Math Rosen
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Math Rosen

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF

Toronto, Ontario, Canada | SELF
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Press


"CBC Radio: Math Rosen & Montag discuss Polytectures soundwalk"

(Radio Interview) - CBC Radio / All In A Day


"Exclaim Review: Liar's Rosebush Thank You Machines!"

By Daniel Sylvester
Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Plaid. In the case of Ottawa's Matt Rosen and his Liar's Rosebush alter ego, it seems fruitful to get these names out of the way as early as possible and focus on the essence of his music. Sure, Rosen's polyrhythmic breakdowns and driller's laments draw almost immediate comparisons to Warp's most notable and intelligent dance movers but on his second LP, Thank-You Machines!, Rosen drops a smattering of new ideas and avenues into the dunk tank of clichés that is post-Detroit electronics. Songs like "Blowdarts and Burning Bridges" and "'B as in Boy" swim with a personality rare in modern day IDM. As the majority of songs twist beautiful, toy-ish piano lines under frogs-raining-on-tin-roof break beats, Thank-You Machines! sounds entirely gorgeous and somewhat hopeful. It's a well-conceived, multi-layered set of compositions from a fresh face in Canadian music. Certainly, the machines shouldn't take all of the credit.
(The Meat Parade Collective) - Exclaim! Canada's Music Authority


"Piknic Électronik Gatineau: Ana Staël and Math Rosen: Drenched in beats"

The handle Math Rosen aptly conceals the basic electronic geometry of the Ottawa/Gatineau-based hip-hop, juke, IDM act, and doing further sums on his music is a difficult task indeed. Electronic music is by its very nature an experimental project, and Rosen draws upon a breadth of stylistic intersections. Maybe, as seems to be a maxim in urban music journalism circles these days, it’s all just hip-hop?
"I came up from a noise and industrial background," explains Matt Rosen, the human behind the Math Rosen entity. "But I always listened to hip-hop too. I felt the early music I made was this energy I had bubbling up and bursting out of me in chaos, but all along I wanted there to be something of a groove to it. I wanted to make music that wasn’t just for your mind, but for your gut too – that made you want to move. I’ve always been more interested in RZA, or the Bomb Squad. I just realized I should be making hip-hop, and I feel like I’ve finally found that groove I was looking for the whole time. I find there are a lot of barriers coming down in electronic music now. On a good night, the DJ will play a variety of styles, but also tempos. It’s a lot more acceptable now to go to a show and not be dancing to the same tempo or style for hours."
Living somewhat in the shadow of better publicized and immensely successful scenes in Montreal and Toronto, the Ottawa/Gatineau electronic music landscape is unknown terrain to many living outside the region. Yet it’s precisely this autonomy that grants local artists freedom to innovate, says Rosen. Is there such a thing as a coherent Ottawa/Gatineau sound?
"That’s a really tough question that I’ve thought about a lot," says Rosen. "For a really long time I would have said that Ottawa doesn’t really have a sound exactly, and part of that comes down to people spending their youth in Ottawa finding their sound and then move to another market when they finally do. It’s hard for this city to develop a distinctive style, but there’s always a certain freshness and excitement that there are always new artists coming up."
"For me, Ottawa was a great place to make the experimental music I was making, because there were a lot of small cheap punk rock venues that were perfect. Ottawa has always had a great atmosphere for fringe electronic music, because the small venues are willing to take chances. Even the house party scene that has been big in Ottawa in the last five or six years has been great to get a start. Some of the most interesting shows I’ve ever played have been in that environment; people are willing to take in experimental music there. There is a real overlap between punk, garage stuff and experimental noise-based electronic music." - Ottawa Xpress


Discography

As Math Rosen:

Hyp-no-tize / Innerstitial (Single - Independent 2012)
Auto-Reverse Vol. 1 (LP - Place 2010)

As Liar's Rosebush:

Start Snitchin' (Single - Livevil Records 2009)
Thank-You Machines! (LP - Meat Parade Collective 2009)
Circle The Squares (LP - Hive Records 2007)
Nonsense w/ Scrape[dx] (EP - Independent 2007)
Collect:Erase (LP - Hive Records 2005)
None Higher (LP - Immanence Records 2003)

Photos

Bio

From avant-garde club music to tape drones and film scores, Math Rosen has come a long way since getting his start in Ottawa's noise scene over a decade ago. He spent his youth pushing sonic boundaries as Liar's Rosebush, tempering the raw sound of his city with a maturing sense of melody and a knack for engaging a crowd.

This past year, Math opened festivities at the legendary Mutek festival, headlined the Virgin Stage at Montreal's Igloofest, as well as ringing in the inaugural Gatineau edition of the long-running Piknic Electronik.

In 2012, Math put down roots in Toronto, working as a composer for film, dance, and even architecture. His genre-flipping sounds and unique influences continue to surprise listeners, moving at his own tempo and bringing a sense of drama to forward-thinking dance music from across the map.

(Math is a member of the Place Machine collective, including fellow Sled Island applicants Ookpikk and Adam Saikaley.)