Anyone into instrumental (post rock) guitar bands?

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I went for the thread title since "the post rock thread" implies that they all sound similar to each other! The general formula is loud-quiet-loud dynamics and lengthy songs but it all sounds completely different from what's in the charts. I've really grown to love this sort of stuff lately.

I seem to listen to more and more instrumental music like soundtracks and film scores, possibly because I'm prone to mishearing lyrics and I find them distracting when I'm listening to music while doing something else (reading, writing, cleaning the kitchen...). Last.fm is lethal for recommending me stuff and my CD collection has mushroomed as a result. Here's my list...I've included their locations to give a rough idea of where they're likely to play live most often (oddly, they're bands who sound better live than on CD a lot of the time).

65dasyofstatic
A mixture of guitars and synths...sometimes energetic, sometimes ambient. Based around Sheffield, UK.

Caspian
A dark, powerful and sometimes hopeful-sounding band. From Beverly, Massachusetts.

God Is An Astronaut
Dramatic space rock from County Wicklow, Ireland.

Explosions in the Sky
Sentimental, jangly and soothing. From Austin, Texas.

Mogwai
Punk in philosophy but they play extended spacy jams that were allegedly the 'post rock' template. From Galsgow, Scotland.

Mono
Orchestral, cinematic and experimental. From Tokyo, Japan.

Feel free to add others that you know of.

I have only heard a little bit of "post-rock" but it seems like an interesting genre. The only band I really know of is Tortoise which has some pretty nice songs

IMO some of Tool's album tracks fit easily into this.

Bit of French experimental post-rock for you here.

Ulan Bator - Let Go Ego (shame it's in two parts)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wSQQHNBMxU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL964A1564DE66DD27[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Nex2dZkZY&feature=related[/youtube]

In my quest to find some purely Instrumental Metal bands, I came across a couple that I like.

Pelican

Russian Circles

I have still yet to find artists who constantly make albums of Instrumentals instead of the one-offs from the likes of Metallica and Megadeth.

@Vigilans: I know of Tortoise by reputation, but have only heard one of their songs...it was pretty good though. They, along with Slint, allegedly started the genre off. Sadly I've not listened to much Slint yet either!

@DemonAbyss10: Hmm...yeah, I can see where you're coming from. I quite like A Perfect Circle, but Tool are more experimental. Another one for the list, then!

@MerciXFaveur: thanks for sharing...I really like that! The gradual build-up is great...I love listening to long pieces that take their time and seem to 'tell a story'.

@Alternative: if you enjoy Pelican and Russian Circles, I strongly recommend Isis. They're on the heavier end of the spectrum too, but it's quite intricate and varied. I really dig the instrumentals from Metallica too - Call of Ktuku and Orion are excellent (Cliff's bass playing certainly helped).

I'm pretty sure that if I had to choose 5 albums to take on a desert island, "The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place" would be one of them.

try Ef "Mourning Golden Morning".

oh and GY!BE <3

Oh, I used to be really into this genre.

Tortoise (first 2.5 albums) was always a favorite.

As were Jessamine, Bowery Electric, Do Make Say Think, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Turing Machine, Ganger, Gastr del Sol and Mogwai.

Do Slint and June of 44 count?

Also liked Dirty Three, Labradford, Stars of the Lid, Windsor for the Derby, Fuxa, Windy & Carl, Tribes of Neurot, A Minor Forest, AmAnSet, Pell Mell, Ui, early Trans Am, Six Parts Seven, Hood, Aerial M, Broadcast first 2 albums,

Played a show with Mono on their 1st American tour, Le Fly Pam Am were s'posed to play too, but got turned back at the border. Played a couple shows with Tristeza, too.

This is where the term "Post-Rock" comes from.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkpXoM0D-Pk[/youtube]