Ex Models

by Nate CavalieriBeginning late 1998, the primary objective of the Ex Models was to bring an edge of authenticity back to the New York underground rock scene with their uniquely mathematical post-punk. With a membership including brother guitarists Shahin and Shahryar Motia, bassist Mikhail Masiello, and drummer Jake Fiedler, the Ex Models spent two years working together to fuse manic changes in time signatures and highly angular guitar and bass lines with their frantic, deconstructed song structures, which garnered a small following in the New York club circuit. Eventually catching the ear of Ace Fu Records, the band struck a deal to release their debut, Other Mathematics, in the spring of 2001. Recorded and produced completely by the band themselves, Other Mathematics is a rough-cut representation of the abrasive live energy that has made the band one of the new champions of the New York underground. With their self-referential approach to rock & roll ideology, the music of the Ex Models is as much a commentary on the previous chapters of punk rock history as it is a glimpse of the forthcoming trends in the fusion of post-rock and post-punk. Two years after the release of Other Mathematics, the band issued Zoo Psychology, which delivered on their debut's potential.