The math and the rock, live

Very excited about tomorrow night's STATS show, at which we'll open for Dysrhythmia and Loincloth. Go here for a TONY preview by Jordan Mamone, also the man behind the classic Pen Rollings interview in Chunklet that first put Loincloth on the map. "To put it bluntly," Jordan wrote then, "Loincloth is the most amazing fucking metal band in existence right now." Can't recall the exact date of that article—’04 or ’05, maybe?—but as Iron Balls of Steel proved earlier this year, the sentiment is still accurate. Amazingly, the ’Cloth's very first live show ever is tonight in New Jersey (also w/ Dysrhythmia), making tomorrow's Brooklyn gig only their second onstage appearance.

A few months ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Loincloth's mad (though, as it turns out, incredibly nice!) drum genius Steve Shelton. You can read the results in the current issue of Modern Drummer, available now in print and via iTunes. Steve wrote an incredibly gracious thank-you note to myself and another journalist on his new blog, the Poundry. I highly recommend checking out all of Shelton's previous entries as well; this man's ideas re: metal and percussive aesthetics are essentially a one-man philosophical school.

Dysrhythmia's new album Test of Submission, is my favorite of theirs to date—I've spun this thing front-to-back about 50 times in the past two weeks. Disciples of the math and the rock, we hope to see you tomorrow night in Brooklyn. Here's a playlist to get you psyched up:

Iron Balls of Steel: Steve Shelton returns

Here is my Pitchfork review of the new Loincloth LP. As you'll read in the piece, I never thought I'd type "Loincloth" and "LP" in the same vicinity.

As silly as it might sound given their name, this band means a lot to me. DFSBP readers familiar with the Math? Rock! mixtape might recall a passing mention of Loincloth in the entry for the band Confessor (No. 14). The two bands share a rhythm section—most prominently a drummer, Steve Shelton, whom I believe to be one of the 20 or so most inspired/inspiring drum-set performers of all time, in any genre. In terms of any kind of technical metal (if pressed, I'd label Shelton's microscopic niche "progressive doom"), there's no competition as far as I'm concerned, and one of the reasons this new Loincloth record feels like such a landmark is that prior to its release, you could only hear Shelton on three full-length recordings (a scant number considering that the man has been active in music since at least the late ’80s): two Confessor LPs (1991's Condemned is desert-island material for me, but 2005's Unraveled is also strong) and one very obscure, and not entirely satisfying, album by the spin-off band Fly Machine.

Iron Balls is a stunning addition to this tiny collection. Not only is it downright wizardly from a technical standpoint (and I'm not just talking about the drums here), as I discuss in the review, it packs way more of an emotional punch than I'd ever expected. I strongly urge you to listen to the record in full at Pitchfork and to buy a copy from the Southern Lord store (I couldn't resist the T-shirt plus LP deal).

In the meantime, here are a few choice Steve Shelton performances:



Confessor
"The Stain" (Condemned, 1991)



Confessor
"Alone" (from the highly recommend 2006 DVD Live in Norway)



Confessor
"Hibernation" (Unraveled, 2005)


Instructional segment re: the title track to "Condemned" (bonus feature on Live in Norway)

P.S. Was going to excerpt Loincloth's original four-song demo here, but there are no decent-quality YouTube streams. As far as I know, the release isn't available in any official capacity, but you should have no trouble turning it up online.

P.P.S. Shelton sounds absolutely beastly in this early Confessor clip.

P.P.P.S. Here's a new, very comprehensive interview with the members of Loincloth.