Photos and Review by Eric Pennell
MUTEMATH Photos HERE
Mutemath brought their distinctive electronic rock sound to the tiny stage of Great Scott in Allston Massachusetts this past Saturday to promote their forthcoming album, Vitals. The thronging crowd pushed aside to allow the 4-piece band from Atlanta to enter through the side door, greeting them with applause and high-fives.
Paul Meany (vocals, keyboards and “the Atari” (we’ll get to that later)) greeted the fans and wasted no time getting to the music. Paul jumps back and forth from seated at the keyboards to the mic. Sometimes he’s seated as he runs his vocals through a delay pedal creating echoes of his lyrics to serve as yet another layer that folds into the song. There is also the red keytar, which only Paul could make cool again, and the occasional hand stand on the keyboard.
Unlike most bands, the drummer, Darren King, plays right up front. In a matter of minutes you understand why. If you have never seen him play, get on Youtube now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. OK? Unreal, right!? He plays a minimalist kit (kick, snare, floor tom, 2 high toms, a high hat and a ride cymbal) but it sounds like so much more in part to his speed, precision, use of space and wacking every component of the kit, including the stands.
The very multi-talented Roy Mitchell-Cardenas (bass and 6 string guitar) is playing behind Darren tonight, keeping the groove. He also occasionally picks up a mallet to play the high mounted kick drum in the back corner of the stage, accentuating the percussion that is a major component of the Mutemath sound. He will even grab a set of sticks and play complimentary beats to Darren’s on the same kit.
Todd Gummerman is the newest addition to the band and he proved his mettle during this show without a doubt. Splitting time between guitar and keyboards and providing backing vocals highlighted his versatility. His guitar playing waxes and wanes betweens frenetic and precise and the tone is a perfect complement to the music.
I have been following Mutemath for over 5 years now, watching their performances on Youtube and listening to their two live albums, “Flesh and Bones Electric Fun” and “Armistice Live”. This is a band to LISTEN to live. This is a band to SEE to live. These guys are tacticians as well as musicians. Watching them create a song in front of you is like watching a group of mad scientists in a laboratory; jumping from one piece of equipment to the next, twisting knobs, smashing controls, screaming at stuff, and having it create a fully functioning, awe inspiring, thunderous creature that bursts out into the crowd at, well, the speed of sound. And this night, they are doing it for us, on a cramped stage, arms length away as the floor literally bounces like a drum head beneath the transfixed audience.
One of the greatest pieces of music by Mutemath is the instrumental, Reset. This piece exemplifies the creativity of the band and their ability to improvise. Somewhere near the end Paul grabs a bizarre ‘guitar-ish’ looking device held together with electrical tape and sporting a handful of tiny knobs. This is “the Atari”. With it Paul creates some of the most outlandish electronic screeches and squeals and then hands it into the crowd. The fans claw and grab at the instrument and this seems to excite it even more, like it is somehow alive; an artificially intelligent, crowd surfing, robot guitar.
The show ends as chaotically as it started, the band exits through the side door and I swear the floor continued to bounce well after they were gone.
MUTEMATH at Great Scott in Allston, Ma
