Testing!

This is a test to see if I can use Blip.fm to put links to complete songs on my blog. Here's a song I've been digging a lot lately.
XTC - Rocket From a Bottle (2001 Digital Remaster)

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Post-rock: (Mostly) Instrumental Soundscapes

Years ago when I first heard the Album Leaf, I felt like I was discovering a whole new genre of music. I know there has been plenty of instrumental music over time, but the Album Leaf was different to me. It was like new age for indie rockers.

Since discovering the Album Leaf a whole new raft of instrumental rock (sometimes called post-rock), has come to my attention.

Much of what I enjoy from this genre sounds like a hybrid of 90’s emo core and shoegaze music.

Here are a few of my current favorites:

Joy Wants Eternity make crushingly beautiful music with dense and evocative soundscapes.

Hard-rocking Gifts from Enola impressed me with their live show at the Sunset recently. Three guitarists!

A bit more mellow, and replete with strings, is the music of Yndi Halda.

If you just want a sampler of this music, Silent Ballet webzine (devoted to instrumental and post-rock music) has a series of free compilations you can download. I’m especially digging the tracks by Hermitage and Immanu el on Volume V. Joy Wants Eternity, Gifts from Enola and Yndi Halda have tracks on these compilations as well.

And of course there’s Sigur Rós, one of the few post-rock bands to have a vocalist. But I’ve written about them in an earlier post.