That’s right, it’s finally here – our ninth compilation: IX. U.S. East Coast // Midwest. It’s a veritable colossus of talent featuring heavy hitters like Bangladeafy, Invalids, Cloutchaser, and Drill for Absentee just to name a few, so before you do anything else, check it out here.
Allegedly it’s only been a year and a half since VIII. West Coast // Pacific Northwest, but it feels like multiple years have passed with everything that’s happened in the world – we wanted this one out a lot sooner, and it’s been in our thoughts constantly, but it’s just been a wild time for everyone. It never really felt right, with timelines for artists getting pushed around, and then the same thing happening for us as we try to coordinate. That being said, whether it’s anti-depressants, caffeine, or divine timing, we found a window to make it work. We even threw in more of those weird transition tracks as a treat, but this time we had some help.
Maybe the stars will align enough to do some anniversary editions in the coming years with new tracks, remixes, etc. More on that in a few months – in the meantime, let’s talk about the ones we’ve got in front of us, because they’re pretty damn good.
1. Job Creators – “Waverunner” (Boston, MA)
Special shoutout to Tim from Job Creators for lending some ambience and nature noise to the Travelogue tracks, without him the concepts would not have materialized as fast as they did. We even used the beginning of “Waverunner” to build the base (and bass) for the intro, “Travelogue #1.”
Check out their Bandcamp here.
2. Double Mint Dragon – “Hot Shave” (Brooklyn, NY)
Although the song’s title has us fighting intrusive thoughts, DMD has a way with catchy yet odd riffs that are hard to resist, and they put out their first record last year.
Check out their debut on Bandcamp here.
3. Will Ashby – “Memory Shuffle” (Brooklyn, NY)
William Ashby has been on our radar for a long time, way before his debut Infinite Horizons put us in a surrealistic funk last year. If you like his solo stuff, definitely try his OG project Graphic World as well.
Check out his Bandcamp here.
4. Approaching Gold – “Seven Things” (Rochester, NY)
This emo throwback has some keys in it that transport listeners to the early 2000’s indie scene, but “Seven Things” gets pretty weird with an unhinged, progressive break.
Check out their latest record Gloaming on Bandcamp here.
5. Antinomie – “Gràve” (New York, NY)
Antinomie just released a debut that downright confounded us, but we couldn’t get enough. It’s a journey that’s far more theatrical than cinematic, and “Gràve” offers a decent taste of the madness.
Check out their debut Pareidolia here.
6. Fox Lake – “The Incredible Journey”
These technically Manitoban homies made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, being the chance to put out an unreleased track of theirs for the compilation – it’s a shade more post-hardcore to it than their previous outings, so we could understand it would stand out against some of their other stuff, but the guys have yet to disappoint.
Check out More Friends Than Fans, a 4-way split that features the band, here.
7. Bangladeafy – “Earn Your Colors” (New York, NY)
New York’s Bangladeafy changed things up a bit with their latest album Vultures, stripping things back to reveal a weirdly progressive and noisy sound but using a more abrasive, dystopian palette.
Check out the rest of Vultures here.
8. Horse Torso – “Trivial in Hindsight” (Brooklyn, NY)
For many years now, Horse Torso have demonstrated an uncanny ability to twist and toy with jazz until it reaches a critical mass somewhere between mathematic prowess and animalistic chaos.
Check out more from the band here.
9. Delko – “After Party” (Providence, RI)
So far we’ve only heard a couple of bands out of Rhode Island, but Delko makes for a solid case for the scene with their sinewy, bouncy, Minus the Bear-y single “After Party.
Check out their Bandcamp here.
10. Narrow/Arrow – “Ryan Knows Harris” (Mansfield, OH)
Narrow/Arrow’s Asbestos Weak Hood is still one of our favorite modern midwestern emo records, and we love how “Ryan Knows Harris” shows off a different side of them while still feeling like an N/A song.
Check out More Friends Than Fans, a 4-way split that features the band, here.
11. Of Two Minds – “At A Distance” (Colombus, OH)
The Columbus math rockers (or jath rockers, as we started calling them back in the day combining ‘math’ and ‘jazz’) put this single out in 2022, and they’ve been making moves constantly since then. They just put out Transition 002: Balance, which showed off a different dynamic for the band to chill results.
Check out more from the band here.
12. Science Penguin – “Octopus Punch” (Germantown, MD)
Science Penguin’s sophomore record Why Am I Like This showed off a uniquely introspective brand of prog-y guitar jams that separated them from acts like Scale the Summit and Intervals and closer to things like Alpha Male Tea Party and Town Portal.
Check it out here.
13. Mochitsuki – “Timesheep” (Boston, MA)
This exceptionally dense tapestry of loops and double-timed samples came as a surprise late in the year in 2023. We still haven’t heard any more from the project, but we imagine it would take a long time to write this stuff out, let alone get it recorded.
Check out more from them here.
14. Professor Caffeine and The Insecurities – “That’s A Chunky” (Boston, MA)
Beneath this absolute superhero of a band name is actually a pretty super band as well. We’re not sure if they wear capes, but they say not all heroes do – either way, this chunky nug of power prog is sure to save your day.
Check out their wicked self-titled record here.
15. We Broke the Weather – “Marionette” (Somerville, MA)
This classy outfit from Somerville blew our minds in 2022 with their initial single “Rot King” and the record that followed. The band’s latest record, Restart Game pulls in heavier influences this time around, from noise rock and stoner rock to grunge and god knows what else. You can definitely hear the evolution in “Marionette,” the song featured on the comp, but it’s a mere slice of the fun that awaits.
Check out the rest of the album here.
16. Fat Randy – “Muskrat” (Boston, MA)
Fat Randy’s last record was called Slow, Incremental Change, and over the course of the album, indeed it did grow heavier, larger, fatter… and it appears things never really stopped. It’s 2022 now, and the towering, barely-stable intensity of Hard Randy: Still Fat veers closer to mathcore than ever before.
Get whomped at their Bandcamp here.
17. Charger Port – “Hey Is For Horses” (Richmond, VA)
Hunter Johnson’s solo output has taken many forms, and 2021’s Megaphone Underwater turned the heads of noise enthusiasts everywhere with riotous beds of samples and sound. However, the project’s latest split with Serling, I Don’t Watch Sports Anymore marks a totally different, but equally exciting approach.
Check out the split on Bandcamp here.
18. Crush Curl – “Slice Ripper” (Pittsburgh, PA)
The band’s debut Live From Double Round features a combo of math rock, post-punk, and dark wave that’s pretty intriguing. It almost has us thinking more about OST’s than albums and records, but there’s a definite jammy-ness to it you’re sure to appreciate.
Check out their EP on Bandcamp here.
19. Drill for Absentee – “This Process Will Make Chicago Wave Its Little Hand” – (Philadelphia, PA)
We can’t even believe DFA is on here, let alone a Bob Weston remastered version of their classic self-titled opener. We can’t say for certain but this is just one of those songs that burns like a black candle, remastered or not – it feels like a real magic is there, so you better pre-order that new record, or else!
Pre-order the vinyl for the remastered Circle Music, featuring unreleased music as well, here.
20. Catholics “Variations on A Rigid Musical Theme” (Charleston, SC)
Charleston’s beloved Catholics are back, and to celebrate they’ve blessed the compilation with a new single. It’s got that signature spring in their step, with blissful time-slides, tempo changes, and roller-coaster fills that’ll have you frolicking in your favorite mental meadows in no time, wishing for simpler times. It’s also the band’s first foray with their new lineup – sounding great, boys!
Check out more from the band here.
21. Cloutchaser – “Time Cigs” (North Carolina)
One of the baddest and boldest acts in math rock, Cloutchaser is actually old friends with your mum and just wanted to pop in and remind you that your bedtime is half an hour earlier this evening. For no particular reason.
Ignore the noises coming from the bedroom and check out the band’s latest album, Metallica, here.
22. Inoculous – “Inspo Song” (Chicago, IL)
Demitri Wolfe is one of the hardest working people in math rock, not just with Inoculous but Snooze and Seafloor Cinema as well. It’s probably hard to find time for your own projects when you’re helping everyone else out, but we hope it happens soon because “Inspo Song” rips.
Check out more Inoculous here.
23. Lower Automation – “Information Entrepreneurs and Their Lipsynching Choirs” (Illinois)
These noisy math rock bunkers are a shot of pure adrenaline, often featuring bizarrely textured guitars and screeching, hellishly urgent vocals. Their latest EP Welcome to My Deathbed ups the ante and gets even weirder, but “Information Entrepreneurs and Their Lipsynching Choirs” from their last album is a crazy snapshot of the band’s overall intensity.
Check out the band’s discography here.
24. Charmed Form – “BCE” (Chicago, IL)
Many readers will remember Space Blood, the Chicago noise rock band featuring our contributor William Covert on drums. Well, this band is pretty much completely different from them, but also features William on drums as the trio bashes their way through an amalgam of mathematic post-hardcore and old-school death metal.
Check out their Bandcamp here.
25. Imelda Marcos – “Convulsive” (Chicago, IL)
Imelda Marcos is coming up fast with their firmly abrasive yet arthouse-friendly grip on experimental heavy music. Up until we checked out Agita in full this year and worked our way back, we’d never heard a full record of theirs all the way through, but every time we heard a song of theirs it sounded different, so we didn’t know what to expect when we reached out, but we couldn’t be happier to help them show off the vitriolic, killer bee sputter of “Convulsive ESP.”
26. Amskray – “In the Garden” – (New Jersey)
This indie prog band from New Jersey dropped their debut earlier this year, which showed off an impressive range and overall maturity that normally takes bands years to develop. The band can be really catchy as well, but they’re rarely simple, which again, is a hard balance to strike, so we highly recommend checking out the whole thing.
Check out Die Happy in full here.
27. Invalids – “Pareidolia” (New Jersey)
While we’re sure it’s a lot of work, Invalids have always thrown down such incredible musicianship that they make it all look easy, if not downright effortless. But tracks like “Pareidolia” show you that there is indeed, a huge amount of effort that goes into these songs, and much of it is emotional. It’s not just a setup for sick parts – it’s a great song.
Bandcamp Link:
28. Youth League – “Barstool” (Durham, NC)
It had been several years since we heard from Youth League at the point they started teasing their 2022 comeback Somehow Those Were Days, which ended being a highlight of the year. The time was well spent growing up, and you can hear it plainly on tracks like the emotional closer “Barstool.”
Check out the rest of Somehow Those Were Days here.
29. Elders – “The World (feat. Juanchi of Zeta and Codefendants)” (Davie, FL)
Elders have always had this sci-fi veneer to their albums, which we talked a while ago about in an interview. But their unabashedly Floridian vibes keep things fresh, provoking fresh takes on well-proven concepts with tracks like “The World” and “Boy George Lopez.”
Check out 2022’s EP 2 here.
30. Legos – “Irreversibility Boundaries” (Orlando, FL)
This weird and wavy bop has stayed in rotation since its release in 2021, even after its sequel Lucerne came out the following year. There’s just something uniquely joyful and experimental with the way this one morphs from dance to prog to synth pop and all these other things, best exemplified perhaps by banger “Irreversibility Boundaries.”
Check out both Legos records here.
31. Medians – “Poland is Poland, Baby” (Tallahassee, FL)
Closing things out is “Poland is Poland, Baby,” a previously unreleased whopper from Tallahassee four-piece Medians, whose latest EP Music for Bats, Frogs, and Other Imaginary Friends is also killer.
Make sure you spell Medians correctly if you search for them, but you can just go to their Bandcamp here.