History Main / MathRock

Not to be confused with "math rocks", tabletop gamer slang for UsefulNotes/{{Dice}}.

** MinisculeRocking: On the the other hand, very short songs or song fragments are common as well. Sometimes on the same albums as the very long ones. Shorter songs tend to be HardcorePunk-influenced.

* Music/RedHook

There is also a subgenre of math rock sometimes labelled as '''math pop'''; these bands take a more accessible approach to the genre, keeping the unusual time signatures and rhythms of math rock, but fusing them with more melodic songwriting, polished production, and clean vocals. These groups often draw inspiration from the arpeggiating guitar lines of midwest emo, the danceable rhythms of the 2000s PostPunk revival, and/or the catchy songwriting of IndiePop. A number of Japanese bands have also come out and fused this sound with J-rock. Bands labeled as math pop include TTNG, Music/{{Foals}}, Music/{{Everything Everything|Band}}, Music/MinusTheBear, and Music/{{Tricot}}, among others.

* Music/EverythingEverything (amongst [[GenreBusting many other genres]])

The genre is still alive today, with bands such as Hella, Tera Melos, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Lite, Knot Feeder, Sleeping People, June of 44, Rodan, The For Carnation, and [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters probably a million other bands]] offering new music.

The genre started in several different places - Chicago had Bastro and Shellac (a Music/SteveAlbini project), for example, while Pittsburgh sported Don Caballero, San Diego had Antioch Arrow and Drive Like Jehu, and Washington DC offered Shudder to Think and Jawbox. Other places had groups as well, such as Chapel Hill, North Carolina's Polvo and Louisville featured math rock/[[PostRock post-rock]] legends Slint, who released the classic album ''Spiderland'' in 1991. New York also sported math rock pioneers Chavez.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Often hard to place due to the constantly-shifting dynamics often in place, but it can be anywhere from 3-4 (The For Carnation) up to maybe 7-8 (Crain, Craw) and anywhere in between. Again, different sections of the same song may be far apart on the scale.

* Music/AMinorForest

* Music/TheForCarnation

* Music/{{Hella}}

* Music/TheForCarnation (perhaps the softest of the bunch, also counts as PostRock)

* EpicRocking: Not uncommon in the genre- "Washer" and "Good Morning Captain" by Music/{{Slint}} are good examples (8:50 and 7:40, respectively). Some bands (Rodan, Polvo, A Minor Forest and Don Caballero to name a few) have songs that go over the ten minute mark.

* TropeCodifier: Probably Music/{{Slint}}, particularly ''Spiderland''. However, Shellac, Crain, Rodan, Polvo and Chavez did a lot to cement the concept of the genre in the Indie Rock fanbase's minds as well.

* UrExample: [=NoMeansNo=] are an obvious antecedent to the genre, but aren't usually considered part of it proper, and predate bands like Music/{{Slint}}, Crain, Dazzling Killmen and Bastro by a number of years.

* Music/BlackMidi
* Music/BlackMothSuperRainbow

* NonAppearingTitle: In contrast to the technical nature of the music, math rock bands often give their songs titles that are long, absurd or humorous, or are out-of-context quotes from a television show or movie. Don Caballero and Minus the Bear did this regularly, giving their songs titles like Minus the Bear's "[[Film/StarshipTroopers Damn Bugs Whacked Him, Johnny]]" and "Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse" and Don Caballero's "In the Absence of Strong Evidence to the Contrary, One May Step Out of the Way of the Charging Bull" and "Let's Face It Pal, You Didn't Need That Eye Surgery".

* NonAppearingTitle: In contrast to the technical nature of the music, math rock bands often give their songs titles that are long, absurd or humorous, or are out-of-context quotes from a television show or movie. Don Caballero and Minus the Bear did this regularly, giving their songs titles like Minus the Bear's "[[Film/StarshipTroopers Damn Bugs Whacked Him, Johnny]]" and "Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse" and Don Cab's "In the Absence of Strong Evidence to the Contrary, One May Step Out of the Way of the Charging Bull" and "Let's Face It Pal, You Didn't Need That Eye Surgery".

* NonAppearingTitle: In contrast to the technical nature of the genre, song titles - especially those from Don Caballero and Minus the Bear - are long, absurd and humorous, and do not appear anywhere the lyrics.

* Music/PrettyAndNice, although it's closer to math pop.