MATH

Math was the best band to come out of Chicago; They started in the late 80's and broke up in early '94. The core members were Jodie Mecanic (DUOTRON and MONOTRONA) Robert Rolston (QUINTRON) & Michael Colligan (FLYING LUTTENBACHERS). They had released a couple self-released cassettes, a split 7" on Bulb (which I had found in a thrift store), a CD entitled 'BASIC MATH' on Bulb and a self-released record 'Rubber Musique' which is the testament of their genius.

Unfortunately all of their material is out of print...except for a quirky track 'Gorilla' on 'CIA VIA UFO' comp. on Atavistic.

As Gary Stripes says, "The earlier sound of math is a very melodic and somewhat "arty" / self-consciously "weird" brand of theatrical art-pop that kind of smacks a bit too much of Tom Waits-style preciousness for my taste. Their live shows were very popular in the underground and notably featured a stage full of bizarre percussion and organ contraptions. During the heyday of the Chicago No Wave (93-94) The band accumulated more diverse influences and veered away from their merry sing-a-long style and became a more traditionally "no wave" sounding ensemble with clamourous guitars and horns."

Here, for your delight, are two tracks from 'Rubber Musique', whose track names I don't have because I foolishly lent the record to someone who soon thereafter moved away to Baltimore (Lexi...please contact me!) I encoded these tracks from an old cassette I made ten years ago, so there might be a bit of hiss. The record needle slips for a second somewhere in the middle of track 4.

MATH - Rubber Musique track 2 MP3 MATH - Rubber Musique track 4 MP3