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.
It’s hard not to gush about Town Portal, whose three albums thus far have blended sludge, post-metal and math rock into a riffy, angular soup. The three-piece has ever excelled at dark, moody music based on hypnotic rhythmic interplay between bright guitar, tight drum grooves and earthy, thudding basslines. Seriously, just listen to these basslines.
or fans of math, and other forms of wierdo rock music, Brighton is increasingly becoming seen as a glimmering promised-land; not only is it home to a serious roster of ridiculously great acts but a thriving live-music scene. And, as 2018 rolls in, one of Brighton’s most formidable promoters, Small Pond, have released the first wave of bands set to play this year’s edition of the Bad Pond festival; a weekend’s celebration of incredible math/alternative music.
While the next iteration of ArcTanGent is still about eight months away, you can still reminisce by watching pro-shot footage of Poisonous Birds' stage performance from last summer.
In a bid to break down the barriers between audience and performers, Brighton's Small Pond Recordings are rolling their monthly master classes: intimate workshops designed to give listeners and musicians a chance to interact with and learn from prominent musicians in the math, post and prog community.
"Let me start by saying I don’t fucking like reading show or festival reviews, I only maybe read 4 or 5 in my whole life. Unless you live in a place extremely secluded (Himalayas, Puerto Rico, anywhere past zone 6 in London) I think they are mainly obsolete". Vlad Matveikov of Small Pond relives his weekend in Denmark as part of the Colossal Weekend festival...