As the post-hardcore punk scene of the 70s came to a close, a new genre emerged within the rock industry: “math rock”—two words you would never expect to be in the same sentence—became the next up-and-coming genre. Many bands have been grouped into the genre, but what does this categorization entail?

Math rock wanders from a normal time signature of 4/4 and utilizes more unusual time signatures like 5/4, 7/4, and 7/8. This creates a fluctuating sound that is constantly changing, which was previously somewhat unheard of. The history of math rock’s growth as a genre is not a clear one; it deals with the interconnectedness of the rock scene and derives multiple influences from a number of sources.

Math rock is one of my favorite genres of music. I love the way it doesn’t follow much structure and just sounds so different from the music I’m used to. Math rock’s ability to be inventive has pushed me to delve into the genre’s history in order to find where its outlandish sound stemmed from.

Cover art for Miles Davis’ album *Bitches Brew*

Surprisingly, the journey of this genre began all the way back in the late 60s to early 70s with the growth of “free jazz,” an experimental form of jazz that ignored chord and time patterns within songs, lending a somewhat erratic sound to the music. This was popularized through jazz musicians like Eric Dolphy, John Coltrain, and Miles Davis. One of the most influential albums from this movement was Davis’ album, Bitches Brew (1970). Its unique sound is hard to wrap your head around, but it pushed the envelope when it came to jazz-rock and free jazz. Davis’ work inspired many, eventually leading to rock bands covering his work. Most notably, the Canadian band NoMeansNo covered “Bitches Brew” and brought the unpredictable time signatures and chords to the rock genre, igniting the beginnings of math rock.

As free jazz became more popular, it further leaked into the rock genre with jazz fusion bands that paired rock and jazz together. This led to experimental rock albums that advanced new age rock, like Black Flag’s instrumental rock album, The Process of Weeding Out (2006)–it inspired numerous future bands to take these ideas further. This exploratory album demonstrated how rock can pull ideas from other genres and effectively mixed jazz and rock into one cohesive project, furthering progressive rock.

This genre-bending was one of the ideas that created progressive rock, a huge movement that invited musicians to push the boundaries of the rock genre, with artists like King Crimson and Frank Zappa being some of the greats that had the largest impact on progressive rock. Steve Albini, the founder of Black Flag, was the largest proponent of early iterations of math rock with his record label Touch and Go Records, having signed many bands that fit under the developing math rock genre. Touch and Go records picked up Slint, a rock band consisting of five recent high school graduates from Louisville who were heavily inspired by Albini’s prior work with Black Flag. Slint brought the darkness from Black Flag’s music and integrated an irregular chord pattern that is prominent within math rock today. Slint kept with the punk undertones of math rock music at the time, but some bands strayed from this trend and used the genre in a less hardcore way, focusing on the melodic sequences that varying chord progressions can create.

Bands like Don Callerbon and Polvo mastered this technique and made math rock more of its own unique genre. As more and more bands expanded upon these complex rhythmic patterns, the genre took shape. Countless bands emerged, falling into this category. To name a few figureheads within the new genre, A Minor Forest, Shorty, Joan of Arc, and The Jesus Lizard all make the list. With this explosion of math rock in the music community, the genre split into two groups: one that stayed true to its punk roots, and another that diverged toward a more lowkey tone that became somewhat “midwest-emo.”

Today, popular bands like American Football, black midi, and Polyphia continue their use of this genre and fall into one of these two sects. Math rock is just one of the many genres that came from progressive rock roots but has arguably done much of the heavy lifting in furthering the rock genre to its modern state. Its musical complexity and lack of restrictions have allowed for the new sub-genre to push rock, as a genre, to new boundaries. This phenomenon even had a large influence internationally. In Japan, bands like Toe, Tricot, and Mass of the Fermenting Dregs brought math rock to popularity abroad.

Cover art for American Football’s album *American Football*

It is a genre that is difficult to get into, but upon exposure, it becomes hard to stop listening to. I recommend beginning with bands like American Football, especially their most popular song “Never Meant.” The band is on the more relaxed end of math rock, with their songs being equated to the midwest-emo sub-genre. Their rhythms are comforting and somber–on the opposite side of that spectrum, black midi takes math rock to a more high-tempo pattern by incorporating elements of electronic music with math rock rhythms. If you like high-energy music, black midi is another good place to start. Either way, these two bands are a good example of math rock’s variety. Once you find yourself enjoying the genre, working your way backward through its history is a great way to expose yourself to math rock’s dense past and find more interesting, experimental artists you may enjoy.

While math rock is known for its complex structure and sound, some may argue that its history is even more complex. Intersecting sources of inspiration, a multitude of bands trying to fit under the still evolving genre’s style—and forming at a time when so much music was being made—all had an impact on how packed the math rock timeline is. Nonetheless, I find the confusing mess of this genre’s growth an extremely interesting journey and one I’m glad I could share.

The History of Math Rock