Math!

34 thoughts on “Math!”

1. The Femmes put on a great live show. Saw them several times as far back as the 80’s when they were really unknown. That first album…wow..played that sucker to death. There was a dissonant part of their success to their older fans. They hit big a few years after their first records and them being college radio darlings. Then at some point everybody knew them and was their biggest fan. That their first album was pure adolescent angst and struggle was what made them great, but it was still weird to see it creep out and up over so many years.Report

   1. We’ve talked about this before I think, but that first album is the definition of sleeper hit. That tape got passed down from hand to hand to hand; someone’s older brother or sister was always the source (I did my part, and passed it to my ten-years-younger brother). The musicianship is great (all-acoustic was punk as hell at the time) and it was such a breath of fresh air lyrically (that is EXACTLY what smart-aleck, sexually-frustrated teens sound like).Report

      1. Yup…it helped that they got played all over college radio as the alt scene was being discovered. They were odd enough to not be able to get AOR airplay, but had every other damn thing needed to be successful.Report

   2. I… I forget what eight was for.

      /that’s all I’ve got on this one, dudes/Report

      1. I referenced that one, on the eighth video (though I actually included “Add It Up” instead).Report

2. Ya know, Math Rock is its own genre…
   (my son is a huge fan, even does a show dedicated to it on the College station he is now music director of!)

   Some Sac favorites:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYXhD2U2dTIReport

   1. Heh. I wondered if people would feel misled.

      I can’t say that math rock is my favorite genre – I like more melody, than a lot of them are willing to give me. I like some bands on the outskirts a lot (Seam/Bitch Magnet); some I respect more than I love (like Slint – I’d rather listen to Mogwai’s Come On Die Young).

      Polvo’s OK (though on the whole I prefer the similarly-dissonant-but-more-hook-generous Archers of Loaf):

      https://youtu.be/rlV8O_1n1-MReport

      1. https://youtu.be/8s9eLKJ-TrcReport

   2. Actually, speaking of odd math rock videos, this was a classic:

      https://youtu.be/bKr45j6S_qQReport

   3. I missed that yr kid made Music Director. Congrats to him!

      Now he just needs to figure out how to monetize that in 2015…:-(Report

      1. Well, he is on the phone with record labels everyday, so making contacts in the business. He is a marketing major at a school with a well respected business school, so even if he doesn’t go into the music world (though its what his minor is in) he should be fine.Report

         1. What is a “record…label?” 😉Report

            1. It’s kinda like when you “dial’ someone on the phone… (heh)Report

3. Always liked that MM song.

   Well that didn’t work. Tried to embed a few songs.Report

   1. Comment embedding only works semi-reliably for me now, if I follow these rules:

      -1 embed per comment (sometimes more will work, sometimes not; but a single one works pretty consistently)
      -Use the YouTube URL shortlink, not the embed code
      – Don’t include any text after YT URL shortlink, it should be the last thing in the comment

      I really like a lot of Isaac Brock’s songs on record (Moon and Antarctica is a stone-cold masterpiece) but MM aren’t very good live IMO. I’ve seen them twice, once in a very small venue and once in a mid-size theater, and they just plod live (which is weird, given that they are such a rhythmically-inclined band).Report

      1. I heard recently that they’ve improved their live show, but I know they’ve always had a reputation for sucking live.

         Let’s try the embeds:

         https://youtu.be/K3alnDSsFLoReport

         1. https://youtu.be/otWXEb8KGKgReport

            1. Perhaps too on the nose?

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7bKe_Zgk4oReport

               1. And the numbers 4 and 5 could have their own post:

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOpcA5gV4awReport

                  1. I assume calibers are cheating (it shows how sheltered I am, that when I first heard this track I didn’t get the significance of the numbers and had to ask a friend):

                     https://youtu.be/O9qnF337ObkReport

                  2. City boy.Report

                  3. I think if I’d seen them written out (with the .) or it had been only one or the other (’38’ or ’45’), I would have gotten it.

                     But just hearing the numbers in sequence made me look for some other relationship between them.

                     What made 3845 a “Thievery Number”?!Report

                  4. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure.

                     Next thing you’re gonna tell me that you only thought a song titled “.30-06” was about the year 3006 because you didn’t see it in writing!Report

                  5. Nah, that one is clear because he specifically calls out “shells” and pronounces the “ought”

                     https://youtu.be/XqZ5E_JeUVoReport

                  6. Toto has a song titled “99”, so if just numbers count. I won’t post it here, though, for sanity’s sake.Report

                  7. You are the resident Totologist.

                     I probably should have set more stringent rules. If I sort my library just by song title, a lot of songs have numbers in their titles (Nena!). But most aren’t “math” beyond that.

                     Except this

                     https://youtu.be/ERYb_P1KAEYReport

                  8. Or

                     https://youtu.be/3JnOOwSzAC0Report

                  9. Mos Def has a song called “Mathematics,” which mostly just mentions a bunch of numbers, or numbers things itself, but doesn’t really do any math. It does have some percentages.

                     Also, “Resident Totologist” is going in my profile.Report

                  10. … do that after you explain their double cyclone…Report

4. pi

   https://youtu.be/BDMBtQjS1bQReport

   1. 2ManyWizardJohnHodgmans

      I assumed someone would find some sort of TMBG educational song.Report

5. I have discovered a truly remarkable proof that one is indeed the loneliest number, which this combox is too small to contain.Report

6. Mostly I want to try to finally nail this embedded video thing. Also I’m a phonics guy from way back.

   https://youtu.be/82vvqDz5dEUReport

7. If you’re falling asleep at work:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9IBbMW2o_oReport

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