Pivot 'Sweet Memory' (Warp, 2008)

Twisty post-rock instrumental business from Warp's premier progressive Australian jazz masters, now known as PVT.

'Sweet Memory' by Australian machine-jazz-post-rock-hybrid guys, Pivot aka Pvt, always makes me think it's the theme tune to a Scandinavian crime series.

A crime series where the protaganist is somewhere on the Autistic spectrum, tapping out rhythms in 17/9 time on his Moleskine journal as he ponders the precision and bent-minded, but admirable, obsession of a serial killer who leaves his victims splayed into semaphore positions, eventually spelling out the words Tygers of Pan Tang. In Swedish obviously.

It's a fabulously kinetic tune that marries sleek, gliding sections with fabulously funky detours and glitchy breakdowns. Less aggressive and bombastic than the likes of Three Trapped Tigers - who also merge electronics and conventional instruments - but very magic nonetheless.

Download Pivot 'Sweet Memory' (post rock, electronica mp3) (Mediafire)

Parlour 'Over The Under' (Temporary Residence, 2002)

More angular-but-melodic postrock grooviness from the Temporary Residence stable.

This band are only a recent find for me, despite being wise to Temporary Residence's excellent taste for a good few years now.

Parlour deal in a Ganger-esque mix of lock-groove repetition with melodic trimmings. Warm, resonant bass brings to mind the first Tortoise album and the break-beat, boxy drum figures are channelling Can's Jaki Liebzeit, but the combination of elements and adroit guitar work and production touches make Parlour very much an original.

The seven minutes of gently evolving Kraut-y, rolling Post Rock of 'Over The Under' come from their second album 'Googler' which is highly recommended as point-of-entry into this band.

Download Parlour 'Over The Under' (alternative postrock mp3) (TemporaryResidence.com)

Gallops 'Miami Spider' (Live, 2010)

Expertly twiddled stuff from the Bttls-inspired Wrexham band.

Gallops coax a twitchy, head-nodding math rock brew that fuses laptop-driven beats and keyboard bleats with more conventional band instrumentation. You can't escape the pervading influence of genre-definers Battles but it's a tight and tidy sound, especially live. And the drummer does a fantastic twitch, seemingly on every beat.

Not as frenetic as Three Trapped Tigers, Gallops ratchet up the intensity through melody and groove, hitting a similarly dance-tastic plane as Foals.

Download Gallops 'Miami Spider (Live)' (post rock mp3 download, Mediafire)

Foals 'Olympic Airways' (Live at Coachella, 2011)

Crack live take on 'Antidotes' classic by road-hardened Foals.

Foals seem to have spent the best part of a year on the road and it shows in the extra muscularity and control they have over their sound. I witnessed this - from outside a packed tent - at the Pulp Wireless 'festival' at the start of July.

You can hear their development in the way they approach both new and old material in their Coachella set from April. Old songs are given fresh impetus with adaptations and new songs are subtly extemporised. The Coachella live set is well worth tracking down.

This version of 'Olympic Airways' is both as tight and as funky as its ever been but the intro and instrumental break are approached anew, offering new angles and freshness.

Download Foals 'Olympic Airways (Live at Coachella)' (alternative indie mp3 download) (Mediafire)

Download the whole Coachella set over on Archive: Live & Rare mp3s.

NB. Setlist scan borrowed with thanks from the 'Whatever Happened To My Rock and Roll' blog.

Codeine 'Atmosphere (Joy Division cover)' (Hut, 1995)

Stately, austere Post Rock cover of Joy Division's stately, austere Post Punk classic.

Codeine dealt in the slowest of the slow in Post Rock terms, releasing a handful of records in the early 1990s on Sub Pop. (NB. For me, the 'Barely Real' EP is a must-have.) Their songs oozed across the vinyl, catching you out with their almost hesitant poise.

The idea of Codeine covering one of Joy Division's most funereal moments makes you think that the track is going to reach a kind of absolute zero musical state, its atoms ceasing to oscillate. They don't play it like that though, instead it's a processional but respectful reading that stands alongside Low's version of 'Transmission' from the same cover album.

It's a much more skeletal version than the original's warm, comforting wash, finding a respectful but alternative angle which occasionally pauses, as if to reflect on the words' portents. Some bare, gently over-driven guitar wraps it up.

Download Codeine 'Atmosphere' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Foals 'Modern Art Is For Pricks' (Try Harder, 2006) (download)

Some Foals juvenilia. 'Modern Art Is For Pricks' is from their debut 'Try This On Your Electric Piano' 7".

The band's sound developed significantly in the jump from this 7" on Try Harder to the muscular, math-y genius of their next release, the live 12" on Transgressive in 2007.

The sound is less dancefloor/bottom-end heavy and there's a different vocalist who is rocking a more expressive, less twitchy/funky style - a bit more Hope Of The States than Liquid Liquid.

You can still hear the genesis of the later sound, especially in the guitars which a pretty much display the interplay of 'Balloons', 'Cassius' et al.

Download Foals 'Modern Art Is For Pricks' (mp3) (Mediafire)

Listening Post - Three Trapped Tigers 'Route One Or Die' (Blood And Biscuits, 2011) (Stream)

You can now stream the whole of the Three Trapped Tigers album - 'Route One Or Die' - ahead of its much-anticipated (by me, anyway) release on May 30th.

An bright, seamless fusion of electronics and live band post-rock/math-rock stylings that delivers on the promise of their first three EPs and maintains some spectacular intensity.

It embraces electronic sound in the same was as the likes of Fridge and Oval but has a more organic, full-band feel like Foals with the aggression of 65DaysofStatic or Shellac.

The closest marker for the Three Trapped Tigers album is probably US math-rock genii Battles who oddly enough have their second album 'Gloss Drop' - their first without Tyondai Braxton - out the following week on Warp.

'Route One Or Die' is available to pre-order over at the Blood And Biscuits website.