Metal Maniacs July 2003

DYSRHYTHMIA Fast Forward Feature
by Liz Ciavarella

"Each one of us is trained and went to the same music university in Philadelphia. Speaking for myself, it was helpful taking lessons all those years to develop my technique and keep me disciplined but once I graduated I immediately started de-tuning my guitars into my own tunings so I wouldn't know what I was playing. Sometimes knowing too much can be limiting," quips guitarist Kevin Hufnagel of PA instrumental sound enigma Dysrhythmia. Three schooled musicians with a winding trail of influences, Dysrhythmia trumpets a jazz metal rock amalgam doused in manic chord shifts and psychedelic inklings performed with calculated accuracy and mathematical appeal. Each track is measured in depth, dynamics and balance rather than mere surface brutality, the end product yielding a sort of controlled bedlam-warm, tranquil, mentally gripping...
"Our sound is made up of three very different individuals with three different musical backgrounds and tastes," begins the guitarist when asked to describe the band's genre-bending wizardry. "I think each of us brings a unique influence and sound to the band. My background is mainly in metal, progressive rock and ambient/shoegazer rock. Jeff comes from a jazz angle and Clayton is highly into early hardcore and post-punk stuff like Black Flag and Fugazi but also grew up studying the viola and classical composition. So what you end up with is the aggressiveness of metal, complexity of progressive rock, and improvisatory nature of jazz."
The band formed in August of '98 by Ingerson and Hufnagel. Eber joined the following March, forming an immediate musical chemistry and technical bond. But while the band's penchant for complex for complex structures and compositional flow tends to brand them members of the prog rock brigade, Hufnagel insists it's not entirely accurate. "I think [it's] a little unfair since people have a certain stereotype about that style of music that I don't think we fit. Our music is complex, but not all the time. It's not complex for the sake of it or to show off our 'chops' or anything silly like that."
It's true. For all the band's theoretical know-how, there's something organically jammie and basement-made about their delivery, particularly in the live setting. "Our performance is much more [about] energy and aggression than what fans of that style are used to seeing. I think we offer an alternative to all the safe rehashed banal music you hear on the radio and cliché chugga chugga hardcore/metal that dominates the scene. A lot of bands start because they want to sound like a certain band. We've never wanted to sound like anybody but ourselves."
That's not to say Dysrhythmia isn't heavy but to simply tag them "metal" or anything else would be an understatement. With two self-released full lengths [2000's out-of-print Contradiction and 2001's No Interference], a split 10" with xthoughtstreamsx [Rice Control Records] and a split 7" with Technician [Tranquility Base Records], Dysrhythmia's all-encompassing sound has long solidified a solid cult following appealing to fans of math rock, prog, metal, punk, acid jazz, video game music, etc. "Dysrhythmia doesn't fit into any scene and that's the great part about it to us," Hufnagel explains proudly. "We can, and have, played with just about every kind of band you can think of and almost every time we get a positive reaction. Our fans range from 15-year old punk kids to 50-year old prog nerds."
They're the thinking man's band for some, a trancey, spastic mind twist for others, and though instrumental outings aren't always everyone's thang, Dysrhythmia's rhythmical flow and signature mood shifts create a personality that serve as its subliminal voice. "Songs like 'Slumlord' [off No Interference] was inspired by constant fights with my landlord at the time. It was written quickly after months of battling him about things never being fixed, having no water for a month in the dead of winter, having the maintenance men leave my door unlocked when they left the night before I got home... These experiences are not unusual if you live in a major city like Philadelphia. A song like 'Let You Fall' was really just a reflection on the thought that no matter how wonderful a relationship seems at the time, there's always a voice in the back of your head that knows it's not going to last."
But just how would one go about writing a Dysrhythmia tune? Songs flutter along pure metallic chug to manic spider riffs to profound free-form to intricate chord progressions. Just when do they know a song is done? "It's really just a 'feel' thing. We'll demo new songs and listen back and critique them. Sometimes there are disagreements and arguments involved. Usually I like parts to change quicker whereas Clayton prefers to stretch things out more. This conflict probably works in our favor so that the songs [stay] interesting and flowing enough while still having something for the listener to latch onto. We won't use a song unless we're all happy with it."