Medications- Completely Removed (2010)

Just about all of you should enjoy this, so check it out. After Faraquet ended, Devin Ocampo (vocals/guitar) and Chad Molter (bass) went on to form Medications. If Faraquet was a math rock band with indie rock tendencies, Medications is an indie rock band with math rock tendencies. Their first EP, which came out in 2005, was more or less an extension of Faraquet with more emphasis on vocals and verse/chorus/verse song structure. The first full length ventured even further into indie rock territory. Completely Removed, their most recent effort, is one of the best indie rock records I've heard. There's still the intricate guitar work that Devin is known for, but now it's part of some extraordinarily well-crafted pop songs. For the first time Devin and Chad trade off vocals, which works quite well and Devin's voice and lyrical capabilities have vastly improved since the Faraquet days. This is some excellent, mellow, intricate indie rock that's perfect for sitting on the porch on a sunny afternoon and sipping a beer (the one partial exception to the mellowness being Kilometers and Smiles which is an oddly awesome combination of rockin' prog riffs and Beach Boys-esque vocal melody). Also, they're playing DC on May 28th, come out.

 Medications on last.fm

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Gems: For WMF, Long Day, Seasons, Country Air, Home Is Where We Are, Tame on the Prowl.

Faraquet- Anthology 1997-1998 (2008)

For some reason I ignored this band while they were around. That was stupid. Hailing from DC Faraquet played math rock, but did so with enough hooks and song structure that you might be able place them in the same camp as some of the mathier indie rock bands (Minus The Bear, etc.). Not to mention that having a vocalist is somewhat of an anomaly in the math rock world. The guitar work on this album is fantastic, "The Whole Thing Over" features one of my favorite riffs of all time. If you dig Piglet check this out, a great album for sunny days and completing menial tasks.

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Gems: Parakeet, The Whole Thing Over, Call It Sane, Rex.