The Best Sounding Post-Rock Albums to Check Out with Headphones

3 weeks ago

7 minutes read

Post-Rock can be defined by a few specific things. It’s a genre known for combining classic rock instruments with a very static sound. I’ve always found it to be the antithesis of prog-rock, almost as if the genre was coming to a thought-provoking conclusion. The fall of prog’s musical odyssey, where only the remains of that journey can be found. It’s like the death of rock’s ego, and that’s why the more mature I am, the more sonic palette of post-rock stands out to me. Post-Rock bands have been some of my favorite modern projects, and as someone who reviews headphones/IEMs for this website, the genre is a personal hotbed of experimentation.

I find type to be a cheat code for this. This genre lives in extremes: whispering passages that require low bass, slowly building crescendos that reveal the driver’s pressure and control, wide panoramas of guitars and room sound that reveal stage tricks, and layered diagrams that separate “fine details” from useful details. Below is a curated, first guide to headphones on post-rock (and post-rock-adjacent) albums that consistently reveals what a headphone does well, and what it hides, using your requested focus list.

Raise Your Leathery Fists Like Horns To Heaven – Godspeed You! The Dark Emperor

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is probably the first band you’ll think of when you think of post-rock. They are very similar to the genre, and “Raise Your Leathery Fists Like Horns To The Heavens” is one of post-rock’s greatest achievements. That being said, you might prefer the group’s first release, “F#A#∞”, and think there should be a place instead. You wouldn’t be wrong, but I personally find the symphonic movement you need for Lift Your Skinny Fists to be very revealing when it comes to headphone testing.

The foundations of Lift Your Skinny Fists are built on these strings, which are combined with these larger strings to create beautiful slow-burning crescendos. These features are a sure bet for headphone testing, with a good test of soundstage depth, low-frequency control, and macro-dynamic headroom. Headphones can fold under the complex layers of this album, combining them into one solid form. Your headphones should feel cavernous against the album’s deep drones, giving dimension to its quiet passages. If your headphones don’t have a midrange presence, the high end of the instruments can add an audible blur where you’d like to hear clarity and inner detail.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Beyerdynamic DT 770, Beyerdynamic DT 990, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga P2 Pro, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 6505 Anandaze, Silva, HiFiMAN, HiFiMAN, Silva

The spirit of Eden – Talk Talk

If you want to go back to the foundations of post-rock, you can look no further than Talk Talk’s “Spirit of Eden”. Overly rejecting the band’s synth-pop roots, Spirit of Eden opts for an ambient sound arrangement through the use of bare but touching instrumental touches. It’s a sound that lives in your headspace, and brings out the tonal imbalance perfectly when possible. Your headphones will reveal timbral accuracy when listening to this album, as well as microdynamic resolution. It’s also a very faithful album to explore the concept of noisefloor and defiant clarity. Decaying cymbals will highlight this, as your headphones should be able to handle how low they are, even if you’re listening at low levels. Notes should be able to fade in very clearly without sounding muffled or textural. Everything should feel like breathing.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Sivga P2 Pro, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, 10 Hemp 500, Silva, Sennheiser HD 600, 600, 600 Hemp. Meze 109 Pro, Audeze LCD-2

Agætis byrjun – Sigur Rós

Another high-profile post-rock project, Ágætis byrjun by Sigur Rós, contains some of the most impressive and emotional sounds the genre can offer. It features clean layers of bowed guitars, sweeping orchestral swells, and some excellent falsetto vocals that require you to have the right headphones to fully appreciate their depth. Headphones with a midrange timbre will do well for this album, allowing these rich vocals to balance with the dense ambient textures painted on the metal. These layers should have a front-to-back presentation so that they not only hold the scale, but the whole melody. The treble should be smooth and airy, as bright or loud tuning can exaggerate sibilance and bending noise.

Recommended headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga Luan, HiFiMAN Ananda, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Arya LCD, Auze 109 Ardhio-Clark, HiFiMAN LCD

Hex – Bark Psychosis

The album responsible for the monetization of “post-rock,” thanks to music journalist Simon Reynolds, is “Hex” by Bark Psychosis. Here, you will be greeted by soft grooves, complemented by the album’s album-influenced bass lines and a very relaxed but deliberate ghostly guitar performance. It’s an album that requires a good pair of headphones capable of resolving subtle shifts in motion with precise capture. The separation of the instruments is key, as well as the low dynamic power. You should hear the bass notes peaking transparently, rather than a muddy blob.

I listen to this album a lot, and something I often notice when testing headphones is how much Hex relies on opening and taut beats. Even high-end audiophile headphones can make the Hex seem out of place and foggy if the low mids are overly warm. For Hex, it’s much better to have a set of headphones that can deal with temporal realities rather than colors.

However & However – Do What You Think

I could put any album by this band on this list, but if I had to pick one, it would be this one. When you combine post-rock principles with jazzy sounds, it leads to a rich listening experience that is primarily a headphone test track. &Yet&Yet has a sense of rhythmic urgency that stacks brass, percussion, and guitars into kinetic arrangements that help highlight the headphone’s speed and temporal control. Headphone drivers with finesse and speed attack will love the powerful, expressive verses. Controlling the Upper-Midrange is also key to enjoying snare hits and brass stabs with bold body and attack. More relaxed headphones with slower drivers may end up sounding hoarse and lacking in volume.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Audio-Noire, Auze LCD-i-HD, Aude LCD-Phd, Aude LCD, Aude HD 800s

Spiderland – Slint

This album is the first oze that spawned tons of rock subgenres, including post-rock. What makes it a great album for headphone testing is its simplicity. The production is stripped down, mixed with natural guitars, mic’d drums, and mournfully spoken vocals. If ever there was a collection of tracks that served as an easy reference for midrange specification, it would be Spiderland. Headphones with a solid midrange will sound great here, with realistic drums that seem full and physical. If your headphones add a tonal gloss, it will make other equipment sound more artificial. You want to hear the snap, and the wooden bodies of the guitars. These elements can easily feel empty with headphones that don’t have a good midrange presence.

The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place – Explosion in the Sky

If you really want to test how well your headphones can handle a classic post-rock crescendo, “The World Is Not a Cold Dead Place” by Fireworks in the Sky should be on your playlist. Its soft guitar tones build to a climax filled with an explosive band. It’s perfect for testing how well your headphones communicate without stress. Your headphones should also be able to interpret the complex dynamics of the album, and show the smoothness of the treble. They should feel resistant to congestion when listening to this album, best explored when the instrument reaches its emotional peak. Everything should project well and sound big without devolving into muddy bass or sparkling high frequencies.

The Gap – Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc’s “The Gap” sections are deliberately rough and appropriately small. These arrangements overlap with tighter instruments that come off as jarring, but it’s a good indication of whether your headphones can handle unusual production techniques. Your headphones should be able to keep quiet under the album’s many dynamic shifts. If your headphones can still make each instrument stand out within the chaotic mix of this album, especially in terms of vocal accuracy. A wide soundstage with good separation is key to enjoying this album; otherwise, mixing can appear confusing.

The orange media – Bradford

This album is full of textures that slowly develop and wander above the silence, making it an unforgiving test of low-end sound and low-level resolution. Background darkness should stand out in headphones with good separation and cavernous depth. Its sustained tones exude a spatial intelligence and smoothness in its microdynamics. These long drones should not show grain, and any abuse of the driver is immediately obvious; good headphones make the album sound addictive rather than stagnant.

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3 weeks ago

7 minutes read