– Alexa Lempel
Math rock. No, it’s not a song about multiplication tables from the “I’m Just a Bill” folks over at Schoolhouse Rock. Math rock is a popular underground music genre that evolved in the late 80’s alongside grunge and post-rock. Easily identified by its multi-layered off-kilter beats (including irregular stopping and starting), angular melodies, and dissonant chords, math rock earns its name from its sometimes hard to appreciate habit of junking the standard 4/4 rock meter in favor of complex patterns of alternating uncommon meters such as 7/8, 11/8, and 13/8. Here rhythm is king, although it’s not always a rhythm easily appreciated by the casual listener; in fact, in spite of math rock’s intellectually well-structured beats, it’s abruptly changing time-signatures sound like pure chaos to some. Personally I find the beats pretty orderly and interesting, but click below to take a listen to some math rock and decide for yourself.
This is actually in a very straightforward 4/4 time. But it is interesting to hear the layering effect. The “single chord” effect of the tune is much like Jame Brown.