All The Best Tapes - All The Best Tapes

Progressive math punk trio from Stoke in the UK. These guys are gearing up for their third release which is currently streaming over on punktastic, if you like your progressive punks you defo wanna check these guys out. Beautiful mixture of the progressive and punk that doesn't fall into the trap of being overly jarring. I also recommend checking out their back catalogue too, my personal favourite being the first release because for me it encapsulates a perfect mix of classic punk sounds and the prog maths.

All The Best Tapes

previous releases on the bandcamp

Eight Million Kami - Split with Betterment

Checked out these guys demos a while back and they have been coming on nicely. Experimentation heavy maths teaming with talent. They share this split with Betterment who are also worth checking out. Split

Death & The Ninth Day - Man Falls Down Well

Been waiting on this to come out a while since I checked out their first three tracks back at the start of the year, and have been pretty excited about it (to the extent I've also posted it over at plenty of swords). These guys haven't disappointed either. Sick instrumentals meshing together indie end tech metal, math rock prog to name a few things. Really good. Man Falls Down Well

Presque Maudit - Presque Maudit

Some pretty epic sounding math come heavy prog come metal influences. Presque Maudit

Chia Roscuro - Southern Dogface

Mathy four piece from South Carolina. These guys mix up all sorts from prog to to funk and reggae.. They manage to pull it off nicely too. Be quite interesting to hear what these do with more time put into the recording. Up on the bandcamp for full on free. Southern Dogface

New Bastard Eye Scream

 So these are back with three new tunes. Was a big fan of their last record so pretty psyched to hear more tunes from these so soon. Only had the chance to have a few listens through so far but all sounds pretty darn good to me. Up on the bandcamp for the price you name sweet. Bastard Eye Scream

Lucent - Scintilla

One man band from Ohio. Math to prog type jams and pretty good stuff for a first effort, plus it sounds like the guy wrote and recorded this in like a month which is pretty impressive. There is the promise of more tunes if people dig this, so love being shown. I quite wanna hear what he produces given more time. Name the pricer on the bandcamp. Scintilla

Fearless Leader - Half Dead

So these have now released a proper ep they had a demo before, which has changed it's name and lost two tracks (now on this re recorded). Still keeping with the progressive math post hardcore style, but with higher production values than the demo though still keeping the rawness, good stuff. Half Dead  

Physics House Band - Horizons / Rapture

Had a lucky escape this week from my laptop dying on me and trying to take with it my music collection! Would not have been a happy bunny..

Anyway on to business. I have been much anticipating the release of this record as have many people from the looks of things. Chances are you've already checked these guys out and are familiar with their brand of Jazz fusion with it's incorporation of math rock and prog styles in places. OK so I guess the big question is was it worth the wait and did it live up to expectations?? Well... Yes and No. Just let me elaborate on this a mo. This is a record that in places is pretty darn mind blowing, and is generally technically spot on. But I do have to say that in agreement with other honest reviewers there are filler tracks and yes to me they do seem to not fulfil their purpose of connecting the different parts of the record together, I'd probably go as far to say that they actually break the flow of the record breaking up it's energy and drag for me.

So the bottom line for me is this, the tracks that have been floating around the net a while are still awesome but every time I play this I will be making use of the skip button.. I really wanted to be blown away by this and really wanted to do a glowing review, maybe that's part of the disappointment for me. At the end of the day it is definitely  worth the £4 fee and I will be checking their next release and still hold out much hope of it being mind blowing they defo have it in them it's a first pop. Abraxical Solapse is just killer btw. Horizons / Rapture

Stalingrad - Cinc

Mallorcan solo project of Jordi Stalinigrad with a sound that's somewhere between a math rock and post hardcore cross to something more akin to mathcore though not the heavy side of it. This being the fifth release from him and coming in at 16 tracks long and up for totally free over on the bandcamp. Cinc

No Pretty Pictures - Hush Hush

Really thought I had posted on these before.. apparently not! This is the latest release from these from back in feb. These bring a mix of math rock, post hardcore with elements of post rock. Do check out their bandcamp they have a fair amount of material up there all worth checking and up either free or name the price. Hush Hush

Brother Rutherford - Take Root

This is a solo one man affair of the post rock variety, post rock that does draw on math rock and progressive elements. The overall sound is pretty, well very chilling, but that doesn't equate to dull fortunately, and comes with that overall consistency and direction you can get with solo efforts. Out for the grand price of your choosing. Take Root

A.M. Overcast

Latest outing from these and once again some seriously good math pop, honestly some of the best around.. These are great at keeping up the math levels without ever sacrificing the pop sense. If you haven't checked these before you should do. Pellow

Guerrra - Lampo

Trio from Terni in Italy mixing up a instrumental blend of spazzy, mathy, dense prog and hardcore type tunes. Lampo

Cleanup - Wherever Your Place May Be

Mostly instrumental math rock that is really quite catchy, I'd be tempted to say math pop if there were more vocals.. that would also be kind of ignoring the progressive slant running through this. Basically good and intricate without out becoming too introverted. These are a trio from Texas, they released this back in July last year.. Check um. Wherever Your Place May Be

Satelite Twin - Tidal

Trio from Louisville, of indie meets post punk, math/prog rock awesomeness. Really good first release from these guys. Tidal

Jennifer Lo-Fi - Ao Vivo no Estúdio Trama

OK so I don't know how I let these pass me by for quite a time because they are awesome.. These are a Brazilian group, a six piece that play noisy, progressive math rock type stuff. They utilise extra instrumentation have a brilliant sense of composition employ some fantastic atonality, an underlay of Latin rhythms, have sweet female vocals and just generally own it. I wasted a fair amount of time not listening to these.. Really is so so good and to top that off they have this up for free! doesn't get much better. Ao Vivo no Estudio Trama  

Diorama - "_ _ _ _ _"

From Lima, Peru this five piece bring what's mostly post rock, but combines some math rock elements as well as progy bits. For something with it's base in post rock these ain’t boring.. The whole record has a descent flow to it. This is the second outing from these guys and they have it out for full on free, if you check out their bandcamp you will also find their previous effort up there for free also. "_ _ _ _ _"

Oranges - Monkey Buisness

These guys are a four piece from Las Vegas, I think they put themselves in the progressive camp, which I'd go with, although to me very much mathy post hardcore kinda tfot ish, with emo types vocals.. I'd say at this point they don't have the song structures quite nailed, but there really is a ton of interesting shit going on. I very much hope they keep moving with the progressive elements, seen too many bands of this type go the more pop route n go poo. I'm sure I've made this sound less good than it is. They have this up on bandcamp for a small fee, but if you follow the links the also have a split they did with Alaska, which is all name the price and good tunes. Monkey Business.

Mathonbay - Mathonbay

These are a four piece out of Italy, I'd say they were alt rock that incorporates some mathy elements or as they class themselves crooked alternative rock. Think a fair slice of Incubus influences, but with more playing with time signatures and slightly more progressive styled guitar work. Up for name the price on bandcamp if the above sparks an interest. Mathonbay.