Post-rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock. Post-rock bands are often instrumental.

Sigur Rós, Stereolab, Mogwai, Don Caballero and Tortoise are among the more prominent bands described as post-rock, but their styles are very different, despite being instrumental bands centered on guitars and drums. As such, the term has been the subject of backlash from listeners and artists alike.

Although firmly rooted in the indie or underground scene of the 1980s and early '90s, post-rock's style often bears little resemblance musically to that of contemporary indie rock.

Origin of the term

The term "post-rock" is believed to have been coined by critic Simon Reynolds in his review of Bark Psychosis' album Hex, published in the March 1994 issue of Mojo magazine. Reynolds expanded upon the idea later in the May 1994 issue of The Wire.

Album

Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, then from 1948 as vinyl LP records played at 33 ¹⁄₃ rpm. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century albums sales have mostly focused on compact disc (CD) and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used in the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl.

An album may be recorded in a recording studio (fixed or mobile), in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to several years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately, and then brought or "mixed" together. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed "live", even when done in a studio. Studios are built to absorb sound, eliminating reverberation, so as to assist in mixing different takes; other locations, such as concert venues and some "live rooms", allow for reverberation, which creates a "live" sound. The majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at separate times while listening to the other parts using headphones; with each part recorded as a separate track.

Thirty Seconds to Mars

Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards), Shannon Leto (drums, percussion) and Tomo Miličević (lead guitar, bass, violin, keyboards, other instruments).

The band's debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002), was produced by Bob Ezrin and released to positive reviews but only to limited commercial success. The band achieved worldwide fame with the release of their second album A Beautiful Lie (2005), which received multiple certifications all over the world, including platinum in the United States. Their next release, This Is War (2009), showed a dramatic evolution in the band's musical style, as they incorporated experimental music as well as eclectic influences. The recording process of the album was marked by a legal dispute with record label EMI that eventually became the subject of the documentary film Artifact (2012). Thirty Seconds to Mars then moved to Universal Music and released the fourth album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams (2013), to critical and commercial success. As of September 2014, the band has sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

Lights & Motion

Lights & Motion are a Swedish cinematic post-rock band, founded in Gothenburg 2012 by Christoffer Franzén. The project came into life after a long period of insomnia, where Christoffer chose to spend his nights locked up in a tiny studio in Gothenburg. The music has been described as cinematic in quality and in its reoccurring use of big crescendos.

The band have so far released three full-length albums, Reanimation, Save Your Heart, and Chronicle, all released through the American independent record label Deep Elm Records. All the music is written by Christoffer Franzén, who also plays every instrument as well as produces and mixes. Music from Lights & Motion have been used in a lot of different trailers, commercials and TV-shows, ranging from The Oscars to the Super Bowl.

In December 2013, Lights & Motion was voted as "The Best New Artist" in the annual polls by Post-rock on Facebook, the world's largest post-rock community.

History

Formation

Lights & Motion was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in early 2012 by native musician Christoffer Franzén. Originally meant as an outlet during a period of insomnia, the project was supposed to reflect the sense of a dreamlike state in which a lot of the first album was written in. However, the project quickly garnered a lot of attention online, mainly in the alternative and postrock scene, which led to them being signed by famous American independent record label Deep Elm Records, previously home to bands such as The Appleseed Cast and other prominent alternative acts. Originally a guitarist, Franzén started to experiment with writing and recording music by himself in 2011/2012, and soon came to the conclusion that just writing with the guitar was too limiting. This led to him being forced to quickly pick up all the other instruments that he felt he needed, in order to fill the space that he heard in his head.

This Patch of Sky

This Patch of Sky are a Oregon instrumental post rock band, formed in 2010 in Eugene. The band consists of Kit Day (guitar), Joshua Carlton (guitar), Joel Erickson (bass), Nate Trowbridge (drums), and Alex Abrams (cello). The band typically composes cinematic instrumental pieces that combine subtle-nuanced melodies and wall-of-sound guitars to create a symphonic landscape. The band was signed to German indie label Oxide-Tones in 2011 and released "The Immortal, The Invisible" and "Newly Risen, How Brightly You Shine". In 2013 Oxide-Tones became extinct, resulting in the band releasing full-length album "Heroes and Ghosts" independently. In August 2014, the band released a full length self-titled album independently.

On December 30, 2014 This Patch of Sky's studio album Heroes and Ghosts was chosen as AmpKicker's Top 20 albums of 2013.

In January 2014, This Patch of Sky was voted as "Most Improved Artist" in the annual Postrockstar 2013 Year End awards.

Band members