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The music takes influence from noise rock and angular Midwest post-hardcore, but also injects a lot of minimalism in the playing and song writing. At Action Park being the debut LP by Steve Albini, Todd Trainer, and Bob Weston as Shellac, it’s no surprise this album has left its imprint on math rock as well. Albini recorded seminal albums by Slint, Don Caballero, Breadwinner, Dianogah, The Jesus Lizard, Owls, Bitch Magnet, Dazzling Killmen, Storm & Stress, and Craw just to name some of the important bands of the genre he’s worked with. There is no denying the influence Steve Albini had on the development of math rock both stylistically and from an engineering standpoint of the sound of math rock records. Growing is instrumental save for last track “ People Staying Awake” featuring guest vocals by Pinback’s Rob Crow, which rapturously soars and falls. “Mouth Breeder” drones and buzzes, staccato rhythms and melodic, articulated guitar and bass lines, building from control to carefully hinted-at disorder. Joileah Maddock’s interlocking guitar on “James Spader” resists and persists the whirring undercurrent of Kenseth Thibideau’s bass. Blending elements of math, post-rock, minimalism and improv, Growing walks the tightrope of flexed tension and elastic space. Alternating between intellectual and visceral, minimal to hook-laden and expansive, the San Diego favourites take compositional risks and delve into innovative immensity with ease. Sleeping People’s sophomore work Growing is a thoughtful exploration of layered and textural arrangements, taut prog riffs against a backdrop of dynamic rock energy, machine language with a human heart.
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#DON CABALLERO BAND FULL#
We were all really happy with how readers voted and, while we would have loved to see some other fine albums make the cut, this really is a solid list that spans the full math rock timeline.
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This article is the outcome of that poll. But what’s really missing here is a crash course on the essential records of this niche but overwhelming genre – a ‘who’s who’ of math rock.Ī couple of months ago, we ran a reader’s poll on the essential math rock albums. You can read our unabridged math rock history series, or our articles on the math rock instrument mainstays like telecasters and pedals. Of course, you can go on Wikipedia and learn about all this. Today, math rock takes even stranger forms: rapid finger-tapping, wildly angular guitar phrases and a plethora of guitar pedals and digital effects. It was over thirty years ago that bands like Slint, Bastro, Bitch Magnet, Breadwinner and Don Caballero started the wheels turning. Most of the bands started recording at Electric Audio in Chicago, overseen by a nerdy but cantankerous audio engineer, columnist, and bassist named Steve Albini. Some were inspired by progressive rock stalwarts like King Crimson and Yes, others just wanted to try something new and cool. The groundwork for math rock was being lain. They took the scruffy indie sound and added their own touch: odd time signatures, dissonant structures, and irregular stopping and starting. In the late 1980’s, a bunch of kids in the Midwest, inspired by the booming indie rock movement, grabbed instruments and started a new type of band.