2nd- (or 3rd-?) wave Post-Rock (aka Nu-Instrumental?)

Manny manny at garfieldartworks.com
Thu Nov 29 04:05:07 EST 2007


On Nov 29, 2007, at 2:11 AM, Sc'Eric ((aka sc'Que)) wrote:
>> -CokeMachineGlow.com is calling it (interchangeably) 3rd Wave 
>> Post-rock or Nu-Instrumental,
i don't know what they would have considered the 'first wave' then, 
unless maybe they consider 70s krautrock etc to be the first wave? term 
'postrock' didn't really get coined until simon reynolds started using 
it to describe Bark Psychosis and Talk Talk around 94 or so. so then 
maybe the British stuff was the 1st wave, the Chicago stuff the 2nd, 
and the Constellation/Temp Res kind of stuff is now the 3rd? anyway....

>> btw--I have to say that the style, overall, does appeal to me.  The 
>> tendency toward vocallessness is particularly inviting, provided the 
>> music "goes somewhere" and doesn't drown itself in monotonously 
>> repetitive drivel (the type often present in a Phish guitar solo).
right. drones can be seductive though. see Stars of the Lid.

> But to anticipate what I think you're really asking, though, Manny:  I 
> would not (probably) go out of my way to see a "show" that featured 
> this style of music unless I was extremely familiar with--and 
> absolutely adored--one of the bands.  I would, on the other hand, shit 
> a brick (in the most positive sense of the phrase) to hear the genre 
> in a small pub setting--live or Memorex.  [This track 
> <http://temporaryresidence.com/mp3s/mono_theflames.mp3> from Mono is 
> exactly the kind of moody, beatless... STUFF that I want backing me up 
> in a post-work pub session with a friend and a snifter of Laphroaig 
> Quarter-cask.]
your opinon that it's not good live music, but that it should be good 
background music does not necessarily hold
water. what did people think who saw Godspeed at CMU a couple times 
several years ago, or Mono at CMU more
recently? or Sigur Ros at the Byham a few years back? certainly there 
was live performance appeal there. i think most people liked it.

> My reasoning?  From everything I've heard in my limited research, 
> there is not much going on in the style that would indicate to me that 
> "seeing" a live performance would get me anything more than a cd could 
> provide...

i think you might be proven wrong, try checking out the Unwed 
Sailor/This Will Destroy You show next Wednesday
at GA.

>  except perhaps more unwanted amp feedback, broken-guitar-string 
> screw-ups, and rude show-goers who talk over a live performance.  And 
> what I've heard is simply too clean... isn't sludgey enough to evoke a 
> musically-induced mind-fuck where an innocent conversation ends up 
> more like a 5-hour alien-abduction scenario.  More simply: the style 
> does not seem to lend itself to visual antics of any sort.  (All this 
> is the same sort of logic I apply when deciding whether to see a movie 
> in the theatres... or wait until it goes to dvd.)  Does that answer 
> your question, Manny?
>
it's not all clean. Envy from Japan, for example, when they played 
here, were serious mindfuck walls of sound,
like a mini-MBV. Envy were so popular that 120 people opted to see them 
on the SAME NIGHT that Sonic Youth
was playing at Smalls. I was amazed by that.

> Finally, one question for you:  in most of the recordings I'm hearing 
> online that do involve noticeable percussion... why do the drums 
> always seem to be so crisply-mic'd and poorly mixed?  **Ick!**  These 
> kids need to employ a board-op with darkambient sensibilities.
>
depends on the band, some bands like to bury the drums and others like 
to kick them up crisply a la Albini.

> Another item on this post-rock note... Dunno whether any of you folks 
> heard, but My Bloody Valentine already has 3+ shows booked for 2008.  
> (Their June 20th show in London sold out in under a minute!)  And 
> after Europe, they plan to hit the US... =D
>

looking forward to this, i don't know what would be the closest date. 
but y'know if a 'Pgh 250' music festival had ever gotten off the ground 
(which it never did) i couldn't think of too many headliners that would 
be more worthwhile
and crossover so many sub-cultural boundaries than a MBV reunion gig :)

i would love to go to the nearest scheduled MBV show  if someone is 
arranging trips.



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