Cloakroom - Last Leg of the Human Table (2025)

Smooth vocals meeting harsh, grunge-like guitars, this is Cloakroom, a band "hailing from the harsh realms of Northwest Indiana" to show us their new, fourth in general, album called Last Leg of the Human Table. 

This is the kind of music that if it wasn't for the airy vocals, would certainly be classified in another genre than I do it. And I think of it as dream pop that went mad and started a noisy brawl in a guitar shop. The guitars sounds in various combinations: sometimes more melodic, sometimes more nerve-wrecking, are the main line of attack on the audience's ears. This lasts until the band suddenly steps on the brakes and delivers a rather soothing ballad or a indie pop singer/songwriter piece. Who knows what the next track will bring? I think it's rather a plus of the release, even if the band sounds best when the brake pedal is never touched.

Last Leg of the Human Table costs 9.99 USD.

Check: Clover Looper

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: (various kinds of) dreamy

Label: Closed Casket Activities

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Tethered Hands - Tethered Hands (2025)

Pianist Joseph D. E. Phillips and guitarist Daniel Rickards teamed up and released one of the best post-rock albums of the first months of 2025. The cinematic instrumental music in which guitar doesn't play the central part is a great proposition for fans of the genre, who look for names outside of the post-rock mainstream.

Even the artists themselves call it "some of the best post-rock of their career", and, while I don't track their discographies, I can say there's a good chance that's true. The compositions, while sounding somewhat minimal at times (perfectly natural for a post-rock duo), strike with well-thought-through structures and great focus on the darker, more solemn atmosphere. The piano keys and violin strings are the perfect fit for this kind of music and, I admit, I'm a sucker for this combination. This track list could easily be a movie score, for some kind of noir and slightly pompous movie, but unlike most of movie scores, it has no moments of boring, schematic shallows.

I understand that it's not easy to achieve GY!BE-sque grandeur as two people, but the British-American duo is certainly close.

Tethered Hands costs 6 USD.

Check: Darkened Skies - Our City in Ruins

Country: Indiana, US/UK

Genre: cinematic post-rock

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SPACESHIPS - Ruins (2023)

The experienced band from Indiana (a decade passed since their debut album I Am a Storm at Sea!!!) released their fourth album this year and, while I came for the the guest musician in the first track, I stayed for the overall quality of their heavy and enchanting music on Ruins.

For any shoegaze/nugaze fan who hasn't been living under a stone for last years, the highlight of the album is gotta be the guest appearance of Ryan Osterman (Holy Fawn) in the opening track. However, the band proves that they don't need the bait really as already the following track, Sinews, is at least as good with overwhelming guitar music and super catchy finish. But their music is not only about being loud; there's a surprising amount of slower, calmer tracks that go in the direction of a very oldschool rock music with inclusion of some interesting instruments like, I believe, saxophone in Seedlings. Those slightly retro vibes are only strengthened by the way the vocals feel.

But probably the most important thing about this album is how easy for the band was to create ultimately catchy tunes here. From Spillt to Sinews and Shared Graves: next to every composition here hides a super engaging part that suddenly appears and you forget about all of the noise: it's just the melody that matters.

Ruins costs 7 USD.

Check: Spillt

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: doomgaze

Label: Friend Club Records

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Rest You Sleeping Giant - Night Heron (2022)

Ethan Helfrich, Indiana-based ambient artist, creates his music as Rest You Sleeping Giant. This year, he released a new album called Night Heron, and filled it with very moody, very peaceful ambient music. 

The inspiration for this album is clear; everything here is about nature as seen from the closest proximity, during the artist's walks at the Skokie Lagoons in Winnetka near Chicago he must have gathered tons of ethereal inspirations ready to transform into sounds. This must be a very calming place as the music that got born form this experience could hardly be stiller. The drony soundscapes have ability to relax the listeners and take them somewhere that feels safe and soothing. The album is accompanied by a very decisive anti-war statement so it's worth noticing that "all proceeds will be donated to the British Red Cross to support humanitarian aid for Ukraine".

Night Heron costs 5 EUR (4 GBP).

Check: Night Heron

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: calm soundscape

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Isolation Drills - Year One (2021)

Isolation Drills is a fairly new post-rock project by two Indianapolis artists Dino Maglinte and Tony Reitz. Their music is a very guitar-oriented and somewhat heavy take on post-rock and their debut EP, called Year One, gives a taste of the duo's song-writing abilities.

The compositions they present are pretty long and this means that they can slowly but surely develop into noisy, guitar-filled tunes. However, in the first part of the album, there's no real crescendos here, the songs feel heavy and loud, but light on bombastic, wall-of-noise solutions. And they feature vocals too, which is particularly surprising after the long and engaging instrumental intro in The Otakus. The vocals make the whole thing closer to guitar psychedelic rock, stoner-like heavy but also very much melodic. And, as the project's name may suggest, the artists are focused on the uneasiness of the present times and the need to start again with Glacial's lyrics beginning with "Reaching out from the North, leveling it all (...)/ Start it over".

The second part of the EP features some more of the post-rock characteristic, very loud and satisfying finishes. There's grandeur and there's noise, a very uplifting and awe-inspiring kind of music.

Year One costs 4 USD.

Check: Glacial

Country: Indiana, US 

Genre: guitar post-rock

Label: The Mutual Appreciation Society

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Wayne Robert Thomas - Canticles of Bliss and Canticles of B​-​Sides (2021)

Wayne Robert Thomas of Indianapolis is another fantastically sensible ambient artist whose albums are released via the Past Inside the Present label. Canticle of Bliss is one that shows huge amounts of the most delicate feeling of nostalgia written as a soundscape ambient music.

Thomas recorded the album between 2019 and 2020, but, as he admits, "quite a lot of the tracks [he] made ended up not making the cut and a considerable amount of time was then spent listening to a small selection of songs" - so he settled on the only reasonable way out: releasing a companion B-side album that is at least as good as the main one. And although the overall inspirations taken from the works of Hildegard of Bingen are pretty straightforward, the artist points to the fact that the religious content of the originals is not necessarily present on his album (although some droney moments like  Legend of Whispering Hills definitely have those cathedral-like sacral vibes) and the vocals are transmuted into guitar loops that express his own feelings. This results in long, long minutes of beautiful and calm compositions.

Canticles of Bliss costs 7 USD, Canticles of B​-​Sides costs 5 USD.

Check: Legend of Whispering Hills

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: ambient soundscape

Label: Past Inside the Present

 

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Pillars - Cavum Reimagined (2020) EN

This album is one of the most important events this year. One of the best new post-rock bands, the best album of the genre last year, reinterpreted by a whole range of wonderful guests. This is Cavum Reimagined.

Let's begin with the guests/ We've got my favourite vocalist of 2018 - Ryan Osterman of Holy Fawn, we've got a legend, namely Her Name Is Calla's leader - Tom Elliot, awesome post-rock (Jason Sissoyev and Jordan Householder of Coastlands), post-hardcore (Spencer Gill of Tides of Man) and ambient artists (zakè and Drew Sullivan). Couldn't imagine it a better way. There's no point in stating how different this album is from its original form. Very much.

It's opened by Coda made into a post-folk ballad with a clear Her Name Is Calla-esque atmosphere and beauty of combining some light guitar noise with folk soul. It goes fluently into post-metal-rapidness-filled Solace. Especially exciting are tracks that are borderline different from the original ones like Black Prayer turned into electronic chaos or the ambient incarnation of Dying Light. In general, I've never been a huge fan of remixes but if it's gonna look like the Americans' new album, I need more.

Cavum Reimagined costs 6 USD.

Check: Coda 

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: eclectic post-rock
Label: Post. Recordings

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Pillars - Cavum Reimagined (2020) PL

Ta płyta to jedno z najważniejszych wydarzeń tego roku. Jeden z najlepszych nowych zespołów post-rockowych, najlepsza, moim zdaniem, płyta tego gatunku w zeszłym roku, poddana reinterpretacji przez cały szereg znamienitych gości. Oto Cavum Reimagined.

To najpierw wspomniani goście. Mamy mojego ulubionego wokalistę 2018 roku - Ryana Ostermana z Holy Fawn, mamy legendę w postaci wokalisty Her Name Is Calla - Toma Elliota, wspaniałych muzyków post-rockowych (Jason Sissoyev i Jordan Householder z Coastlands), post-hardcorowych (Spencer Gill z Tides of Man) i ambientowych (zakè i Drew Sullivan). Nie można sobie tego lepiej wyobrazić. Nie ma sensu nadmieniać jak bardzo inna jest to płyta od swojej oryginalnej formy. Bardzo.

Płytę otwiera Coda w postaci post-folkowej ballady, z której dobitnie wychodzi Her Name Is Calla'owa atmosfera i uroda połączenia lekkiego gitarowego noise'u i folkowej duszy. Płynnie przechodzi ona w nasyconą post-metalową gwałtownością Solace. Ekscytujące są też kawałki, które skrajnie odbiegają od oryginalnych wersji, takie jak zmieniona w elektroniczny chaos Black Prayer czy ambientowe wcielenie Dying Light. Generalnie nigdy nie byłem fanem remiksów, ale jeśli mają wyglądać tak jak nowa płyta Amerykanów, to poproszę jak najwięcej.

Cavum Reimagined kosztuje 23 złote (6 USD).

Sprawdź: Coda 

Kraj: Indiana, US

Szufladka: eclectic post-rock
Label: Post. Recordings

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Slow Dancing Society & zakè - Mirrored (2020) EN

When two artists I like and have been posted about here join forces, you can safely say it's going to be something special. And this is the case with the cooperation between (super busy lately) Drew Sullivan and Zach Frizzell and their common work called Mirrored.

From the very first minutes, their music shows extremely muted down electronic, lively sounds and dense drone. It sounds a bit as if a couple of walls away, there was a disco and the listener enjoyed it from the comfort of bed. It's similar in Drift but here under the soft layer of ambient there are neoclassical sounds. And the rest of the album likewise pleases and tucks the audience in.

Mirrored costs 1 USD.

zakè & City of Dawn - Wander (2020) EN

Check: Mirrored

Country: Indiana/Washington, US

Genre: deep soundscape

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Slow Dancing Society & zakè - Mirrored (2020) PL

Kiedy dwaj lubiani przeze mnie i opisywani tutaj artyści łączą siły, można spodziewać się najlepszego. I tak jest ze współpracą między niezwykle płodnym w ostatnich miesiącach Drew Sullivanem a Zachiem Frizzellem i ich wspólnym dziełem Mirrored.

Od pierwszych minut w ich muzyce słychać połączenie stłumionej do granic możliwości żywej elektroniki i gęstego drone'u. Brzmi to trochę jakby kilka ścian dalej odbywała się dyskoteka, a słuchacz cieszył się nią z komfortowej pozycji w łóżku. Podobnie jest w Drift, tylko tutaj to pod miękką pierzyną ambientu ukrywają się neoklasyczne dźwięki. Reszta płyty podobnie otula i cieszy.

Mirrored kosztuje 4 złote (1 USD).

zakè & City of Dawn - Wander (2020) PL

Sprawdź: Mirrored

Kraj: Indiana/Waszyngton, US

Szufladka: deep soundscape

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zakè & City of Dawn - Wander (2020) EN

zakè is an artist from Indianapolis, fan of ambient and the creator of Past Inside the Present label, City of Dawn on the other hand is a moniker of Damien Duque from Texas. Both met on this extremely moody split called Wander.

The album is made of three tracks. The first, title track, is the result of their collaboration that made way for this long soundscape that strikes with peace and infects with balance. No wonder the artists themselves label it as "an expression of slowing down". The second track of this album written during a freezing winter is made by zakè, the third by Duque, both in the same, slow and ambient atmosphere.

Wander costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: Wander

Country: Indiana/Texas/US

Genre: slow soundscape
Label: Zakè Drone Recordings

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zakè & City of Dawn - Wander (2020) PL

zakè to artysta z Indianapolis, wielbiciel ambientu i założyciel labelu Past Inside the Present, City of Dawn to z kolei pseudonim sceniczny Damien Duque z Teksasu. Obaj spotkali się na niezwykle nastrojowym splicie zatytułowanym Wander.

Płytka to trzy kawałki. Pierwszy, tytułowy, to ich współpraca, która zaowocowała długim soundscape'em uderzającym spokojem i zarażającym równowagą. Nic dziwnego, że cały album reklamowany jest przez artystów jako "ekspresję zwalniania". Drugi utwór tej napisanej mroźną zimą materiału to utwór zakè, trzeci Duque, oba w tych samych, powolnie ambientowych klimatach.

Wander kosztuje tyle, ile chcesz zapłacić.

Sprawdź: Wander

Kraj: Indiana/Teksas/US

Szufladka: slow soundscape
Label: Zakè Drone Recordings

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Pillars - CAVUM (2019) EN

Pillars is another band I had a pleasure to listen to during the Dunk!festival in Belgium. This time though, there was no doubts, their new album CAVUM is the number one candidate to be praised THE post-rock album 2019.

Hailing from Indiana, band in the most perfect way combined the very heavy, soul-crushing guitars with massive compositions and phenomenal atmosphere. Just like they previously did on their debut album Of Salt and Sea, on their second one just had to master it. After an introduction of some sort in Escape, the Americans give their best from the very first sounds of the brilliant Dissolution combining in this track the loud and the airy, two of the most important features of the genre.

The album has its more peaceful fragment in Dying Light, but it soon gets back to the crazy pace in somewhat western-like Black Prayer with an impressive finish. The whole thing is crowned with Coda, a moody piano ballad. It's worth to add that the artists are also engaged into promotion of post-rock organizing Post., the biggest festival of the genre in United States.

CAVUM costs 6 USD.

Check: Black Prayer

Country: Indiana, US

Genre: heavy post-rock

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Pillars - CAVUM (2019) PL

Pillars to kolejny zespół, którego miałem przyjemność wysłuchać na Dunk!festival w Belgii. Tym razem jednak nie ma najmniejszych wątpliwości, ich nowy album CAVUM to kandydat numer jeden do tytułu post-rocku 2019.

Pochodzący z Indiany zespół w sposób perfekcyjny połączył bardzo ciężkie, miażdżące słuchaczy gitary z masywnymi kompozycjami i fenomenalną atmosferą. Podobnie grali już na swoim debiucie, Of Salt and Sea, a na drugiej płycie tylko tę umiejętność udoskonalili. Po pewnego rodzaju przygrywce w Escape, Amerykanie dają z siebie wszystko od pierwszy dźwięków znakomitego Dissolution łącząc w nim hałas i eteryczność, dwie najważniejsze cechy gęstego post-rocku. 

Płyta ma swój spokojniejszy fragment w Dying Light, ale szybko wraca do szalonego tempa w trochę westernowym i efektownie zakończonym Black Prayer. Całość zamyka Coda, nastrojowa ballada na pianinie. Warto dodać, że muzycy zaangażowani są również w promocję post-rocka i współorganizują Post., największy festiwal gatunku w Stanach.

CAVUM kosztuje 23 złote (6 USD).

Sprawdź: Black Prayer

Kraj: Indiana, US

Szufladka: heavy post-rock

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