Now here's some brilliant shit i've been totally unprepared for, certainly having a mind of its own and being delightfully out of touch with the zeitgeist! Sure, the whole thing feels kinda old. I'm kinda old too, so i like that. Imagine the likes of Saccharine Trust, Minutemen, Swell Maps and The Pop Group partaking in an occult ritual to conjure up an ancient '60s acid rock demon, an unholy crossbreed of psych- and math rock. This is quite terribly self-indulgent of course, but that aspect kinda comes with both of those genres, i guess. At this point i'm pretty sure you've already made up your mind about it and know if you're gonna love or hate it. In my humble opinion, what the Philadelphia group hallucinates up here is pretty fucking swell and totally should be legalized!
Cleveland's Knowso for sure have been among the most idiosyncratic and memorable groups of the past couple years. Their newest full length shows them at the height of their strength once again, their amalgamation of post punk, noise- and math rock still coming across just as quirky and whimsical as it is tight, rigid and angular all the same, combining a seemingly procedural and efficient, mathematical approach with an amount of fun and catchyness you wouldn't really expect inside these rough parameters. At this point, their sound is pretty much their own thing but if you absoiutely must compare them to other groups, you might find some similarities to stuff such as Brandy, Landowner, Big Bopper or maybe Nag in their more approachable moments.
Chicago trio Luggage have, over the course of the past eight years, proven to be a true bulwark in the sector of unapologetically excentric, dissonant and unwieldy noise rock, postcore and math rock which they usually happen to throttle down to a sluggish crawl. If anything, they've just grown ever more uncompromising over the years, culminating in their newest deformed lump of an LP, yet another challenging outburst of noise heavily indebted to the likes of Slint, Tar, Shellac and if i had to name something more contemporary, i'd say the first two Behavior albums (especially the spectacular second one Bitter Bitter) make a close enough comparison as well.
Garage punk meets math rock meets psychedelia meets postcore on this breathless new tape by Minneapolis group Tricks, at different times bearing similarities to recent groups as diverse as Reality Group, Uranium Club, Yammerer, Big Bopper, Patti, Ex-Cult, Rolex, Shark Toys, Sauna Youth… at times you might even percieve a slight 90s Dischord vibe á la Jawbox, Faraquet and Medications.
This thing isn't exactly new at this point, having been self-released last fall on their bandcamp page. It took a cassette edition via Leipzig label U-Bac for me to actually realize its qualities though, which are really no surprise with hindsight as there are folks from polish post-/art-/math punk powerhouses Ukryte Zalety Systemu and Kurws at work here. This promises some smart and beautifully structured chaos and on this record, it comes in droves, calling to mind, along with the aforementioned groups, the occasional flash of Spray Paint or Lithics and even some Faraquet and Swell Maps to boot!
A beautifully out-of-fashion 7" by a Leeds group creating a sound located amidst the rough coordinates of math rock, postcore and noise rock, obviously paying trubute primarily to the 90s-to-2000s era of Dischord Records and in particular to groups of the Jawbox, Autoclave, Hoover, Lungfish, Q and not U variety.
Doesn't look like these texans are gonna run out of tunes anytime soon, having just cranked out their second album over the course of just a few months. Thankfully the mix is a bit less tinnitus-inducing this time while the new songs seamlessly continue the wonderful chaos Big Bopper established earier this year, made up of post- and garage punk, noise- and math rock elements roughly in the vein of Patti, Rolex, Cutie, Mystic Inane or Brandy, plus some traces of early Minutemen.
This EP by Kyoto group LLRR is a real treat! Post punk that's simultaneously catchy and abrasive, often danceable, sometimes leaning towards math rock structures and oldschool no-wave-funky in other places. A rock-solid rhythm section creates the ideal space for guitarist Yuzuru Sano's unruly yet often quite melodic eruptions of noise to unfold as well as the hypnotic chants by vocalist Minami Yokota, the latter being interwoven into the rhythmic foundation to a degree seldem heard from contemporary groups.
On their second LP, noise rock/postcore trio Trigger Cut considerably raise the energy level without sacrificing much of the precision work, sophisticated structures and arrangements we've already witnessed on their debut album. Especially in the first half there are some serious Jawbox and Bastro vibes going on. In the past i'd have told you that Ralf Schaarschmidt's current and past bands are among the very best the german noise rock scene has to offer but honestly, at this point, even worldwide there aren't that many groups operating at their level.
Having only released one 7" before, the maturity of this Dublin group's debut album is quite stunning - nothing less than a fully realized, versatile and inventive take on Noise Rock, Postcore and Math Rock clearly taking some cues from classic 90's and early 00's acts like Unwound, Bastro, Chavez, Frodus, some early Shellac, while still standing on its own two feet. In the current genre landscape, Multicult might also be a somewhat useful comparison.