Good Stuff is a feature franchise on UNXIGNED where we bring you some of the best songs that recently got on our radar. Handpicked for your listening pleasure, today’s Good Stuff features four new post-rock anthems from four talented acts on the rise. In this Good Stuff issue we pair each track with a film genre that we think reflects their mood and believe they can fit as the perfect closing soundtrack to.
kamupanerura (カムパネルラ) – “the theme from balloons”
Artist brief: kamupanerura (カムパネルラ) are a Japanese post-rock group from the city of Kobe. Mainly influenced by film music and a knack for euphoric, well-thought-of sonic edges, they craft a sound that is both texturally bleak and hopeful.
Having released a series of tuneful singles and EPs earlier in the year—the most recent of which dropped back in May—kamupanerura are clearly one promising group to look out for.
Perfect end-credits soundtrack for: Anime
Why it’s good stuff: This band’s way of blending extensively technical rhythmic grooves with melodic layers of lush ensemble work is all you need to get into Japanese post-rock (if you’re late to the party).
With “the theme from balloons”, kamupanerura succeed in filling in math rock-tinged measures with impressively crafted instrumental progressions that’s sure to captivate math- and post-heads, perhaps most especially those who are suckers for toe.
A Place in Between – “Inspiral”
Artist brief: Belgian doctor Gert Stockmans started A Place in Between to ease his very hectic and stressful work schedule in the midst of the scourging pandemic.
With the help of musician friends Sam Coussens, Thomas Francot, and Ruben Vandael, the DIY long-distance collaboration began to take shape. A time-lapse video was then shot and rendered by Frank Resseler, Dr. Stockmans’ brother-in-law, to complement the heavy, atmospheric strains of “Inspiral”.
Perfect end-credits soundtrack for: Documentary
Why it’s good stuff: First off, the immaculate, cavernous rhythm embedded in “Inspiral” triggers the very emotion that fueled the song’s creation—and it’s darn heavy.
The thick, monotonous droning of guitars backed by blustering, reverb-laden drums make for a very reflective mood, as though translating into sound the confused, distressed state the world is currently in.
The lightweight, ambient noises towards the end induce a feeling of plain relief, which the teal-hued, reversed slo-mo clips of nature calming seem to embrace, ultimately sparking hope.
Champion Motorist – “Dear Liars”
Artist brief: Andrew McLaughlin and Paul Shea, collectively known as Champion Motorist, are musicians from Melbourne, Australia, who have found their musical haven in the post-rock universe.
The duo’s comradeship as instrumentalists spans from their teens—when they played in bands long before adult life took over—and has just recently been reignited almost 20 years since their last session together, with the two deciding to fuse their mutual fondness for the genre.
Perfect end-credits soundtrack for: Adventure
Why it’s good stuff: McLaughlin and Shea play guitars and drums, respectively, and are proudly self-produced. “Dear Liars” is the opening track to their second EP, Slight Return, which is the follow-up to their debut, Divided (both works credit Nao Anzai as mastering engineer).
Unlike the first, the pair recorded their 2020 effort at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, which afforded them more space to visualize, construct, and focus on the sound they wanted to achieve.
The six-minute number sees the group wallowing in electrifying, deftly tensioned tonalities that unhurriedly morph into a corrosive, impenetrable sonic utopia. Clearly a must-hear.
Less Than Nothing – “Lost Trails, Lost Cities”
Artist brief: Nottingham-based post-rock outfit Less Than Nothing‘s first output, the four-track Too Little, Too Late EP, came out 10 years ago. Can you believe it?
It’s been a decade since they first mapped out the complex blueprint for what we now simply call their back catalog, and yet the instrumental act’s modest, often periodic momentum is still at hand.
Less Than Nothing is built around the musical vision of guitarist Jamie Criddle, who since its onset has designed the project to be a collaborative one. The band’s second album called The Death of the Forest is the End of Our Life is due out tomorrow, October 23.
Perfect end-credits soundtrack for: Action
Why it’s good stuff: Relatively softer than “Emergence“, which was released as the lead single, “Lost Trails, Lost Cities” is a seven-minute (ideal for an end-credit song indeed) acoustic and clean guitar-led track that evokes feelings of nostalgia and surrender.
Featuring extremely delicate musical euphonies, the song comes off as a rather brooding, yet liberating orchestration to a recently won emotional battle.
It is the third track off of the new record, but it feels like it already speaks for the rest of the LP. Such an exciting material from an exciting post-rock group.
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Sam is a mediocre artist, musician, and the founder and editor in chief of UNXIGNED. He is a Juris Doctor who leads an excitingly boring life in the confines of his room juggling studies with passion and dreams. He is terrible at finding balance but gets by anyhow. He wants you to follow his artist pages and channels for when he decides to up his game. Pretty open for collabs and will mix your would-be hit song for cheap.