Post-Rock can be defined by a few specific elements. It’s a genre famous for combining typical rock instrumentation for a sound that’s not quite rocking. I’ve always found it to be the antithesis of prog-rock, almost like the genre was reaching a thought-provoking endpoint. A collapse of prog’s musical odyssey, where only relics of that journey can be found. It’s like rock’s ego death, and it’s why the more my personal tastes in genre mature, the more post-rock’s sonic palette stands out to me. Post-Rock bands have become some of my favorite modern projects, and as someone who reviews headphones/IEMs for this website, the genre is a personal hotbed for testing.
I find the genre to be a bit of a cheat code for this. The genre lives in the extremes: whisper-quiet passages that demand low noise floors, slow-building crescendos that reveal compression and driver control, wide panoramas of guitars and room sound that expose soundstage tricks, and layered textures that separate “good detail” from useful detail. Below is a curated, headphone-first guide to post-rock (and post-rock-adjacent) albums that consistently reveal what a headphone is doing right, and what it’s hiding, using your requested focus list.
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is probably the first band you’ll think of when you think of post-rock. They’re the most synonymous with the genre, and “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven” is one of post-rock’s greatest achievements. With that said, you might prefer the band’s debut release, “F#A#∞”, and think that it deserves the spot instead. You wouldn’t be wrong, but I personally find the demanding symphonic movements of Lift Your Skinny Fists to be more revealing when it comes to headphone testing.
The foundations of Lift Your Skinny Fists are built on these detuned, combined with these massed strings to build magnificent slow-burning crescendos. These elements are a sure-fire bet for headphone testing, with good assessments of soundstage depth, low-frequency control, and macro-dynamic headroom. Uncapable headphones can fold underneath the complex layers of this album, congealing them into one solid form. Your headphones should feel cavernous against the album’s deep drones, giving dimension to its quieter passages. If your headphones lack a midrange presence, instrumental climaxes can smear into an audible blur where you would want to hear clarity and inner detail.
Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Beyerdynamic DT 770, Beyerdynamic DT 990, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga P2 Pro, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Meze 105 Silva, HiFiMAN Ananda, Meze 109 Pro
Spirit of Eden – Talk Talk
If you want to go back to the foundations of post-rock, you can’t look past Talk Talk’s “Spirit of Eden.” Transgressively abandoning the band’s synth-pop roots, Spirit of Eden opts for ambient soundscapeing through sparse but tactile instrumental gestures. It’s a sound that inhabits your headspace, and it with completly expose tonal imbalance when possible. Your headphones will reveal timbral accuracy when listening to this album, as well as microdynamic resolution. It’s also a very reliable album for testing the noisefloor perception and treble clarity. Decaying cymbals will highlight this, as your headphones should be able to handle how well they taper off, even when listening at low levels. Notes should be able to fade pretty distinctly without hearing any hiss or textural gloss. Everything should feel like a breath.
Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Sivga P2 Pro, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, Audeze LCD-2
Ágætis byrjun – Sigur Rós
Another extremely highly rated post-rock project, Ágætis byrjun by Sigur Rós, contains some of the most striking and emotionally charged soundscapes the genre has to offer. It features clean layers of bowed guitars, sweeping orchestral swells, and some of the most beautiful falsetto vocals that demand you have the right headphones to properly appreciate the depth of. Headphones that have a lush midrange timbre will do this album justice, allowing these expressive vocals to balance with the dense ambient textures painted by the instrumentation. These layers should feature a front-to-back presentation to not only grasp the scale of, but also the complete musicality. The treble should be smooth and airy, as bright or shouty tunings can exaggerate sibilance and bow noise.
Recommended headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga Luan, HiFiMAN Ananda, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, HiFiMAN Arya, Audeze LCD-X, Dan Clark Audio Noire XO
Hex – Bark Psychosis
The album responsible for the coinage of “post-rock,” thanks to music journalist Simon Reynolds, is “Hex” by Bark Psychosis. Here, you’ll be welcomed by soft grooves, aided by the album’s dub-influenced bass lines and ghostly guitar textures that are very relaxed yet deliberate. It’s an album that calls for a good pair of headphones that can resolve subtle shifts in movement with precise imaging. Instrumental separation is key, as well as low dynamic intensity. You should hear bass notes culminate in a transparent shape, rather than a muddy blob.
I listen to this album a lot, and something I tend to notice when testing headphones is how much Hex relies on spaciousness and taut rhythms. Even high-end audiophile headphones can make Hex appear directionless and foggy if the low mids have an abundance of warmth. For Hex, it’s best to have a set of headphones that can handle transient realism rather than coloration.
Recommended headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga Luan, HiFiMAN Ananda, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, HiFiMAN Arya, Audeze LCD-X, Dan Clark Audio Noire XO
& Yet & Yet – Do Make Say Think
I could have put any album from this group’s discography on this list, but if I had to choose one, it would be this. When you mix post-rock conventions with jazzy phrasing, it leads to a rich listening experience that is primed to be headphone test tracks. &Yet&Yet has a sense of rhythmic urgency that stacks brass, percussion, and guitars into kinetic arrangements that help highlight a headphone’s speed and transient control. Headphone drivers that have finesse and attack speed will favor the dense, articulate instrumental passages. Upper-midrange control is also key to enjoying snare hits and brass stabs with a prominent body and attack. More relaxed headphones with slower drivers may end up sounding shouty and lacking proper momentum.
Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, Audeze LCD-2, Dan Clark Audio Noire X, Sennheiser HD 800s
Spiderland – Slint
This album is the primordial ooze that spawned tons of rock subgenres, including post-rock. What makes it a consistently great headphone testing album is its bareness. Production is stripped down, combining naturalistic guitars, close-mic’d drums, and unnervingly intimate spoken vocals. If there was ever a collection of tracks that act as an effortless reference for midrange clarity, it would be Spiderland. Headphones with a neutral midrange will sound great here, with realistic drums appearing full and physical. If your headphones are adding tonal gloss, it will make some of the instrumentation feel more artificial. You want to hear snap, as well as the wooden bodies of the guitars. These elements can easily feel hollow with headphones that don’t feature a good midrange presence.
Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Sennheiser HD 800s
The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place – Explosions in the Sky
If you really want to test how well your headphones can handle a classic post-rock crescendo, “The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place” by Explosions in the Sky should be in your playlists. Its delicate guitar tones develop into full-band climaxes that are quite explosive. It’s perfect for assessing how well your headphones communicate scale gracefully without strain. Your headphones should also be able to translate the album’s complex dynamics, as well as demonstrate treble smoothness. They should feel resistant to congestion when listening to this album, best assessed when the instrumentation reaches its emotional peaks. Everything should image well and feel quite big without devolving into a muddy bass or glaring high frequencies.
Recommended headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga Luan, HiFiMAN Ananda, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, HiFiMAN Arya, Audeze LCD-X, Dan Clark Audio Noire XO
The Gap – Joan of Arc
Parts of Joan of Arc’s “The Gap” are intentionally jagged and fittingly sparse. These arrangements overlap with denser instrumentation that comes off as jarring, but it’s a good indicator of whether or not your headphones can handle more unconventional production techniques. Your headphones should be able to maintain composure underneath the album’s constant barrage of dynamic shifts. If your headphones can still individualize each instrument within this album’s chaotic mix, especially in terms of vocal accuracy. A wide soundstage with good separation is also key to this album’s enjoyment; otherwise, the mix can appear confusing.
Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Sivga P2 Pro, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, Audeze LCD-2
Mi media naranja – Labradford
This album is full of texture that slowly evolves and hovers just above silence, making it an unforgiving test of noise floor and low-level resolution. The blackness of the background should stand out on headphones with good separation and cavernous depth. Its sustained tones reveal spatial subtlety and smoothness in its microdynamics. These long drones should show no grain, and any driver roughness becomes immediately obvious; great headphones make the album feel hypnotic rather than static.
Recommended headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990, Grado SR225, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga Luan, HiFiMAN Ananda, Sennheiser HD 650, Grado Hemp, Meze 105 Silva, Meze 109 Pro, HiFiMAN Arya, Audeze LCD-X, Dan Clark Audio Noire XO
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