The great people at Propeller Sound Recordings (one of my new favorite labels in recent years) has unearthed Gardens, the long-lost final release from cult post-punk outfit New Math – fully remastered and available for the first time ever on CD, and for the first time widely available on vinyl (including a limited edition color vinyl pressing).
As the story so often goes (taken from the press release and album liner notes): “originally intended for release in 1984, Gardens was dead on arrival. The small New York City-based label Brain Eater Records shut down just before the album’s planned release, leaving shrink-wrapped copies stranded in boxes, never shipped to stores. While some copies reached college radio across the U.S., most fans never had the chance to hear the album.
New Math’s Gardens is a moody, gothic-laced fever dream. A cinematic, genre-bending farewell, recorded during a moment of creative reinvention. After turning down a modest major label offer from Columbia Records in early 1983, the Rochester, New York-based group doubled down on their vision. Trading in the power-pop of early single “Die Trying” and the polished new wave aesthetic of the previous release, “They Walk Among You,” the band pursued something more introspective and surreal. Inspired by Kenneth Anger films and American Gothic imagery, Gardens was recorded at PCI Studios in Rochester and captures a haunted, transitional moment as the band unraveled and reshaped itself.
This reissue that you are holding, inlcludes the original tracks on Gardens, fully remastered and expanded, with five bonus tracks — four recorded live at Rochester’s go-to punk club Scorgies (including a cover of The Standells’ gritty garage nugget “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White”) and the original Skyline Studios version of “The Flesh Element.” Some of this bonus material would later be carried out by the band in their next incarnation, The Jet Black Berries, both live and in the studio, revealing the natural evolution from the seeds planted on Gardens.
In short: Gardens was the end, but also the beginning of a revived sense of direction and creative freedom.”
That is a very fine way to whet one’s appetite for something aurally meaty, especially for a band I hadn’t been acquainted with previously. And, it’s not even close to how good this is – “The Flesh Element” is so automatically catchy and instantly embracing; as someone who has been distanced from this kind of music for a while, it’s perfect and makes me a little nostalgic. Musically, this is something in my wheelhouse – a combination of The Bongos and The Teardrop Explodes – I’m not joking or stretching, either – and I now have this on repeat. “Pipes Of Pan” I could easily imagine being played on WLIR in ’83/’84 – in a set with The Nails, The Chameleons and maybe a Furs track. The atmospherics and narration of the vocals is so warmly familiar and infectious.
Oddly enough, I just mentioned The Psychedelic Furs and “Ominous Presence” absolutely has that first Furs/Talk Talk Talk-period feel; the hypnotically-repeated guitar riff and taut rhythm – but there’s just a tad more warmth and melody here, which is a very good thing. “Living On Borrowed Time” and “Love Under Will” are what could easily be thought of as the “radio” tracks of the time – no question that you would have heard these on the “new wave” stations of the time and probably in the early MTV rotation (I KNOW this band would have been regulars on U68, if they had videos out then – and if you live(d) in the New York/New Jersey area, you know exactly what I’m talking about). When you go back now and listen – and think about it – it’s infuriating as its ponderous that it’s taken forty years for these works to be resurrected.
This collection has the eight original tracks from the 1984 release, plus four live tracks and a 1983 mix of “The Flesh Element” – and it’s something to marvel at. I need to work my way backwards now and learn New Math. I wish I was aware of them then – I’m glad I am now.
If you’re of the same musical age and background, this is simply a “CANNOT MISS”. Look for it and get it.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Gardens will be available on CD and LP as of Friday, September 5th, 2025
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