I imagine I'll be writing about Post Rock a lot in this feature. Perhaps no new genre of pop music has been more undeservingly neglected in both the critical and business facets of the music industry. A few groups have skirted notoriety, like Mogwai and Sigur Ros, but even those bands get by on an impressive cult more than any widespread media embrace. Maybe it has to do with the relatively anti-image mindset of most Post Rockers, or the simple fact that Post Rock is hardly parceled-out in easily digestible, radio-friendly chunks. But it's the 21st century, so the very concepts of radio and even music video have become rather anachronistic in terms of media consumption by an increasing demographic.

One of the most accessible and consistently stunning Post Rock outfits working today is a Texas band called Explosions in the Sky. They've been enjoying their tenth year of performing with no signs of slowing down any time soon. This is good for us fans because they don't often release new recorded material. Since 2000 they've only put out five studio recordings, only a fraction of which qualify as proper albums. Most people know the band through their soundtrack to the 2004 sports film Friday Night Lights. The track "Your Hand in Mine" from the movie's climax came about as close to being a hit as anything the band has ever done.

As for what counts as a "proper album" in EITS terms, think of them more like the records produced by electronic music acts in the late 90's. Each track flows into the next and the only thing really keeping the albums from being one, long recording is theme variation. The more pretentious among Post Rock fans will refer to this sonically cohesive approach as being "semi-symphonic", but really it's just an alternative method of recording rock music. Sometimes this comes awfully close to relying on filler material, but at best it's a series of excellent moments rendered into manageable doses. As much as I love the violent intensity of a track like "A Song For Our Fathers" I can admit that such a level of noise and pressure shouldn't be sustained over the course of an entire hour.

One thing that Explosions in the Sky is, in my opinion, better at than any other Post Rock act today is their ability to create a sound-driven narrative. It's a completely different listening experience than a lyric-driven pop song. Take "First Breath After A Coma" for instance. The title hints at the theme, but the instrumentation itself imitates the ambient sounds of the story. Drums capture the rush of feet, guitars mimic the beep of a heart monitor and later the wail of an ambulance siren. The whole experience is reminiscent of Jimmy Hendrix's take on the American National Anthem at Woodstock when he used his guitar to demonstrate the violence of dropping bombs and screaming people. The point of this music isn't to follow a conventional structure, but to create a link between sound and image on a more universal level than lyrics ever can.

Post Rock is a genre of full albums and cerebral listening periods, but it's also born of sweeping emotions. Explosions in the Sky is a great gateway into this under-appreciated genre because it's a band that demonstrates the best of the genre's tendencies without diverging into the more avant-garde elements favored by other acts. Unlike a lot of fringe music, I think Post Rock has the potential to capture a wider audience than it currently has. After all, it's still just guitars and drums, they're just arranged a little differently.