Post-rock – what is it? People always ask me this question and I must admit, it’s not my favorite question to answer. It’s very hard to describe the genre and to isolate it within rock music itself. Often, the music is strictly instrumental and doesn’t follow common musical schematics such as verse-chorus-verse-bridge-chorus. Mostly, the music consists of guitar effects such as delay, flanger, whatever. I’m not a musician and know almost nothing about guitar playing.
Wikipedia calls it
(…) 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. (…) Although firmly rooted in the indie or underground scene of the 1980s and early 1990s, post-rock’s style often bears little resemblance musically to that of contemporary indie rock.
The thing I can say is that post-rock is what grinds my gears the most. Never have I felt more influenced and emotionally touched by music. And therefore I spend much time on discovering new bands within this niche, visiting concerts, taking live photos and writing reviews about releases and shows on the German magazine Pretty in Noise.
Lately, I found a nice article about post-rock, which is not a definition per se and doesn’t claim to be. Instead, the author’s aim is to make recommendations on well-known as well as less known bands and to discuss the genre itself.
In early May, I visited Dunk! Festival in Belgium for the second time – and for the first time, I took photos of the bands playing this beautiful venue. It was a blast, pure bliss, and I wish I never had to leave. For the magazine, I wrote an extensive review about the festival, but it’s in German. So, if you’re not a German speaker, you have to use a translator.
Now you may or may not know what post-rock is, but you should know why I’m taking all these crazy concert photos.
Feel free to ask me anything.
~ Lara | monoton&minimal