musical snobbery

This post wasn't supposed to be so long (this is a trend of the last few posts, possibly because of the greater time intervals between them). Whether you decide to read the entire snobbish mess is completely up to you, I make no apologies for length or content.

I realised a couple of things recently. One is that skiing is a decent metaphor for life: you have to be trying hard enough to fall fairly often if you want to learn anything, and confidence is everything. In both life and skiing, even feigning confidence can be enough to get through the steep bits. You might still crash and burn, or possibly die, but if you don't it's good fun.

The other thing I realised is that my complete disinterest in the lyrics of songs (with one or two exceptions) means that it can give people completely the wrong impression of me when I say what songs I like. I realised this when I was chatting with my officemate the other day about music. To my surprise she enjoys Slipknot and other metal artists (my itunes library is 90% metal); so I mentioned that I think their best song is "Metabolic," and she gave me a funny look and asked me what I thought of the lyrics. I had no idea what they were (for one thing they're all shouted/screamed) but it turns out it's pretty weird.

The first time I hear any song I really concentrate to hear the intervals and the timing, and I visualise playing it on a keyboard. If I like what I hear, I often go and do just that. It's actually really annoying that I can't just enjoy the music unless I have deciphered its structure and understand how it works. But sometimes music is way too complex for that, which is why I don't listen to classical or jazz very much, despite that I really enjoy such stuff. I also don't bother with pop, light rock, and other radio music, because the chords are all EABA and it's musically uninteresting. I feel that lyrics get in the way, unless they're sung and form an important melody or harmony line, but in that case they could just be 'aahs'.

So the stuff I most enjoy has unique chord usage, with complex timing. Here's a couple of examples of the power chords from stuff I'm listening to as I type this (click for bigger):

The main riff from "Decline" by Biohazard (M=120):
For some reason Musictime messed up the tie lines, but nevermind. This repeats 8 times.

Now the riff I enjoy from Metabolic, this also repeats 8 times (M=100):

Next a part of the song "Cleansed by Silence" by Ion Dissonance (a band from Montreal). They only play the riff twice, with shouting over the first time, and nothing (much better) over the second, I've written both out here. Musictime won't let me make that one 16th note bar any shorter (I probably should have made it two bars per line instead of three to spread out the notes more). There are more ways to write this than 5/4, 4/4, 1/16, but I think this way captures the feel most effectively. The fact that they tack on that extra 16th gives the riff a very stulted feel, but I like it. I've cut this section out and repeated it using "Audacity" to show how it would be if they did it more than once. The file is on putfile (link below - be warned it has a rather violent/loud style, but the lyrics aren't vulgar, just unintelligible).
Click here for my Cleansed by Silence chop-job

The Biohazard and Slipknot songs aren't actually in D, but in my mind I see everything in D because I don't have perfect pitch (doesn't matter so long as all the intervals (ratios) between notes are the same). Most of my own music is also in D (but can usually be transposed if people I'm jamming with would prefer another key).

You can see from that that I am a fan of very offbeat timing, often in unusual time signatures. I enjoy it in metal because chords can be chucked out with such disdain or irreverence, and I like to think of it as throwing it in the face of all the boring uninspired four-beat-four-chord bands out there. Chances are that offends just about everybody, because that sort of music is the most popular. However, remember I am talking about the timing and the chords, not lyrics or the general feel of a song. I have no concept of poetry, and don't even think Tool lyrics are interesting. But I love Tool; they are masters of 5/4, and use chord sequences like few others.

I also like chords and chord progressions that are unique. My 'favourite chord' is root + fifth + major second + major third + diminished fifth + major seventh. Here it is in G.I like this sound because few use it. Korn actually have some very interesting progressions and make good use of diminished fifth chords, particularly if the root (G, above) is the minor second of the key the piece is in (in this example resolve it to an F-sharp major, although that will be a lot prettier than anything by Korn). The diminished fifth is also called the tritone, and in the 1700s and 1800s the sound was called "diabolus in musica" (the devil in music) since it can sound dark and evil (my example there shows how this does not have to be so) so it's used by metal bands a lot. Slayer even named an album Diabolus in Musica, but few people get the reference. And yes, they make a lot of use of the tritone, but usually without the major third or the seventh, giving it a darker, dissonant sound.

Just for reference, my favourite classical piece is "Neptune" from the planets (Holst). It still sends shivers up my spine at one point (powerful chord with Ab+G+B+E). Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring, The Sacrifice" is good too.

So yeah, I am an incorrigible music snob. But if any of this strikes a chord with you (clang!), we should chat. And possibly jam.