100 great math rock albums you never heard

[Steve F.]

I knew 14 and I released two of the 14, but I was surprised how many I didn’t know and a random sampling of a few I didn’t know was very good.

http://feckingbahamas.com/100-great-...ve-never-heard

[pmrviana]

Wow, seeing Patife Band as the first entry was a big surprise!

Enviado de meu SM-J700M usando o Tapatalk

[Scrotum Scissor]

I knew 14 and I released two of the 14, but I was surprised how many I didn’t know

Hell, I barely knew of 22 of them, of which I've heard snippets of maybe 17-18 but of which I've heard the full album in only 6 or 7 instances. A blast, and a pleasure to see there's still interest in actual research into areas of rock that even many usually informed folks often didn't know existed. GREAT to see mention of names such as Three Piece Combo, Zevious and O! The Joy, and there's even a global slant to their perspective here.

I guess, compared to these, the likes of Turing Machine, Sleeping People, Yowie, Marnie Stern, Upsilon Acrux, Don Cab et al. are superstars of the game!

[spacefreak]

I've only listened to 5 of them, but anyway, the math stuff ain't my game, especially its noisier aspect.

[mx20]

I've only glanced at the first 25 so far, but I do remember a handful. Porn Orchard was a great band, but not from Greece, from the OTHER Athens! Wondering if other Athens, GA "math" bands of my youth make the list, too? Guess I'll have to click the NEXT button to search for Landspeeder, Waylaid, Magneto, Daddy Upright and others I'm forgetting. These bands had really good players in them, but I don't really miss the claustrophobic sounds of the early 90s very much with hindsight.

[Steve F.]

I guess, compared to these, the likes of Turing Machine, Sleeping People, Yowie, Marnie Stern, Upsilon Acrux, Don Cab et al. are superstars of the game!

The most popular unpopular kids!

[Steve F.]

That Kleg record is one I've had for so long that I always liked it, but I am not certain that for the 1st while that I owned it, that I was aware that there was a 'thing' called math-rock to 'file it under'....

[arturs]

Yet another entire genre I know next to nothing about, but one that seems worth exploring! So far, off the list, I have particularly enjoyed "Ent".

[Scrotum Scissor]

That Kleg record is one I've had for so long that I always liked it, but I am not certain that for the 1st while that I owned it, that I was aware that there was a 'thing' called math-rock to 'file it under'....

The term was coined later on, as I remember. It certainly wan't around when bands like NoMeansNo, Slint, Cheer-Accident, Dazzling Killmen, Uzeda, Shellac, Colossamite and others started to explore some shared principles. Don Cab became masters because theirs was the sound of hardcore/thrash-infusion with something hitherto unknown to that audience, i.e. the trace of then-taboo 70s progressive rock - and once you heard Don Cab you simply couldn't stay "neutral" to the immense power of that concoction. A band who recorded all of their stuff live in the studio and with a sense of force which would have blown 4/5 of their own influences right out of the water.

Of course, today the mathrock tag is stuck on both ultra-formalist endeavours like Grand Ulena and Cheval de Frise as well as highly melodic, sophisticated vocal pop/rock groups such as Tera Melos and Pattern Is Movement. One could study the organic development of "genre" just by looking from the side in realtime.

[Steve F.]

Yet another entire genre I know next to nothing about, but one that seems worth exploring! So far, off the list, I have particularly enjoyed "Ent".

There's some good stuff on this list, although it is some of the lesser known names on this list.

Listen to this for one of / the best known names of the genre, who used to play in front of a LOT of people and got a lot of attention for a very, very complex music during 'punk times'.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ The first decidedly "mathrock" album I bought on release, and still as defining to that style as In the Court was to "symphonic" rock. But you really need to hear DC's music through serious stereo to get the detail, the nuance and the sheer insanity of their intensity. Damon Che remains truly one of the greatest rock drummers I ever heard, but the coordination of the guitars has to be experienced to be believed. Don Caballero II, What Burns and American Don are all indispensable.

[miamiscot]

I'm just excited because 31Knots made the list. One of my all-time favorite bands!!!

[Rick L.]

Many I have not heard of here. I am also glad to see 31Knots listed. Great band. I was lucky enough to see them on their Talk Like Blood tour. Killer performance. Their drummer also played on the Crime in Choir album The Hoop. A band that should appeal to some folks here. It Was High Time to Escape and Talk Like Blood are some other cool 31Knots albums. I have the Volta do Mar album. If there is a "Bands with two bass players" thread here, you could add them to that.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Leaving work in 5 mins, destined for mathrocky whisky-weekend. l'll be digging out all the fat for presentation and preservation. Ahleuchatistas, Sajjanu!, Inzinzac, With Eyes Abstract, Upsilons, Zevious, Scurvy, Bellini, Transatlantic, Don Cab, The Hosemobile, Chance;Risiko, Stats, Grand Ulena... Wait!

[Steve F.]

I'm just excited because 31Knots made the list. One of my all-time favorite bands!!!

Many I have not heard of here. I am also glad to see 31Knots listed. Great band.

Never even heard of them! Checking them on BC now!

[Camelogue]

I dropped out of advanced math in high school.

[Zappathustra]

I am such an ignorant bastard that I don't even understand clearly what the term math rock stands for. Although I could identify some music as such.

The DC Steve posted is pretty cool btw...

[Steve F.]

I am such an ignorant bastard that I don't even understand clearly what the term math rock stands for. Although I could identify some music as such.

The DC Steve posted is pretty cool btw...

Well - here's an unscientific answer that is a personal answer and probably doesn't actually represent anything that those bands are thinking of, but:

It's guitar bands playing 'rehearsal intensive ROCK music' as difficult in its own way to perform as the NOT guitar bands playing 'rehearsal intensive rock and etc music' that comprised the RIO movement in the late 70s and into the 80s.

In other words, to me, the best of the math rock bands approach the complexity and skill (in a completely different way) as bands like UZero and Henry Cow did 30-40 years earlier. But no bassoons and more suitably able to deal with performing for 25' on a bill with 5 other bands in a dark bar attended by 20-somethings with beards and tattoos. [And that's just the girls. j/k]

Which is where you find the majority of today's truly progressive rock music.

IMO.

Glad you enjoyed Don Cab. I think that that's a great album.

[Steve F.]

Another favorite

[Steve F.]

and even one we did that didn't make their list:



and from tiny oaks rehearsing in their garage, mighty oaks doth grow....

[Zappathustra]

Well - here's an unscientific answer that is a personal answer and probably doesn't actually represent anything that those bands are thinking of, but:

It's guitar bands playing 'rehearsal intensive ROCK music' as difficult in its own way to perform as the NOT guitar bands playing 'rehearsal intensive rock and etc music' that comprised the RIO movement in the late 70s and into the 80s.

In other words, to me, the best of the math rock bands approach the complexity and skill (in a completely different way) as bands like UZero and Henry Cow did 30-40 years earlier. But no bassoons and more suitably able to deal with performing for 25' on a bill with 5 other bands in a dark bar attended by 20-somethings with beards and tattoos. [And that's just the girls. j/k]

Which is where you find the majority of today's truly progressive rock music.

IMO.

Glad you enjoyed Don Cab. I think that that's a great album.

Cheers to you and many thanks

[Rick L.]

That's a pretty solid definition for this "genre". I think they could be less "aggressive" and "guitary" and still count. Even some stuff that gets filed under "post rock", another "how do you define it" genre, can fall under the general umbrella. One thing I think that is generally common among the math rock bands, the non-vocal ones at least, is pattern-based music. Not so much top line melody as patterns, often layered, to create an overall sound. In some cases, like a lot of Don Caballero stuff, the "melody" ends up being the most accented notes in the pattern creating a "top line". That top line is often a pattern in itself, as opposed to a "standard" melodic line.

One band that straddles the math/post rock line for me that I really dig is The Mercury Program. Cool stuff. I actually got to see them on a double bill with Fin Fang Foom at a little club in Boston a few years back. They almost never play out. Fun (and lightly attended!) show.



I saw Behold...the Arctopus on a triple bill with Time of Orchids and Genghis Tron a few years back. Saw Ahleuchatistas at the same club, actually. Sometimes the "weird stuff" rears it's head in Boston.

[progholio]

No mention of the Fucking Champs, Yowie, Hella or Don Caballero on the list? I guess the genre has really grown since i started paying attention, pretty impressive.

[Morpheus]

No mention of the Fucking Champs, Yowie, Hella or Don Caballero on the list? I guess the genre has really grown since i started paying attention, pretty impressive.

Thie list is meant to be lesser known releases, Don Cab and Hella were the biggest names in math rock in the 90s and early 2000s respectively, Fucking Champs had a moment of notoriety (as much as can be expected for math rock), and Yowie, despite being the most obscure of the bands you mentioned did get a fair bit of press for their final album last year.

[Scrotum Scissor]

No mention of the Fucking Champs, Yowie, Hella or Don Caballero on the list?

I mentioned the most of them.