Mog what?
If you find it strange that there have been more post-rock reviews in these four days of February than in any other month combined, then you don’t know Swole Ear too well. I’ve gone on a few multi-day genre-benders, so all of the haters can step to the left.
Don’t be surprised if this is my last foray into the genre of post-rock, though. I just don’t know enough about it to separate the good from the bad. I think that all post-rock sounds cool, but that’s probably because the idea of grand instrumentation in my indie music is still new to me. Posts that go along the lines of “it sounds awesome, you all should listen to it” can’t be that interesting to read.
So I ask you to put up with just one more of them. I promise to get back to the Swole standards at some point. I’m going to go out and find the indie-ist of rock records tomorrow, and then we’ll have something to talk about.
But what is it exactly that I’ve come to expect from post-rock? Here’s a list:
- Long songs
- Minimal use of vocals
- An “abstract” feel, often brought about through the use of static and other distortions
- Ever-changing and ever-complicated guitar playing
- The use of instruments not often associated with rock (orchestral stuff)
Hardcore Will Never Die has all of these components and more. Well, not really more, but it has all of that stuff. And not much more, now that I think about it. In fact, the record is kind of . . . boring. Perhaps an important component of good post-rock is the ability to keep the listener on edge . . .
Swole Ear 