The Nine Lives of the Parachute Tester - Joe Banana and His Bunch

Three piece indie math lite group with a lot of potential. These guys have fairly straight forward structures but truly excel with excellent vocals and some pretty inspired and sprightly drumming.  All in all these three songs showcase their strengths incredibly well with my only minor gripe being that I wished the girl would sing more. I can truly appreciate a group that puts actual time into their vocal contributions because lets face it a lot of math (or even indie rock groups for that matter) have a very slap dash approach to writing lyrics and vocals melodies. As stated this is not at all the case here. Best of luck to these guys and very excited to see where a full length will take them.

Joe Banana and His Bunch!

Fish Tank - Henry

UK MATH POP #@RU(QR#PFJ FA!!! ALL OVER THE FUC......

Excuse my outburst fellows and fellows ettes, in keeping up with my obvious love for UK bred math rock.indie pop hybrid beasts (Tangled Hair, Colour, Pharoahs so on and so forth) is Fish Tank. This three piece have dropped on us an EP that eats like a meal or an LP (your choice). Giant sized rock outs, wonderful breakdowns, sing alongs, awesome vox, tapping, keyboards, horns? check. These boys are not afraid to jam heavy on a great chorus or conversely rip through a couple time signatures with some guitar acrobatics. Make no mistake though this stuff will get caught in your dome. It seems as though a full length is to come rather soon and I can't help but be on my chair about it.  Criminal that they aren't more talked up because they are a sight better than a lot of this "sensitive math with strong guitars".

Pro-tip: Hand claps in a song =  + 5 to crushing brilliance



HENRY

Pensioner - Yearlings (2011)

Pensioner from Scotland certainly have caught my attention and others as well. At the base they are a post-hardcore/math rock hybrid that seems to have more fun jamming as many awesome ideas into a song as they can. Vocals are also deliciously present. Here lies a problem with most bands that do employ vocals they tend to play second fiddle...not so here at all. An Incredibly solid release with nothing too technical but some herky jerk rhythms get thrown in out of left field. It keeps you on your feet and you'll frequently be surprised by some of the structural choices going on. Don't worry no surprise gangster rap outro.

I guess you could say its just a really sweet and inspired rock album that is as vocal centric as guitar led. Which I think more bands should try to follow. Here that other bands?

Yearlings (2011)

AS MEIAS - self-titled & II

Japanese math rock is always crystal sharp in its execution and never a nary note thrown in. The most important aspect of my mass generalization is that their drummers are ALWAYS amazing. AS MEIAS is no exception to either of these rules. The singing here is a highly melodic emotional style that works well with the music and never tries to follow the rhythmic curve's going on behind it. Both guitars get locked into some solid steel counterplay with some riffs that I'd dare say are pretty original especially rhythmically. My issue (however slight) is that the riffs don't change as often as I'd like. Confession time I have musical ADD, no surprise. So many of you might listen and think "hmmm he's full of junk hell" Drums are pretty incredible in that they never play with the guitars and are always trying to (F) the beat up. This is super solid across the waters level biz.

Self-Titled (2004)

II (2010)

Strange Mangers - S/T (2011)

Kids these days.

Strange Mangers are a new-ish band of teenagers from Boston that includes a heavy dose of jangly guitar in their indie rock brew. The songs tend to be pensive and catchy. The rhythms aren't at all mathy, but there's so much jangly guitar, effective dynamics, and well-placed vocal harmonies that you'll forget everything is in 3/4 and 4/4. The vocals are sparse, airy, and strong.

The one iffy moment is a misguided sample-based piece about the financial crisis in the middle of the EP. It doesn't really add anything and kills the EP's momentum. But thats what skip buttons are for, I suppose.

Stream/download Strange Mangers on their Bandcamp.

City of Ifa - Blue Shoes (2011)

I had stumbled on this Orlando, Florida three piece awhile ago with their first EP. Very raw, lots of young talent, technical and very directionless. It was soon cast off into the void that is many albums that cross my ear holes. Fast forward a few releases and City of Ifa are a band in contention for the best Fall of Troy esque group. Truthfully this is not fair to say but the comparison is apt in a few general ways. They both travel in that riff driven post-hardcore math rock with soaring vocals. I'm here to tell you however that Ifa is heads better than the now defunct Fall of Troy (and who really cared much about their last release anyway?) These are highly technical rock songs with clear structural goals and if your small tender brain can wrap your head around the sweet ass twisting riffs well your in for a treat.  Surprisingly great vocals going on as well again. HIGH recommendation on this one folks.  I know no one has anything better to do on a Sunday anyway sooooooo listen away.


Blue Shoes (2011)

Faraquet - The View from This Tower

For such limited material Faraquet has left a lasting stamp on the state of math-rock even today. Active in the late 90's most of the members are now a part of the band Medications. "The View from This Tower" remains a staple in any math-heads go to albums. Certainly not a bullet proof release by any means its strength lies in the mix of excellent vocals with razor sharp rhythms. 

The View from This Tower