Generally speaking, after entering the 1990s, rock music can be said to have inherited the appearance of the 1980s and become more vigorous and rich. Many newly derived music types or terms appeared one after another, and specifically described the new generation of music belonging to the 1990s. We can even say that rock music has been full of unknown potential and unpredictable new forces since it entered the 1990s.
The emergence and controversy of post-rock terms
At about 1995, VOA magazine published an article written by simon reynolds, a British music critic. In the article, Mr. Simon mainly tries to describe that in the mid-1990s, a group of people dragged cities with & quot, and " Quot vibrato jockey & ampquot, and. Quot Too Pure & ampquot The music of these brand-oriented underground bands, whether in music style or concept, mainly uses the mixing technology of cool jazz, free jazz, environmental music and reggae music (Dub) as the basic elements of their music creation experiments. In this category, there happened to be a bunch of local underground bands in Chicago, Britain, America and Europe at that time, which was in line with Mr. Simon's description. He first used the post-rock era. Quot temporarily refers to these avant-garde groups that dare to break through the existing definition of rock music. I didn't expect it to be long before some music magazines took this title &; Quot post-rock era. Quot to formally call this group of new generation bands dedicated to the new aesthetics of rock music.
However, although post-rock has a more formal name, in fact, at the beginning, many music magazines were basically unable to comment on the music played by this group of people. For example, Rolling Stone only used &; Quot instrumental rock & ampquot The main reason is that most of these bands prefer pure instrumental performance without lead singer. However, some publications are also called because of their musical style or origin.
& ampquot De Norlock Company. Quot, and. Quot space rock & ampquot, and. Quot rock and roll & ampquot, and. Quot new shoemaker-rock & ampquot or & german rock band. Quot and other nouns. However,&the post-rock era. When this & was officially adopted, it was still used systematically by the British music magazine Wire. Quot post-rock era. After the word quot was introduced into the report on a large scale, the whole so-called &; Quot Post-Rock Movement &; Quot can only spread slowly. Only today, there are still many music critics or groups labeled as post-rock bands who still hate or deny it&; Quot post-rock era. This noun. Because they think this term label is not enough to describe the music style they play; Even as today's&; Quot post-rock era. Chicago, one of the bases & At first, the local alternative music publications or music reviews hardly mentioned the post-rock era. This term is used to describe the emerging representative band Tortoise or Haihe.
The basic concept of post-rock
So what exactly was Mr Simon's initial definition? And the so-called &; Quot post-rock era. What is this? It is different from the so-called ordinary &; Quot rock music. What is the difference? if &； Quot post-rock era. Music is like &; Quot Postmodernism &; Quot as opposed to & modernism. Reactionary, then, is mainly an attempt to subvert the basic concept and traditional structure of rock music, and even make a negative resistance to the so-called overall operation of the music industry. For example, playing the & amprock combination of electric guitar, drum and bass, but not playing &; Quot post-rock era. Among musicians, it may be completely transformed into another completely different creative idea. In short, the so-called &; Quot post-rock era. In fact, it is a mode of subverting traditional rock music creation with concepts or theories (such as theme-bridge-theme-bridge). If you have heard a little &; Quot post-rock era. Music, you may find that most of the theories they cite are based on the so-called &; Quot Deconstruction &; Quot or in western literary theory &; Quot Postmodernism &; Quot or post-structuralism. The concept of. So, just like ten years ago,&; Quot Deconstruction &; Quot works, now if you look for all&; Quot post-rock era. Band, then you may find that none of them sound similar or have similar styles (perhaps in their minds, the style has long been broken or does not exist).
Therefore, Mr. Simon's original definition should be very broad, because when 1994 Chicago bands Tortoise and the Sea and Cake released their albums of the same name, these two albums already showed two completely different styles: Tortoise was deeply influenced by the ideas of the progressive rock band Can and the electronic music experimental band in the 1970s, but some works were directly influenced by modern music, minimalism (such as) or free jazz masters. As for the sea and cake, it focuses on creating a floating and low-key mood; Even in&; Quot post-rock era. Stereolab, a well-known in the industry, uses the tone of pop music extensively, and then deconstructs it to form another style.
An example of the failure of experimental exercise
However, just after a few years of discussion, some things have changed. Grunge or alternative music is gradually facing recession, while Electronica is gradually rising. At that time, Mr. Simon regarded the concept as a new music creation technique, but now it has become the basic skill and common sense of electronic music; From the spokesman of the new generation of young people, Baker, to the massive attack, prodigy or chemical brother, the new favorite of electronic music and so on. , more or less should be affected by these &; Quot post-rock era. The inspiration and influence of groups. As a result, the post-rock movement and band originally referred to by Mr. Simon had to develop in a more difficult and avant-garde direction, which even led some people to regard this movement as an example of the failure of an experimental movement.
However, despite such serious misunderstandings and controversies, Chicago groups such as Tortoise, Gastr Del Sol and Tran AM have successively published their own representative works to announce the post-rock era. The coming of the times. In addition to the album released by independent record companies in Chicago in 1994, after the release of Millions Live Now and Never Die in 1996, Tortoise was regarded as a cross-century classic by alternative publishing houses in 1990. The cold and precise Gustav del Sol was awarded &; Quot post-rock era. A new milestone; Even other lesser-known European and American groups such as Dirty Three, Labradford, Oval, Ui, shellac, UFO attack, Spiritualized, Mogwai, U.N.K.L.E, Cul de Sac, Spectrum, and the Third Eye Foundation are constantly producing excellent works. If you pay a little attention, even when they released their new album last year, the most influential R.E.M band in America began to learn from these post-rock bands. Of course, other mainstream groups with a keen sense of smell also smell this new trend and see if they can use it in their next album. Of course, so some media predict that the next wave of new trends should be the turning point of post-rock music. And these &; Quot post-rock era. The band will slowly surface. However, gradually being wooed by the mainstream, some people who insist on ideals and pursue avant-garde new ideas once again question and oppose these & quot post-rock era. The method of group experiment is used too frequently now, which has lost the meaning of pursuing innovation at the beginning. (◆ Note 1)
The last cross-century revolution
However, those extremists aside, on the other hand, just as at the beginning &; Quot post-rock era. "After & ampquot revealed, many phenomena in traditional rock music or its music industry are&; Quot post-rock era. But the band is often subverted: for example, there are no guitar heroes worshipped by fans, the role of guitar instruments in the works is repositioned or reduced, there are no lyrics or lead singers at all, and the perfect range of three to four minutes is often lacking; Even the ultimate substantive purpose of the traditional recording industry or some creators. Eternal classic single, for these &; Quot post-rock era. As a group, lack of interest. Almost all modes of active operation and manipulation in the recording industry, or the attitude and motivation of creators under this ideology, can be said to have been broken, subverted and deconstructed one by one.
If the so-called &; Quot Post-Rock Movement &; Quot It really subverts the old traditional rock music to some extent, so Mr. Simon outlined the future music world at the beginning.
The boundary is actually aimed at the so-called &; Quot alternative rock. Looking for or opening another new door because of the embarrassment of the times: like a boomerang along its rotating track, it is a historical rumination when rock music develops to a certain limit. In other words, after playing a naked guitar or a pattern made by four or six people in the band, electronic music
And the post-rock era. The rise of rock music seems to be another large-scale transfer and inheritance of the origin of rock music development. Of course, the American underground band Slint released Spiderland in 9 1 year, which is a good starting point. If we push forward, in addition to the types of music mentioned above, there are&; Quot Post Punk &; Quot Compared with new york1977 & NoWave movement & ampquot can't get away from it. However, just like Electronica in the past two years, many electronic and noise experimental bands that were baptized by modern music and minimalism in their early years have now turned over again through these young talents, which is regarded as the origin of all new music types today. In addition, it has been ridiculed by many music critics as four unlike &; Quot progressive rock. Or& rock & quot also take this opportunity to communicate with many emerging European &; Quot post-rock era. In a group.
New creative ideas and recording techniques are constantly brought into album works, the exchange of needs between musicians and bands, types and types is constantly developing, and new rock aesthetics is redefined again. If as SimonReynolds said,&; Quot post-rock era. In short, it is to use rock music for non-rock purposes. Then, looking back on the development of the past 40 years, isn't rock music always revolutionary music? Whether it was Elvis Presley in those days or the most avant-garde and advanced underground music now, these people who dared to break through were relative to the most revolutionary music at that time. We can even say that even if rock music enters the post-rock era, the practical philosophical essence of rock music remains unchanged. As long as the reality and materiality of live performance are adhered to, rock music will remain rock music. The seeds of revolution continue to sprout in every corner alone.
Look at the prodigal son forty years ago, and then look at the digital electronic information age now. Those brave and lively children in those days can be vaguely distinguished. Their spirit of striding forward in rock and roll has not been extinguished, but their hollow steel string acoustic guitars have long been replaced by shiny and cool electronic equipment and musical instruments, and the post-modern society has already arrived. Perhaps these new music can reflect and meet this cross-century era and spirit? !