The Days Before Everything (Previously Thrones):
Ambient instrumental post-rock band from Milwaukee, Wi.

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Searchlights:
The music of Searchlights presents a dynamic odyssey. Melancholic guitar lines swell with atmosphere, soft texture gives way to heart stopping bass and propulsive drums — simple drones evolve into artful grooves. Their unexampled style incorporates ethereal vocals, Japanese taiko and layered soundscapes into compositions that are cinematic and invoke strong emotion.
http://www.searchlightsmusic.com/

Rocket Miner:
At their very first live performance, it’s not unbelievable that Chicago band Rocket Miner was mistaken by an attendee for Russian Circles, another bombastic instrumental outfit from the area. Both bands deliver devastating distortion and ear-ringing quakes of sound in a genre that didn’t have many heavyweights as of 20 years ago. But while Russian Circles take darker turns and incorporate metal-esque riffing, Rocket Miner’s songs tend to blossom in slow-motion, like flowers blooming, giving plenty of time to allow the sweeping grandeur to earn its reward.
The band has performed with other sonically-minded Midwestern bands (Secret Colours, Cowboy Indian Bear) as well as those from overseas (Denmark’s The Foreign Resort; Brazil’s Labrinto), and have taken to simply giving away old merch at their shows – a gentlemanly offering for a band who, much like their own songs, are on the brink of something huge.
http://rocketminer.bandcamp.com/