Guest Post: The best math-rock albums of the ’00s

In return for one of my downloads of Casual Victim Pile, I’ve asked Marshall for the privilege of usurping NAP for the second time in order to get down something that’s been kicking around in my head for the past couple of months. I thank you all for indulging me and hope those who object to math-rock, lists, and best-of pieces (let alone ones that are six weeks late- but do we really have to be finished processing an entire decade after less than two months?) will practice forbearance.
Given the hardly agreed-upon critical status of the sub-sub-sub-genre under consideration here, I’d like to preface things with a short enumeration of my criteria:

Agreed? Now then, on to the best math-rock albums of the decade!

Bellini, Snowing Sun (Monitor, 2001)
Don Caballero’s best album is probably the otherworldly What Burns Never Returns, but drummer Damon Che seems more at home with the vicious prog-rock of Don Caballero II. After Don Cab broke up, he returned to that more aggressive style with this album, on which he joins Agostino Tilotta and Giovanna Cacciola from Italian noise-rock band Uzeda for twangy fun. Cacciola’s searching, declamatory vocals and Tilotta’s penchant for oddball Beefheartisms and drastic harmonic shifts combine with Che’s sloppy, overactive drumming to produce music that continually sounds as if it’s about to fall apart, until it suddenly coheres in a burst of piercing brutality.

The Ex Models, Other Mathematics (Ace Fu, 2001)
The Ex Models were one of the better bands in the neo-No Wave thing that was happening in New York for about five minutes just after the turn of the century. Decidedly on the hip side of math-rock, Other Mathematics pairs ultra-trebly guitar interplay with vocals that sound like a parody of David Byrne. As the Park Slope crowd has graduated from WFMU to NPR, this playful, irreverent style has been replaced by the florid artiness of the Dirty Projectors and the Animal Collective, but there are still bands carrying the torch of skronk in New York, the excellent Pterodactyl being one example.

Hella, Hold Your Horse Is (Kill Rock Stars, 2002)
The stylistic and compositional choices on this album are unusual,but let’s be honest. It was an overnight sensation among indie-rock dudes for one very simple reason: the jaw-dropping technique of Zach Hill and Spencer Seim. Four or five years later, the number of Hella imitations out there was downright depressing. But credit where credit is due. You can’t fuck with those in the major leagues, and this is an explosive, influential and unique album.

Sweep the Leg Johnny, Going Down Swingin’ (Southern, 2002)
Sweep were a fixture of the Chicago post-rock scene in the late ’90s, and when they broke up following the release of this sprawling, ambitious, underappreciated record, it must have felt as if the scene itself was dying. Indeed, as it happened, Southern and Touch & Go were on their way out. At least things ended with a bang. The addition of guitarist Mitch Cheney for this record gave Sweep the ability to reach for drama and weight that they’d never had before, and they put it to use in a pair of staggering fifteen-minute journeys that come across like King Crimson covering Fugazi. The compositional prowess on display here has rarely been matched in the world of rock.

The Blame Game, Honey & Salt (Stickfigure, 2005)
The only true full-length album from this little-known Atlanta quartet is a uniquely lyrical work that balances sensitive emo-jazz noodling against driving Polvo-like indie rock. Though this band has an unusual history- they started life with two guitarists, neither of whom were still in the band when this album was recorded; wunderkind George Asimakos, who later played with my little brother in Chopper, covers both guitar tracks here- they were never less than impressive, from the grind-jazz-emo-crust of their early work to the beautiful riff suites of the 2007 farewell EP Ask Someone. Honey & Salt, though, stands out as a document of pure joy: three musicians reveling in the possibilities of being together in the flow of the moment.

Medications, All Your Favorite People All In One Place (Dischord, 2005)
Arpeggio-happy guitarist Devin Ocampo had another contender with Faraquet’s The View From This Tower, but it’s a little too scattershot to be completely satisfying. The Medications full-length focuses on solid, satisfying guitar-and-drums rock, allowing the interplay between Ocampo’s idiosyncratic riffs and Andy Becker’s active, precise drumming to shine. This record is among the best of D.C. indie rock in the post-Fugazi era.

Cinemechanica, The Martial Arts (Hello Sir, 2006)
This little piece of hyperactive punk rock isn’t the most original thing in the world, but Cinemechanica are among the best riff-writers and ensemble players in the wave of bands that arose in the middle of the decade after Hella. They’ve also got some of the best taste. This album strikes a balance between post-hardcore rage and indie-rock tunefulness that is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Cinemechanica get bonus points for the sparing but effective use of guitarmonies and double-drummer interplay that’s actually interesting for a change. But the substance is almost beside the point, because at its best, what The Martial Arts delivers is uncut math-rock sugar.

Sleeping People, Growing (Temporary Residence, 2007)
More than any other band, San Diego’s Sleeping People pick up where Don Caballero left off, creating music with an urgency and churning motion that ought to be the envy of post-rockers everywhere. This record is just full of great moments that incorporate the odd time signatures, random extra beats, suspended chords, tricky limb-switching drumming, and single-coil-through-Marshall-halfstack bite that are the hallmarks of the genre, not to mention an affecting guest vocal from Rob Crow of Pinback.

Marnie Stern, This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That (Kill Rock Stars, 2008)
Because of her copious use of tapping and the presence of Zach Hill on her records (and the scarcity of women playing this kind of music) it’s tempting to think of Stern’s music as distaff Hella. In reality, her music is much more complex and layered than that of Hill’s band. The classically trained Stern frequently uses four or five distorted guitar parts at a time, creating the impression of a chorus of guitarists playing simple interlocking riffs. Stern arranges these dense, racing choruses to back vocal hooks that are head and shoulders above anything else in the genre, even considering her average voice. This is the only math-rock record along to which you will want to sing at the top of your lungs.

Polvo, In Prism (Merge, 2009)
It would almost be wrong to make this list without including the band that is often invoked as the standard-bearer for math-rock.  In Prism is louder and a little simpler than Polvo’s classic albums- I think Marshall referred to as “Polvo on the Buzz” or something?- but their noisy, unpredictable guitar interplay is as substantive as ever, and there are some really catchy songs here too. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it.

And there you have it. Thanks to NAP for having me. Anything I’ve missed? Honorable mentions? Leave a comment.