Perfect Sound Forever

HOW NOT TO MAKE A 90'S "POST-ROCK" ALBUM

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or, "Don't Settle for a Complacent Avant-Garde"
by Paul Dickow (March 1998)


I'm writing this for the simple reason that I haven't bought any albums by new groups that have really challenged me. It occurred to me that the paradigm for "avant-garde indie" music established by the Too Pure/Thrill Jockey/Drag City axis didn't satisfy me any more. This article is really based on opinion. My aim is to point out the ways in which a certain genre of independent rock music, namely the outsider-music dubbed "postrock" by critic Simon Reynolds, has been saturating the market. Furthermore, the various tropes of this genre aren't being challenged. Where's the next level?

This is a question that doesn't have one answer. I'll get to this later. In the meantime I'd like to outline some of the elements of music which I believe have become weighted cliches (often, the very things that make people buy the albums).


The question remains...what's the next level?

Like I said before I can't answer this. I do think that it has to do with people realizing that the market for independent music which bears the above characteristics is completely saturated.

Here's some things which I've been hearing in my head--things that I've wanted to hear on new records but which isn't happening:


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