WOOHOO!

The sophomore outing by the spunky Math Rockers from southern California is another very short EP, sixteen minutes from start to finish. But these guys apparently enjoy working in concentrated spurts of caffeinated energy, and they pack a lot of detail into this abbreviated set.

The EP's title spells out their collective exuberance; the music itself does likewise, in five brief instrumental workouts plus one actual song, all of them models of polyrhythmic economy: bright and busy, but otherwise hard to define. The reliably misinformed Wikipedia cluelessly labels them a "progressive metal band". On the band's Facebook page, under the heading 'genre', they define their own style with an unfussy "doesn't matter", quote unquote.

That's a very healthy attitude for a quartet of precocious young musicians barely out of school, in just two words revealing a sense of modesty and confidence rarely found in a digitized generation typically obsessed with its social network insecurities, especially inside the hive-minds of Facebook and Twitter. Or is that just the ageism of a born-again Luddite rearing its grizzled head again?

The music is full of jazzy hyperactive ornamentation, while still managing to be surprisingly melodic. The group doesn't outstay its welcome, and won't burden the listener with any concept or message beyond the uncomplicated optimism of their music, and the joy they take from playing it. And if that isn't a hallmark of truly progressive (as opposed to Prog) Rock, I don't know what is...