Review : ni – Les Insurgés De Romilly

French instrumental math-rockers ni have already lobbed at us (across the Atlantic), two great, albeit short, releases: the two eponymous EPs of 2010 and 2012. This year, for the full release, the name ni just wasn’t enough. Les Insurgés De Romilly is a full-length album, clocking at around 40 minutes; 40 minutes of intense mathy prog-goodness!

ni is about intense, mathematical, challenging yet light-hearted music. With Les Insurgés De Romilly, they have achieved an otherworldly balance of dissonant harmonies, catchy odd-time grooves, and psychedelic, sometimes schizophrenic, passages. The voices, too, are in some sort of grey area that will … Read more

Review: Upsilon Acrux – Sun Square Dialect

True math! Upsilon Acrux is one of these bands that really mesmerize you, on every listen. Their music is so dense and complex, both harmonically and rhythmically, that it’s difficult to listen to their album, Sun Square Dialect, as background music, while doing other tasks. You might find yourselves trying to keep track of the changing time signatures or just trying to figure out what’s happening, and how it got there! It’s truly music for the brain.

Using two drummers has many advantages and disadvantages, the formers being for the listener, and the latters being more technical, and for … Read more

Review: Tigran Hamasyan – Mockroot

The rhythm section on Mockroot: (from left to right) Sam Minaie (bass), Tigran Hamasyan, and Arthur Hnatek (drums)  CREDIT: Maeve Stam

The rhythm section on Mockroot (from left to right), Sam Minaie (bass), Tigran Hamasyan, and Arthur Hnatek (drums)
CREDIT: Maeve Stam

Being a musical genius is hard. Not in the, “Oh, I’m a musical genius, I’m so oppressed, pity me” sense, but rather in the sense that one must live up to the expectations one has created. This is of course not a problem limited to the realm of music; all artists must ultimately struggle with it. If an artist has released material before, their new work is inevitably, and necessarily, put into a particular context. One must walk a … Read more

Review: At War With Self – Circadian Rhythm Disorder

At War With Self is a progressive rock/jazz fusion endeavour with Marco Minnemann and Glenn Snelwar. At first, it makes me think of the Pitts Minnemann project’s 2L82B Normal, probably because Marco’s drumming is really a signature sound. There is a lot of work put into this album, and it truly pays off, for your listening pleasure

Marco Minnemann is widely regarded as one beast of a drummer, after all he was pretty much close second on Dream Theater’s drum auditions, and he’s participated in a vastitude of musical projects: Paul Gilbert, Necrophagist, The Aristocrats, and multiple other ones. Glenn … Read more