Fluttery, 2010

Combining post-rock (in the strong atmosphere, the piano, cello, and rangy guitars) and arty indie (in its dynamic bent, the shared male/female vocals, and the spoken samples), Swallow Up The Moon sounds a bit like Murder By Death covering Gregor Samsa songs. Or vice versa. An impressive EP from the Californians.

Deep Elm, 2009

Self-described as ‘Cinematic Post-Rock’, In A Forest Without Trees is a mix of epic numbers with more downtempo tracks, making for some varied and exciting listening. Often slowly building numbers, it’s good that they haven’t gone for the ‘epic emotional post-rock’ song at every avenue; some of them just potter along at times, which is a positive.

Copper Lung, 2009

The debut full-length from Illinois’ aptly-named Oceans is an hour of post-rock of the joyful and dreamy kind, its gentle melodies climbing towards appropriately grand climaxes. Their deft grasp of said intensity-building structures and atmospherics, and some carefully placed group vocals, make this a very solid start.

Fluttery, 2009

Italian post-rock with classical, jazz and folkish bents, strongly flavoured by the sad elegance of an ever-pervasive violin. The EP is at its dreamy best when these disparate elements are given freedom to roam, moving the music away from more routine post-rock territory.

Smalltown America, 2009

Just when you thought it was safe to shoegaze, this impressive Belfast quartet’s debut shows up and injects instrumental post-rock with a welcome shot of energetic immediacy. Playful, technical, and massively noisy when it wants to drive a point home.

Caetera, 2009

I’m not sold on the production for these guys (like Pneuma before it, it sounds weak to me) but I’m certainly a convert in regards to the music. The New Yorkers combine post-rock and emotive indie to dynamic and uplifting effect. Expect big things.