Five Pound Pocket Universe
Switzerland · formed 2016 · last active 2020
Five Pound Pocket Universe is a Zurich, Switzerland jazzcore trio founded in 2016 by drummer/composer Michel Barengo, saxophonist Andi Bissig, and guitarist Valentin Baumgartner. Their sole album, 'Brain Bubble Party' (2018), swings between pre-arranged jazz-metal themes and improvised noise built from samples and prepared/effected guitar, self-described as 'hyper sweet pastel jazzcore madness... spliced with lost cartoon snippets found in the places between channels.'
SCORE PROFILE
Accent numbers counted towards the index. Hover an axis — or hold it on a phone — for what it means.
WHY THOSE SCORES
- Jazzy 7 — Founded explicitly as a 'jazzcore project' built around tenor saxophone (Andi Bissig) fused with grindcore/metal rhythms, per the band's own Bandcamp bio.
- Glitch 4 — Brain Bubble Party (2018) is described as 'hyper sweet pastel jazzcore madness... spliced with lost cartoon snippets found in the places between channels,' built in part from Andi Bissig's dedicated samples/noise role.
- Theatrical 3 — Brain Bubble Party's cartoon-collage concept and Shintaro Kago cover artwork frame the album's absurdist, over-the-top character.
- 8-bit 3 — The band's Bandcamp bio explicitly lists 'game music' among the genres absorbed into their sound.
MEMBERS
- Michel Barengodrums, composition, samples
- Andi Bissigtenor saxophone, samples, noise, synth bass
- Valentin Baumgartnerprepared guitar, octaved guitar, effects
CONNECTIONS
- Sete Star Septpath →
Both bands' cover art was done by Japanese manga artist Shintaro Kago: Five Pound Pocket Universe's "Brain Bubble Party" (2018, cited in the atlas's own description text) and Sete Star Sept's "Visceral Tavern" (2013, "Artwork" credit verified on the per-release Discogs extraartists, not the generic Appearance index role). Pairwise artwork tie per the 2026-08-07 ruling (PROTOCOL rule 7) — Kago is not an atlas band member so there is no anchor band. source ↗
FURTHER LISTENING
Nearest score profiles in the atlas.
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The Sound That Ends Creation is the one-man experimental mathgrind project of Chris Dearing, based in Allen, Texas, launched in 2016 and citing Daughters, Psyopus, and See You Next Tuesday as key influences. The project has evolved from deathgrind/mathgrind roots toward incorporating big-band and orchestral elements, culminating in 2021's Boomers, Zoomers, Desperate Coomers, which Metal Injection called a 'jazzy mathgrind explosion' arguably closer to 'mathjazz.' Dearing layers piano into nearly every track alongside tapping-heavy, panic-chord guitar work, building a chaotic, carnival-like sound across eight-plus full-lengths.
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- UnaffiliatedEI 22Mats/MorganJazzyTechnicalGlitch
Mats/Morgan is a Swedish avant-fusion duo of keyboardist Mats Öberg (blind since birth) and drummer Morgan Ågren, playing together since the early 1980s. Their music is a hyper-virtuosic, genre-splicing brew of jazz fusion, avant-prog, free improvisation, electronica and modern classical, delivered with a mischievous sense of humor. Discovered as teenagers by Frank Zappa after he heard them perform in Stockholm in 1988, the pair went on to appear in his Zappa's Universe projects and have recorded prolifically for Cuneiform Records.
- ZornEI 15PraxisTechnicalJazzyGlitch
Praxis is producer/bassist Bill Laswell's shape-shifting experimental project, built around a core trio of Laswell, guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain (Bryan Mantia) that fuses funk, jazz, hip-hop, dub and heavy metal into highly improvised music. The 1992 debut Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) drew in P-Funk's Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins, while the harsher 1993/94 album Sacrifist added John Zorn on saxophone and ex-Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris of Painkiller, plus vocalist Yamatsuka Eye. The result swings between noisy speed metal, dub and turntablist collage.
- Estradasphere / MimicryEI 14GirthTechnicalJazzyGlitch
Girth is a Seattle instrumental trio — guitarist Dave Webb and drummer Peijman Kouretchian expanding to triple-guitar with Blane Patnode and Mark Corier of Swarming Hordes — playing dense, through-composed 'tech hardcore' described by one zine as splitting the difference between Orthrelm and Guapo with oddball electronic and jazz detours. Their breakthrough 2006 EP 'Sleeper, Awaken!' is a single 19-minute, four-movement piece recorded with engineer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth) and released on Trey Spruance's Web of Mimicry label, directly tying the band into the Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3-adjacent avant-metal underground. The project wound down after 2009's 'deconstruction.', with members moving on to Wah Wah Exit Wound and Satya Sena.
- ZornEI 13Trevor Dunn's Trio-ConvulsantJazzyTechnicalHardcore
Trevor Dunn's Trio-Convulsant is the avant-garde jazz vehicle of Mr. Bungle bassist Trevor Dunn, active since 1997 and built on the idea of a compositional jazz trio that also wields rock's power chords — AllMusic called the result "moody jazz with convulsive rock." The group debuted with Debutantes & Centipedes (1998, Buzz Records) featuring guitarist Adam Levy and drummer Kenny Wollesen, then re-emerged on Ipecac with Sister Phantom Owl Fish (2004) in a new lineup with guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Ches Smith. That trio returned on Séances (2022, Pyroclastic Records), expanded by the chamber quartet Folie à Quatre — including Sleepytime Gorilla Museum violinist Carla Kihlstedt — for music inspired by the 18th-century French Convulsionnaires of Saint-Médard.
- UnaffiliatedEI 9Hunab KuTechnicalJazzyHardcore
Hunab Ku was a Seattle avant-garde metal act built around vocalist Mike Gilmore, guitarist Luke Jaeger (ex-Sleep Terror, joined 2008 replacing founding guitarist Dan Hagerty), bassist Matt Finn, and drummer Mark Villano. Their 2007 debut "The Gaze Inward" (Black Sheep Records) was reviewed as chaotic mathcore-indebted avant metal, drawing explicit critical comparisons to Dillinger Escape Plan, Cephalic Carnage, and Fantomas, with vocals ranging from screams to croons and moans. IMPORTANT DISAMBIGUATION: this is distinct from an unrelated Costa Rican black metal band of the same name (founded 2016 by Lord Eythraz) and a dark-ambient project — the Seattle act is the one matching the chart description and reviews cited here.
- UnaffiliatedEI 25Obuedian RaphTechnicalJazzyGlitch
Solo avant-garde metal/jazz-fusion project of Raphaël Beaudouin, a musician based in Bois-Guillaume near Rouen, France, who writes, performs, and records every instrument himself — electro-acoustic guitar, clarinet, bass, drums, keyboard — layered with 8-bit sounds and glitch electronics. His 20-track album Pahilcé Koot (self-released, March 2020) is a rapid-fire run of short, absurdly titled vignettes, with Beaudouin citing Pryapisme, Igorrr, Mr. Bungle, Pin-Up Went Down, CHON, and Gentle Giant as touchstones.
- UnaffiliatedEI 14Black Heart SutraTechnicalJazzyHardcore
Black Heart Sutra is a New York experimental/mathcore project centered on composer-violinist Earl Maneein (SEVEN)SUNS) and drummer Kenny Grohowski (Imperial Triumphant, Secret Chiefs 3, frequent John Zorn collaborator), expanded on record with guest vocalists including Jessica Pimentel. Their 2017 debut album "Zersetzung" (Still Water Recordings) mixes progressive-jazz harmony with mathcore's chaotic, Locust-like structural shifts.