Çub is the unlikely collaborative project between experimental math rockers Ça and dub techno artist Submarine FM. As a spinoff of Ça, it had great shoes to fill in my eyes, and the dub aspect only made things more intriguing. The collaboration actually turned out pretty amazingly well! You still find the core of Ça – whacky off-kilter and odd-time riffs supplemented with onomatopoeic vocal absurdities –, but you now find a side of electronic music that’s an uncanny match, but the two marry perfectly. This lycée-themed album gives us plenty of lessons about life and music in … Read more
Tag Archives: experimental math rock
Aiming for Enrike – Las Napalmas
This Norwegian experimental math rock duo is about as colourful as the cover art for their latest album, Las Napalmas. Released in late October, the 34-minute album is a playground for effect pedals on the part of Simen Følstad Nilsen on guitars, and for odd rhythms from Tobias Ørnes Andersen’s drumkit. The result is an energetic, almost punkish vibe that emanates from the singing strings and beating drums. If you’re into the likes of Yowie, or would like a more experimental The Physics House Band, look no further than Aiming for Enrike.
Monotrope – Unifying Receiver
Monotrope is an experimental progressive rock quartet from multiple American states, and they’ll be releasing their debut album, Unifying Receiver, on 10 November. The avant-rock release is entirely instrumental, and they take all the room they have available to make an interesting album. It’s full of diverse influences that coalesce into something that’s somewhere between post-metal and experimental math rock. Unifying Receiver is more contemplative than demonstrative – although there’s a soft balance between both aspects of the genre –, so it’s not something that will put you in awe at every turn, but the songs are cunningly crafted … Read more
EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Stream Ground Patrol’s Mathematical Debut Album, Drift
Oh, Art as Catharsis, it’s not the first time we praise you and undress our hearts to your fascinating gift for finding jaw-dropping new music from the island-continent of Australia. We can continue to deny we are total fanboys by arguing that it’s the first time we do so this month, but we know everybody sees through us and the lies we tell ourselves. Well, until Lachlan and AAC starts to disappoint us, we will continue to praise the label’s merits and its amazing roster. This time, it’s an Australian-American band: Sydney’s and New York’s Ground … Read more
Marateck – Time Is Over
We recently discussed a band that takes math rock to the extremes in terms of technical skills, to the detriment of the ‘math’ aspect, but here’s a band that does the opposite. Marateck don’t play thirty-second notes and they don’t quickly arpeggiate extended chords, but they ingeniously integrate polyrhythmics and polymetrics into often odd-time signature compositions. This is more evidently displayed on their debut album, Time Is Over, which was released on July eleventh. Of course, playing such counter-intuitive timings and measure subdivisions is a technical feat in itself, but it unfortunately garners much less attention than playing … Read more