Mute Math: Catch ‘em live
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ISSUE: 11/08/07 > A&E > Mute Math: Catch 'em live
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Mute Math’s Paul Meany takes time out from vocals to do a handstand on his piano at the band’s sold-out show Oct. 28 at City Hall. |
Mute Math is one of those bands that I just have never paid much attention to. I listened to their album a couple of times when it came out earlier this year but quickly tossed it aside for bigger and better things. It’s not that I thought that their self-titled debut was bad, but I didn’t hear anything special or different that I hadn’t heard in Minus the Bear records or any of the other electronic/rock fusion groups that have sprouted up lately.
With this in mind, you can understand how surprised I was when Mute Math put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I had a basic understanding of the band’s wilder moments—when they played “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “Break the Same” went from an average rock song with a keytar in it to utter chaos. Singer Paul Meany did handstands on his piano while the others members abandoned their instruments to thrash several bass drums littered around the stage. That half of the performance alone sold me on the Mute Math live show.
The band played City Hall to a sold-out crowd Oct. 28. The club was fuller than I had ever seen it, although not everyone was there strictly for Mute Math. Littered throughout the crowd were diehard Eisley fans. In fact, many people I talked to in line and inside were there just to see the opening act and were hoping that Mute Math would be just as good.
Eisley is like the Partridge Family, if the Partridge Family was inspired by OK Computer and named themselves after a wretched hive of scum and villainy. However, the Radiohead influence wasn’t recognizable in their music at all. They played decent pop/rock that you would expect from a band who frequently tours with inoffensive pop/rock bands like New Found Glory and Taking Back Sunday. The first half of their set proved to be visibly problematic, plagued with problems afflicting the lead guitarist. Over the course of the set, however, the band warmed up enough to put on a good show. It wasn’t particularly spectacular, although their louder songs were much better than the twangier tunes that they trotted out in the beginning and end of their set. The Eisley fans were pleased and those who never heard of them at least went home without anything bad to say about the band, which doesn’t sound positive, but it beats people going home and trashing them on the Internet. Over time, Eisley may grow into a band that has a better grip on their sound, but as of now they’re just alright.
Eisley’s stage show may have been sparse and nothing to speak of, but Mute Math takes stage presence to entirely new levels. The exact same thing happened in most of Mute Math’s songs that happened on “Conan.” The songs were decent, but the energy behind those songs elevates them into an entirely different game. It wasn’t uncommon for Meany to suddenly leap onto his piano and ride it like a surfboard, which was already impressive without the knowledge that he was suffering from laryngitis all evening. Now that’s devotion.
Going to a Mute Math show is something of an experience. Aside from Meany’s antics, the band excels at building a song to a climax and smashing it into pieces in a chaotic mess of percussion and synth effects. They’re the only band I’ve ever seen that needed to take an encore break because the stage was in such disarray that it would have taken a while to reset anything anyway. The percussion section is the strongest part of the band, particularly drummer Darren King, who is one of the best rock drummers playing today. There’s a reason why he’s at the front of the stage instead of banished to the back like most drummers. Meany may be the front man, but King steals the show every time. Especially when he rode a bass drum supported by the audience, although it wasn’t quite as impressive as when Eugene Hutz from Gogol Bordello pulled the same stunt at Bonnaroo.
Mute Math is one of the rare bands where their live show is infinitely better than their recorded album because the record can’t relate the energy of the band. Aside from the multimedia experience consisting of bizarre video clips of old movies and collapsing bridges being broadcast on massive screens behind the band, the actual performance of the band is so hypnotic that even people who aren’t interested in their albums will be impressed.
