TOP PICKS // ALBUMS WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2017
A non-exhaustive list of all the math rock albums we are looking forward to in 2017. And yes, there are heaps!
Kyle Rice
TALES FROM THE ROAD // AXES, ASIWYFA, CASPIAN
This week we spoke to Axes to get a sense of whether they have half as much fun offstage as they appear to have on it. As it turns out, even for the happiest band in math, there can be such a thing as too much of an after-party. Meanwhile, And So I Watch You From Afar rue a false start (and sorry end) to a lengthy European road trip, and also make a cameo as Caspian recount some very unusual hard-drinking debauchery…
TIP YA HAT! // RORY FRIERS – AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR
And So I Watch You From Afar are a tour de force. Few bands are able to put such intense feeling into such virtuoso performances. It’s what makes their live shows such events and inspires such a devoted fanbase.
TALES FROM THE ROAD // Cleft, Talons, Enemies
A recounting from your favourite bands of embarrassing, awkward, exasperating, nail-biting and sometimes illegal incidents that have happened whilst on tour.
TIP YA HAT! // CASPIAN
Shortly before defying both power cuts and the elements in order to deliver one of the sets of the weekend at ArcTanGent, we caught up with Boston post-rock titans Caspian to talk about what fuels their fire musically. Initially apprehensive to put all six of their names to one album, we eventually found the common ground upon which House Caspian is built.
TIP YA HAT! // CLEFT
ArcTanGent 2016 offered up one of the most bittersweet experiences, the joyous sight of the traditional Cleft and Chums ATG medley whilst knowing it would be for the very last time. Indeed, it was with huge sadness that we said goodbye to Messrs Beesley and Simm
FOCUS // ArcTanGent in the words of…
‘It’s kind of like indie, but for wankers’ – overheard in Bristol the Sunday after the festival, the...
Olympians – Reasons To Be Tearful (2016)
Math-pop: twisting and turning riffs and big singalong choruses. Tubelord. Colour. It may seem unlikely that a genre so often joyous could give voice to the unique self-loathing that can come with the woes of millennial life.
EXCLUSIVE // Watch Quarrels’ new video for ‘Amen’
When it comes to shooting a song promo, you could go all out and create a cinematic work that challenges the form of the ‘music video’ a la MJ’s ‘Thriller’, you could invent a dance craze like Queen B, or you could cause a ton of controversy like The Prodigy. Alternatively, like Boston’s Quarrels, you could just hole up in a dark bunker with plenty of mood lighting and play the damn song.
EXCLUSIVE // Stream Olympians’ new track ‘Cinema Hotdog’
Van Gogh, to Sylvia Plath, to The Smiths. Descending from this long line of miserablists, Olympians, the Norwich...