On Polymeters

Yes, let's cross meters. In short, polymeters can be described as two or more meters played simultaneously. For example, a melody in six eight juxtaposed with another melody in eleven eight. The idea is beautifuly simple, but a little hard to cognate.
 The problem being, we are used to hearing one discernable melody at a time. This is not to say as an audience the population cannot enjoy polyphony, only that the mind is tweaked to 'focus' our ears on one particular line at a time. It is the same as trying to listen to two conversations at once. Now, when a melody is harmonised with a countermelody in the same time, the mind recognises both, but either focuses on one or creates a combination of the two. This is similar to homophony, the mind recognises and follows the harmonic structure, but only notices the subtleties in one part at a time. With polymeters, the mind tends to either listen to one melody at a time and ignore the other or create a framework around points at which the meters match up. In our example above, six and eleven eight, every six bars of eleven, the two parts will match up again.
 Why, other than simply to experiment, would we use this? The answer is all texture and interest. In popular music we are so used to hearing what we expect in music, when something out of the ordinary comes along our auditory circuits are very excited:


In the above example, the guitar line is in 9/4 while the drum and bass parts are in 4/4. Philip Glass experiments with polymeters, although is better known for incremantation of meter between sections.
 Anyway, there's some food for thought. Try writing two parts, one in 5/4, the other in 13/8 and make it sound delish.

Bayartai

On SunriseInTheSea

I really like Time Columns, proving the math of the east coast of the States hasn't quite dried up. They have a wonderful mix of post-rock beauty and math-rock technical ability. This EP, which was released on digital download last year (and available free, see below) is a bit of a masterpiece debut. The Baltimore duo create polyphony using a Gibson Echoplex looper (win). There are plenty of complex melodies and the odd chordal passage. The tracks are named after the seasons, excluding track three. I reccomend listening to Fall first. The track has an almost Glassian feel, with a colourful loop lacking any discernable melody overdubbed withsome quick arpeggio work and plenty of clean guitar. The drums are also most pronounced on this track. The drums are actually mad in the mid-section which is a delight. Very breaky.
 I'm not sure this EP will recieve the commercial success it deserves, but it is very good. In terms of critical success, I think for this brand of math-rock, although I enjoy listening to it enormously, perhaps they have missed the boat. Nonetheless, I am hopeful they will tour England and I am sure as their sound develops we will be blessed with a very interesting animal.
I think, all things considered (and perhaps a little generously):

2:1

You can download SunriseInTheSea here: http://timecolumns.bandcamp.com/

Viso Gero

On Phase Shifting

Without Reich, Math-Rock would have evolved into something somewhat duller. Extend this generic intro for your own pleasure if you like, but let’s write phasing. Phase shifting, in it’s simplest form, consists of two identical lines of music played at steady but very slightly varying tempos. Over time the lines will appear to fall out of time with each other. If the lines are looped, which they generally are in phasing, the music will appear, after a while, to fall back into time. This effect is very easy to achieve with, for example, two different tape players from Reich’s era playing identical tapes (tape players very rarely played cassettes at the same speed, although the variation was very subtle), but performing phasing live introduces a few difficulties.
 To begin with, it is very, very hard to ignore what is happening sonically around you. This becomes exponentially harder when you are trying to play the same looped line as the Korg SV1 88 Note ‘Stage Vintage’ Keyboard next to you, but at a slightly varied tempo. Furthermore, if you can ignore the sound around you, it would be incredibly difficult to create a tempo only so slightly varied as to allow the music an extended amount of time to evolve. A system, therefore, was created to overcome this.
 Phase shifting live, is very much the same as a round. The difference being once a line starts in a round it continues to the end and finishes or loops indefinitely at a defined interval to the other lines. Phasing allows the line freedom to move in time. It can be achieved by adding notes. So the first line loops indefinitely. The second line loops at first in phase with the first line, but at a determined moment the last semi-quaver in the line is shifted to the beginning of the bar, thus moving the line a sixteenth note out of time with the initial line. This practise can then be continued. Furthermore, rather than performing the melodies in time to begin with, introduce a few layers of the same melody, note-by-note, layer-by-layer, until a harmonically static texture is created of out-of-sync identical lines.
 The technique is as simple as that, and although it may not be a common mode of composition in math rock, texturally the influence is huge (just listen to Don Caballero 3 from What Burns Never Returns). Maybe I’ll explore polymeters next.
For now, a man playing Piano Phase on two pianos, little treat.

Head aega

On Young Mountain

So I have been listening to this post-rock band band, This Will Destroy You, from San Marcos again recently and thought I would share a thought or two about this 2006 EP. Yes it lacks the quirky track names and rediculous time-changes found in math-rock, but there is something sweet about this release. It is epic from the first second and never seems to rise above 100bpm. The guitars range from echoey clean sounds to massive distorted sound and everything has a brave amount of reverb on it. There isn't so much to distinguish this band from any other post-rock group that sound like Explosions in the Sky, but there is some strong material here. The melodies are catchy, it is depressing and reflective but still uplifting in many ways the only thing it lacks is pretension, and I have to concede I find this alot with post-rock. There is no sense of progression for the sake of it, which may be a good thing for some listeners, but I must admit I admire conceit and elitism within music. There is something beautifuly smug about a compoer or group which give the impression of thinking they know they are original or better than most. I really am a bit of a cunt aren't I?
Nevertheless, check this EP out:

http://www.last.fm/music/This+Will+Destroy+You/Young+Mountain

Rating?

2:1

Ma as-salaamah

On the Other Hand

On The Orange EP

I stumbled upon this band about half a year ago and thought they deserve a mention. Suffer Like G Did are an instrumental quartet playing jazzy-math-rock in very much the same vein as The Littlest Viking. First things first, the name. For those familiar with the Sega Dreamcast game House of the Dead 2, the name is a quote from a character involved. Yeah nice. Although a lot of the melodic lines sound 'simple' the harmony and texture involved is very bebop. There are plenty of start-stop section interchanges and, as on the second track, we essentially find just two different sections which build completely individually of each other (true binary form). In terms of technical ability, there is nothing exciting on this EP. Some of the bass lines are more interesting than what is generally found in math-bands and there are lots of sus chords, but nothing to write home about. The first track, Big Golden Capital A is certainly the most exciting and varied on the three track EP and is certainly worth listening to. In summary, what this band may lack in speed and ideas they make up for in space and warm chordal sections. You can listen here: http://www.myspace.com/sufferlikegdid.
In conclusion, I think this EP has earned:

2:2

 

Enjoy.

On Eating Happens

...and in August this year, Loose Lips Sink Ships released a split with Victor Villarreal called Eating Happens. Wow, that's odd. It's not that the two songs don't quite flow together (they don't), but more that after hearing what loose lips have to offer, I stop listening. I actually changed the track. I have no idea why whoever put this split together thought it was a good idea, but it wasn't. That said, and I will ignore the Villarreal track, the Loose Lips track is nothing short of incredible. It is complex, challenging and, above all, LLSS have stuck to what they do best: stop/start epic math-rock. The guitar lines are a mixture of long clean and fast melodies (I definately sense some right hand here) and distorted pauses. The drum track is as pleasing as ever, enough break beats and jazzy ride cymbals to satisfy Squarepusher. There is a sever lack of section repetition, to the tracks credit and an outro so atmospheric and layered Steve Reich would be proud (not to mention the mallets). Furthermore, it has the ludicrous name: Sarah Palin's Parasailing. I really rate this track (although not the split) so please have a listen and I award a grade of (for the track):

1st

You can hear Sarah Palin's Parasailing here:

http://looselipssinkships.bandcamp.com/album/eating-happens-7