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I used to despise the phrase post-rock. I also used to take the music that attracted this genre tag very very seriously. Time has a way of burning off a lot of the lofty praise lavished on the stuff, but going back to primary sources puts the initial excitement into relief. Or maybe it's the excitement of anti-excitement—rock guys baking krautrock (very much closeted at the time), dub, electronic experimentation, and good old-fashioned minimalism into a whole new kind of cake.

The problem with the post-rock moniker is that it implied much more of an ambition than the music actually exhibited. No one really wanted to do anything with rock other than avoid a lot of its forms. Less an after than an escape route off to the side. A lot of hot air was circulated in music weeklies and dorm rooms (some of it fanned by yours truly). But you have to smile at what you outgrow. In any event, some songs crystallize the kernel of the aesthetic, and this is one of them.

Tortoise - Tin Cans and Twine