Picture a tune that plays with your mind. It does not go straight but skips and flips in ways you do not expect. That is math rock. It avoids common music paths, which makes it feel fresh and smart.

Show: With Xenia Rubinos on Monday at the 9:30 Club. Doors open at 10 p.m. 202-265-0930. www.930.com. $20. Battles is rooted in the irregular time signatures and guitar tapping of math rock, but the ...

For those that don’t know ― which is most of us, so don’t worry ― there is a subgenre of rock music called Math Rock. Although it has nothing to do with equations or factoring, it does take ...