[For Beginners] Popular Post-Rock Songs in Western Music: A Curated List of Recommended Classics
Though the definition of the genre known as post-rock is ambiguous, it garnered worldwide attention as experimental music that goes beyond the conventional framework of rock.
While its instrumentation—guitars, drums, and so on—often mirrors that of a rock band, its distinctive soundscapes and structures give it a cinematic expansiveness, much like a film soundtrack, and many bands make bold use of electronics as well.
In this article, we present works that will broaden your musical horizons, focusing on popular and classic tracks by representative bands from the 1990s to 2000s—the period when the genre truly spread—even as many bands continue to adopt post-rock approaches today.
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[For Beginners] Popular Post-Rock Songs in Western Music: A Curated List of Recommended Classics (1–10)
StormGodspeed You! Black Emperor
A composition by the Canadian collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor that overwhelms the world with an epic of sound woven from silence and thunder.
Opening their landmark 2000 release, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, this track, precisely because it has no words, projects a sweeping story onto the listener’s heart.
Beginning with a gentle melody, layers of sound build upon one another and surge toward a storm-like climax—nothing short of breathtaking.
With a rare Japan performance scheduled for December 2025, anyone curious about post-rock should definitely check them out.
Breadcrumb TrailSlint
Formed in Louisville, Kentucky, the legendary band Slint paved the way for post-rock.
Opening their 1991 masterpiece Spiderland, this track unfolds like a short film where silence and fury intersect.
The vocals shift dramatically from a hushed, spoken murmur to soul-wringing screams, powerfully shaking the listener.
It tells the story of a boy who meets a fortune-teller at a carnival, and beneath its pastoral scenery lies a decadent beauty that evokes the faint anxieties of youth and an inescapable fate.
In 2014, a documentary film bearing this track’s title was also released.
When you want to forget the noise of everyday life and immerse yourself in richly narrative music, listening to this will surely lead to new discoveries.
Ascension DayTalk Talk
Talk Talk, the British band that rose to fame with synth-pop and later came to be credited with laying the foundations of post-rock.
This track from their final album, Laughing Stock, truly embodies the essence of the genre.
In the quiet, jazz-tinged drums resound, and before long a wall-rending roar of guitar noise tears through the space—an absolutely overwhelming progression.
The lyrics are said to depict the scene of the sun ascending to the heavens, and the extreme contrast between stillness and motion feels like a struggle and release of the soul.
Although it was treated as a single back in 1991, its creation reportedly involved draping the studio in blackout curtains and painstakingly editing hours of improvisations.
When you want to step away from the everyday and immerse yourself deeply in the world of sound, this is the perfect track for the night.
[For Beginners] Popular Post-Rock Songs in Western Music: Recommended Classics (11–20)
DCodeine
Codeine, the American band that laid the foundation for the slowcore genre.
This track, from their debut album Frigid Stars LP released in August 1990, feels like a distillation of the band’s entire worldview.
Its audacious stretches of silence—pauses that last for seconds—and the hard-edged guitar that slices through the quiet create a suffocating tension.
Lyrically, even as it sings of the futility of efforts that never pay off, it conveys a searing, heartfelt desire to be needed by someone deep down.
It’s a masterpiece and a perfect song for a night when you want to forget the noise of everyday life and immerse yourself fully in music.
SirenaDirty Three
How about some post-rock where the violin weaves a story as if it were singing? Hailing from Australia, The Dirty Three are an instrumental trio who build a vast sonic world with just violin, guitar, and drums.
This track appears on their classic album Ocean Songs, released in March 1998, and takes the sea monster “Siren” as its theme.
The violin’s melody rising out of silence seems to draw the listener deep into the narrative, while the drum and guitar—ebbing and flowing like waves—further enrich that world.
The piece is also known for being used in the Australian film Praise.
Listen on a quiet night, and you may feel as though you’re watching a short film.
The Landlord Is DeadDo Make Say Think
A track from the Canadian instrumental band Do Make Say Think, included on their March 2000 album “Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead.” Despite having no lyrics, it’s a moving piece that conveys a deep sense of storytelling, as if you were watching a film.
It begins with a serene guitar riff, then builds as jazz-like brass and the powerful rhythms of twin drums layer in—an arrangement that really grips the listener.
The song was also used in the Canadian film “A Simple Curve.” During the recording in August 1999, the sound of crickets chirping outside the barn was accidentally captured, adding a distinctive atmosphere that’s part of its charm.
It’s a perfect masterpiece for times when you want to focus intently or spend a night immersed in a rich sonic world.
On Your WayThe Album Leaf
The Album Leaf, the solo project by San Diego maverick Jimmy LaValle, is also very popular in Japan.
This track gently envelops the listener in a dreamlike soundscape woven from Rhodes piano and electronic tones.
The restrained vocals add a human warmth, offering a different kind of emotion than an instrumental.
Recorded in Iceland with members of Sigur Rós supporting and released in 2004, it appears on the acclaimed album “In a Safe Place.” At the end of your day, take a moment to listen closely to its delicate world of sound.