CALCULATOR
Columbia, South Carolina, United States | SELF
Music
Press
If the name Calculator conjures visions of pocket protectors and masking-taped eyeglasses, you’re on the wrong track. The only thing relatively scholarly about this band are its touchstones with college-rock heavyweights of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, like the Pixies, Chavez, Slint and early Dinosaur Jr. The music is dissonant but not off-putting, propulsive but not jittery. If they were a product of Williamsburg instead of Columbia, they’d probably be the toast of tastemakers like Brooklyn Vegan and You Ain’t No Picasso. But they’re yours, Columbia, so enjoy them.
-K. Foster - Free Times
Calculator — “Let’s embrace the fact,” Columbia indie rock quartet Calculator writes on its MySpace site, “that sometimes it’s not about the bands you play with, what you aspire to be, but how well you show the bitter essence of life.” Indeed, like The Pixies and The Dandy Warhols before them, Calculator knows that life is often bitter and weird and articulates that knowledge in short bursts of expressive, tuneful rock. Cerebral but not overly academic, dissonant but still attractive, propulsive but not jittery, this still-young quartet is one of the brightest new bands in town. See Calculator now; the band releases the Classic Acid EP tonight.
P. Wall
The Elbow Room: 9 p.m., $3;
http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064163276&ShowArticle_ID=11011711091544141 - Free Times
7:30 p.m. Saturday: Calculator at Elbow Room. Calculator, which peddles moody, reverb rock with a shrug, will release an EP, "Classic Acid." One particular song, "Playground Bones," is perfect earbud music: The songs start with interlocked guitars and a casually sung verse before the pace reaches a pleasant swell. Any walk, jog or before-bed thoughts would be enhanced by the song. With Junior Astronomers and The Choir Quit. Elbow Room is at 2020 Devine St. (803) 253-7888
-Otis Taylor - The State
Best New Band: Mainline
Apologies to many spanking-new outfits — including and especially Calculator, The Capital City Playboys, Mercy Mercy Me and Sweet Vans — but Mainline takes the cake here. Featuring members of bygone Columbia greats Man at Arms and Burns Out Bright, Mainline’s penchant for pummeling, pyrokinetic proto-hardcore is delivered with unsurprising aplomb and inimitable savagery.
-Patrick Wall
Issue #22.44 :: 11/04/2009 - 11/10/2009 - Free Times
Calculator — Let’s eschew math metaphors here, reader, and simply say that Columbia newbie band Calculator has put together some highly impressive material in its relatively short lifespan. Marrying The Pixies’ abstract lyricism and left-turning, surf-rock-inspired dynamics with Spoon’s Austinite swagger, The Dandy Warhols’ Bohemian indie-rock and Explosions in the Sky’s reverb-drenched single-coil-guitar attack, this young quartet’s churning out short-and-sweet classic college-radio rock tunes that are at once invitingly familiar and excitingly fresh. Simply put, reader, you should be excited about this band. Grantham’s Asylum headlines; Divine Inflection and Modern Disruption also play.
P. Wall
New Brookland Tavern: 7:30 p.m., $5 ($8 under 21; 791-4413, newbrooklandtavern.com.
- Free Times
Calculator, “Occasional Lover”? (Subtraction by Addition)
The best song The Pixies never wrote, “Lover” spouts affecting non-sequiters and vacillates from simmering quietude to shimmering catharsis in two minutes flat. Most impressive.
-Patrick Wall
Web Link (created by tinyurl) :
http://tinyurl.com/y9wdzbm - Free Times
Discography
Subtraction By Addition (2009)
Calculator Yes Sampler
#1(2009)
Classic Acid EP (2009)
Photos
Bio
If I could explain the gist of Calculator, it would probably not be worded right. So, let me get to the tip of the bohemian point and let the music hit your spine. Let the sexuality and sad fasts of life come out. Let's embrace the fact that sometimes, it's not about the bands you play with, what you aspire to be, but how well you show the bitter essence of life.
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