Monobody

Monobody, “Curry Courier Career”

Is there such a thing as a math jam band? I think there might be.

Trigger Cut, “Fireworks”

This is just pure throwback to mid-90s Amphetamine Reptile stuff. It makes the Pavement band name a little off, though, they should have called themselves “Shitbeard” instead. Anyway, you know I’m a sucker for this stuff.

Vampire Weekend, “Horchata”

This is actually the song that kind of clangs the most from the second Vampire Weekend record. It just feels far too clever, like it’s trying too hard, and ends up ringing false to me. It seems more like the result of a computation than something genuine. I don’t know exactly why that is, but that’s what I get from it, and largely from the entire album. Like Ezra Koenig decided to build the song around that horchata/balaclava rhyme, just to get it out there.

Tar, “G7”

Well, I just mentioned Amphetamine Reptile Records the other day! Here’s one of my favorite bands from that label, but in their post-AmRep days. They put out two albums and an EP on AmRep and then left to put out some tunes for Touch & Go, producing the same amount of music (two albums and an EP). This comes from the first thing they put on Touch & Go, Clincher, the aforementioned EP. The notable thing about it was that the production was less murky than their earlier stuff, which allowed some of the grooviness that got lost to come forward. While on balance, I prefer the AmRep stuff, their final record for Touch & Go (Over and Out) is brilliant stuff. Tar was good! More people than me should remember them! I still have a shirt I bought at a show of theirs in 1992!

Monobody, “Country Doctor”

Monobody is one of those bands that has a real mismatch of names. For whatever reason, I don’t think this should be a math-rock/post-rock kind of band. “Monobody” seems like it should really be a garage rock outfit, all galloping guitars, distortion, and sneers. No horns should be involved.

Quelle Chris, “Guns”

The title track to his 2019 release, this was one of the best hip-hop albums released that year. The sort of dream-like production really sets off against the serious subject matter of the lyrics. A great album.

Monobody, “Raytracing”

Monobody is an instrumental math rock band from Chicago, with a couple of albums so far. This is from the second, Raytracing. Their music has more than a little bit of jazz fusion going on in things, and is definitely more towards the cerebral end of math rock.

Coalesce, “Cowards.com”

Hey, it’s the other end of math rock! Always enjoyable when songs from the late nineties have web references in them.