Product Code Database
Math rock is a style of Alternative rock and indie rock with roots in bands such as King Crimson and Rush. (2025). 9780815337140, Routledge. ISBN 9780815337140 It is characterized by complex, atypical structures (including irregular stopping and starting), counterpoint, odd time signatures, and . Bearing similarities to post-rock, math rock has been described as the "opposite side of the same coin". Opting for a "rock music" approach to songwriting and timbres, the style is often performed by music ensemble which emphasize the role of the guitar.
Polvo, Don Caballero, Slint, Bitch Magnet, Bastro and Ruins are considered by some to be the genre's pioneers.
Two songs on Yes' album Fragile (1971) have drawn attention – Paul Lester of Classic Rock writes that "Five Per Cent for Nothing" finds drummer Bill Bruford "inventing math rock", while "Heart of the Sunrise" was described by Pitchforks Chris Dahlen, Dominique Leone and Joe Tangari as "a deftly constructed proto math-rock epic".
Examples of modern math rock bands include Delta Sleep, Yvette Young, Tricot, and TTNG.
As in traditional rock, the sound is most often dominated by guitars and drums. However, drums play a greater role in math rock in providing driving, complex rhythms. Math rock guitarists make use of tapping techniques and Live looping to build on these rhythms, as illustrated by songs like those of math rock supergroup Battles.
Lyrics are generally not the focus of math rock; the voice is treated as just another instrument in the mix. Often, vocals are not , and are positioned less prominently, as in the recording style of Steve Albini. Many of math rock's best-known groups are entirely instrumental such as Don Caballero or Hella.
A significant intersection exists between math rock and emo, exemplified by bands such as Tiny Moving Parts or American Football, whose sound has been described as "twinkly, mathy rock, a sound that became one of the defining traits of the emo scene throughout the 2000s".
Taiwan has a very small indie music scene, of which math rock is an emergent genre that is quickly gaining in popularity, with well-known math rock bands including Elephant Gym.
In California, power pop groups Game Theory and the Loud Family were both led by Scott Miller, who was said to "tinker with pop music the way a born mathematician tinkers with numbers". The origin of Game Theory's name is mathematical, suggesting a "nearly mathy" sound cited as "IQ rock."
Although the Seattle grunge scene was not widely associated with math rock, some consider Soundgarden to be one of few exceptions, due to the odd time signatures found in many of their songs.
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