Pitchfork

Sharpen your pencils and dust off your TI-83s, it's time for a little math rock equation: what do you get when you add sketches of songs composed for bass and drums by Dublin duo Giraffe Running with a whole genre-spanning heap of collaborators-- including Ian Williams (Battles, Don Caballero), Ben Jacobs (Max Tundra), Agata (Melt-Banana), Luca T. Mai (Zu), and Jeff Mueller (Shipping News, June of 44, Rodan)-- and divide the results over two CDs?

You get the double-disc extravaganza that is Giraffe Running, out May 21 on Learn to Love Records. Disc one includes five original compositions from Giraffe Running's Greg Barrett (bass) and Hag (drums), which the duo then shopped around to fellow musically-minded friends (including all those mentioned above and others, sans Mueller). The 15 products of this transcontinental swap-o-rama make up the second disc, while Mueller hand-printed the sleeves (designed by Giraffe contributor Matthew Bolger) for the two-disc concept compilation at Dexterity Press in Chicago.

As a remainder, you also get a song titled "When Michael Jackson Started Celtic Frost", probably worth the price of this unique record by itself.

Giraffe Running:

Disc 1:

01 Shoot the Mute Newt
02 Giraffic Bark
03 You've Got Some Neck
04 Infidel Gastro
05 Chewing on Eggshells

Dic 2:

01 Mike Stevens - "Sharp Light"
02 Ian Williams & Hag - "Fuckin' Funny Fire / Dudeen"
03 Matthew Bolger - "The Second Wave"
04 Bryn Cloke - "Piss Off Back to Nottingham"
05 United Bible Studies - "Shafted by the Light"
06 Eoin Dillon & Hag - "Drimnagh Castle / Gimme Shelta"
07 Agata - "Feline in Full Effect"
08 Rebecca Collins - "Comic Strip"
09 Hugh Holmes - "I Reach for Pictures"
10 Ben Jacobs, Paul Roe & Sadie Outlaw - "A Vaguely Distant 'Oh Yeah' / Fratrified / Fight and Repeat"
11 Miriam Ingram - "The Fever Hospital"
12 Rockcoach - "Babington"
13 Somadrone - "Liars Tears"
14 Luca T. Mai & Hag - "When Michael Jackson Started Celtic Frost / Popcorn Rex"
15 King Camera - "Lionisation of the Squishy Hoops"