Archive for the ‘KEY IDEAS to plunder’ Category

Me and Armini (2008) – Emilíana Torrini

  • simple, economical instrumentation
  • solo singer album
  • pop yet earthy
  1. new instruments enter subtly, building the whole track almost surreptitiously
  2. chorus features a ‘false stop’
    reminiscent of go-betweens ‘rock n roll friend’
  1. rapidly descending pitch synth stabs before vox enters
  2. middle: bass melody, doubled by organ, features between lines of vox
  1. song in 2 halves;
    1. ac version = instrumental transition = 2. band version
  2. theremin
  3. chorus: oohs only

04 ‘Heard It All Before’ – Me and Armini (2008) – Emilíana Torrini

  1. claps and bongos percussion
  2. mandolin rapids
  1. vibrato elc gtr chord strums
  2. inverted song arrangement: ac low key verse/chorus at end of song
  1. triangle rhythm
  2. ‘doop doodoop’ ending builds
  1. ‘drill’ elc sfx
  2. key change: up a minor 3rd
  1. close mic lip smacking
  2. short ac song between big electric numbers
  1. finger snaps/vox breath ‘ha!’ – alternate on the 4. stops for singing
  2. 6th verse: low bass rumble – sounds like a truck

10 ‘Beggar’s Prayer’ – Me and Armini (2008) – Emilíana Torrini

  1. drums enter in 3rd verse but only for 2 lines
  2. last word gets extended into ‘ooh’ and choir
  1. edit clicks used as beat
  2. odd beat by adding an extra repeat

12 ‘Bleeder’ – Me and Armini (2008) – Emilíana Torrini

  1. add string section
  2. ac gtr plucked on changes / delayed

Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  • lyrically: melancholic, nostalgic for youth
  • sounds like the singer’s solo record – very personal storytelling
  • richly melodic, but with a full band sound plus strings and choirs
  1. 2 gtrs hard panned; left = melody, right = rhythm on the 1234
  2. low bass comes in with vox

02 ‘Lippy Kids’ – Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  1. piano or keys playing steady every beat, incorporating the melody into the rhythm
  2. chorus: bvs, hums
  1. 1st note repeated before launching into melody
  2. multiple vox parts overlap
  1. chorus: switches from funky to steady beat
  2. background children / crowd as solo
  1. harmony and rhythm set on the one instrument; ac gtr
  2. chorus: key chords on the 1s, otherwise the same as verses
    same chords and melody
    ie. accent instrument in between verses and reinforcement in choruses
  1. bonging, like an electronic alarm or school bell
    bonging follows and stays on last note of melody, in between lines
  2. bonging slows to end
  1. chorus: no beat, just organ drone + vox
  2. string sustain rises in pitch before 1st verse

08 ‘The River’ – Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  1. sawing wood rhythm? – maybe hammond rotating speakers…
  2. piano, vox & choir (oohs)

09 ‘Open Arms’ – Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  1. drums: velvet underground train or nothing
  2. train drums contrasting with long slow bass, and piano/vox melodies

10 ‘The Birds (reprise) – Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  1. reprise previous track in a completely different style
  2. crowd hubbub sfx bridging from previous track – create contrast with lead vox creating a lonely feel

11 ‘Dear Friends’ – Build a Rocket Boys! (2011) – Elbow

  1. ac gtr swell (with elc gtr texture ringing out) before vox enter
  2. horns enter final section, ac gtr and drums fade out, leaving horns alone – verbed

Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  • narrative, themed album
  • use of different ‘voices’ for different characters and points of view
  • atmospheric, unusual instrumentation

01 ‘I Have The Gun’ – Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  1. verse lyric is prediction/fact, using two different ‘voices’;
    ‘there will be no rain / and there was no rain
    there will be no shame / and there was no shame
    all will be explained / and all was presently explained’ etc.
  2. middle: change gear to 3/4 time

02 ‘The Sly Persuaders’ – Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  1. vox: call and response; delayed distant repeat of lead vox, line by line
  2. section 2: horns out, violin riff enters, chord changes underneath
  1. (snr is a little roll)
  2. everything drops out one by one
  1. spooky electronic ‘animal’ noises
  2. shuddering, pitch dropping, white noise at a slower tempo

05 ‘Motherless Child’ – Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  1. bongos and gtr riff provide rhythmic basis – allowing bass and drums to do others things
  2. no resolution chord at end

06 ‘The Last Dictator I’ – Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  1. middle: ‘dream’ minor sounding, backwards gtr texture loop
    • multiple ‘voices’
    • ending: multi-vox, call and response, incl whispered fem vox
      ‘yes i am!’ yes you are!’

07 ‘The Last Dictator II’ – Paradise Discotheque (1990) – Crime and the City Solution

  1. bass line: 2nd string
    8 0 8 0 8 0  8 0 8 0 8 0
    5 0 3 0 3 0  5 0 3 0 3 0
    ‘basis’ note between every other note
  2. gtr plays same riff but offset – they play the same thing at the same time (doubling) for only 2 bars every cycle
  1. vocal breathing gasping persussion
    • big impact when bass and drums enter, key point in the story ie. character’s pov
    • bass keeps beat, drums dance around the beat
    • drums and bass drop back to on the 3 / 1 every few bars
  1. jangling gtrs
  2. drums enter softly, buried, and build both in loudness and instrumentation ie. snr enters, then tambourine etc

For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  • solo album, singer songwriter acoustic gtr
  • lonely, desolate, breakup album
  • self made, multi-tracked, multi- part harmonies

01 ‘Flume’ – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  1. fret buzz, single note ac gtr melody
  2. chiming ac gtr melody harmonic (lightly touching but not fretting)

02 ‘Lump Sum’ – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  1. pause, filled with pigeon cooing loop texture
  2. snr/hats join (snr rolling like a train, hats accent in place of the snr on the 2 and 4)

03 ‘Skinny Love’ – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  1. double every part
  2. vox – switching from falsetto and full voice
  1. single gtr strums, on chord changes, on beat for chorus
  2. ‘what might have been lost’
    ‘don’t bother me’
    complex overlap of 2 lines of melody/vox

05 ‘Blindsided’ – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  1. loops of backwards notes and plinky gtr: start and end
  2. middle: ‘would you really rush out’
    strum/beat stops
    call & response: ‘for me now’

06 ‘Creature Fear’ – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008) – Bon Iver

  1. begin with vox harmonies, wordless, verbed
  2. ends suddenly – sort of – remainder is labelled a new track
    next track continues performances, and harmonic content
  1. snr doubled loosely; phasing? delayed to drift in and out of time?
  2. whistling, doubled
  1. horns and monophonic elc gtr lines etc. providing chordal harmony
  2. bvs – falsetto/full voice double, hard panned. response; ‘running on, running on’
  1. structure: chord holds between vox lines in the verse, builds expectation
    ‘This my excavation and to – [hold] day is Kumran’
    ‘I keep throwing it down two [hold] hundred at a time’
  2. structure: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, verse 3
    stops just as expected 3rd chorus should come

Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  • sincere, heartfelt, direct lyrics
  • singer-songwriter album
  • themes of desolation, loneliness, heartbreak, solitude
  • mix of straight acoustic instrumentation with  electronic gestures and effects
  1. bvs: (from 2nd verse)
    monotone, verbed. alternating with wordless falsetto ‘oohs’
  2. b/ground electronics – spacey delayed feedback
    builds to a climax, filter swept, stops at the peak

02 ‘Paper Tiger’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. middle: phased vox for 2 lines
  2. low key, bored/depressed vox vs. dramatic bombastic interjections (strings, elc gtr)
  1. tension and release: sliding note – down to correct pitch on the 1
  2. tension and release: bvs come in on the tonic chord
  1. orchestrate like Air; dry drums, slow strings, languid bass, rhodes keys, breathy vox
  2. climbing melody – shepard tone

05 ‘Lost Cause’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. backwards sounds
  2. white noise percussion fizzing
  1. atmos: noises: low res white noise explosions, reverbered
  2. atmos: big verb tambourine on the 3rd beat of every 2nd bar
  1. chorus: pause before 2nd half of line;
    ‘and i wanted to be’ – full chord sequence – ‘a good friend’
  2. ring modulated piano  (2nd verse)

08 ‘Round The Bend’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. accentuate fret buzz
  2. prosody: ‘around’ – pitch sliding up and down

09 ‘Already Dead’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. last word of chorus vox verbed: ‘feel like something dying…’
  2. lead gtr bending notes

10 ‘Sunday Sun’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. throbbing piano line, like a bass line
  2. mobile phone beep goes off every revolution of the chord progression
    include an every day sound like mobile phone

11 ‘ Little One’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. no drums in the verses, full drums in the choruses
  2. end with a holding pattern
12 ‘Side of the Road’ – Sea Change (2002) – Beck

  1. ac gtrs – two parts, hard panned, doubling and then deviating
  2. elc keys (rhodes) – reminds me of dan lanois’ sling blade soundtrack
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