Assorted Math Rock Tunes

Alright, so I've spend a lot of time since my last post trying to pick a band to showcase first but this is such a diverse genre that no single band can really do it justice in a "start here" sort of context, so instead I'm just going to throw a bunch songs from different bands at your ear-wall and hope something sticks. Plan to waste some serious time here. Sorry. (Also, I couldn't figure out how to embed the videos here. I'm going to mess around and see what happens, and if you know please tell me, but in the mean time I apologize for the links)

Ok, first let's look at some We Insist! tracks. First up is "My Own Delight"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZbG2XgNeR8


This song is in 3/4 (It sounds like it doesn't change, but it might. That's not too important right now), not a totally alien meter. Listen to the snare in the beginning though (And again later on towards the end), it's marking 2 evenly spaced beats to the measure which forms a polyrhythm. Remember, I said that odd meter was a prime characteristic of math rock but it's rhythmic experimentation in general that's key. A polyrhythm is simple to explain, it's when you have two contrasting rhythms (Like a grouping of 5 and a grouping of 3) that sound simultaneously and for the same duration, which creates a sort of tense interplay between the two parts. The polyrhythm occurring here is 3 beat feel of the time signatures against the 2 beat accenting of the snare.

You'll also notice a few points at which the music seems to break down and stall while something fills in the gaps before it picks up again (See ~28 seconds in and ~2:07). This sort of stop-start riffing is prevalent throughout the genre, and we'll get to some more extreme (And awesome sounding) cases later on. Also at 2:07 we see a slow contrasting section with a very loose sense of tempo. Contrasting sections and periods of indeterminate or loose structure are another common tool in the math rock arsenal to be on the lookout for.

Moving on to "An Architect" a more traditional sort of math rock song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubppUffEWbc


Right off the bat you should notice the odd meter of the verse riff, which is 15/8+13/8 (Phrased as groupings of 3+3+3+2+2+2 8th notes for the first bar and 3+3+3+2+2 for the second). The rest of track is standard 4/4 but notice how the lyrics of the chorus loop around on themselves. This sort of "ouroboros"-esque approach to writing isn't everywhere in the genre but it's common enough to deserve mention.

Finally by We Insist! let's look at this live video of "Half Awake."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow20L73CVD4

Now, this entire song is 4/4. The meter is split into 2 beats of triplet feel (Which just means groups of 3 notes in the space where 2 would normally go, for those not used to the term) and 2 beats of standard straight 8th notes for the verses and choruses, which is pretty cool and interesting. And you'll probably also notice how everything sounds a bit "off" for a standard rock tune, like it's about to fall apart at any moment. Still, this is a pretty bad example to show you. So why did I do it? Because the drummer is playing with one arm while singing! HOLY HAT RACK!

Anyways, time to look at something a bit farther back in time, one of the bands that helped start the genre (And post-rock, which we may get into another day), Slint. First is the classic "Nosferatu Man."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qg6kPtVAM4

The verses are in 5/4 and the choruses are in 6/4. GrungeRock1991's comment on the video's page itself is a pretty good guide to what's happening at which point in the song, except whenever he says 4/4 pretend he said 6/4 instead. The mistake he made is an easy one though, in that he was only listening to the drums, which do appear to be in 4/4. The guitars however are marking a consistent 3/8 pattern against that feel (1-2-rest-1-2-rest ad infinitum), and if you write the section in six then you can fit the whole ensemble into the same meter (6/4 and 12/8 indicate the same period of time, obviously since the fractions reduce the same, and 4 groups of 3/8 fit within a bar of 12/8, or 6/4). If you don't want to do that then the band is performing what is called a polymeter, which is like a polyrhythm but with time signatures where one or more voices are playing in one time signature and some other voices are playing in another time signature. And aside from all the theory goodness it's just a really, really great song.

I'm going to dedicate a whole post to Slint at some point this month, so here's Yowie with "Trina."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoq2PMJ1pGU

No, I'm not going to figure out the time signature progression of that for you (I have other things to do, like writing blog posts and talking to people about how I'm going to write some blog posts. Man, maybe this isn't going to be healthy), but rest assured that it contains numerous odd meters and that the meter itself changes often. But that's not important here. Just listen to that. No, don't chicken out on me now, nobody said this would be easy. Really listen to that. Listen to how the different instruments fly in and out of sync with one another, how the drums tear through and play every accent pattern but a standard back beat while the guitars sputter madly over head. Isn't that beautiful? Yowie is a great case in math rack, as they're one of those bands that fit firmly in the "holy crap, how many numbers did you just play?" category while also sticking with the trend of marrying noise rock into the equation (We'll get to all that later, but most noise rock-math rock crossover bands tend to be more rhythmically conservative). Just listen to it.

Thingy with "Plenty:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te__ngRG5aE

Ok, back to more familiar territory, right? This is a pretty simple song and Thingy isn't very hectic when it comes to meter, often playing entire songs in 4/4 or 3/4. This one uses groupings of 3/8 throughout but varies the between accenting 1 and not accenting 1 to create some interesting patterns (Especially right after the beginning where they create the feel of 5 for a bit). They also use hemiola in the chorus (3+3+2+2+2, like West Side Story's America) and lots of repetition. Repetition is another cool trick in the math rock toolkit, which is great for leaving some people going "wait, what?" without actually doing anything far out of the ordinary. It's like a skipping record, we've all heard it but most people aren't actively expecting it to happen, so when a band plans for it they can use that to great effect.

Rob Crow with "Kill All The Humans:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k3wFZ67FxA

Rob Crow has a lot of math rock projects like this, one of them being Thingy (As you probably already knew, given the title of the last video). This track is primarily, or entirely, in 3/4 but he does a cool trick with the "I don't want to be a fucking robot" chorus where he starts it on beat 3 of the previous measure (Instead of waiting until the next downbeat like a normal songwriter) and then throws in a weird little accent pattern. I'm actually still scratching my head trying to figure out if it's still in 3/4 or if he changed meter (If he did, I'm thinking it's either 21/16, 11/8, or 23/16... basically something just shy of six quarter note counts). Whether or not he did though isn't the issue, it's what it sounds like and it sure as hell sounds like he's in a different rhythmic feel for that part. Also note how sections glide seamless in and out of each other, it's all very organic. Even with the unusual feel of that part it sounds like it's something that someone could have started playing naturally, it's not the lush intricacy of a Don Caballero track.

Speaking of which, here's Don Cab with "Stupid Puma:"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDYl_OOcrgA

Another song with too many shifts for me to bother with figuring it all out tonight, but the central motif is 5/8 expressed as 2+3 (It starts off the piece) which is then carried through, modulated, chopped up and put back together (For example, there's a section at 0:58 where we see a bar of 5/8 alternated with 7/8, in which they go 2+3+2). Minimalism plays a huge role in their music, especially in the guitar work of Ian Willaims. Phrases are drawn out and altered multiple times over the course of a single song, sometimes with only one clear melodic idea in a whole composition. To contrast this, Damon Che pounds every voice on his kit and every available opportunity, creating an environment in which the drums take on the role of the "lead" instrument, which is a total 180 from rock standards.

Finally, here's another Don Cab tune, "The Peter Criss Jazz." I'm not going to say anything about it, just listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o_C9n0mh_M


And that concludes our brief glimpse at math rock for the moment. Hopefully you found something to enjoy in all that, but if not don't be discouraged. Math rock is such a broad and diverse genre that you can't throw a rock without hitting a band with a fairly unique style. As I said, I plan on dedicating a post to Slint at a later date (Along with some other bands who will each get their time to shine) but does anyone want me to cover another one of these groups in greater detail as well? We have a whole month to fill with this stuff, I'm very open to suggestions.