MORE SKIN WITH MILK-MOUTH

Giraffes? Giraffes! are a math rock duo whose members originally came from New England but later moved to California. Consisting of a guitarist and a drummer with no vocals. The guitarist sometimes uses looping effects so you hear more than one guitar at times. The drummer also plays some of the guitar parts and although the guitarist can also play drums, he does not on this album. This is the duo's second and most well known album. A short album but at least it's very consistent.

They can be stereotypical complex and fast math rock but also sometimes play chords and riffs. The music alternates between crazy math rock and more accessible indie rock. "When The Catholic Girls Go Camping, The Nicotine Vampires Rule Supreme" is the album opener you can listen to on PA. Complex math rock at its best. Some of the guitar playing here sometimes reminds me of some metal. About halfway goes into a simple riff along with some really rockin' guitar soloing. The title of the second track is both a reference to the Beatles' song "Come Together" and too long and weird to type in full...let's just call it "I Am S/H(im)e[r]..."

It is the highlight of the album and one of the best math rock songs I have ever heard. Although complex as hell, some of the guitar parts are memorable and stick in your head (at least mine anyway). Really great drumming in this track. They make room for some simpler riffs amongst all the madness. Before 3 minutes everything really mellows out with some simple and subdued guitar playing along with some kind of bells/xylophone (not exactly sure what it is). Halfway it picks up the pace again with more rockin' yet simple guitar lines. Later just cymbals and guitar noises as a spoken word part sampled from somewhere begins.

That spoken part is actually an interesting speech about dreams spoken in a way that sounds like it was recorded in the 1960s. After the speaker says the immortal line: "You would dream the dream of living the life you are actually living today," it goes back to the beginning part. Some of the tapping in "Emilie Sagée's Secret" sounds very bass-y although it's all done on guitar. Some clapping or similar noises in this track. Halfway it calms down a bit with some melodic strumming on guitar as the bells or whatever make an appearance. Some interesting guitar sounds in this song.

The title of "A Quick One While She's Away" is obviously a reference to the very similarly titled Who song. Another standout track. This is a very melodic song for math rock. At one point it sounds like acoustic guitar is being used; rare in math rock. I like the mix of crazy drumming and melodic guitar playing during that section. The music stops halfway before some noisy feedback-laden guitar takes over. The music builds up from this point and returns to earlier melodies and riffs. More Skin With Milk-Mouth would be a good introduction to math rock for those unfamilar with this type of music. I'll give this a 3.5 and round it up to 4 stars.