The Math-Rock House Band – The Math-Rock House Band

The Music

The Words

The only way I can make sense of this obscure new band’s name is as an act of protest against The Physics House Band’s overwhelming adoration amongst math rock fan groups. While I think they are pretty good, they aren’t really a math rock band. Enter The Math-Rock House Band and their self-titled debut. To add insult to injury, the Chicago band adopts a similar approach to the Brighton jazz rock trio, but put due emphasis on odd time signatures. Unfortunately, not all and everything is played in uneven timings, and they strike a tasteful equilibrium … Read more

The Central – Sick and Dying

The Music

The Words

Wisconsin’s The Central totally killed it, back in 2016, with their album Discovery of a Rat. Without any foretelling, they released Sick and Dying on Valentine’s Day. This EP is a nice follow-up to Discovery of a Rat. Its mathy post-hardcore is still here and still sounds fresh, perhaps because of a few new changes and additions. First of all, their sound seems to have put on some weight, making it closer to mathcore than it was on their previous effort. Secondly, I feel that there are more atmospheric moments; we could call them … Read more

Crno dete – Neponovljivo

The experimental surf rock duo Crno dete, from Serbia, just released their latest opus: the massive Neponovljivo album. This set is an improvised performance that goes on for about forty minutes; uncut, unedited, and unrepeatable. It has been divided into eight tracks, but the truly uncut version is available as a forty-three-minute single track. The music resembles experimental math rock and post-rock, but the utter flood of reverb on the guitars make me think of surf rock more than anything else, really. From the moment you press play, the guitars and the drums catawompously barge in and don’t stop … Read more

Çub – Musique actuelle

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

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.

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