Lately I’ve been really loving this song from Minus The Bear. It’s got that Math Rock offness to it that I really enjoy.
What’s got me thinking today though, is a piece I heard on Quirks and Quarks. It’s a book called “This Is Your Brain on Music” and one of the many things he says is that when music surprises us, we’re more likely to dance to it. That our brains recognize octaves and such as “perfect” transitions, but when music doesn’t move the way we expected, it piques our brain’s interest. According to the piece, one of the most danceable songs is Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” because the drums have subtle changes throughout the song that tease your brain into being more excited by the beat.
While I don’t find Minus The Bear that danceable, I do find myself listening harder to one of their songs than I would to, say, Metric, which despite the name is not Math Rock because it’s very ordered and doesn’t mess with timing.