Austin Sound

The Black Math Experiment is not a normal band. Sure, they make music, in a loose sense of the word. More than anything, they’re just evidence that all the members of those unpopular cliques from high school never really went away — they just started a band. The Houston group’s latest release, Last Transmission from the Blue Room, is at times gothic, often theatrical, and simply bleeding with nerdy pop-culture references. There’s a good dose of ecstasy-induced raving and mindless headbanging, and it’s conceited, as much as music can be. One time through the CD and the listener will know that these guys believe, to the deepest core of their being, that they rock.

While the second track of The Boxing Lesson’s latest EP claims “Indie Rock is Dead,” the album does its best to keep the statement ironic. The band’s third release, the 26-minute Songs in the Key of C, is littered with small successes that offer up at least a bit of musical CPR to the supposedly deceased genre. It may not be divine resurrection, but it still gets your pulse thumping.

The Boxing Lesson has made a name for themselves by exploring genres without falling victim to any one style’s pitfalls. The first track, “Back from the Dead,” is a steady-paced rock piece with enough spacey synth to lend credence to the band’s self-professed new-wave leanings. “Indie Rock is Dead” hits slow and builds to a sonorous climax as vocalist Paul Waclawsky croons, “Its Rock 101.” The song may be a freshman composition, but simplicity never sounded so good. The backing vocals are crisp but not overly processed, and the very basic guitar parts keep the song from feeling overdone. Both “Rollerskate Suitcase” and “Climb the Ladder” have an ominous sense of urgency that, at the height of both songs, shows Indie at its most poignant. “Climb the Ladder” is subtly dark and perhaps melodramatic, but it lends a gothic feel to the album that seems to seep into the surrounding tracks. “Getaway Car,” the final track, is cohesive and beautiful, with overlaying guitar lines that are both sorrowful and suspenseful, making it a memorable send-off.

For those who haven’t experienced the blitzkrieg of sound that is Gorch Fock, Thrilller, the latest release by the Austin septet, is the best trial-by-fire available. Rather than start with a slow, dawdling intro or a series of highly accessible songs, Thrilller drops the listener straight into a warzone — a fitting approach, considering the origin of the band’s name is a three-masted German naval vessel.

The band’s website labels them as “Rock / Death Metal / Experimental.” If this seems too abstract, it’s only because it is meant to be. Synth-drum intros like that in “One of 5 Sisters” seem to echo the Refused, before slipping into the grinding, titanic riffs reminiscent of Doomriders or Sadaharu. Epic buildups and brooding bass lines hint at influences from Texas’ own Explosions in the Sky, while vocals pay homage to the Minutemen or Neil Young’s talk/sing style. Comparisons could be made to the different parts of the album all day but entirely miss the point of the whole. This is a band that revels in its schizophrenic nature.