Ah yes, another month, another Tuesday in which we summarize a hefty batch of math rockin’ tunes. We do our best to catch all the new music sent to us, but as much as we’d like to write entire articles about each and every one of them, occasionally Tuesday Music Dumps will have to suffice. At least till we get some new blood on the team. But more on that later!
Tuesdays keep it fresh, though. Sometimes we bang our heads against the basement wall trying to come up with something to say when a record doesn’t immediately inspire a mountain of coalescent verbiage. That being said, the last few weeks have dumped a lot on us, and most of it has been incredible. Even when it wasn’t, it’s more or less a slice of pizza – still pretty good.
All that being said, we’ve got some recent highlights for you here, so grab a bag of chips (or a packet of crisps if that’s more familiar) and enjoy some music that you hopefully haven’t heard. Yet.
KUDARANAI 1NICHI – Rebound
This one hits right in the feels. KUDARANAI 1NICHI blends frenetic Tokyo indie with classic midwest emo angst on rebound, the band’s latest record. The punk-ish delivery throughout is intensely energetic, even in downtempo moments like “American Football Club” and “Sutenaide.” Regardless, it’s some of the most fun with headphones you’ll have this summer. If you’re looking for a fiery and cathartic take on something math adjacent, look no further.
Fox Lake – Repose
Finally we can say a few more words about the glorious new record from Winnipeg’s Fox Lake. We premiered the single “Habitation” a few weeks back, but the band was kind enough to show us the whole record. We were low-key blown away by how effortless the band made all of these million dollar hooks look. It’s catchy, but it’s also a blissfully deep dive thanks to the lush production and seemingly endless supply of songwriting prowess contained within the band.
Black Matter Device – AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS
Okay let’s shake it up a little. Dark Trail Records’ boundlessly unhinged Black Matter Device are back at it with another vat of blackened grind-sludge acid, and hot damn, does it melt. On Autonomous Weapons, the band throws a variety of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Daughters stylings into a grinder, the resulting monstrosity is pretty astounding – but it’s even greater than the sum of it’s parts. In the end, the brilliantly chaotic record establishes that the band can forge their way ahead independently, without relying too much on any particular influence. It’s exactly with the doctor ordered, even if inspires the occasional heart attack.
Honeybender – Alpaca Bowl
Let’s move the dial back in the other direction. Last week saw the release of Honeybender’s Alpaca Bowl, which marks some forward movement for the band. While once again the record is mainly acoustic, there is a great deal more production involved, courtesy of Strawberry Girls‘ Ben Rosett. It’s an interesting match, and you can tell both parties are trying new things while staying in their respective wheelhouses. Overall, the results are extremely chill.
G0RD0NZ0LA – LASANGER
These Italian gastro-enthusiasts are not messing around – their Bandcamp descriptions for both singles from the upcoming record are literal recipes for lasagna and… something called Amathriciana. That sounds pretty good, though right? Luckily, the jams appear to be just as tasty. Minimal but punchy and aggressive, we sense notes of discordant 90’s classics on the palette as well. To say the least, we’re hungry for the main course that is shaping up to be Gastromath Vol. 1: Gluten
Paris Death Hilton – Age of Death
Alright, it’s Tuesday, let’s get weird – granted, we are an entire month late to this extravagant record, but we had a lot going on. We also didn’t want you to miss out. Age of Death is an eclectic blast of bouncy electronic math that comes across as a distant relative to acts like strobes or Three Trapped Tigers at first, but reveals a vaporized break-core aesthetic all it’s own. Check out “Metropolitan Asshole” if you need a quick intro, but considering how far we are from getting any follow up from their aforementioned peers, we recommend Age of Death in it’s entirety.
A Wilhelm Scream – Lose Your Delusion
We’ve been waiting for a sequel to 2013’s Partycrasher for nearly ten years, and to be honest, after all of this time, we didn’t know how an attempt would even sound. Would they still maintain their signature levels of unflinching honesty and high octane energy? Well, we never should have doubted them. Though Lose Your Delusion has a couple odd steps here and there, we breathed a heavy, much needed sigh of relief when the record was over. It fits perfectly in their discography – if anything, their lyrical angles have only sharpened with time, and the music is as muscular as ever. The New Bedford legends are back, and we couldn’t be happier.
Helms Alee – Keep This Be the Way
Helms Alee has been a beacon of original, hard hitting sound since 2007. Despite their weighty pedigree, it’s still remarkable that their latest, Keep This Be the Way, manages to break new ground once again somewhere between hardcore, experimental alt-rock, and post-metal while maintaining their signature soul. “Tripping Up the Stairs” and the title track are good places to start if you want to get a taste, but we recommend listening to the record from front to back. We need to sit down with it a few more times to be sure, but it just might be our favorite Helms Alee album yet.
Undo K From Hot – Remnants of Chris
Words mostly fail to describe the digital destruction behind Undo K From Hot. Their debut G.A.S. Get A Star plays like an industrial prison riot, and their new single “Remnants of Chris” continues to blaze a similarly noisy trail. But this time there’s a little more Reinhart in the mix – we hear some guitar this time around, albeit mutilated, and it’s a welcome addition to the relentless, hyper saturated cacophony. Undo K From Hot doesn’t seem like the kind of band we could predict in any way, shape, or form, but they’re sure to keep it futuristically fucked, if not downright dystopian cyberpunk.
Proper. – The Great American Novel
We haven’t heard an intro like “McConnell” since 2010 – and we didn’t think we missed them. But San Francisco’s Proper. is absolutely bursting with tongue in cheek wonkiness and ironic metal stylings, complete with a razor sharp political commentary. It’s a potent blend, and it might take a couple spins for listeners to fully get it, but we highly encourage it. Imagine a genre-decimating sound erupting from the spaces between A Calculated Use of Sound era Protest the Hero, Brand New, Jets to Brazil, and System of a Down. It might sound impossible, or just flat-out incomprehensible, but after jamming the entirety The Great American Novel, we think you’ll know what we mean.
Indica in Decay – No Oasis Covers!
Lastly, we couldn’t help but share around this goofy as hell video from Portland’s Indica in Decay. The generally 4/4 vibes of this particular solo synth punk rock opera will likely scare off the purists, but what fun are they, anyhow? If you’re looking for a video to waste some time to, with coastal Tekken vibes to boot… why not pick this one?
Seriously, what a Tuesday – or few weeks, whatever. We’re just scratching the surface though – keep sending us amazing music! We can already tell this summer’s gonna be a hot one, and we want to do our best to give you a formidable soundtrack. Well really, you do that, we just sequence it and sprinkle a few words on top. Anyway – keep us caffeinated and/or motivated here, but more importantly, keep on keeping on. Being a band these days is hard, and if you’re doing just that, we salute you. And/or love you. Till next time!