Mini-Reviews LX

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100% chevalier is a French math rock trio with a strong emphasis on funk and the danceability of their music. Perhaps straightforward at first glance, EP-ÉE is actually filled with polymetres and groove. Despite being released in 2015, the EP feels fresh in today’s math rock scene, and we’re looking forward to the band’s next endeavour.
Modulate is Escher‘s last take on progressive metalcore. The album is rather interesting with its dissonances, its songs’ structures, and its incorporation of jazz. It’s hard to say how much jazz influenced the heavier parts, but the songs often present a softer, jazzier … Read more

Mini-Reviews LIX

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Today, Bandcamp is donating all its profits to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and artists are joining the movement as well. Heavy Blog Is Heavy even put up a list of the best albums to buy, today. In conjunction, here’s nine more fresh and praiseworthy releases from our point of view!
Lukas Mantel is a Swiss drummer and percussionist, and he released Kolam korvai this week. A korvai is a percussions-only, mathematically interesting composition from South India. The EP thus comprises eighteen short tracks that are musically and technically impressive yet flow naturally – as a … Read more

Mini-Reviews LVIII

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Why, yes! That is indeed a new format for our mini-reviews section! A three by three collage is, it proves, more convenient to make, and more content for you! This also means that our posts will come one eighth farther apart, but I don’t think that this will be a huge negative, in your lives.
We talked about Sunless, about a year ago, and praised their Demo 2016, which was more than promising. Well, the fruit has come to maturation and is ready to be picked. The band’s debut album, Urraca, is coming out on February twenty-fourth. … Read more

Monthly Recommendations: January 2017

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‘Utopianisti is a Finn one-man experimental big band project – yes, such a thing exists, apparently -, that is releasing Brutopianisti on January first. Usually more in the progressive rock and metal genres, Markus Pajakkala’s experiment now delves in the worlds of avant-garde metal and grindcore, with this album. Immense props must be given to Markus for writing and playing a thirty-minute album with drums, bass clarinet, soprano sax, xylophone, flutes, and ‘additional vocals’, with only a few guests, mostly for singing. I won’t go into too much detail here, as Dillon, who showed me this album, expressed the desire … Read more

Mini-Reviews LVII

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Experimental math rock is such a fertile ground, and this time it’s U Sco‘s turn to reap the fields, with Tuskflower, the band’s third album, which came out last September. The six tracks – from ‘O’ to ‘OOOOOO’ – fill the fifty minutes at hand with very cool compositions leaning on the noise and kraut rock genres, while constantly reaffirming their math roots by way of odd time signatures. Most of what you’ll hear comes from improvisations, one-takes, and little overdubs.
Aican is a Russian instrumental progressive rock band, and they’ve released Don’t Go Deep into the ForestRead more