Prawn - 'False Institutions' (2009)

Prawn - 'False Institutions' (2009)

*free here*

1) Nightmares

2) Thousand Grains of Sand

3) Courage Kills Men

4) Arctic Foxes

5) Family Tree

There are quite a few bands that are blurring the line between vocal post-rock and emo music. The first one that comes to mind is Moving Mountains for me, but it could be The Appleseed Cast, Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate), or a number of other bands for you. Forgive me if I make too many comparisons, but it's hard not to do that here for me.

Prawn is one of those emo/post-rock bands, and they're from New Jersey. They released this for free on their Bandcamp, and have since put up another free demo and a full-length. But what makes Prawn different to me is that they don't take a minute or two to build up to anything. Their momentum stays strong for even a whole song. Instead of slow portions of soft singing and clean guitar, they insert interludes of distorted guitar or drums. Essentially, this band captures you from the start and keeps your attention without letting you take a break with a soft section.

But I have to forewarn you: if strong lyrics are what you're looking for, Prawn may not be for you. However, while the lyrics may not be a strength of the band, the vocals are. That should be apparent by the end of the first track, "Nightmare". After a guitar progression that was surprisingly fantastic to me when I first heard it, the vocals come in and fill the sound with a mixture of more raw emo music and more refined and coordinate post-rock.

The thing about Prawn is that they aren't very intricate, but they certainly do an exceptional job with seemingly basic elements. The album is free, and definitely worth a listen.

Aurore Rien - 'Telesthesia' (2001)

Aurore Rien - 'Telesthesia' (2001)

1) Hindsight 20/20

2) Hearts Murmur Under Halogen Lights

3) Breakaway, Sydney

4) Sunsets, I Have Seen Too Many Without You

Aurore Rien was a post-rock band that I believe was from Wisconsin. Two of the members went on to form Wisconsin-based ambient music project Lights Out Asia, which leads me to believe that Aurore Rien was from the same state. At any rate, these are the unsung heroes of vocal post-rock (a bit oxi-moronic, but you get what I mean). They released a full-length album called 'Sedative for the Celestial Blue' in 1999, and then this EP in 2001.

"Hindsight 20/20" has always been my favorite song by this band. It's relatively long, as are all the songs on this EP (they're all about 8 or 9 minutes). There are a lot of sections with repeating phrases, and the first track on this album uses that most effectively in my opinion. There is a repeated guitar phrases that gets gradually more intense until it ends at 2:35. Later, there is a portion where the singer repeats a phrase that I understand to be "Let's stay here tonight". At the part where the guitar becomes distorted, the vocals become more reverberated, which helps to create quite a chilling atmosphere.

The rest of the album includes similarly repetitive musical phrases, but there's a subtle build and change with each time. The vocals are used more as an instrument than as a way to express lyrics or words. It's almost like a compromise between the original Bark Psychosis-esque "post-rock" and the then-new sound of bands like Explosions in the Sky. The track "Breakaway, Sydney" also includes a sample of a speech made by John L. Lewis, a former Head of the Union Mine Workers. The speech was made before the U.S. Congress in 1947.

Aurore Rien is a somehow forgotten band that exemplified the turning point for post-rock music by combing sounds of the mid-1990's to the new sounds of the early 2000's. This album is a really great one, and I would highly recommend it.

RIYL: Bark Psychosis, Jeniferever, Explosions in the Sky

Tunturia - 'Maps' (2007)

Tunturia - 'Maps' (2007)

1) Panic Attack
2) Echoes of the Unmoved
3) Silence is Consent
4) Cast Shadows on Clouds
5) October 4, 1957
6) Satellites
7) Tunturia
8) These are the Words
9) Robots Building Robots
10) Lost in the Hidden Forest

Tunturia is a Canadian instrumental post-rock band. 'Maps' is the only album I've heard by them, so keep that in mind when I talk about them.They tend to be focused on soundscapes but they can't really be described as ambient. They're repetitive, but not in a bad way. They do little things to change it around to prevent you from being bored.

I admit it's better if you aren't focused on the music (with a few exceptions like beginning track "Panic Attack"); otherwise the album seems to drag on very long, especially when you get to the later tracks. But the first two tracks are stunning. The reason I don't give this album the credit it probably deserves is probably I like the first two tracks so much that the rest of the album doesn't hold up to what I thought it'd be.

As for the actual music, the album is standard post-rock but with a laid back feel that is somewhere between Hammock and Explosions in the Sky. The drums are very prevalent, as well as clean guitar melodies that build upon keyboards/ambient sounds. It's overall a great sound that's great to relax to. The album starts off with an energetic-sounding guitar riff that repeats for a lot of the song, but it's a bit of a misleading start, because their songs aren't of the energetic type.

But if you're bored of your extensive collection of Mogwai and This Will Destroy You, give some of Tunturia's songs a listen on Youtube, you'll enjoy it.

RIYL: Daturah, Laura, This Will Destroy You

Il Cielo di Bagdad - 'Export for Malinconique' (2008)

Il Cielo di Bagdad - 'Export for Malinconique' (2008)

Tracks:

1) Stanno Tutti Bene
2) A Day of Wool
3) First Light of Morning
4) Export for Malinconique
5) Save Your Forest
6) Mr. Butterfly
7) L’ultimo Gesto
8) Magic Bus
9) Sunday Afternoon

This is a post-rock album by Italian band Il Cielo di Bagdad (translating to "The Sky of Baghdad" in English). I'll admit this album isn't avant-garde and doesn't bring any revolutionary ideas to the table, but that doesn't mean it doesn't give me goosebumps.

The band is a five-piece, with guitars, drums, bass, and piano/keyboards as well, that can't be described as ambient, but it has the same effect: it is soothing but at the same time isn't just background noise! There are also some vocals on the album. But the vocals aren't really lyrically focused, they're more for the atmosphere and what the sound of the human voice adds to the music. In this case the vocals fit really well.

The songs aren't very long, they're short post-rock tracks in the same vein of Moonlit Sailor or New Century Classics if you know either of those. The songs are simple, but not in a bad way at all. It's melodic, moving, and no three-minute buildups and quiet interludes are necessary for this band to catch your attention and touch your soul, they can do it from the very first listen.

RIYL: New Century Classics, Moonlit Sailor, Hammock