Minus The Bear (post-rock or xover)

Hear me out, here. They are widely considered to be Math Rock and/or Post-Rock mixed with alt. rock. I have heard their proggiest album, ''Planet of Ice'', and while it's certainly got a lot of Pop leanings, the Prog influence is also heavily present. 

Xover might want to consider them more than the Post-Rock team, but either way, I think we should at least give them a serious listen before waving them off as simple pop music. There is a lot more depth to their music, and the complexity is also there, if not a little more subtle than some other bands of this type. 

At least one of their albums is actually considered 'Progressive Rock':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_Ice

^ That album is the one I was talking about, and I'll post some of the proggier tracks from it below:

''Lotus'' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22kne5dxOs0  <--My personal favorite, with a ton of psychedelic ambience, and a particularly Gilmour-esque solo around six minutes in.

"Dr. L'Ling" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU-mQB7FWVc <--Very Peter Gabriel in the vocals department, and a lot of exciting musical changes along the way.

''White Mystery'' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aim62BWz48c <--Really clever Psych-Pop Rocker of a song. 

''Ice Monster''

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv-QkZVYzQo <--Another pop-prog song that puts me in mind of Mansun quite a bit, but ends on a more 'Post-Rock' note.

^ Those are just a few examples of how this band has managed to blend Prog and Pop in (in my opinion) a very clever and interesting way. They are more immediately accessible than some others, but don't let that aspect fool you; these guys are a helluva lot more than just typical 'alt-rock' or 'indie rock'. They often include Math Rock elements, segue their songs together so they flow into each other, which makes me think they are more of an album-oriented band rather than just a collection of unrelated tracks, and have a ton of psychedelic and prog stylings weaved throughout their works. 

I don't know if they are Post-Rock enough for that team to consider them, but the xover team should definitely give them a shot if the former team declines them. I just think they are a strong contender for inclusion, here, and want to make sure a case is made on their behalf. I don't know if anybody here listens to these guys at all, but if there IS anybody else, you are welcome to give your thoughts, as well. I'm sure you'll agree with me that they are fairly eclectic.

Hope this gets some attention. 

Edited by JLocke - March 13 2010 at 21:59

^ Cool! Thanks, Joel. We'll see what happens. 

^ Never saw that before. Pretty cool! haha. Thanks.

Somehow, I'm not the least bit surprised that you would pop in here and not add anything of note whatsoever. You say you don't care one way or the other if they are added, yet you go out of your way to discredit my case for their inclusion? 

^ Well, as I said, xover is probably the better fit. But since the band DOES have Post-Rock elements in their music, I thought I would mention both sub-genres. Apparently I can't do that without being chastised. 

^xover should probably take a look first. I think that's well been established by this point. But do whatever you think fits. I don't know what I'm talking about, anyway. 

JLocke wrote: Somehow, I'm not the least bit surprised that you would pop in here and not add anything of note whatsoever. You say you don't care one way or the other if they are added, yet you go out of your way to discredit my case for their inclusion?  I'm glad you love the band, but 'dude', it would sure be nice if you could refrain from more or less calling me ignorant on the subject of Post-Rock just because you don't share my opinion about one band.  But then again, asking you to not be an ass about something is like asking a dog not to be a dog, I suppose.

Not all of what I said is opinion.
They ARE an indie rock band and musically they don't share much in common with proper post rock.
Post rock is post rock, it's a set genre that like many other genres, has certain boundaries and limitations that make it post rock, before it might become an entirely different genre completely.
Minus The Bear, musically, doesn't fit into the definition of post rock. It's just a matter of fact here.

As for their inclusion, of course that will be up to the opinion of Xover or Post Rock.
Personally I may be inclined to agree with you they have potential for Xover due to their poppy-elements, experimental nature and somewhat quirky, different compositional style.
They may not be "prog rock" as per what we traditionally see as prog rock, but rather literally progressive in the sense of moving forward.
I guess Radiohead is a good example. Many tend to not see it as "prog rock" as such, but they innovated and pushed music into a modern, forward direction, much the same as Minus The Bear did for the 00s and now, as Radiohead did for the late 90s/early 00s, rather than the field of many "retro" prog bands who are "prog rock" but completely lack any degree of progressiveness at all (The Flower Kings et al).

And I meant by not caring or not was in that in the grand scheme of things it's not that important if they get added or not, but obviously I care enough to the extent I posted in here.

And I'll be the better man by refraining to comment and retaliating on your "asking you to not be an ass" comment and we'll leave it at that, as you can believe what you want, but many members around here do consider me a helpful, friendly member.

Let's all remember that the post-rock/math rock page on PA has bands that are neither post-rock nor math-rock for the simple reason that the genre was once called "Experimental/Post-Rock" and it was intended as a place to be for the progressive bands of the indie scene.

Since it was needed to acknowledge math-rock as a proper, mature genre on PA the "experimental" label was drawn out of this page's description and now only post-rock and math-rock bands are accepted, which is a shame, especially considering the bands left there which are neither. BTW it's very annoying to see people describing in their reviews what kind of post-rock are Tortoise. They aren't!

This has been a problem for the addition of borderline bands, and from my own experience I've had this problem with Eivind Aarset, which was luckily taken by Jazz-Rock and Discordless, which are pending indefinitely. Something needs to be done to address this issue.

This being said, I'll take a listen to this band's stuff soon

^ Any current news regarding these guys? I can inform the xover team about them if they haven't already been added to the evaluation chart.

progkidjoel wrote: Alex posted this thread in the Xover team a few days ago, although I'm not sure if they're on the charts.