Soundtracks to the End of the World: The Post-Rock thread™

[tragabigzanda]

[tragabigzanda]

[William Bloke]

Watter - Seawater


I've been groovin' on their album from a year or two ago again this morning.

[tragabigzanda]

[William Bloke]

Shit! My bad.

Here you go:

[tragabigzanda]

[BurtReynolds]

Watter - Seawater


I've been groovin' on their album from a year or two ago again this morning.

good stuff. I like this one too.

You can now stream Tortoise's upcoming LP The Catastrophist:

http://www.stereogum.com/1853458/stream ... hist/mp3s/

I'll be giving it a spin shortly.

Initial thoughts based on one complete listen:

It's a Tortoise album, so it will take a while to really digest. But it strikes me as a cross between the mellow/live vibe of TNT and the synth-forward sounds of Beacons of Ancestorship. Like those two albums, it tends to focus on repetitive motifs, rather than the crescendos and releases found in Standards and It's All Around You.

The most pleasant surprise is how much I like the cover of David Essex's Rock On. I was hesitant when I heard there would be vocals on two songs, but this first one works really well. The effects on Todd Rittmann's vox help the song to retain its instrumental vibe, and the song feels like an album centerpiece.

Yonder Blue, the other vocal song featuring Yo la Tengo's Georgia Hubley, feels less successful. It honestly just sounds like every Stereolab song.

I already like it better than BoA, but not as much as TNT or It's All Around You. Looking forward to repeated listenings to see how it develops.

I haven't been the biggest fan of theirs, but I like this one so far.

[nyquillyn]

After 4 months of living with "Dust and Disquiet", I'm pretty comfortable with declaring it Caspian's best album.

[tragabigzanda]

[Brett]

Finally got the new Tortoise album, and gave it a spin. I agree with Tragabigzanda that it feels like a cross between TNT and Beacons of Ancestorship; those are definitely the closest analogs to this one in their discography.

It seems really mellow after one listen, which, based on the old version of "Hot Coffee" and the in-studio sample videos they had on their Facebook a while back, I was expecting. Future listens will tell, but that mellowness might not bode well, as the album will probably end up as a minor one, and after such a long wait, that will be tough to abide.

[tragabigzanda]

[zekethomas]

Is anyone familiar with the Japanese band toe? I don't know if they are post-rock or math- rock but they are really good. Was introduced from the local college radio station and have been into them ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampd2ABKVr0

[Brett]

Unsurprisingly, I've warmed up to The Catstrophist after multiple listens. It's still a little more mellow than I would have liked, but most of the album is pretty good. My favorite tracks as of now are the title track, "The Clearing Fills," and "Hot Coffee."

The two songs with vocals are okay, but don't fit the album, and would have better served as stand-alone singles or something. I also, weirdly, don't think "Gesceap" works in the context of the album. Maybe it's just because it's longer and has a more complex development than the rest of the tracks, but it doesn't seem to fit thematically; it sounds out of place.

[tragabigzanda]

[Brett]

I don't mind them. I don't know if they're strong enough to end the album properly, but they're pretty good. I've yet to seek out the iTunes nous song, though.

My biggest gripe is that the whole thing's too conservative. I wish there was more stuff like the video game synth at the beginning of "The Castrophist" or like "Gopher Island" in tone and texture.

[patrick]

I spent the day with Caspian's bandcamp page open, going through their discography. I really like the progression in their sound they've made.

[patrick]

Is anyone familiar with the Japanese band toe? I don't know if they are post-rock or math- rock but they are really good. Was introduced from the local college radio station and have been into them ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampd2ABKVr0

I like 'em, and you're right, they seem to go between math rock and post rock.

[BurtReynolds]

Is anyone familiar with the Japanese band toe? I don't know if they are post-rock or math- rock but they are really good. Was introduced from the local college radio station and have been into them ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampd2ABKVr0

I like 'em, and you're right, they seem to go between math rock and post rock.

[nyquillyn]

Caspian's coming back through PHX, but they're opening for a Christian metal band.

[BurtReynolds]

Is anyone familiar with the Japanese band toe? I don't know if they are post-rock or math- rock but they are really good. Was introduced from the local college radio station and have been into them ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ampd2ABKVr0

I like 'em, and you're right, they seem to go between math rock and post rock.