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Part two to be published tomorrow :-)!

Seeing as I am a bit of a post rock junkie I decided I would do like a top 5 songs thing for each of my favourite post rocky bands.. just for fun.

I have a rather complex lil relationship with this music but I loveeeeeee it because I truly believe that music is really MEANT to make you feel something, good or bad (and maybe even occasionally make you feel nothing at all). It doesn't matter what kind of mood I'm in - these tracks always makes me FEEL and I revel in it.

This Will Destroy You
Favourite album: This Will Destroy You
.. pretty much my absolute favourite band. All of their songs are infused with the most powerful aspects of human nature and I can honestly say their music has changed my life for the better.

1. Freedom Blade (Field Studies) - Probably takes the cake as the most beautiful song I have ever heard. I must admit that all of This Will Destroy You's music takes me away from everything else, but Freedom Blade is something really, really special to me.
2. Threads (This Will Destroy You) - I've somehow grown to associate a lot of memories with this song. I always seem to think of the same things when I'm listening to it and I can't help but to smile. The fill from 2:29 onwards honestly makes my heart soar and at 3:58 it pretty much explodes.
3. They Move On Tracks Of Never-Ending Light (This Will Destroy You) - Gets me every time. I feel like this song is filled to the brim with hope and wonder and maybe a little apprehension or anxiety of the absolute best kind. I know those feelings. It's an incredible composition, it really is.
4. Burial on the Presidio Banks (This Will Destroy You) - I think the varying atmosphere in this song is what make it so fucking amazing. It makes easy, smooth transitions from sorrow and nostalgia and all the feelings associated with loneliness/missing someone to something beautiful and undeniably uplifting.. and sometimes it even manages to merge the two.
5. The World is Our ____ (Young Mountain) - A VERY fitting title. I see this song as an outpouring of the triumph and peace and caress of love and everything that is pure in the world.


Moving Mountains
Favourite album: Pneuma
I suppose you could say that Moving Mountains is a relatively recent discovery for me, but they have shot up my charts without my even really noticing. Their music is so easy to become enamored by and caught up in; Gregory Dunn and Frank Graniero's vocals are stunning, especially against the amazing instrumental backdrops the band manage to put together on every single track.

1. Ode We Will Bury Ourselves (Pneuma) - Without a doubt the song that has more of an effect on me than any other piece of music I have ever heard. Every time I listen to it I get the "shivers" and more often than not I have to close my eyes to take all of it in. The vocals from 2:37 - 3:01 were what originally REALLY got me about this song, but now I am enraptured from the very beginning. The fill that immediately proceeds the aforementioned vocal clip is now my major "weakness" within the track (which probably isn't saying much, considering the entire song makes my heart go mental).
2. 8105 (Pneuma / Moving Mountains) - .. and the demo, too. In fact, it's possible that I like the demo more (although the female voice in the main version is very endearing). Anyway, they're both amazing tracks and the "one thing I know you didn't know" verse and the proceeding instrumentals/vocal fill are the best parts of both of them, despite the differences in lyrics. The entire song is just so.. effective and endlessly meaningful. The intro caught me and the remainder of the track kept me there without trouble. Easily one of my most favourite songs. Ever.
3. Sol Solis (Pneuma / Moving Mountains) - Again, and the demo. The demo is especially amazing, actually - you'd think that in a twelve and a half minute song there'd be huge room for error, but every second is constructed entirely of genius and amazing. It's slow, but it's infinitely relaxing and it draws you all the way in. Incredible feat for such an extended acoustic song, I think.
The main version - perhaps not what you would come to expect from Moving Mountains, but a pleasant surprise nevertheless. One of the most catchy and beautiful acoustic songs I have ever heard in my life (think "Things, they always die/Just give it time/They always die/But we/Someday we'll see/Our love will shine/Our love will shine", and also "Things like this are better off untold/Someday the sun will die and I'll grow cold/I hope someday your love finds its way home" and the instrumental it precedes).
4. Cover The Roots, Lower The Stems (Pneuma) - "You know it's really hard to do/To think of anyone but you/And how your soul lives in mine" - perfect first line, if you ask me. The remainder of the song follows the Pneuma theme and does inexplicably well in doing so. This song is just.. intense. There's no other way to put it..
"And someday the trees will sing/Oh my God/My heart is with you now.."
5. Grow On, Grow Up, Grow Out (Pneuma) - "Oh God/What the fuck is going on/With me/And everyone" - another perfect opening lyric. It just seems to fit with the song from the start. The transitions between fast and slow in this song are rather mesmerizing - in terms of the lyrics AND instrumentals (compare the intro with the piece from 2:13-2:43 "This time it's different/I swear to God/The sun's exploding/Within my arms"). The lyrical fill that begins just past halfway through the song speaks for itself.. I'm tempted to note the lyrics here, although they aren't quite the same without the voice to back them up.
"Because you and I were blown away by love and hope for better days/You and I were blown away"

God Is an Astronaut
Favourite album: Far From Refuge
One of my very first post-rock discoveries and undoubtedly still one of my favourites. This is the band that really spurred me into seeking out more and more post-rock, especially of the instrumental variety. I think the ambient feel in a lot of their tracks is a major part of what keeps me hooked.

1. Coda (The End of the Beginning) - I cannot put into words how much I love this song. The first time I listened to it, it was quite unlike anything I had ever heard before in my life, and it's stuck with me since then. I can listen to it over and over and over and not get even the slightest bit sick of it. It is just TOO good. Another one of my most favourite songs of all time.
2. Fragile (All Is Violent, All Is Bright) - The first track I ever heard from this band, and coincidentally the track that made me crazy about their music. It made me cry the first time I heard it, and the first time I saw the video clip I absolutely bawled. I wasn't aware it was possible to condense so much meaning into four and a half minutes (although I have since been proven wrong a million times). I think this song honestly made me appreciate music (and life) more than I ever had before.
3. Fire Flies and Empty Skies (All Is Violent, All Is Bright) - My love for this song near rivals my love for Coda.. but not quite. I think the reason I like it so much is because of the similarities I can pick out between this track and Coda. It has so much feel to it. That's all I can really say about it.
4. Darkfall (Far From Refuge) - A more recent favourite. The piano in this song is somewhat heartbreaking. It kind of just makes me want to close my eyes and freeze and listen and not do anything else ever.
5. Frozen Twilight (A Moment Of Stillness) - I feel like this track is the embodiment of everything that is God is an Astronaut, and for that reason, I love it. It is beautiful and sorrowful and hopeful and angry and wistful all at once. Not many tracks manage to accomplish that blend.

The American Dollar
Favourite album: .. can't even choose LOL.
I disliked this band without even listening to them - I'm not sure why, I just had some kind of odd aversion to them before I had even heard any of their tracks. However, I caved when my most recent significant other began preaching about them to me.. and I'm glad I did. I had serious trouble picking these five out because there are so many overly good tracks to choose from..

1. Anything You Synthesize (A Memory Stream) - The track that really caught my attention the first time I listened to A Memory Stream the whole way through. This track made me listen harder to the rest of the album and on my second listen I realized what I had been missing - pure brilliance. My long-sustaining favourite.
2. Glow (The American Dollar) - If I had to use a single word to describe this song, I'd say heartwarming. It's just.. encouraging, and it really is possible for an instrumental track to be that way. It's one of those pieces that just makes everything feel OK. It sorta reminds me of one of Kyle Landry's piano covers (which are absolutely fantastic, by the way) with some added elements. I think the title of this song is really rather fitting as to the effect it produces.
3. Cambian (The American Dollar) - Whatthefuckincredible. It's songs like this one that make me wish I had discovered this band a lot earlier. This music is so simple in composition but what's behind it is something that I could never quite manage to define. The natural sound effects incorporated into this song make it something different and rather unforgettable. "They change"
4. Call (A Memory Stream) - This track has a bit of everything and it mixes it all up incredibly well. It's absolutely gorgeous. I feel like this track is exactly the right length.. had it been any longer or shorter, it wouldn't have been nearly as fantastic as it is.
5. Thompson (The American Dollar) - Short, but amazing nonetheless. I fell in love with this track the first time I heard it. It's hauntingly beautiful and is one of those songs you wish would just go on forever.

And a special mention to Time (The Technicolour Sleep) - The film edit from Ambient One is not really a patch on the original. The conclusion of the film edit is brilliant, but comparatively speaking, the entirety of the original version is brilliant. The build up from start to finish is perfectly executed and all but entrancing.
.. and Supernova Landslide (The Technicolour Sleep), because I somehow managed to forget it.