Obligatory Mono Post

What is there to say about Mono? They're the pinnacle of Japanese post-rock as far as I'm concerned. They were one of the first post-rock band that I ever listened to, and it was so radically different from everything I had listened to before that I was simply blown away. Mono is one of those bands that really speaks through their music, and pours every ounce of their emotion into it. Mono are known for their long, quiet, minimalistic songs that can sometimes ramp up into a beautiful echoing wall of sound. One of the most relaxing bands ever.



Balmorhea is an experimental post-rock band from Austin, Texas. Like Mono, they have songs that are very minimal in nature. However, what Balmorhea is known for is their use of more classical instruments, most notably the violin, cello, and upright bass. Pianist Rob Lowe also incorporates a banjo and melodica into a few songs. Balmorhea released their 4th full-length album, Constellations, in February of this year, and began touring Europe with none other than Mono this fall.

How sublime~

To Bury What's Below

Literally.



Miaou is lovely in all forms and functions.

I should have written a little more here.  In my opinion, Miaou is a pretty standard instrumental post-rock band. There's nothing very complex or different about them. However, when they come together and write music, there's just something about it that enters your brain and takes you somewhere else. I'm not saying that they don't spend a lot of time on their music, in fact quite the opposite. I think they spend an ample amount of time trying to create beauty within simplicity. Trying to make something that sounds simple, and yet beautiful enough to keep the listener's attention.. well, that's an incredible talent, and Miaou has it. You can draw some parallels between Miaou and other post-rock bands like Explosions In The Sky, but I think Miaou does everything they do, except better. What I like the most about Miaou is their use of synths in some of their songs. The song Hello World, for example, takes what at first sounds like some sort of techno synth melody, and turns it into an brilliantly mellow song.

They're the cat's Miaou.

heh heh heh