As you are probably aware, Mogwai released their new album recently and to be honest I just couldn’t be fucked. Mogwai have beaten their concept with a stick and surely there is nowhere left for them to go. Maybe what they should have done is to take a similar road to Conifer, my official new favourite band. A four piece from Portland, Maine, Conifer manage to meld the post-rock of Mogwai with the hard rock of Shellac to produce a sound that simply rocks. Post-rock nerds (like myself) will find a lot to love here, especially considering there have been no decent post-rock albums in the last few years (Think about it. Try to name one decent post-rock record that’s come out since 2007). I think that most of the post-rock bands started to produce records with a hard and set formula. Start soft, gradually build, majestic progession ensues, the track climaxes before having it’s post coital cigarette and fade. Fucking yawn. In some ways I think I’m doing Conifer a grave disservice by continually using the term post-rock because Crown Fire shows them to be not so easily pigeonholed. Over the first six instrumental tracks, Conifer almost get a bit math-rocky at times but when they hit their avant-metal stride on A Song for Krom, it quickly becomes apparent that Conifer never feel hemmed in by a particular genre or style. The real treat is left for last. The final track also called Crown Fire and features the guest vocals from Eugene the lead singer of Oxbow, and with it Conifer may have written the creepy rock gem of the year.
Ducks Battle Satan 