Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia…

Meanwhile, Back in Communist Russia… were a post-rock band from Oxford, UK. The group was founded in 1999 by guitarist and sampler Pete Williams, keyboardist Tim Croston, singer Ed Carder, guitarist James Shames, singer Emily Gray, and guitarist and drum machine operator Mark Halloran; all students at the University of Oxford. Ed left fairly early in the band’s history, and Ollie Clueit joined on bass. Pete would later leave shortly after their debut album Indian Ink was released, and Mark departed during the recording of their follow-up My Elixir; My Poison. The band eventually split in 2004

Download: Indian Ink

Web: Myspace Page

Caspian

Caspian is an instrumental rock band from Beverly, Massachusetts. The band formed in Autumn of 2003 and played their first concert in August of 2004. Characterized by towering walls of sound, oceanic guitar work, and vicious rhythmic elements, Caspian is a band that has gained widespread attention for the multi-dimensional emotionality of their recorded catalogue, a blistering live show and a commitment to national touring within the United States. After releasing their debut EP “You Are The Conductor” (Dopamine, 2005) to critical applause, the band spent most of 2006 touring The United States and Canada and writing their debut full-length record “The Four Trees” (Dopamine, 2007). “The Four Trees” was released in the U.S. on April 10 and in Japan on May 2. Caspian are currently touring in support of “The Four Trees” and have already begun writing their sophomore album due for release sometime in 2008.

Download: The Four Trees

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Piano Magic

Piano Magic is musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, as well as other things. While the most recent releases have seen them operating with a traditional band format, they originally started their career with the intention to base their recordings around a small nucleus and whoever else would like to contribute (similar to This Mortal Coil). Glen Johnson has been the only consistent member of the band.

Download: Part Monster

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Gregor Samsa

 Gregor Samsa is a post rock band from Virginia formed in 2000 and fronted by Champ Bennett. It takes its name from the main character of Franz Kafka’s short story The Metamorphosis.

The band’s sound, although rooted in the post-rock genre, differs from that of other bands in the genre in that it employs dual vocals by Bennett and Nikki King, a feature which relates them to the shoegazing and slowcore genres. Gregor Samsa has stated on its website that “the early history of the group has been lost in a wash of noise, strange beeps, and outright lies”.

In support of its latest release, the band played twenty-one eastern US venues in March before then venturing a 23-date tour of the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, and Germany during April. Historically, the band has chosen to tour and perform along side a wide array bands and genres including Spokane, Kayo Dot, Barzin, Part Chimp, Calla, Engine Down, Isis, Pelican, Explosions in the Sky, Interpol, and many others

Download: REST

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Magyar Posse

Magyar Posse is a Finnish instrumental post-rock band formed in 2000 in the city of Pori. They have released 3 albums. Their debut album We Will Carry You Over the Mountains was released on Verdura Records in 2002, and it got a good reception. The Second album Kings of Time on the same label in 2004 gave them more publicity. It went to Top40 in Finland and was praised by critics. They released their third album, titled Random Avenger May 17, 2006.
Magyar Posse’s music is instrumental and usually has a soundtrack-like atmosphere. Their biggest influence is a soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone, although their music reminds more of certain post-rock bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Rós and Tortoise.

Download: Random Avenger

Web: Myspace Page , Website

Sigur Ros - Hjartao Hamast

my video mixing work for the Sigur Ros

Helios

Helios (Keith Kenniff)  is an ambient electronic artist with releases on Type Records and Merck

At a young age, both he and his brother began to learn classical guitar, bass and drums under their father’s teaching, and before too long Keith decided to further pursue drums. He played in a variety of touring bands, from rock to jazz and classical, and took influence from each situation, learning from the successes and inevitable failures, discovering his musical likes and dislikes. He was finally drawn to study percussion at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music.
He took a keen interest in film, taking time to study it whenever he could to broaden his knowledge of independent and world cinema and filmscore. Through his interests in music and film, Keith developed a sense of space and restraint, which are evident in his musical projects.
His primary musical venture is the solo project ‘Helios’, showcasing his skill in percussion, his delicate touch on the guitar, his measured and spacious songwriting, and his self-taught electro-acoustic production.
Miami-based label Merck released his first album entitled ‘Unomia’ which went on to receive international acclaim

Download: Ayres

Web: Myspace Page , Website

The Strange Death of Liberal England

The Strange Death of Liberal England is a five-piece post-rock/indie band from Portsmouth, England. They have gained praise from many different publications and have been compared to artists such as The Arcade Fire and …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and supported of Montreal on their UK tour. In July 07 they released a mini-LP entitled ‘Forward March!’
The Strange Death of Liberal England have recently received glowing reviews for their debut E.P - ” The skill and diversity of instrumentation is brilliant- a breath of fresh air in these times of samey guitar bands” The Fly)

Download: Forward March!

Web: Official Site , Myspace Page

Math Rock

Math Rock is a genre that emerged in the late 80’s and that was influenced by both the intricacies of progressive and avant-garde rock - King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage. The music is characterized by complex structures, angular melodies and constant abrupt changes in tempo and time signature. The name Math Rock is a term that grew out of the Chicago scene and the artists working with engineer Steve Albini in an effort to describe the new style.

The basic building blocks of Math Rock can be traced back to the late 60’s and 70’s where Progressive Rock artists were making more elaborate compositions than the standard rock bands and were experimenting with song structures. Early Avant-garde groups like Massacre, and artists such as Captain Beefheart and John Zorn were highly influential to Math Rock bands and traces of their music can still be heard throughout the genre. Another big influence to the Math Rock approach was Slint with their album “Spiderland” which showcased many techniques that Math Rock bands will follow in the future. Punk also had significant impact on the sound of Math Rock bands. Other notable influences are: Post-Rock, Heavy Metal, and Jazz.

Although there are Math Rock bands in different countries around the world, most reside in the United States, the Midwest in particular, and tend to be divided by regions: Pittsburgh bands (Don Caballero, Six Horse) Chicago bands (Shellac, U.S. Maple), Ohio bands (Keelhaul, Craw) Louisville bands (June 44, Rodan, The For Carnation, Crain), and San Diego bands (Drive Like Jehu, Tristeza) among others on both coasts. Japan was also an important country in the Math Rock genre with bands like Ruins and Zeni Geva.

65daysofstatic

 

65daysofstatic (also known by the abbreviations 65dos, 65days, or simply 65) are an instrumental post-rock band from Sheffield, England. The band has thus far released three albums: The Fall of Math, One Time for All Time, The Destruction of Small Ideas.

The band intersperses heavy, progressive, guitar-driven instrumental sections with live drums and off-beat sampled drums akin to those of Aphex Twin.

The band was originally formed in 2001 as a three-piece, consisting of Joe Shrewsbury, Paul Wolinski, and Iain Armstrong. Contrary to popular belief (and what the band once stated) they did not take their name from the unreleased, little known and almost certainly fictional John Carpenter film Stealth Bomberstarring Kurt Russell.One theory holds that the band took their name from the CIA’s 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état during which the CIA put a white book instrument to use according to which 65 days of disabling the communication systems of a nation while spreading propaganda is enough to overthrow a country

Alternatively, New Statesman has presented the theory the name was derived from psychological experiments conducted in the 1960s, in which it was found that exposure to 65 days of white noise (or static) would render the listener insane

DOWNLOAD: One Time For All Time

WEB: Official Site , Myspace Page