Re: (TV) Math Rock (was: Recent listening)

[Maurice Rickard <maurice@mac.com>]

At 11:12 PM -0700 4/10/02, Russ Van Rooy wrote:
> >  > For some reason, I've been in kind of a math-rock phase -
> >  Okay, since it's been brought up here - what the HELL is math-rock?
>
> A kind of metal rock that looks to King Crimson and Rush (and many others)

Ah, you kind of beat me to it in a way, Russ.  I'd say keep the 
"complex" structures and weird time signatures (especially) and drain 
out all the D&D S/F imagery (because it's often instrumental, 
thankfully...but see below), and remove the virtuosi solos in favor 
of whole-band texture.  There's a sort of indie flavor to the guitar 
tones--not a nu-metal crunch, but that tube-amp-on-8 kind of thing. 
The goal is to have complex patterns that change on a dime, so the 
whole band has to keep counting beats to know where they are and when 
to change.  Hence "math rock."

You could argue a similarity to Mission of Burma, now that I think of 
it, and Fugazi, June of 44, and Bitch Magnet, especially when David 
Grubbs was in the band (for _Umber_).

To make up for the lack of vocals, there are often loooooong song 
titles.  From the Don's ouvre alone: "Bears See Things Pretty Much 
The Way They Are," "In The Abscence Of Strong Evidence To The 
Contrary, One May Step Out Of The Way Of The Charging Bull," etc. 
Although some math rock bands *do* incorporate vocals.

> as proto-types, and has Tool as it's main exponent today...?

Well, I wouldn't have thought of it that way.  I mean, they seem like 
a nu-prog-metal band to me.  My nephew likes 'em, and I'm sure all 
the exurban kids have heard of them...but I'd think to be in the math 
rock bin, you'd need to be obscure.  A fairly good list is here: 
http://www.epitonic.com/genre_listings/mathrock.html  And you may 
want to check out the Don Cab tracks, although for my record-buying 
dollar, _What Burns Never Returns_ beats _American Don_ with a 
sharpened titanium spatula.  ("June Is Finally Here" is one of the 
less-intense, more emotionally warm tracks on the CD.  Well worth a 
listen.)   Dunno what Ian Williams is up to, but word is that Mike 
Banfield's putting a new band together, as is--separately--Damon Che 
(with members of Uzeda, apparently).

And let me also say that I'm thrilled to see on the above list that 
there's a math rock band named Durian.
--
Maurice Rickard
http://mauricerickard.com/
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