Talk about a Tuesday Music Dump, sheesh. The following blurb may be a little obscure for those not heavily involved in math rock social media, but bear with us for a moment and consider this: even in the dogshit year of our lord 2024, information can still be pretty powerful. Information, allegedly, is what most of us use to make day to day decisions, but it can also be misunderstood, taken out of context, and ultimately re-framed in a number of ways, intentionally or not. To add to the confusion, these days proof can appear and disappear with the click of a button, trivializing the truth till it’s swept away or systematically regulated into obscurity.
Any supervillain will tell you, ideas can be dangerous: they spread quickly, and for the most part they’re taken at face value, because people prefer to be ‘right’ over making time for critical thought, or, god forbid, being held accountable for their actions. Supervillains get particularly excited about controlling the masses by providing data, then re-contextualizing it with a target’s values and experience through sensationalized, emotionally-encoded messaging. You see it in the news, you see it in social media, you see it in politics… with so much information, sometimes it’s hard not to feel like the truth is just a fleeting moment, comprised of whatever regurgitated lowest-common denominator factors we can agree on.
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Even so, objectivity is still important – the things we can reliably experience together regardless of perspective. There will always be reasons to instinctually want to get to the core of things when it comes to you and yours, even if you know it’s going to be difficult. People are complex, so ultimately distinctions like wrong or right can be impossible to make. You can avert your gaze, that has its own consequences. We totally get that when you’re not involved, it’s often best not to get involved, but sometimes you still do. We’ve dealt with the misuse/abuse of information the ‘math rock community’ a few times now. We know it exists. We’ve seen it from damn near every angle. People we’ve loved have been exposed as scumbags and predators. People we’ve found unpleasant have been revealed as clerics and saints. We’ve seen rational, reasonable people lose their absolute tops, and occasionally hide away in shame. We’ve made an astronomical number of mistakes ourselves, yet we’re somehow still held in regards that constantly humble us, crumble us, and inspire us to do things bigger and better all the time. In the end, the search for love, validation, and sick new math rocks can continue for anyone lucky enough to live another day.
If we were superheroes, those are the values we’d be sworn to protect, but we don’t have to put on a cape to do those things, and neither do you. It’s crazy how this whole thing can just boil down to ‘be excellent to each other.’ Anyway, that’s enough with the cryptic, possibly ridiculous platitudes – we know that we’re not here to add to the noise. We’re here to add to the noise. Again, if you feel like none of the above was relevant to you in anyway, we apologize, and we’re about to make it up to you the only way we know how: a relatively insane amount of new music from the last few months that you don’t want to miss.
As always, we do our best to mix it up with smaller acts as well as familiar faces, so sit back, contemplate reality, truth, and life in general while sorting through this big ol’ bag of gems, starting with the ex-black MIDI emperor himself, Geordie Greep.
Geordie Greep – The New Sound
We don’t put a ton of singles out on Tuesday Music Dumps but this one is special. Greep’s upcoming solo record is poised to take his Latin obsessions to new heights, with “Holy, Holy” proving that the Neo-classical trajectory of black MIDI was far from a lucky fluke. It’s a part of him now whether we like it or not, but luckily, we love it, and there’s some tasty Eisley Brothers-flavored noodles on the side and in the background.
Space Cadet 64 – Tearing through the night, tears streaming down my face
Ah forget it, why not throw in another single. Coinciding with our recent gaming section has been a newly rekindled obsession with 8-bit and chiptune, and Space Cadet 64 combines these textures in a really balanced way that never feels overly nostalgic. Very cool stuff.
Dawn’s Echo – Echoes in the Heart EP and Serenade of Shadows EP
Scranton, Pennsylvania’s Dawn’s Echo just put out two EP’s, one being the shoegaze inspired Serenade of Shadow and Echoes of the Heart, which is way closer to math rock. It’s a perfect way to open this Tuesday up with a bit of pep in your step.
Falkor – Auryn
This progressive math rock slapper was specifically inspired by the 1980’s rendition of Michael Ende’s Neverending Story. The high-fantasy epic is successfully translated, in our opinion – check out songs like “The Childlike Empress” and “Atreyu” for a wild time.
IT.IS.OAKY. – The Cycle of Destruction
This unholy batch of Estonian nonsense is actually quite pleasurable if you’re into the shred luminaries like Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, and Buckethead but there’s perhaps a little more nuance here. It’s not all guitar shred, sometimes slipping into futurist heavy funk you can’t help but bounce to.
How to Draw A Castle – Live 2024
We don’t put live albums here too often, but Japan’s How to Draw A Castle’s session at the Kochi Live house is just so damn fun it makes you want to be there. You can hear the crowd interaction with the band and the sheer buzz in the room, but not of the equipment – of the people.
Scaled Alps – Very High
If you are into the darker spectrum of noise rock and math like Model/Actriz and Fat White Family, this one is for you. It’s not for everyone, but the murky, vaguely murderous vibes will certainly fascinate some.
Fred Cracklin and i.o and Colin Fisher – Split
This is explosive, primal Jimi Hendrix meets Lightning Bolt / Hella-styled madness right here, offering joyously destructive noise that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
A.M. Overcast – Nothing Untoward EP
The consistency amazing A.M. Overcast is known for cramming maximum dynamic and emotion into extremely small spaces of time, butNothing Untoward expands those spaces and really let’s them breathe where they need to, which really allows listeners to emotionally invest. We can’t believe these are B-sides.
Spring Silver – Don’t You Think It’s Strange?
This futuristic math pop record comes out in just a couple days, and from what we can tell by the singles, it’s gonna take us on one hell of a journey. Somewhere between Closure in Moscow and the lighter side of Fire-Toolz, it really is a unique juncture of sounds, and we can’t wait to see where the whole album takes us.
Cenote – DDCEP EP
This one is actually quite punishing, which we found hilarious because we expected something cute based on the album cover. It’s also kind of a proof of concept for the band from what we can tell, with the EP serving as what they think the band would sound like live. We’d see it for sure.
Nemerei – חזיונות על אסונות באים בחדר ממוזג
You know, we can’t read any of it, but we do want to put out there that there is actually math rock in places like Tel Aviv Yafo, so it just goes to show you how connected we are when we stop thinking about arbitrary concepts that divide us. Also, this album rocks.
oyasumi mon ami – Sumbur Life
This eclectic thrill ride comes to us from Kazakhstan, but it sounds like it could come from Japan or the Netherlands. There’s thumping cyber-gaze, wall of sound post-rock, math rock, prog, and more.
Still Life Replica – SUNZEED EP
Still Life Replica comes from the southwest, so we’ll probably end up contacting them to get involved with the upcoming South x Southwest compilation, but no matter what, we’re stoked we found them. It’s super cool stuff that reminds us of melodic hardcore like A Wilhelm Scream but also post-hardcore closer to A Lot Like Birds and Hail the Sun.
Ruben’s Room – Round and Round
Math pop is a term that’s been popping up for a while now, and Ruben’s Room makes an honest case for it here sounding like a young Ben Gibbard, just a little more Midwest emo, and a lot more experimental.
Fukitsu – Viajes EP
This magical little EP captures you like the swirling vortex of moonlight and bunnies depicted on the cover, then absolutely ambushes you with laser-cutter guitar solos.
La Lúcuma – Vorágine EP
Oh, would you look at that – more absolute heat from Chile, even the same region as Fukitsu above. Hey, citizens of of Santiago, could you at least consider adopting us? The amount of great music being birthed from that area is overwhelming.
Gulfer – LIGHTS OUT EP
Damn, this one hurts so beautifully considering it’s Gulfer’s final record. They went out with a bang, and honestly, one of our favorite records of the year, and we won’t forget it.
arthur x medic – VGM Essentials Vol. VII
We’re sad we missed this one when it came out so we couldn’t get it a proper glow up, but it’s an absolute no-brainer for the gamers among us, with atmospheric bass-heavy DnB renditions of popular motifs from titles like Jet Set Radio, Doom, Hyper Light Drifter, and more.
ZaKrahe – Terra Expolitum
This Erie, Pennsylvania based project has a lot of guitar shred, but also a lot of intense key-parts and intricate interplay between both, giving off a unique compositional flavor that’s more Plini and Sithu Aye than Polyphia.
Wieuca – Truth Management
This one is something else – Truth Management blends the noisy but massive sounds of shoegaze inspired barnburners like Superheaven and Balance and Compute but with a Georgian fire all their own.
Cluster Movement – S/T
This experimental trio from Switzerland is wacky as hell, blending what feels like krautrock, industrial noise, math rock, and ambient music to that constantly alternates between utter destruction and softly swirling atmospheres.
toe – NOW I SEE THE LIGHT
There’s really no overstating the place of a band like toe in the math rock community. No matter what micro-genre or flavor you’re into, most people can respect the Japanese outfits impeccable, emotionally stirring arrangements, not to mention their crucial focus on tone. NOW I SEE THE LIGHT somehow keeps it fresh and simple at the same time, returning to some of their core sounds on their first full-length in nine years.
3onvega – APAX
What even is this? Future noise trance? Progressive dungeon synth? Whatever it is, it’s good stuff. It kind of reminds us of early NYOS, but with a chaotic spin to it that makes you want to shred gnar on the information highway via hoverboard or something.
Tendinite and Demon Juice – Split
We love us some grimy, back alley punk rock noir, and both projects here get pretty high octane while imparting heavy, hair-slicked vibes. Math rockers will appreciate Tendinite, but people looking for a Lemmy Kilmister moment should be sure to enjoy the whiskey soaked sound of Demon Juice as well.
Geometric Christ – S/T
Essentially, this is AI garbage, but it’s potentially the first outright Christian math rock record we’ve been made aware of.
Jaguarundi – a i l u r I a EP
Playfully violent Lightning Bolt vibes from way down in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico. Finds like this really make us think of the beauty of Bandcamp, and the fact that we can just randomly discover crazy, grind-y, space-y tunes from all over the world.
Ephilexia – Car Crash Lullabies EP
The bass player from Silent Island‘s progressive and highly melodic math rock side-project picks up steam with this release, staying true to a haunting narrative while keeping things satisfyingly complex everywhere that it counts.
Almanac Man – Terrain EP
Well, we haven’t something really nasty on here yet, so let’s check that box with Almanac Man’s supremely gnarly Terrain EP. It’s kind of like the Remove Your Skin, Please EP from Chat Pile in the way it gives you horrifying chills in the short time it stays, but it also gives sludgy Norma Jean vibes too, making for a pretty sweet stay overall.
SEMUTA – Glacial Erratic
Let’s keep it sludgy, actually, at least for a minute. Portland’s SEMUTA blends the stoner-friendly burliness of bands like Mastodon, Red Fang, and Intronaut with math rock, post-metal, and all kinds of cool stuff on their debut LP.
MUSHROOM GIANT – IN A FOREST
Okay, ONE MORE sludgy tome for you heavy fans. Brisbane, Australia’s MUSHROOM GIANT is probably the most atmospheric of the bunch, but rarely strays into repetitive territory with the soaring lead guitars and crushing rhythm sections. It’s like Ne Obliviscaris or Edhochuli but with the pacing of ISIS.
ALEXANDR CLAYSTONE – Жизнь
Sweet, sweet math rock from Kaliningrad, Russia that honestly blew us away. There’s a lot of unique tones here when it comes to guitar, but also the programmed strings, giving it an entirely different edge than a lot of the project’s peers, so fans of Floral and Right Chipper, dig right in.
Yomi Ship – Feast Eternal
This Perth-based progressive soul project is one to watch for sure – blending the psychedelic sounds of modern production with vintage, if not timeless inspirations, there’s a lot to be said here, but too much for a small paragraph like this. We highly recommend you take seat at the table and check it out.
(Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more music, check out our Bandcamp compilations here. If you like us, or possibly even love us, donations are always appreciated at the Buy Me A Coffee page here, but if you’re in a generous mood you can also donate to folks like Doctors Without Borders, the PCRF, and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more. Thanks again!)