Grapthar's Song of the Day: LITE - 'S'

who I first discovered about a decade ago. I was just beginning to delve into more complex music (both listening and playing), involving odd meters, more complex harmonic choices, and rhythmic ideas, and these guys fit perfectly into that. The band was formed in 2003 in Tokyo, Japan by Nobuyuki Takeda (guitar), Kozo Kusumoto (guitar, synthesizer), Jyun Izawa (bass), and Akinori Yamamoto (drums). Though they are definitely an instrumental math-rock band, which is sort of a combination of emo, post-hardcore, and jazz, usually built around the aforementioned complex musical concepts, but they also have a very distinct style, and stand apart from other bands of the genre. While the jazz ideas are clearly present, often, LITE will use more 'classically' melodic themes, which is probably an influence of Japanese rock, which tends to be very much focused on strong melodies.

since there is such a wide array of choices in their discography. Their early music is leans more towards math-rock, while some of the later albums are very much funk oriented, with a mathy, rocky twist. If any of this sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend just checking out all their releases, you really can't go wrong. This song was released recently, and thus far, is just a single. It may be part of a new album that will be released eventually, though I don't know that for sure. It reminds me a lot of some of their earlier albums, and definitely moves away from the funk ideas they had been experimenting with on the last two albums. The drum pattern is all digital (either played with pads or an electric kit), and sort of has a 'trappy' vibe, but enough variation in it that it doesn't feel cliche, or like they're trying to latch onto a modern trend. The guitar and synths are really pretty, and dark, and work great with the electronic beat. It sort of reminds me Radiohead in that way.