I think I'm getting tired of "post-punk post-rock"
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Last Friday, the 2nd of March, I saw Do Make Say Think play. It was the first time I had seen them in three or four years, when they played a double bill with Fly Pan Am. That concert stands as one of my live music milestones. I was just starting University and was really into the whole Montreal experimental sound. The airy closing strains of "The Landlord is Dead" basically pulled me through the end of High School. So it goes without saying that when I saw them live I was bowled over by the emotional power of both groups.This time, several years later, Do Make played another great show. But I just couldn't get into it as much. I've purchased the new album, and have enjoyed it quite a bit, but I just didn't get the same kind of ecstatic rush that I did last time. It's not the band's fault - they played very well, probably better than previously. They integrated excellently and displayed rather clever passages of music, but they are so much different live than they are in the studio. They are probably one of the only "post rock" bands that *really* use the studio as an instrument, employing all sorts of colourful trickery to make the music more engaging. But when I saw them play... it was just build, climax, build, climax. It was good for sure, but I couldn't get into it at all.It was kind of like when I saw Silver Mt. Zion last year, I was more interested in opener Carla Bozulich's bizarre narratives than SMZ's doleful dirge. DMST's poweful live set had nowhere near the same impact on me as the Esbjorn Svensson Trio had last June, in a much smaller, quieter setting. I suppose my musical tastes have moved on, and because of that I feel further removed than the person I was in high school.And now, a word about the genre descriptor "post-rock." I was thinking about how DMST are about the closest to post-punk as they can get while still being post-rock.What do I mean by that? Well, I think post-rock is the WRONG descriptor to use for bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, etc. Those types of bands use a basic structure of rock and roll that has more in common with post-punk, at least to my ears. They are still all about rocking out, despite the odd stylish frill here and there."Post-rock" I believe is a genre of music that pulls past the structure of a rock song. And yes, I realize that one can react to an established tradition by utilizing the language of that very tradition, but I do not think groups like EitS or even the politically-charged Godspeed are reacting to rock. Godspeed seems much more post-punk in its reaction - socially conscious, but also sensitive (or at least they attempted to be). They still fully enjoy ROCKING OUT. They use the language AND form of rock and roll. My favourite progression of this is of course when everything suddenly turned into metal - Neurosis, ISIS, etc. It seems to work better for me, anyway.No, I think the description "post-rock" applies much more accurately to groups like Talk Talk, Tortoise, Trans Am, Fly Pan Am, Fridge and the like. In fact, the term "post-rock" was originally used in a review of Talk Talk's "Laughing Stock" (someone find a reference for that, I'm too lazy). When you listen to these groups, you'll hear a perversion of the rock song, mixing it with jazz or modernist structures. Every so often a composition will reveal the form of a rock song, but played in an unconventional way, soon to be swept along by another absurd musical figure. The expressive potential of rock is borrowed to facilitate the communication of more difficult forms of music, or it is pulled apart into little pieces and shuffled around and examined. Going back to DMST, I would say they participate in this form of experimentation especially through the way they use studio production. They straddle the line quite gracefully. I've been distracted a few times too many, and have lost my train of thought, so I'll end the argument there. What do you think? What would be a better genre tag to use, if any?Also, if any of you are wondering, I AM still working on my best-of 2006 list. In fact, the list is ready, but I am woefully behind on the write-ups for each item. Unfortunately that takes time and I have been very lazy. Soon...
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