A recounting from your favourite bands of embarrassing, awkward, exasperating, nail-biting and sometimes illegal incidents that have happened whilst on tour.
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.
August marked the fourth year of ArcTanGent, a three day suite of instrumental rock, experimental rock, post rock and math rock. Needless to say, the annual mecca of niche rock was a success all round, boasting the most phenomenal lineup to date and the inevitable silent disco to follow.
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
Sure, we live in a drought-stricken plateau of heat and coexist with creatures that transform people into obituaries. But hey, at least Australia is actually the unspoken bread and butter of math and experimental music. Here the array of complex chord progressions, twisted song structures, quirky jazz and disjunctive noise runs deep...
he great challenge for any instrumental band is to communicate the themes of their work to listeners with a paucity of words, usually confined to song titles, album names, or intermittent vocals. When it comes to math rock, the clean toned and frenetically tapped guitar often reigns supreme in many fan circles. But it begs the question: what is the breadth of its musical language; how much can it really communicate before it alls sound the same? Math rock is predominantly a guitar-lead genre, but what will happen when the products of its tools become saturated and all too familiar?
We all love a good hook, and there are many great bands that can consistently deliver them. But without a strong sense of orchestration, hook-rich songs can feel kind of 'blocky'. There is nothing tying them together, no journey, and this is often where a lot of the hook-slinging kingpins can fall short.
In 2014, Chicago's Bathing Resorts released their debut EP Snacks, a medley of energetic math rock clocking in at around nine minutes. It was, by all accounts, a snack. A quick source of nourishment; a burst of dazzling flavours...