Math Rock? someone please explain

what is Math Rock and what are some good math rock bands

 

I will assume it has nothing to do with Schoolhouse Rock...



-Aaron

 

Tortoise and trans am are two popular examples. Basically a cross between post punk and prog. Instrumental with little or no vocals.

 

Sooo...apparently one could do a quadratic equasion in the time it takes the song to get to the punchline?

 

Music by the numbers? Music that counts?

 

you guys are terrible

ugh
I don't know which post is worse

 

Arrgh, math and rock? It's like bow-ties and sex, things that should never be uttered in the same breath.

 

Glenn, here's the site of a French band called Enregistré par Steve Albini (no relation whatsoever to Steve Albini himself!); I've seen their music classified as math-rock and they've got an entire EP on there to download and check out.

Hope that helps

 

how about music by The Magic Numbers?
or Rock Around The Clock, which was used in the film (wait for it folks) The Blackboard Jungle?

 

Don Cabellero is a good band that is considered Math Rock.

Math Rock generally switches up the time signatures a lot, and is primarily a drums, guitar bass affair. It comes out of punk/emo with a dash of, say, Rush circa 1978.

Lots of MP3 samples here:
http://www.epitonic.com/genres/mathrock.html

And of course, the obligatory Wikipedia entry (may contain information that is inaccurate, but generally looks good to me):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock

 

don cabellero is a good example, also check out dysrhythmia. I think Tortoise and Trans Am woul better fall under the post rock heading along with Godspeed You Black Emperor and Out Hud.

 

Drill For Absentee are (were?) good, as well. I've not heard much by them, but there's this song called iirc Circle Music which was quite cool.

Edit: btw Glenn, if you like prog and NIN, you might well dig some of this math-rock stuff, imho.

 

Derrie Blossom does "Figure 8"...

 

Er, you mean Blossom Dearie, right?

 

If odd time signatures help define this, it appears we could put some Captain Beyond and a lot of Frank Zappa in this category....

 

No. Math rock is like prog-rock, but without solos. The odd time signatures is definitely a defining aspect, but it is nothing like Zappa. It's focused on the interplay between instruments. I find it similar to some early free jazz as I find myself listening really closely to what's going on to hear how each musician's efforts are affecting the other musicians in the band. think King Crimson's Discipline was a big influence on this style - interlocking parts and polyrhythms are a big part of math rock. Very, very cool style - if you're into what KC did in the 80s, and have an open mind, I'd suggest checking out the previously mentioned Don Caballero. They're much harder-edged, but very interesting music, plus drummer Damon Che is a monster drummer.

 

"2+2=?" by Bob Seger.
"E=mc2" by Big Audio Dynamite.

 

You had me until you defined an important part of Zappa...but said it's nothing like Zappa.

 

I like a lot of music with unusual time signatures and changes, but didn't realize that it had its own genre until a few weeks ago.

A pre-cursor to math rock would be a song like King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man". In an electronica sense, Jazzanova's "Hanazono" is a song where the time signature changes a number of times throughout.

 

So are Tool and A Perfect Circle considered "Math Rock" or is it exclusively a more recent phenomenon ?

 

From Allmusic.com:

Math Rock

Math Rock is a relation to post-rock, a better known indie-rock style that shares similar aesthetics. Where post-rock has distinct jazz influences, math rock is the opposite side of the same coin — it's dense and complex, filled with difficult time signatures and intertwining phrases. Also, the style is a little more rockist than post-rock, since it's usually played by small, guitar-led bands. Math rock peaked in the mid-'90s, when groups like Polvo and Chavez had small, dedicated followings among indie rockers on collegiate campuses.


Related Styles:

Post-Rock/Experimental
Noise-Rock
Experimental
RockEmo

 

Nope. They're not even close. Again I point to my comment about King Crimson's Discipline, but much harder edge (and instrumental.) This music is about the interplay going on between instruments, often playing different time signatures. Anyone looking into this music expecting anything even remotely similar to Frank Zappa is going to be immensely disappointed.

Please go here and listen to the samples of Don Caballero.

 

I fear I may have triggered this thread using the term on an Embarrassment thread. As it happens, I think I used the term incorrectly... The Embarrassment and The Feelies are not Math Rock-like according to the consensus definition that's developing here.

Carry on.

 

That was what made me think of Tool. - Some of their stuff is instrumental, IIRC.

I'm not that familiar with A Perfect Circle but I thought they were similar.

I will check it out on my lunch break.

 

I may as well throw on to the pile of worst posts Tom Leher's "New Math." Not much rock but it certainly is math.

"Sixty-four? How did sixty-four get into it?" I hear you cry.
Well, sixty-four is eight squared, don't you see?
(Well, you ask a silly question, and you get a silly answer.)