If you’re reading this, we have to assume you’re of the age that whether you love it or not, you accept that Santa, technically, isn’t real. Yes, his likeness and demeanor have been recounted for centuries across continents and cultures, and there probably have been folks exactly like him throughout history to the point where saying he’s complete fictional is, technically, also non-factual. Both sides form incomplete pictures, and such is the complexity of life, cryptid or otherwise.
Yes, we just implied that Santa is a cryptid, but what we’re trying to say is that if you’re on Earth in 2026, the odds are you’re too busy trying to survive to give the guy a second thought. So imagine if, much to your surprise being a rational adult with pressing problems, you found yourself witnessing a fleet of reindeer tearing through the sky, complete with Old Saint Nick barking orders just behind them. You’d have two choices: one, rejoice, and tell everyone it’s Christmas forever, or two, not say anything and avoid a trip to the psych ward.
Most people go with the second option. If you’ve ever brushed up against something you couldn’t explain, you probably know exactly what we’re talking about, and suffice it to say the resulting isolation resonates with us on a deep level. Without going too into it, our experience would rank particularly high on the Hynek scale, and it wasn’t some kind of “I’ve witnessed the truth” moment. It was an instant that broke all pre-conceived notions of time, space, and life itself. In the aftermath, creating distance between ourselves and everyone around us didn’t even seem like a choice. Also, no, we’re not talking about Santa. We don’t think.
(Okay, our encounter wasn’t THIS close, but Superheaven‘s video made us cry for years after.)
Anyway, that was 2012 in the middle of the desert, and we were lucky to escape the gravity of that situation soon after. If we hadn’t, we wouldn’t have moved to Eugene, wouldn’t have played in Childspeak or Muscle Beach Petting Zoo, wouldn’t have toured with Thom Simon, wouldn’t have met our spouse, wouldn’t have got back into writing between tours, and therefore never would have contacted Nikk Hunter about Fecking Bahamas.
So whether these recent government-issued disseminations are meant to distract us from the Epstein Files, the war in Iran, genocide in Palestine, or seemingly inevitable DataCenter creep, we couldn’t tell you. We just know the truth has little overlap with the official narrative, and that’s hardly news. How’s all that for a Tuesday Music Dump, eh? Alright, alright alright – time to start the healing. new releases from Lightning Bolt + OOIOO, Pennines, Animatist, Tang and several more. Stay safe out there!
9K33 – You’re Wild
Probably absolutely the most suggestive album artwork we’ve opened a Tuesday Music Dump with, but hey, no reason to be shy! Math rock is full of freaks, and You’re Wild offers some interesting thrills if you’re open minded. While maintaining it’s thoroughly DIY / VHS glow, it’s got chunky, raw metallic guitars, oddly metered bleeps and bloops, and funky, danceable beats underneath. We bitch a lot about records that say they’re soundtracks but aren’t, and this one actually had us wishing it was an OST.
MAKKURAGE – “Start Over / A Muddy Paddle”
This Japanese quartet finally uploaded their first EP to Bandcamp, and in doing so they also released a handful of new singles as well like “Start Over” and “A Muddy Paddle.” The band’s perfectly autumnal clash of chime-y guitars, subdued emo vocals and jazzy rhythm section are as pleasing as it gets, but math rock fans in particular might find themselves obsessed after repeated listens.
Birth (Defects) – Fictional Days
The absolute madhouse of gutsy, noisy catharsis is finally out, and before streaming, you may want to clear a few feet around you for involuntary spasms and spontaneous ritualistic dance. While there’s an undeniable sense of unease throughout, Fictional Days is remarkably consistent in its sense of quality and purpose, so anyone hungry for deeper, brainy-er post-hardcore should check it out immediately.
weirdoutdoorcats – Vol. I
This EP takes us back to the harsh-but-still-pretty side of early 2000’s post-hardcore and emo, but it also has a lot in common with the math rock that’s come after. The screams and screeds are a lot of fun, but the scene change on interlude “Possum” feels like an outtake somewhere between burial and Don Caballero.
stepskipper – Hot Surfaces
Some might scoff when we say this, but sometimes you want more First Impressions of Earth-era Strokes in your math rock, and this Portland project nails that. Super fun baselines, chime-y, classy guitars, and drums that make for a perfect heartbeat. It doesn’t try too hard, but leaves a big mark either way thanks to extreme consistency, acrobatic lines, and dare we say it, demure delivery.
Cruz de Navajas – Por Si No Nos Vemos Más
Considering this is Columbian emo and post-hardcore featuring a healthy side of post-rock, it’s really got the perfect recipe. The artwork is almost the first sign you get, where you see the borderline vectorheart and/or vectorbloom crow imagery, but the music itself goes far past simple nostalgia with elements of shoegaze and alt rock percolating in the background.
Comisario Cosme – Cósmico Comisario Cosme
More post-punk than post-hardcore, but with death-y vocals and intermittent metal sections? On paper, this Spanish band’s sound almost seems like it would stretch thin or become inconsistent, but the record’s actually a pretty steady ripper from front to back.
VOV VOV! – Lost Demos
We don’t know where this fits in the grand scheme of math rock, but we know that if we don’t share it here we’ll regret it. It feels like this album was recorded in space and incidentally created two things at once, where there’s an intentionally peppy and sparse indie thing on one hand but howling ghosts in the machine from microphone feedback on the other.
naive24 – “Ashen Memory”
This cybernetic South Korean emo song is one of our absolute favorite from today’s dump, and apparently it was all done by one person. “Ashen Memory” has great production, juicy math rock guitars, and captivating vocal parts that have us really hoping there’s an EP or full-length record coming sometime soon.
Hulk’s Hoagies – Cold Cuts EP
Truthfully it’s been a minute since a band name had us smiling so early in the morning. The thing is, it’s also a phenomenal EP that shreds a style somewhere between CHON and Save Us From the Archon, aka two math rock all-time greats, so expectations are extremely high for whatever happens next here.
Chonky Dogg – The World is Quiet Here
We wrote a single up for these guys a couple months back, and made a note to go back to the full EP once it was out because the title track shocked us with it’s musclebound prog and chonky, angular rock. Turns out, this was far from a fluke – The World is Quiet Here is beyond solid, proving to be more imaginative and more heavy than we anticipated.
Pet Retina – Sonic Regret
You know, it’s more than a clever album name, we give it that. Just kidding – it is, of course, but also there’s really no regret to be experienced if you’re open minded to things like lawnmower solos and blender function leads atop never-ending drum solos. Drummer Maxwell Patterson’s other project I.o is way more melodic and math rock adjacent, but there’s definitely some crossover insanity here, which is why we love them both.
Quermesse – Esparguete Faroeste
There’s a lot of great stuff to show off today, but when it comes down to originality this just might be the most outstanding drop of today’s dump. Hybridizing massive maths, inscrutable post-punk, and enveloping walls of grunge, this Portuguese group made something really special with Esparguete Faroeste.
TRAPS – Crack Machine
To be honest, Crack Machine is likely to prove an apt title for this fast and furious EP, especially if you’re into unexpected twists and turns. It’s definitely got mathematic elements, but it almost feels more like some kind of non-linear death punk thing. No matter how you sort it, it’s a lot of fun.
Garrulous Glass – Commands
Another high-brow moment for today’s dump, Garrulous Glass uses a really impressive arsenal of sounds for new album Commands. Not only that, a lot of the melodic direction is fairly original too – we don’t know if it’s a guitar tuning thing or a brain wiring thing, but the record had us constantly pressing our headphones against our ears and saying things like “damn, so that’s how it is!”
Animatist – SHAPESHIFTER
One of the things we’re most excited about in math rock is this burgeoning growth and acceptance of jazz and future fusion sounds becoming part of the scene. It feels like not that long ago that mentioning bands like Animatist and Sungazer would ruffle feathers with the average math rock purist, but we’re just happy people are finally coming around because it only takes one listen to an album like SHAPERSHIFTER to get hooked for life.
Pennines – recordings 2008-9
After nearly 20 years, we can finally sit around listening to Pennines a little easier and we couldn’t be more pleased. Each song still screams with the feelings of early-aughts life and they’re all sure to shower millennials with nostalgia, but it’s important to note there’s thousands of kids about to hear them for the first time. To us, and probably to Pennines, that’s just as exciting if not more.
Ringside Tonic – Save Me From Myself
You know how earlier we were talking the fringes of jazz and fusion finding acceptance in math rock? As funny as it sounds, we’ve noticed it happening with more accessible rock music, and of course that doesn’t always work when one is supposed to be complex and the other uses simplicity to drive the point home. Fans of one aren’t necessarily going to go for the other. That said, every once in a while you get Ringside Tonic, who not only do both well but manage to create a distinct voice that hardly needs a label to excel.
BLAK – Mont Solitud
We love a good intersection, full stop. But what makes a good intersection even better, you ask? Our answer is simple – when you’re not sure what to make of any/all elements involved. BLAK not only renders genre a slurry beneath its post-everything wake, it’s also a Chinese record with Spanish song titles. We’re desperate to know more, but we don’t really have to when it all sounds this great.
Otto – I Know [am I?] but what [you are…]
We’re filing this one under ‘things that made us say hell yeah within three seconds of hearing it,’ and if you’re into 8-bit, OST’s, or tech-y experimental music of any kind, you will too. It opens up pretty frenetic, but there’s a distinctly chill side to it that reminds us of ambient label classics you’d hear from Brain Tree and Warped, with just a tad more math rock.
Kaedalus – What Comes Through
This math-y prog whopper actually comes to us from a Brazilian composer with more OST’s under his belt than solo offerings, but this beautiful one-two punch has us hoping he finds time for both. Though it’s just two tracks, it paints an absurdly ambitious picture and we can’t wait to see more.
TANG – Tang Me Out to the Ballgame
We laughed way too hard when we finally noticed the pun in this EP’s title, and you can’t blame us for picking up on it right away when we’re distracted by it’s soulful lines and lush, jazzy math rock world building.
A Friend B – S/T
Every Tuesday Music Dump, we learn a thing or two without meaning to, and today we learned that you can just name your songs after other famous math rock bands like “Uchu Conbini.” That being said, we also learned about a decently interesting band in the case of A Friend B, so win/win in the end.
Tare – Courage to Play the Big Amp (Demo)
That is SUCH a math rock record title that we couldn’t not have it here even if it was thirty minutes of silence and speaker hiss. Luckily, it’s not that at all. It’s a potent math rock meets post-rock hybrid with a lot of inventiveness, so hopefully their experience with the big amp left them brave enough to hit us with an LP as soon as possible.
7 Stair Handrail – S/T
This project out of Midland, MI has ‘instrumental emo for the soul’ in their Bandcamp title, and damn if it doesn’t hit even better than chunky chicken noodle soup. We also love the skate references.
MUROSUONO – Che forma prenderò domani
Frosty Italian frosty post-hardcore could never be a bad thing, and these guys make it a great thing with huge riffs, cathartic gang shouts, and dramatic structure. It’s like the energy you’d expect from an early Norma Jean record but with a faster, asymmetrical pulse.
KEN TANAKA – Short Loops Journal – Apr 2026
The idea of keeping a loop journal is fascinating enough, but the fact that these are coming from Hyakkei‘s drummer means that even if it feels like they’re part of an exercise or larger method, they’ll have distinct identity, and that’s exactly what happens here in the span of three, maybe four minutes. It’s short and bittersweet, but for some that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
Pinstripes – Damage
New Jersey has long been celebrated for its ability to produce amazing artists across a number genres, but it’s not a super well known area for math rock, at least not outside the local scenes. In a perfect world, hearing Pinstripe would change that, even if it’s a one man project.
Lightning Bolt + OOIOO – THE HORIZON SPIRALS / THE HORIZON VIRAL
Anything Lightning Bolt touches is likely to be enveloped by holy electric energy, and this EP is no different. Except it kind of is – Lightning Bolt’s half of this split isn’t as cantankerous as you might expect. It’s still chaos, but there’s a solid through line to it amongst the incredibly warped vocals and bass. OOIOO balances this expertly on the opening segment with soulful ambient collages that feel chaotic in a totally different way.
(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, Charity Water, Kindness Ranch, One Tail at A Time, Canopy Cat Rescue, or Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that could probably use it more – click on their names above to check ‘em out if you’re so inclined. Thanks again!)