Cloudkicker is the solo project of Columbus, Ohio-based guitarist Ben Sharp, a commercial airline pilot who has released instrumental post-metal and djent music under that alias since 2007. Sharp composes, records, and engineers everything himself, and has distributed all releases as pay-what-you-want downloads under Creative Commons licensing, amassing an unusually large following for a DIY studio project. His breakthrough album Beacons arrived in 2010, and a short touring run in 2014 with Intronaut as a backing band marked his only live performances.

Akron, Ohio instrumental post-rock and post-metal band If These Trees Could Talk formed in 2005, built around the Kelly brothers and a three-guitar lineup that emphasizes layered melodic density and dynamic range. Their discography spans three full-length albums — Above the Earth, Below the Sky (2009), Red Forest (2012), and The Bones of a Dying World (2016), the last released through Metal Blade Records — with all prior releases subsequently reissued by that label. The band's heavier post-metal leanings distinguish them within a genre often dominated by more delicate approaches.