Back by popular demand, Tracking the Trends picks up five new bands for discussion. If you think you had left no stone in the US instrumental scene unturned, think again. Today we bring you a taste of Souvenir's Young America, Opion Somnium, Strangers Die Everyday, Ostinato, and East of the Wall. That's one new band for every day of the week.

Bands like Souvenir's Young America provide for a real treat in the instrumental genre. When most bands can be lumped into one of three categories, that being trite orchestral based rock, cliched post-rock, or predictable metal influenced guitar-rock, Souvenir's Young America instead follows in the steps of Silencio and Dysrhythmia in its total disrespect for established norms and structures. Although the band has room for improvement, conceptually this Virginian trio is way ahead of the pack. Souvenir's Young America is its forty minute debut album, which packs quite a punch as it is loaded with sludge-like guitar rock, twangy country riffs, ominous ambience, dazzling synths, and then bombastic drumming to push it over the top. All of the aforementioned is then stripped of most of its melodic properties, which produces quite a jarring effect. This approach is similar to the method employed by Tarantula A.D., but Souvenir's Young America takes the more epic, glamorous road where the theatrics of the aforementioned are swapped for in-your-face metallic breakdowns. "Letters From the Earth" is the most apparent example of this, showcasing many of the band's strong points and laying off the weaker aspects of the band that may be found elsewhere in the album. "Sagan's Equation" is another impressive track, slowly evolving ambient textures into dissonant sounds and a fury of guitar rock. When the band reaches out for its longer compositions, "Thirteen for Centaurus" and "Twilight of the Streams (What the Thunder God Said)," it is prone to get a bit lost and the executions are not as swift and convincing as they are on the shorter tracks. However, the ambition is clearly there and with a seemingly limitless potential Souvenir's Young America will be a force to be reckoned with once it has perfected its sound.

The main complaint I hear about this band is that the songs of Souvenir's Young America aren't as cohesive as they could be as the band loosely ties together any transition between the tracks, if any. This is a valid point, but as many debut offerings are flawed by the disrupted flow of tracks written over a several year period, Souvenir's Young America is no exception. Currently the band is planning to lay down some new tracks over the summer which should see a release in 2007. All signs indicate that this is one to put on the “want list.”

2004 was definitely the year where everyone should have picked up Opion Somnium, but unfortunately they fell through the cracks. The year featured a re-release of the band's 2002 effort Ascend and Descend with Feathers in Hand, as well as the release of Side Projects: Operae Spererae/Opus Somniferous. Opion Somnium is an evolving musical project located in the depths of New Mexico (for the time being -- the band is currently in the process of relocating to Europe). The members of the project come and go, but the vision remains the same -- dark, moody composition that allow the emotions to flow freely from the musicians fingertips. With a symphonic layers of ambiance and apocalyptic tones drug out through a thundering piano and haunting strings, the band is like the dejected brother of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, at least on Ascend and Descend with Feathers in Hand. The side projects disc is a bit more optimistic. The opening tune "Will Our Eyes Ever See a New Day," is one of the band's stronger songs, balancing strings and horns around a dancing piano tune. Side Projects: Operae Spererae/Opus Somniferous drops most of the apocalyptic feel and instead brings it a bit closer to the heavens and thus recalls a feeling of Sigur Ros. Unfortunately this disc isn't as heavy with the ambience, but inevitably that helps Opion Somnium separate themselves from the Icelandic powerhouse, which I'm sure is more than fine by them. In the end Opion Somnium is a contemplative band who tends to utilize its art more for deconstructive purposes than anything else. This isn’t a band to put on and let the good times roll; rather, Opion Somnium is more able to lend itself to lucid moments and states of relaxation and deep reflection.

Stateside, Opion Somnium has a pretty unique sound going on. There may be resemblances to bands like Rachel's, Hammock, or Eluvium, so fans of those artists may find crossover appeal, but the band isn’t necessarily a member of the neo-classical movement, it just so happens to employ similar techniques. Opion Somnium has a really refreshing sound and the music is a flavorful taste of styles that often aren't incorporated into the instrumental genre. I’m not quite sure what more you could ask from a band.

Utah's Strangers Die Every Day is the most recent addition to the This Generation Tapes lineup, which dazzled in 2005 with releases from Subtract by Two and Crombie. This Generation Tapes will be releasing the band's first proper release this year, after Strangers Die Every day impressed with its 2005 self-released They Have Already Defeated Us At What We Know Best. So what can you expect from this blooming band? How about pop-oriented orchestral/chamber rock akin to Bright Red Paper or Cue. There is a sense of urgency in They Have Already Defeated Us... that carries throughout the album and allows it to get away with the theatrics in songs such as "The Romanticism of Things". Whether it be due to poor recording or just the band's preference for a gritty sound, They Have Defeated Us... is a bit rough -- not the polished, shiny piece of art you'd expect in the genre and received from the aforementioned artists. The music cracks, the violin screeches, and the bass undercuts the music in some spaces, but on the whole it does give it a very warm, homey feel. As for the music itself, Strangers Die Every Day shows that it’s probably one of the better musicians to succeed at infusing rock into the chamber rock genre. In fact, Cue may be the only band I've heard that's done it better, but whereas Cue's music is very upbeat and hopeful, Strangers Die Every Day nail it on the head with the obviously bleak message and atmosphere. The music lurches forward, chillingly recounting a haunting story that has no positive ending in sight. You get what you pay for, and with Strangers Die Every day, it is not a happy ride.

I'm very curious to see where This Generation Tapes goes with this band. As I've been happy with the work this label has done before, as well as my appreciation for the music made by Strangers Die Every Day, I'm hoping TGT is able to extract the positive qualities of this band and really allow them to demonstrate the talent at work behind They Have Already Defeated Us At What We Know Best. It would be a shame to let the band waste it's talent on a self-indulgent excursion, but I do believe much different plans are in store for Strangers Die Every Day.

Chasing the Form is the third album from Ostinato, a Virginian trio that specializes in stoner-rock. Although much of the time the band stands firmly on instrumental ground, occasionally they explore some dreamy vocals. Ostinato has never been one for epic compositions, instead the band is content to wear away at the listener with repetitive drones and heavy bass riffs that may just tear the ears apart. There's much more excitement to Ostinato than just sheer force, mind you. Although they have a good handle on the stoner-rock gig, the guitar-rock approach sees them branching out more than you're typical stoner-rock band. The cacophonous passages often lend themselves to tranquil moments of shimmering guitars and slick drumming, something you wouldn't see from the likes of Pelican or Russian Circles. "Untitled" also shows off some string work, thereby distancing itself from much of the previous head banging work on tracks like "Goal of All Believers," "Monkey Gestures," and "Antiaircraft." Indeed, as Chasing the Form retreats further and further into the album Ostinato becomes much more of an interesting band. "Between the Years" is a serene passage of soft instrumentation, and "Volant" has the best melodies on the album. As such, Ostinato kind of leaves you wishing it had explored more of the music found on the latter end of the album and had spent less time with the stoner-rock influence.

A bit out of the ordinary, Ostinato first released its album via Exile on Mainstreet in Europe and followed it up with a European tour. Now back in the states, expect to see the band attacking the east coast some time soon. This is highly recommended for fans of Red Sparrows, as well as fans of Pelican and Russian Cricles who could stand the band to tone it down a bit.

As the most creative band to ever come out of New Jersey, The Postman Syndrome had a reputation that long preceded them with many of its die-hard fans and critics, though the band rarely provided any reason to doubt its endless talent. After the band broke up, it resurfaced under the new moniker Day Without Dawn, which seems to be the main focus of the band. Much of the band's instrumental meanderings are gone from this new outfit, but luckily they also introduced East of the Wall, a side project of sorts that explores that gap missing in Day Without Dawn. East of the Wall released a 4 track EP this year, which spans roughly half an hour of music and really brings things back to basics. You don't have to listen to too many instrumental bands today to notice that much of the genre is cluttered with "cool sounds", which include but are not limited to: pedals, violins, pianos, trumpets, saxophones, cellos, saws, electronic "noises", synths, and lots of feedback. Given enough instruments and enough production time, it's likely that anyone can conjure up an album that sounds "cool." Even many of the "guitar-rock" bands spend more time pressing pedals and shredding the guitar than they do actually working with chord progressions. East of the Wall isn't aiming for that ... at all. They don't want to sound like Explosions in the Sky, and they don't want to sound like Mogwai, and they don't want to sound like Pelican, and they don't want to sound like Isis, and they really don't want to sound like The Postman Syndrome. Instead East of the Wall wants to sound like East of the Wall, and East of the Wall doesn't care for song titles. "II" and "IIII" are likely to be the songs that grab the listener's attention through its intense breakdowns, whereas "I" and "III" levitate more on the calmer, sometimes acoustic side of things. A band like East of the Wall really makes you take a hard look at the way it writes its music and not the sound that its music makes. And after you've had that experience you're likely to question the value of the music you normally listen to.

Day Without Dawn is currently touring the US with Rosetta, so East of the Wall is taking a backseat to the main project. As long as it remains that way you can expect to see little of the band outside of New Jersey and a release here and there. Hopefully it makes you rethink a thing or two about the instrumental genre.