what else sounds like the last two tracks of KC's "Discipline"?

personally I think this technique was perfected on the construkction of light - a much-malgined KC album, but for me, their best.

sleepytime gorilla museum do the interlocking off-time guitars thing quite a lot, but it is obviously indebted to KC.

there's lots of polyrhythm on many ruins albums, particularly tzomborgha, but no interlocking, as it's just one bass and one drum. still, if you like the instrumental intricacy of KC, you should love ruins.

meshuggah specialise in polyrhythm, strange time signatures and fascinating guitar interplay, but they're right out there on the heavy, heavy, heavy end of things. great stuff, but a few hundred times more brutal than KC.

that's all I can think of before my fist cup of coffee...

first cup, that is.

*ahem*

Glenn Branca. Also Talking Heads. Also King Sunny Ade.

branca! good call...!

I think bands like Upsilon Acrux, Larval, Zs, maybe Flying Luttenbachers, and certainly many Yoshida projects take the counterpoint/polyrhythm thing and run w/it. KC's Discipline-era stuff seems really influential right now, though to be honest, most of the bands that are in that vein are actually doing things a lot more complex, or faster, louder...Discipline seems more relaxing to me now than it probably would have when it came out, which is hardly a bad thing, and I wish more bands just reveled in counterpoint

French zeuhl band Weidorje was full of this shit. they made one record and it kills. very much in the magma vein which makes sense since they shared members (Pagonotti, Gauthier). much more forward driving rhythm section than magma with lots of great interlocking guitar/fender rhodes all over the place.

i wish they'd release a version of discipline with all the vocal stripped off. belew bugs the fuck out of me, but some of the grooves are pretty cool.

seconded. ditto for most KC albums. the vocals have rarely been a plus.

thanks for the answers! I suppose I always knew that talking heads were the logical thing to check out, but never quite got around to it. will keep an eye out for the others esp Weidorje & Ruins.
Yeah, I have heard TCOL and like parts of it (the second track IIRC has the nicest polyrhythmic guitar bits). I miss the clean brightness of the 80s band a bit, tho.
Anyone have anything nice to say about THRAK and that whole double-trio period? (I haven't heard it).

I don't really understand the Talking Heads recommendations. Isn't "I Zimbra" the only song of theirs that fits the bill?

For more King Crimson, try their improv recordings on "Thrakattak". It's a much-maligned record, but one of their best if you're of a certain disposition.

Gentle Giant were also huge fans of this sort of thing, though usually with a rather folky sound (interlocking flute-quintets and the like)
"The Power and the Glory" probably being the most radical one, though _Knots_ off "Octopus" might be closest to what you want. Admittedly that's more polyrhythm and counterpoint than really doing that similar patterns thing KC explored.

You may also want to give Doctor Nerve a listen. I only know "Skin", but it's fantastic, and quite possibly the best rock record of the 90's.

I suspect this thread will win the coveted "most uses of the word 'interlocking' on ILM evvah" award. And my what a fine award it is, what with all the interlocking patterns in the design and all.

Be warned that none of this has in any way a similar "sound" to those KC tunes.

(so basically, uh, ignore everything I listed, because none of it actually sounds like the last two tracks on Discipline)

"Isn't "I Zimbra" the only song of theirs that fits the bill?"

Only if you insist on Fripp, or that the sound be created by guitars alone. If you can get over that, most of "Remain in Light" works, as do some other later tracks.

ahh, Gentle Giant! I haven't listened to em since freshman year, when I had a friend who was big on them. I wonder if I would find their folksy/twee elements more or less tolerable these days?
(I've heard only "Octopus" and "In a Glass House")