In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, Billy Pilgrim is a war veteran with a peculiar predicament: he's got himself 'unstuck in time'. WHAT. 'All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist'...
It’s been a whole year since Delta Sleep released their sophomore album Ghost City. Insincere exclamations of how quickly the time passed aside, in this time, Delta Sleep have enjoyed transatlantic success and found themselves no longer having to play the early slots of sweaty math rock all-day festivals confined to the gloomy and oppressive basements of Shoreditch bars.
Adding odd meters and angular riffs to indie rock is like sprinkling chilli on your chocolate ice cream. Conceptually, it seems problematic; they are simply different elements. But, when blended well, it's a delectable and slightly bewildering sensory experience.
Describing the music of Dublin trio Alarmist is a difficult task to indulge in. In the case of their latest release, Sequesterer, genre classification serves only as a mere reference for newcomers: electronic music, jazz, progressive, experimental, post, math rock… you name it. Alarmist pushes boundaries to deliver an unparalleled sonic experience, even for the seasoned melomaniacs
Math rock is a genre of excess, of indulgence. It is a genre that, due to the weight of its complexity and technicality, is susceptible to becoming overwhelming in the average listener. So often it is that the listener becomes lost, cast away from the musical narrative and this, unfortunately, makes the genre susceptible to not being taken seriously...
In this article, we pick apart the historical and descriptive aspects of what defines 'math rock', and explore when and where the iconic sound changed it's style. By doing this, we can attempt to answer a fundamental question: was Soundgarden math rock?
In 2016, Feed Me Jack released their magnum opus Ultra Ego and subsequently called it quits. The album proved to be the most bittersweet of swansongs; it took the ears and hearts of math rockers worldwide. Just as their destinies as a game-changing band became a likelihood, the project came apart. Here was a band that was in touch with the delicate balance between technicality and emotion. And then 'here' turned to 'there'.
Son Step have an eye for the oddball. The Philadelphia quartet's arsenal comprises quirky synthesizer textures, folky vocal harmonies, and knotty drum lines.
Some things take time to come into fruition. The time needs to be right. The feeling needs to be right. For Boston math rock band Sharpest, the right time was 2019. The trio have been sitting on their EP Kaizen since 2013.
How does one go about writing a song for the end of the world? Do you make it a consoling swan song, or an upbeat, happy commemoration of Life that was?
