Second math rock band - Shellac

Oh, you're in for a treat. Shellac. Is. Awesome. Last time we talked about Slint, a math rock band with heavy post-rock leanings and an acoustic, low-key aesthetic (If you missed that, do yourself a favor and backtrack a bit). Shellac is not that.

There is another subgenre of rock music, noise rock. Noise rock is something that I'm sure we'll get to in great detail some other month (How could we not?), but it's important to mention it here because noise rock and math rock often cross paths. Remember Yowie and how abrasive and angular their sound was? That's the sort of style you get when these two genres collide, although often you'll get a sound focused more on repetition and groove than spastic madness (Actually, there was a Slint song in that last blog that was a good example, "Carol," which had the kind of driving groove we're talking about... anyways, I digress).

Shellac is one of those bands that conjoin noise rock and math rock and they do it very well. As an introduction, let's just dive into one of my favorite songs of all time. This is "Squirrel Song" by Shellac:

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

Yeah, I know. Your entire world just changed a little. The first thing you'll probably notice is the choppy rhythmic structure (More specifically 3/8+6/8+3/8+5/8). The second thing you'll probably notice is the metallic tone. As for the structure, this is a common variation on the stop-start phrasing mentioned in previous posts. You take a single metric phrase and then repeat it but don't always play the whole thing. To use the riff in this song as an example, the core phrase is played in the second measure of each four measure segment (The 6/8). The first and third measures cut this phrase in half but keep everything else intact, so when they would play beat 4 of the phrase they instead play the downbeat of the next measure. Finally, the last measure of each pattern is a 5/8, only dropping the very last beat of the phrase. This isn't the only instance of this kind of composition in the genre, but it's always the one that jumps straight to mind for me.

As for the tone, a lot of that comes from Steve Albini's rather unorthodox approach to the guitar. For a clearer example of him "playing with noise" so to speak, let's look at "Copper":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H22upaG3BGs

Now, this a purely 4/4 track so it's not great for our purposes on math rock but it's a great introduction to noise rock and it should give you a better understanding of Shellac's musical direction. The last few seconds of the song are a particularly great example of what I'm talking about, it sounds less like a guitar and more like malfunctioning machinery. Which is awesome, of course.

Here's "Doris":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gW6g0jV3ZU

Not too math-y with this one, but it's got a nice groove. The main riff is in 4/4 but it's grouped in pairs and broken down as 3/4+3/4+2/4 (A very, very common rock subdivision so it's no surprise that it shows up almost constantly in this subgenre as well). The chorus takes that same idea for the first half of each phrase but then follows it up with either a measure of 6/4 or two measures of 3/4 (It feels like a six to me but the overally structure of the song implies threes), making the full progression of each phrase something like 3+3+2+3+3. At the end of the song they seem to go purely into 3/4. Also, remember polyrhythms? Note that again we have a 3-2 polyrhythm showing up in the choruses and the outro. It's a very common rhythmic motif to keep an eye (Or ear, rather) out for.

"Billiard Player Song":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-peDxKGgNbA

Another straight forward one, although notice how open and sparse the structure is (Pretty much a single riff alternated with periods of drum fills over decaying chords) and how loose they are in the beginning. It's the kind of song that you can almost tell a math rocker wrote, even though it isn't packed full of odd meters. Also, it's just a really great song in and of itself, simultaneously very bright while also melancholy.

"Ghosts":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6BTG44DWsw

Figured I'd mix things up with a live video here (Although it's such a classic tune you might as well find the album quality version as well). The meter is an alternation between 11/8 (3+3+3+2) and 13/8 (3+3+3+2+2), presented in a manner that's actually somewhat similar to the style of "Squirrel Song" above since the two patterns are the same with the exception of one being slightly longer. You could think of the 11 as a 13 that's been cut short.

"Crow": (Well, some of it)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKrJhGQuBz8

Another live video. This song is entirely in 3/4 and is yet another example of the 3-2 polyrhythm. Notice also how the drummer flips the "2" at around 1:30ish, and how the whole affair is very sparse and tribal (Steve barely touches his guitar).

"Wingwalker":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pEc8o1qWkA

This song is in 6/4 (Except possibly the section of noise which is probably in free time). However, the melodic guitar leads at the beginning and end of the piece are in 4/4, which creates an interesting disconnect as the patterns fail to resolve together and the guitar seems to hang out in space for a bit. You might recall that this is called a polymeter. If you don't, now you know.

And I think that's a decent place to call it quits for now. Unlike Slint (Who unfortunately only gave us a handful of songs), Shellac has a decently sized discography so I urge you to look further into their work if any of this interests you. Most of it tends more towards grooving 4/4 pieces but there is a sizable chunk of mathiness throughout, I believe.

Hope you enjoyed it.