The Mercury Program- From The Vapor Of Gasoline (2000)

All of you should have A Data Learn The Language and Chez Viking by The Mercury Program. If you don't, you need to rectify this immediately. I'm sure far fewer of you have anything pre-A Data Learn The Language though. Rather than the ultra smooth grooves powered by the rhythm section and Rhodes piano accompaniment that The Mercury Program is known for on its later albums, their earlier albums were much more guitar driven and a lot less dense. There are certainly glimpses of what they would later become, the rhythm section is as tight as ever and there's a bit of vibraphone here and there, but with it's off-kilter guitar work, dissonance, sprawling song structure and sparse vocals (yes, vocals) it reminds me as much of bands like June of 44 and Karate as it does later Mercury Program. Oh, and it's fucking awesome. 

The Mercury Program on last.fm



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Pneu- Highway To Health (2011)

Thanks to Jackson for the recommendation. This Tours, France duo stirs up a math-rock mixed drink that tastes like the noisy weirdness of Lightning Bolt and Hella at their catchiest, with perhaps a jigger of the heaviness of early Don Cab. Fun as all fuck. The best part is that excessive consumption won't result in alcohol poisoning! Oh, and there is a vocal cameo by Eugene Robinson of Oxbow. Yeah, I know, I made that same face when I first read that. Weird.

Pneu on last.fm

 Why is it my favorite tracks are never on YouTube? Anyway, this one rules too.


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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.

Battles- Gloss Drop (2011)

Damn this leaked early (it's not out until June). I had been pretty interested in hearing what the new Battles output would sound like after Tyondai Braxton (guitars/keyboard/vocals) left the group and I must say it's pretty rad. Only been able to give this a handful of listens over the past few days, so I can't really say where it stands in Battles' oeuvre quite yet. It reminds me more of the EPs than Mirrored, which is to say it's dense, mechanical sounding, somewhat repetitive and features less of the poppy element that Mirrored had (with the one glaring exception being "Ice Cream," which is one of the best songs I've heard this year). The four tracks with guest vocals are all quite good, which was a pleasant surprise. Likely a year end top 10. Enjoy.

*Per Abow's recommendation, from now on I'll provide a link to each group's last.fm page for bio/discography purposes. If you don't have a last.fm account you should get one and if we aren't friends on there yet, my user name is aninflux*

Battles on last.fm

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Gems: Africastle, Ice Cream, Futura, Wall Street, My Machines Sweetie & Shag.

The Mercury Program- Chez Viking (2009)

Simply put, The Mercury Program is my favorite band ever. I was pretty anxious before this came out, I didn't believe they would be able to come anywhere near A Data Learn The Language. I was wrong. Chez Viking is just about as close to a perfect album as possible and in my opinion is superior to A Data... absolutely zero filler, every track is extremely strong. You should have this already, if you don't get it now. I mean right now. This second.

Get it here.

Gems: Every. Single. Track.

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.

Get it here.

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