Godspeed You! Black Emperor, for example, is vastly different from say, The White Stripes. Even if you say GY!BE is rock, it's still post-rock, because it's certainly not the same thing as other types of rock. You can't claim there's no such thing as grunge, because 'grunge is still rock', any more than you can claim that post-rock isn't post-rock.

Post-Punk has nothing to do with Post-Rock. Post-Punk was a snappy thing to call stuff when new-wave wasn't snappy enough, or whatever.
Post-Rock sounds, feels, plays, and down to its very core is different from a LOT of what's out there. It is very definitely its own style, whether or not that style is still part of 'rock' as a whole.

Oh, yeah. I'd like to see that official list of rock purposes, and rock instrumentation for that matter.

So, I guess we're s'posed to like it?

How is it different? For instance, Prog-Rock utilizes odd time signatures, lengthy song structures with multiple themes, virtuoso musicianship etc.

Is there a general description of what Post-Rock is? Or, if it's simply not something, is there a general description of what it's not?

it's the boring part of Kansas

oh, wait...

we're into fusion

It's a lot easier to define post-rock by band than by actual definition, but...
post-rock is a mostly-instrumental style, usually involving very long song structure with multiple movements, and heavy use of almost-minimalist intro suites moving into very heavily orchestrated crescendos, often repeating this pattern across an album or even within one song.
Most post-rock bands utilize the ubiquitous guitar-bass-drum-keyboard combination, with added string or horn sections to create much deeper melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic development, and post-rock bands can often field even a dozen members onstage, though more minimalist post-rock groups usually have no more than five.


But it's a lot easier to explain by saying Slint, Mogwai, and Broken Social Scene on the less-post-rock end of the spectrum, with GY!BE, Sigur Ros, Explosions In The Sky, and A Silver Mt. Zion on the more post-rock end.

stop trying to have an intelligent conversation. .....you conceited music snobfuck.

Ruh roh...lumberjim's gonna buttƒuck you in the toooba.

With feeling!

Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought that words should mean something, so that when people talk, they're talking about something.
Oh, now I get it. It's Pink Floyd. I thought that was Art Rock. Or Space Rock. Or Avant Garde. Or whatever.

I thought it was mini-Bach.

Not quiiiiite. Think, Atom Heart Mother, but slower, a lot more chill, a lot more laid-back, and a lot less pretentious.

that whole sentence is an oxymoron

Ibram, where would you put Stereolab in this Post-Rock spectrum, or would you? Is that Post-Rock?

I used to collect strange music on AG, when it was an active filetrading site where you could join groups with common interests. I'd have to dig through my stacks of MP3 discs to remember the names of some of the stuff. A song called Carl Sagan or something comes to mind... (Google says For Carl Sagan, by Tarentel) that sounds about right. As I recall... a long, minimalistic guitar sculpture.

I was in a group called Experimental Noise where I found the coolest shit, like RORN. These short, electronic noise constructions. Ever heard that?

I love this phrase. My life is a short electronic noise construction.