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
Tag Archives: math rock
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
Not from Here – Not from Here
The Minnesota trio Not from Here puts a twist on the regular mathcore formula: the expected bass guitar is here replaced by a cello. This alternative lineup gives way to an interesting contemporary classical facet to the band’s music, most strikingly on their kétjegyű szók, “Ab”, “De”, and “Ex”, while being underlying in all the other tracks. Speaking of which, the songs on their self-titled sophomore release range from caustic mathcore to post-hardcore, with drafts of polyrhythmic sludge – the ending of “Should Certain Conditions Arise” –, drone metal, and progressive metal. It’s all instrumental, giving the music ample … Read more
Kurws – Alarm
Kurws are a peculiar entity. Alarm is their most recent release, and is almost embarrassingly good. “Nagonka” readily baffles you with its odd polyrhythmic bouncing groove accompanied by saxophone and recording artefacts left in. It’s composition aimed at emulating free improvisation, or is it? It doesn’t matter, the result is the same: Alarm is disconcerting and wild! The Polish quartet certainly continues to experiment with music and push themselves on the brink of cohesion. Thanks to analog tape recording, the texture of the sound is at times very grainy, giving even more consistency to the aural soup we’re served, which, … Read more
An Art as Catharsis Special: Opium Eater, Raven, Seims & Slowly Building Weapons
Australia has become one of my favourite places in the world to look out for new and exciting bands. From alien overlords such as Portal to fresh faces of progressive metal like Caligula’s Horse, there is a pallet of sounds to be found on the Lucky Country. However, there is a special label that has gained recognition for finding and delivering some of the most unique albums I’ve heard in recent years: Art as Catharsis.
Psychedelic drone music with eastern influences (Ḥashshāshīn), John Zorn worship jazzgrind (Kurushimi (苦しみ)) or experimental hardcore madness (Tired Minds), Art as Catharsis has … Read more