I was reading an Internet music publication, and they were saying that Post-Rock was in
danger of becoming neo prog-rock. This struck a chord in me, for I am not a fan of
progrock, and what it entails, but am quite a fan
of the genre known as
Post-Rock. To me, only similarities between Post-Rock and
progrock, are
the length, and the seemingly complex nature of the songs. Though Post-Rock songs may
seem
complex, it is still quite a listener friendly, and fairly assessable genre, without all of the pretension and insipidness
that goes on in the progrock scene. Post-Rock, which has been around since the early nineties,
has managed to stay away from some of the properties which make Progrock such a
disliked genre in many indie circles. While Progrock bands were know to be excessively egotistical and self-indulgent, Post-Rock bands have retained a very strong
"Music for The People"
type
feel
which makes anyone feel comfortable to listen to it. The prog-rock aesthetic can be summed
up with the idea that
"If a song isn't at least twenty minutes long, it isn't worth playing",
while most purveyors of the Post-Rock genre stem from post-hardcore/Thrash bands.
(John McEntire-Bastro, David Grubbs and Brian McMahon-Squirrel Bait). Where Progrock had an immense back-lash against it in the late 70s, in the forms of Punk Rock and Heavy Metal, Post-Rock has only grown in popularity, and done it on their own terms. Most Post-Rock albums are released on a small smattering of independent labels and have a dedicated fan-base, which will instinctively gobble them up. Post-Rock appears to be changing the rules to how music is developed and appreciated, much in the same way that Jazz did, and still continues to do, though in a much less publicized manner.
But if Post-Rock is in
danger
of becoming anything other than what it is, it could not be called anything other than the New Jazz.
If you need proof, listen to Beneath the Undertow by Isotope 217, or Anahata by June of 44 if
you need convincing.
Jazz has been said to be about improvisation, and the
spontaneous creation of melody
, a trait which is definatly at the heart of Post-Rock. Post-Rock has seemingly blended together a wide array of musical influences and ideologies, to create a fusion, which is constantly changing, and therefore makes pigeonholing very difficult. Much in the same way that Jazz was continually evolving throughout its entire existence. (If you don't believe that jazz sounds different, listen to John Coltrane's work with Miles Davis, and his much later solo work.)
Because Post-Rock is not a definite genre, with a precise sound, and similar ideals, its
hard to say where the
movement
, if you can call it that, will go at any given moment. For all we know, they could all stop playing
their vibraphones and complex time-signatures in favor of the loud, fast, rules of their hardcore youth.
To truly understand all that Jazz entails, and to compare it with Post-Rock, then seek out the jazz metanode.