A Primer on Math Rock

Ever heard of Math Rock? I hadn’t, and got intrigued by the name enough to investigate, and glad I did.

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Math Rock is made of calculated riffs on complex and ever changing time signatures, pauses and other unexpected or dissonant elements. It has long patterns that can be initially not apparent, but come together over the whole song.

Usually with clean guitar and prominent drums, they often feature quieter vocals or are even fully instrumental. The related genre Mathcore cranks up the distortion but still keeps the complexities that define this genre.

Math Rock can at first generate an uneasy feeling on the listener, specially when he misses the beats he has come to expect from the traditional patterns and time signatures of western music.

Still, Math Rock can be an interesting choice to listen to, and not only for geeks.

Here’s some of my favorite Math Rock pieces:

tricot - Ochansensu-su

tricot is a japanese all-girl band with a catchy sound. check them out!

Giraffes? Giraffes! - When The Catholic Girls Go Camping, The Nicotine Vampires Rule Supreme.

Giraffes? Giraffes! is an american instrumental band with, let’s say, lots of creativity when naming stuff.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants

The Dillinger Escape Plan is usually more to the Mathcore side of Math Rock, with heavier distortion and noisier tracks.

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Did you know about math rock? Did you like it or too weird for you? Let me know, and follow @burnin for more