands are known for a melancholy, crescendo-driven style influenced by chamber music, musique concrète, and free jazz. Notable albums include F♯ A♯ ∞ (1997) and Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven (20