Algebraic!

May 5, 2012 9:00 PM

The exacting, cerebral sounds of Massachusetts natives Math the Band invite intense attention and abstract appreciation. A live set from 2009 presents what is perhaps the best opportunity to sample their dense soundscapes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

"They have one setting: frenetic." "…A lot like the music from the old Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Sega [sic] but with vocals." "Their live shows have yielded them a total of seven broken bones."

MtB's 2009 album Don't Worry (their most recent) has been reviewed widely: on Consequence of Sound, in Venus Zine, on Altsounds — and spotlighted on NPR's All Songs Considered blog.

Here is a real music video for one of the songs on the album: Why Didn't You Get a Haircut?

Math the Band tweets, tumbles, and exists on MySpace. They have a new EP!

A selection of manchildren rocking out to MtB's music: 1, 2.

This is all.

posted by Nomyte (13 comments total)

Whoa. I hadn't heard this band, although I had heard of them. Love it. I know what I'm doing tomorrow.
posted by broadway bill at 9:36 PM on May 5, 2012

Math the Band live and work in Providence, RI, not Massachusetts.

And are awesome.
posted by silby at 10:08 PM on May 5, 2012

Math the Band live and work in Providence, RI, not Massachusetts.

Math the Band are from, or native to, Westford Massachusetts.

Also, fuck Providence one thousand percent.
posted by rollbiz at 10:27 PM on May 5, 2012

Awesome, kind of like Anamanaguchi.
posted by lubujackson at 10:44 PM on May 5, 2012

Wow, why the Providence hate, Rollbiz?
posted by ducky l'orange at 10:52 PM on May 5, 2012

Huh. Played The Smell back in 99 or so. Was more noise and improvised music back then; guess it's gone full indie?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 11:47 PM on May 5, 2012

Their music doesn't sound like noise to you?
posted by Nomyte at 12:09 AM on May 6, 2012

No, not at all--that's music, for sure. I definitely know the difference.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:06 AM on May 6, 2012

exacting? cerebral??
Also, not exactly the sound I'd expect from a band named after math.
posted by DarkForest at 5:18 AM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's weird how much this band makes me think of Papas Fritas. A hyperkinetic version of Papas Fritas, anyway.
posted by ardgedee at 6:19 AM on May 6, 2012

Please don't invite me to abstractly appreciate, or pay intense attention to, live music shot with a cell phone.
posted by davebush at 6:37 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

when I was young, I used to whip my head around like a ball on a string too. Pray you don't live to get old. The damage will outlast your music
posted by Redhush at 7:18 AM on May 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Redhush, was thinking the same thing: the girl looks like she is deliberately giving herself a concussion.
posted by grimjeer at 10:06 AM on May 6, 2012