Maps and Atlases - Trees, Swallows, Houses

Maps and Atlases are an indie band from Chicago. However, instead of donning American Apparel gear and dicking around with banjos and electronics, the members of this band spent their time practicing two-handed tapping and listening to midwest indie from the late 90s. Imagine if Minus the Bear's old sound was sped up and jammed together with the rhythmic intensity of a band like Hella or Tera Melos. That is, all with acoustic guitars interspersed with the electric, making them sound like a technical version of Braid more than anything. Maps and Atlases are great. Exhibit A: their only formal release, Trees, Swallows, Houses. I saw them live this past summer with The Fall of Troy and Rx Bandits and they played a few new songs from their upcoming LP that pretty much shred as well so look out for that release.

Trees, Swallows, Houses (2006) - Download - Review