Enter the Flange Factory: Math the Band releases a multi-concept project Troubled times call for audacious measures. Math the Band is back, this time with a whirlwind of multimedia the likes of which has never been attempted. Their latest project, Flange Factory Five, is an immersive experience that includes a novel, record, game boy cartridge, energy drink and boutique guitar pedal. MTB, sometimes billed as “Math The Band The Band,” is the project of frontman Kevin Steinhauser and a rotating cast of characters, which currently features guitarist Max Holbrook, bassist Adam Waz and drummer Matt Zappa. The band has been operational for 20 years, and based in Providence for 12. A characteristically joyous effort, the Flange Factory Five features the band’s signature combination of glitchy, 8-bit keyboards over distorted guitars. A project like this requires the boundless energy they put forward in their ecstatic live shows, and it totally comes through on the recording. The uptempo “Dual of the Deer” features guitars and synth lines in roaring triumphiant harmony. “DKWIC” has a great Brian May-style guitar solo, and “Coach Says” is a hard-edged tune at the circle pit end of the spectrum. Stenhouser, who started the project in high school, puts every ounce of himself into the vocals. Along with great playing throughout, this album brings us the best of grit and nerddom, like a skater punk version of the music from Crash Bandicoot. But the video game sounds can belie the smart composition and clever lyrics. “Wet Cement” is ultra-catchy montage fodder about starting a new chapter: “The fear is exciting and I can’t wait to be born.” An additional treat is a suite of “Flange Factory Five” instrumental interludes that could be the jingle for the cartoon television show of the same name. I spoke with Kevin about the origins of this unique project. Jake Bissaro (Motif): How did the multi-format concept come about? What made you want to release your own energy drink? Kevin Steinhauser: I don’t really recall a moment of inspiration. Each piece was something I had kicking around in my head for a while. It’s basically the culmination of years of saying ‘wouldn’t it be funny if…’ and then we just decided to go all in and do it for real. JB: What is the book about? KS: It’s a choose-your-own adventure fantasy novel that plays off the ones marketed toward young adults, but very tongue-in-cheek with a lot of crass, dark humor. It revolves around a kid who meets a wizard and ends up needing to save the wizarding world. It ended up being a big universe of stuff; the novel mentions the pedal and energy drink heavily, and the Game Boy game is based on the novel. JB: I have never heard of an album released on a piece of gear. How did that come about? KS: The Flange Factory Five is a collaboration with our friend Frank, who makes small runs of handmade pedals under the moniker Frayed Knot. The pedal is a matrix of five flangers and five ring modulators, and also has the album stored on it, with a playback mode that lets you mess with the sounds. We’re trying to make as many as 55, but they are large and expensive, at $250. To keep things more accessible, we’re making the “Flange Factory Zero” a slimmed-down version that’s more of a collectible. JB: Is there a particular fascination with the flange effect? Does gear play a big part in your inspiration? KS: Not really. Personally, synths are really what I’m into. To be honest, we chose flange simply because “flange factory five” sounded funny. But I found a connection after the fact: The story goes that the effect was made for the Beatles as a way to mimic stereo. Apparently Paul, in an interview, was asked what the effect is called, and just said, ‘Oh it’s the flangelator,’ making up a nonsense funny word. JB: How has the band been handling pandemic life? KS: To be honest, we’ve probably never been more productive. This whole project has been like 90% of the way there for about a year, so it was the opportunity we needed. We all have our own home studios and have been passing files back and forth, and recorded basically the whole album that way. JB: What’s next for the band? KS: We’re hoping in December to throw a big performance in the black box theater at AS220, playing the album front to back and adding in some theatrics. Math the Band (the Band)’s Flange Factory Five Universe is available for purchase at flangefactoryfive.com. To coincide with Bandcamp Fridays, MTE will release a limited-run FFF product every first Friday for the rest of the year. The current schedule for releases is as follows: September 4 — Energy Drink; October 2 — FFF record release; November 6 — Guitar pedal; December 4 — Game Boy game The Brother Kite — Make it Real I think it’s appropriate at this point to refer to The Brother Kite as a Rhode Island rock institution on which we can still depend for polished, top-shelf indie rock. With five full-lengths now under their belt, Make it Real is the band’s first release since 2013’s Model Rocket. Fronted by Patrick Boutwell and Jon Downs, TBK’s specialty is a vintage jangle mixed with a deeply emotional frequency, like Teenage Fanclub mixed with Something Corporate. “Don’t Ask Why” blends the elements pretty well, where a moody verse gives way to a vigorous, full-throated chorus. The smart instrumentation and production “Afraid To Even Try” uses the sleigh bells to add to the chime, with bang-on harmonies throughout. The songs are well-formed and sure of themselves, though the shimmery guitar is a little too much at times; in “Rotten,” the pedals seem to be the star of the show. Songs like “Hopeless Ghost” and “Dream to Me” tend to linger on your mind long after you’ve listened to them. Make it Real is another compelling chapter in TBK story, and is worth your attention. Check out Make it Real at the band’s Bandcamp page. Live Music Rundown Live! Outdoors! In the next few weeks! Askew Friday, Sep 4: The Copacetics Sunday, Sep 6: The John Allmark Super Jazz Octet Dusk Saturday, Sep 12: Absolute Eddie and Three Points of Madness Saturday, Sep 20: New Idol Catch it While You Can!: Music is live and outside … for now Throwing Muses — Sun Racket (Fire Records) It’s amazing to think that Newport’s Throwing Muses have been together 40 years now. To celebrate, Throwing Muses will release a new album, Sun Racket, on September 4. Sun Racket is packed with singer/guitarist Kristin Hersh’s abstract poetry that floats and flails in the seas of psychedelic guitars echoing into the sunset. David Narcizo’s drumming is the glue that holds the ship together while Bernard Georges’ driving bass lines push it forward. The album kicks off with the haunting “Dark Blue,” which really is one of only two songs with anything resembling a “chorus.” On “Maria Laguna,” I can’t tell if Hersh is singing about someone who has drowned, but I do love the lyric “dotted with sharks, spilling prom dates’ videotapes.” “Upstairs Dan” is another stormy hypnotic shot where you can’t tell if the character is dying or if they are bracing for a hurricane (Hersh’s house got destroyed when Katrina hit New Orleans). “Kay Catherine” has a waltz feel that starts off with a line about a terrible secret that the abstract lyrics leaves buried in the sand. Sun Racket works as a blast of mysterious noise lying on a bed of uneasy harmony, like a diary that washed up ashore, half destroyed. Jesse Malin — ‘Todd Youth”/ “Sally Can’t Dance” (Wicked Cool Records) On his new single, Jesse Malin pays tribute to his late friend Todd Youth, with a tune by the same name. Malin wrote the song by imagining his friend’s perspective on his last night before losing his battle with addiction. Some lines in the song like “sold my records and my last guitar, on a night so dark I couldn’t see the stars” capture the desperation that Youth was likely experiencing. HR from Bad Brains, who also had a side project with Youth, opens the song and appears throughout, singing lyrics that Malin borrowed from a couple of Bad Brains songs, such as “Leaving This Babylon” and “Sailing On.” It works as a fitting tribute because Malin, Youth and HR all came out of the early ’80s hardcore scene, even if this track is more at Tom Petty or Mink Deville level of rock. The B-side is a faithful cover of Lou Reed’s “Sally Can’t Dance.” Live Music Returns! Live music has started to return, albeit very slowly, at venues that have the means to do outdoor shows. I recommend seeing it while you can because nobody seems particularly optimistic about the prospect for live music once winter hits. Both Dusk and Askew are hosting live music every weekend outdoors. Dusk is having bands play in the parking lot behind the venue, and Askew has been closing down Chestnut St every weekend. Both venues adhere to social distancing recommendations with table seatings. Reservations can be made by contacting either club in advance; check out their respective websites/social media pages for more information.