Math. Music.

I took the following notes earlier this night, between 10:30 p.m. and about 1 a.m. at a concert at Casa. They're almost unedited. Insertions are marked by [ brackets ]. The first band I saw was called, I think, Small Steps. The second band must have been Frankie Teardrop, although I might mix the two up right now. The third band of that show was called Gnarwhale. Very very good stuff in the realms of chaos, post-hardcore, emocore, experimental, whatnot.

"[written after the first band] Chaos. The pristine beauty of experimental screamo-math-stuff. Loud and aggressive but appearing much more thoughtful and intricate than your standard hardcore and metalcore - I mean the stuff we're mostly exposed to. [I am not talking about good hardcore and metalcore! But a lot of bands I've seen over the last years...I don't know...It's just a re-enactment of the same thing over and over again] And not as mucho macho. No performance of masculinity, muscles, tattoos and tunnels. Just  a celebration [!?] of controlling what appears to be chaotic. Present day's jazz?

I don't understand a single word of the singer's lyrics. Guitar, bass and drums are too present. he's pissed. I know that. But apart from that -does it matter? Really matter? - the lyrics?

[written after the second band, but related to both bands] The reinvention of sound. If education in the discipline of mathematics was ever important for anyone-if it ever meant anything for me to know your numbers-it's with this kinda music. Especially the drummer. Wow. Never before has the ability to count to 5, 7, 19 or 79.3 ever been as important as here. Any kind of time you can imagine except of 4/4, 3/4, or 2/4, 8/8, 4/8, or 6/8. Instead, most songs felt like mixtures and successions of 17/4, 3/5, 1/50, and 600/31. And I can't reasonably express the fascination with this. It's beyond the admiration of the musicians' (magicians'?) talent. The music extends limitations. It breaks boundaries. It destroys conventions. Maybe the equivalent would be abstract painting? I can't tell. To the uninitiated, it is nothing more than a wall of confusing, annoying sound. Germans call it Krach. To the connoisseur, it is beauty. This is the best stuff I've seen in Athens so far.The first thing I would refer to as art."