When you walk into a venue using The Algorithm’s OCTOPUS4 as a pre-show auditory appetizer, you know it’s going to be an intense night.
Nordic Giants (93%) became new TMMP favourites by the end of a stunningly (and literally) cinematic set. Watching a multi-tasking duo soundtrack a series of masterfully crafted videos in real time is not Read more…
Prepare to enter a world of post-rock-flavoured euphoria. A weird but rewarding world populated by countless notes, rhythms, riffs, and melodies. A place where Celtic melodies merge with modern metallic intensity, where listeners are free to dance, mosh, or crane their necks to squint at skyborne melodies so vibrant you can easily visualise them.
The word “moderation” doesn’t exist in VASA’s vocabulary. Colours sees Read more…
Originality is rare in music – but For Astronauts And Satellites have it in spades. These guys are gradually carving out a global-scale niche of their own, merging chiptuned electronica with gritty and epic post-rock and winning fans across the world in the process.
Then, By The Light Of Our Own Creation takes retro gaming soundtrack tones, drops them into syncopated rhythmic layers, and adds more than a few tasty (and often mixed-meter) grooves. It is challenging, but also rewarding – music made for those who crave Read more…
With ArcTanGent Festival on the horizon, TMMP talks to Tom of macho-monikered math-rock madmen Alpha Male Tea Party about ATG, car tax, plastic surgery fantasies, and pail-related enlightenment…
You’re set to hit ArcTanGent 2015 this week. How’re you feeling about it?
We’re feeling pretty rad right now. And, by that I mean, we’re very excited to be playing at our favourite festival again. It will be wild.
What’s the best thing about festivals for you?
It’s the only time no one will care if you are caught using a tepid can of Strongbow or similarly low quality beverage as a means to swill your mouth out after brushing your teeth. That and the general lack of real life. Your car tax could expire (as mine did one year) at a festival, and you wouldn’t give a shit.
Although I did give a shit actually; I drove to Read more…
Last year, I described Alright The Captain’s Contact Fix as suitable for those whose evening plans involve “chugging absinthe, spinning round in circles until you fall over or puke or both, repeating the above until you pass out, and then waking up and putting on your coat and going to work”.
Today, I still stand by those words. Here, ATC discuss their upcoming set at ArcTanGent, taking in surprise gingerness, fire-breathers, and a hint at what they’d be doing if the music ever stopped…
You’re set to hit ArcTanGent 2015 this week. How’re you feeling about it?
Excited as fuck! Marty’s been running round like a spring lamb since last year.
What’s the best thing about festivals for you?
They’re a good chance to escape reality for a while and Read more…
Since 2013, Black Peaks have wasted little time in establishing themselves as math-rock stars in the making. TMMP has championed them for some time, and for many a good reason. Here are five of them:
1) Their tracks are fully immersive.
Some bands soundtrack your life in a nostalgic sense, pushing and pulling you into the past, running over pains, worries, and victories alike. The music’s there, right in your ears – but so are some things you might rather forget.
Black Peaks’ tracks take a different tack. Songs like Glass Built Castles and Saviour will use up all your mental bandwidth, pushing the world away and allowing real relief from everyday stresses and strains. These guys will bend your brain into a mind-pretzel, twisting time in ways that would leave Stephen Hawking Read more…
This lineup was unmissable.
Regular readers will already know how much I love talking about Toska. These guys are beyond insane, boasting telepathic tightness and currently-instrumental tunes heavier than the Terminator’s ballsack. Over their last few shows, Toska have been experimenting with a variety of dynamic approaches, and seem to have settled on a rawer, more focussed, and emotionally immersive sound than ever before.
Level Up: Achieved.
Having followed Eschar for so long they’re probably considering a restraining order, it’s safe to say that I think they’re alright – maybe even pretty good. The only thing Eschar seem to struggle with is Read more…
When it comes to post-apocalyptic post-hardcore, We Never Learned To Live know their shit. On June 22, their debut album Silently, I Threw Them Skyward will be fully get-your-hands-onable – and trust me. It. Is. Immense.
TMMP caught up with WNLTL vocalist Sean Mahon to dig into the band’s origin story, the creative process behind the new album, and a load more besides…
Your new album Silently, I Threw Them Skyward is coming out this month. What’s the general feeling in the WNLTL camp right now?
We are really, really excited. We have all played in bands now (together and otherwise) for nearly eight years, but this is the first full-length album any of us have ever recorded. It’s given us a chance to express ourselves on a larger Read more…
First things first. Arrangement- and mixing-wise, this album is fucking awesome. It seems like post-hardcore fans have plenty of bleak, grim albums to get stuck into this summer – and Silently, I Threw Them Skyward is among the best of them so far. Ominous, haunting, and unrelentingly foreboding, this could easily work as the soundtrack to a 28 Days Later-style horror movie. It really is a journey.
“Post-apocalyptic post-hardcore” isn’t a genre yet – but it’s the most Read more…
Opening with the joyous, shred-heavy post-rock heaviness of Run Home, Heirs manages to be uplifting, intellectual, and addictive all at once. Cheeky second tune These Secret Kings I Know feels playful and summery despite raw and edgy guitar tones and far-from-polished production – a real achievement – and from that point, I was just straight up fucking hooked.
It’s no challenge to imagine Read more…