Halcyon - Pastures (2011)

I dont like posting a lot of hit or miss type stuff but when this australian group hits its like a Little Mac upper cut. The misses aren't all that bad I will say they are some typical run of the mill djent. HOWEVER when these guys fold in the layers of jazz fusion and math rock elements with what is a very pastoral type feel your in for a ride. The song "Nesting" is a great example. So yea not the greatest but there should be something here for fans of instrumental musics.

PostMadonna Interview

PostMadonna is a very understanding group of musicians. Why might I choose to point that out in the introduction of this interview, you ask? Because after about a half-hour of conversation, the very moment they finished answering the last question I lost everything I had recorded.

Yup.


Needless to say, I whipped up a fresh batch of inquiries, hit them up a second time, and got to know these dudes pretty well. I am stoked to have caught them on the cusp of some recent successes, with their album coming out on vinyl June 30th and an even-more-recent-than-this-interview signing to Tetra Records. Here we find out about their musical backgrounds, thoughts on songwriting, and Cathy, who’s just trying to make sense of it all.

Guruh Gipsy Is The Anti-Jethro Tull

I know that this is a Math Rock blog, but I'm writing my first post about a Progressive Rock album because fuck the cops. Guruh Gipsy is a collaborative album between the Indonesian composer Guruh Sukarnoputra (the son of Indonesia's first president) and the Indonesian progressive rock band Gipsy. This album is unique because it blends western progressive rock idioms with traditional Indonesian ones in a way that doesn't feel forced or out of place. The parts of this record that sound like cheesy Close To The Edge era Yes transition so seamlessly into, and blend so absurdly well with the traditional central-Javanese vocal delivery, western-Javanese modes and Balinese Gamelan riffs that you almost forget about the gratuitous 3 minute long synthesizer and guitar solos that litter the more prog-rock oriented sections. 

I'm generally not crazy about Progressive Rock of this era, but I give a lot of fucks about the interaction between Western and Non-Western musics and this album uses that interaction to keep itself sounding fresh even when it falls into classic prog wankery.

Sukarnoputra, who is currently a member of Indonesia's People's Representative Council wrote most of the music, and plays piano and Gendér, with Chrisye, the bassist from Gipsy providing most of the vocals. The album was recorded and produced independently, with an original release in 1976 of only 5000 copies, but received widespread critical acclaim at the time. Since then, the record has come to be regarded as a classic of Indonesian rock, and in 2007 Rolling Stone Indonesia named Guruh Gipsy the second best Indonesian record of all time. I highly recommend this record to anyone who likes lush instrumentation, or is interested in learning more about Indonesian traditional music but doesn't know where to start. 

Typical Gamelan Instrumentation

Gamelan of Four

FUCK THE COPS (download)

Cousin - Alternate Tunings for Regular People (2013)

Apparently it took one more release from this UK trio to really sink into my dome. It has a bit of a 90's throw back feel with chord progression's (reminds me a bit of polvo...slightly) but structurally it follows a more math rock / post hardcore (minor) bent and I just cant argue with that. There's no boring interludes or builds its straight to the excellent riffage, no time wasted. This is something that I can imagine many people diving right into because its that immediate. Solidly crafted stuff.

Goddamn Jets - All we ever wrote (2001​-​2002)

Some lovely lost maths for yall's from the early 2000's was just uploaded. This is some pretty straight forward three piece instrumental math rock but there are certainly some great moments to be had. Its important to remember also for the time that a majority of math from the early aughts bares the strong influence of the great Don Cab. Absolutely not a bad thing in my opinion. Enjoy!