Post-hardcore

Post-hardcore
Stylistic origins	Hardcore punk, art punk, post-punk, noise rock, experimental rock, progressive rock, melodic hardcore
Cultural origins	Mid-'80s United States and United Kingdom
Typical instruments	Drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals
Derivative forms	Math rock, melodic hardcore, emo, screamo
Fusion genres
Screamo, electronicore, melodic metalcore

Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups who emerged from the hardcore punk scene, or took inspiration from hardcore, while concerning themselves with a wider degree of expression.

The genre took shape in the mid- to late-1980s with releases from the Midwestern United States. These included bands on SST Records, and bands from Washington, D.C. such as Fugazi (see the era's releases on Dischord Records, for example), as well as slightly different sounding groups such as Big Black and Jawbox that stuck closer to the noise rock roots of post-hardcore.

Characteristics

Post-hardcore is typically characterized by its precise rhythms and loud guitar-based instrumentation accompanied by a combination of clean vocals and screams. Allmusic states, "These newer bands, termed post-hardcore, often found complex and dynamic ways of blowing off steam that generally went outside the strict hardcore realm of 'loud fast rules'. Additionally, many of these bands' vocalists were just as likely to deliver their lyrics with a whispered croon as they were a maniacal yelp." The genre has developed a balance of dissonance and melody, in part channeling the loud and fast hardcore ethos into more measured, subtle forms of tension and release. Jeff Terich of Treblezine states, "Instead of sticking to hardcore's rigid constraints, these artists expanded beyond power chords and gang vocals, incorporating more creative outlets for punk rock energy."

History

1980s

Post-hardcore is an offspring coming from hardcore punk, which had typically featured very fast tempos, loud volume and heavy bass levels.

By the mid-1980s, groups classified as hardcore, or with strong roots in the genre, began to experiment with the basic template. The initial outcropping of these groups typically recorded for SST Records (the Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, the Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr., and Gone), and emerged from the increasingly experimental tendencies of Black Flag and Greg Ginn's evolving musical tastes. Many of these groups also took inspiration from the '80s noise rock scene pioneered by Sonic Youth. Steve Albini's group Big Black, and subsequent projects Rapeman and Shellac are also associated with post-hardcore. Critic Steven Blush described Big Black as "an angst-ridden response to the rigid English post-punk of Gang of Four". Naked Raygun also made use of "oblique lyrics and stark post-punk melodies".

Later releases on Dischord Records also extended the post-hardcore style, most famously in the work of Fugazi, but also including bands such as Embrace, Rites of Spring, Nation of Ulysses, Jawbox, Shudder to Think, and Lungfish. Dischord groups also experimented with influences from soul, dub, post-punk, funk, jazz, and dance-punk. Math rock and to some degree riot grrl were offshoots of this movement.

1990s

During the 90's a third iteration of post-hardcore took place with the work of musicians who had first come to prominence in the youth crew scene, most famously Fugazi, Unsane, Quicksand, On the Might of Princes, Drive Like Jehu, Unwound, Les Savy Fav, Refused, Hot Water Music, Cap'n Jazz, Texas Is the Reason and Helmet. The genre then experienced a stand by stage when most of the major bands in the scene disbanded.

It seemed that the post-hardcore style and its scene was gone for good. Nevertheless, some bands associated with art punk and alternative rock like Glassjaw, Idlewild and At the Drive-In who were influenced by many post-hardcore bands, took certain elements of the genre renewing it and avoiding what it seemed to be it's imminent disappearance.

As a consequence of this, post-hardcore began to be listened by other groups of persons foreign to the underground scene. In other words, it passed to the mainstream or popular circuit.

2000s

Senses Fail - live in concert

In the late 1990s, new bands formed who popularized the style. These include Thursday, Thrice, Finch, and Poison the Well. By 2003, post-hardcore had caught the attention of major labels including Island Records, who signed Thrice and Thursday, Atlantic Records, who signed Poison the Well, and Geffen Records, who had absorbed Finch from their former label Drive-Thru Records. Post-hardcore also began to do well in sales with Thrice's The Artist in the Ambulance and Thursday's War All the Time which charted #16 and #7, respectively, on the Billboard 200 in 2003.

Around this time, a new wave of post-hardcore bands began to emerge onto the scene that incorporated more pop punk and alternative rock styles into their music. These bands include The Used, Hawthorne Heights, Senses Fail, From First to Last and Emery in addition to Canadian post-hardcore bands Silverstein and Alexisonfire. This group of post-hardcore bands gained mainstream recognition with the help of MTV and Warped Tour. The Used released some minor radio hits and later received gold certifications for their first two studio albums The Used and In Love and Death from the RIAA. Hawthorne Heights' debut album The Silence in Black and White was also certified gold.

Due to this wave's prominent use of screamed vocals, in addition to softer vocals, these bands are often described using the misnomer "screamo." According to Jim Farber of NY Daily News, the band Thursday used the term screamo, "as a goof to describe bands like [theirs], which play a louder version of what is known to music fans as 'emo'." Though it's derived from the same roots, screamo is an entirely different genre of music. Contrasting to post-hardcore, screamo is a more aggressive and abrasive genre featuring songs that are almost entirely screamed over "deafeningly loud rocking noise" mixed with "suddenly quiet, melodic guitar lines." Jonathan Dee of The New York Times wrote that the term "tends to bring a scornful laugh from the bands themselves." Many bands of this era have defended that their music is not screamo including Silverstein, Thursday, The Hot Lies and The Used.

Various trends

Electronic

In the mid to late 2000s, bands formed that mix elements of post-hardcore "with a hybrid style drawing from both screamo and electronica." This style is frequently termed "electronicore" or "synthcore." I See Stars and Jamie's Elsewhere are recently formed bands that are examples of this fusion. Attack Attack! is a significantly more popular example, with their debut album, Someday Came Suddenly, setting a precedent for newer bands of the same style. Sky Eats Airplane is a post-hardcore group that likewise "incorporates touches of electronica."

These bands and others have introduced the use of synthesizers and keyboard instruments in post-hardcore music. Auto-tuned singing vocals and synthesized screaming vocals are attributes of this style. These "newer hardcore/electronica hybrid bands" often play songs that contain "dancable beats, with some breakdowns splashed in," and are known for "mixing... metalcore drums with electro beats, dissonant guitar chords with infectious leads, and poppy synths." In this fusion style of music, it is not unusual to hear a "heavy shout ring out in the middle of a collection of technical guitars and pummeling drums."

Experimental and progressive

Additionally, a new wave of bands are performing in a more artistic vein of post-hardcore with a greater sense of experimentation, trying to revive interest in a genre lately despised by critics. They appeal to their creativity by taking the positive aspects left by representative bands like At The Drive In, Dance Gavin Dance, Saosin, Brand New and Circa Survive to name a few, adding to their music some progressive rock elements, as are the constant changes in the tempo and the highly technical instrumentation. These bands also give privilege to the melodic harmonies over other aspects which are often considered as "cliche" in this style of music, such as the use of breakdowns, screaming, and heavy guitar riffs. Examples of this "progressive post-hardcore" include bands such as PMtoday, Exit Ten, First Signs of Frost, and Devil Sold His Soul.

See also

• List of post-hardcore bands

Bibliography

• Andersen, Mark and Mark Jenkins (2003). Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Akashic Books. ISBN 1-888451-44-0
• Azzerad, Michael (2002). Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991. Back Bay Books. ISBN 0-316-78753-1
• Grubbs, Eric (2008). POST: A Look at the Influence of Post-Hardcore-1985-2007. iUniverse, Inc. ISBN 0-595-51835-4
• Reynolds, Simon. "The Blasting Concept: Progressive Punk from SST Records to Mission of Burma. Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-punk 1978-84. London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 2005.