U.S. Maple for Post/Math - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Checked them ... cool stuffs indeed, anyway;

Originally posted by Math rock
definition

Math rock definition wrote:

Math Rock is a genre that emerged in the late 80's and that was influenced by both the intricacies of progressive and avant-garde rock - King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow - and 20th century composers such as Steve Reich and John Cage. The music is characterized by complex structures, angular melodies and constant abrupt changes in tempo and time signature. The name Math Rock is a term that grew out of the Chicago scene and the artists working with engineer Steve Albini in an effort to describe the new style.

The basic building blocks of Math Rock can be traced back to the late 60's and 70's where Progressive Rock artists were making more elaborate compositions than the standard rock bands and were experimenting with song structures. Early Avant-garde groups like Massacre, and artists such as Captain Beefheart and John Zorn were highly influential to Math Rock bands and traces of their music can still be heard throughout the genre. Another big influence to the Math Rock approach was Slint with their album "Spiderland" which showcased many techniques that Math Rock bands will follow in the future. Punk also had significant impact on the sound of Math Rock bands. Other notable influences are: Post-Rock, Heavy Metal, and Jazz.

Although there are Math Rock bands in different countries around the world, most reside in the United States, the Midwest in particular, and tend to be divided by regions: Pittsburgh bands (Don Caballero, Six Horse) Chicago bands (Shellac, U.S. Maple), Ohio bands (Keelhaul, Craw) Louisville bands (June 44, Rodan, The For Carnation, Crain), and San Diego bands (Drive Like Jehu, Tristeza) among others on both coasts. Japan was also an important country in the Math Rock genre with bands like Ruins and Zeni Geva.

Why aren't they in Math? Confused

Sent to Math Rock.

In Lazland, life is transient. Prog is permanent.

If you have Captn Beef on the Archives you have to put them as well... Extreme use of the exploding note theory. And for the sound and the rhythm I dont see a problem with math as well... Why did this never get properly evaluated. They belong here.

In my personal opinion

Every album except for Talker (no math at all) could be called a math rock album at least partially and the first one is a very influential math masterpiece.

https://www.thoughtco.com/top-math-rock-albums-94496

And as you see... I am not alone with this opinion.

Edited by GrafHaarschnitt - July 11 2018 at 10:21

When Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 seem to be in progarchives (to my big suprise), why not U.S. Maple? But then Trumans Water should also be here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAjsL8lBi4

Avant-prog? My early days on the site came back to haunt me lol

So between then and now I've got to know U.S. Maple very well; around four/five years ago they were my very favourite band. The thing is with U.S. Maple is that they may be considered too loose (especially on Sang Phat Editor and Talker) to be real math rock, as they often lacked that mechanical technicality that is so common in the genre. However, their compositions (yes, they certainly are) often employ a certain stuttering, group-impulsive lack of pulse which could be considered more complex than uncommon time signatures. A tight looseness, if you will. You can also find that when the band is playing more metronomic rhythms that there's non 4/4 sections scattered throughout their discography.

What could be overlooked is the post-rock-y vibes that they can sometimes give off on the post-Sang Phat albums. It's just that it's all quite dry.

Basically, listen to Long Hair in Three Stages, 'cause out of their five albums, that's the closest album stylistically that could help them get in here; their most straight-up math rock album.

And hey, check out the genre tags on RYM (not that that's mattered in the past). 3/5 with math rock primaries, the rest have it as secondary. This sums it up well, I feel - not the absolute math-monstrosity band to end them all, but still very valid and of course a key part of the scene.

I'd vote yes in the post/math category.

New album!
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385