Post-hardcore

Post-hardcore, as the name might suggest, is a musical offshoot of the hardcore punk movement. The earliest appearances of the genre were in Washington, D.C.

Post-hardcore, as the name might suggest, is a musical offshoot of the hardcore punk movement. The earliest appearances of the genre were in Washington, D.C. in the mid- to late-1980s (see the era's releases on Dischord Records, for example), though it was not widely known until the early 1990s. Post-hardcore, as a musical genre, is marked by its precise rhythms and loud guitar-based instrumentation accompanied by vocal performances that are often sung as whispers or screams. The genre has developed a unique balance of dissonance and melody, in part channeling the loud and fast hardcore ethos into more measured, subtle forms of tension and release. It shares with its hardcore roots an intensity and social awareness as well as a DIY punk ethic, yet eschews much of the unfocused rage and loose, sometimes amateurish musicianship of punk rock.

The genre also includes bands with decidedly art rock leanings such as Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Rites of Spring, Moss Icon, Quicksand, At The Drive-In, Glassjaw, After Words, and Hoover.