WALTERBORO, S.C. — Math rock band SKULK submitted their newest album “Infinities of Perplexion” for peer review before releasing it to the public, sources report.
“It’s standard practice in our field to do this after wrapping up production,” said drummer Larry Kremer. “Peer review is absolutely necessary in math rock to ensure each work meets the standards of the genre and contributes to advanced knowledge for society on the whole. Can you imagine a world in which math rock bands could just unleash whatever crackpot pieces of music they want without them undergoing a rigorous review process? It would be chaos, and not in an enlightening, non-linear dynamical systems sense. Thankfully, we have institutions in place to ensure every album has been studied by experts before reaching the ears of consumers.”
Dave Hernandez, drummer for the band Integrals, peer reviewed SKULK’s new album before it was released.
“I just gave ‘Infinities of Perplexion’ a thorough listen and uploaded my notes to our academic portal,” Hernandez said. “Overall, it was an extremely thoughtful piece full of insightful songwriting. I especially liked the three time signature switches in ‘Strange Attractors,’ that ultimately revert back to 5/4 before the song transitions to the masterful ‘Fractals.’ However, the songs tend to get a little too uniform towards the last couple tracks, particularly with ‘Conjecture’ and the album’s closer ‘Abstract Plane,’ which would both benefit from the use of counterpoint and extended chords. I recommend this album be accepted after these minor revisions.”
Fan Willem Krotoshinsky was surprised to learn the processes behind his favorite bands’ releases.
“Oh wow, I didn’t know every math rock album went through that,” Krotoshinsky admitted. “I’m a huge fan of SKULK, so I guess it makes sense that they’re doing everything to ensure their music is a mentally stimulating representation. It would be nice if other genres of music did something like this, but I guess most of the stuff on the radio wouldn’t be released if the albums had to be put through peer review, so I understand why they don’t. I can’t see music by bands like Staind and Puddle of Mudd standing up to a procedure like this, so I wish there was some sort of regulation that required it so I wouldn’t have to hear “It’s Been Awhile” on my drive to work.”
At press time, Kremer was seen celebrating after having reached tenure in SKULK.