Kalamazoo math rock duo Good News performed a while back at the No Fun where I happened to pick up their self-titled EP.

They look like this:

Good News is a very talented duo, with Ryan Pate on Drums and Brett Jacobsen on guitar. When you first pop their EP in your walkman the first thing you’re going to notice is a smooth, gliding, sweeping guitar supported by precise and driving drums. You’re going to find that this is one of the reasons that Good News is so aesthetically pleasing; they stick to a solid, consistent sound, and do it well.

Their influences, which you can find on their myspace, illuminate the origins of their sound. When I saw them live The Mars Volta jumped out at me immediately as something similar (albeit without vocals); However, on their first track specifically, I felt a little more of The Mercury Program going on.

That being said, and without further genre-fication or comparisons to previous acts, this EP was terrific. Track two has this frenzied feel that loops around and finds itself, varying slightly in short and precise riffs. Track three continues on this kind of organic, just intensely groovy feel wherein the drum goes nuts, and the guitar (he does this with a loop pedal live) plays and then plays over itself…these different quick and precise riffs. This then degrades itself and you end up on the fourth track, which is this more cinematic and emotional jam.

Good News then, with the fifth track, busts out their longest song, a 5 minute epic with lots of effects, blowin’ yer mind. Track six is a driving, upbeat, mad song that ends abruptly into reverse guitars and then…an uptempo and feverish seventh, that has a finale befitting the end of an album, or ep, or whatever.

I would say that this has re-playability. As in, I would listen to it again. I’m pretty sure all of the tracks I detailed here that were on the CD are also on their myspace. Or you could just catch them around sometime cuz they’ll probably be doing shows at the No Fun House or the Strutt or just around Kalamazoo and then you can get their CD…it’s pretty awesome.