Archive for the ‘KEY IDEAS to plunder’ Category

Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  • lush instrumentation, haunting melodies + big rockers
  • intricate, verbose, obtuse lyrics

01 ‘One Crowded Hour’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. ascending chord sequence, almost cyclical
  2. vox melody hold/hovers around the one note
  1. big distorted gtrs, without being heavy or hard
    long languorous strums
  2. gtr solo: siren sound. follows final lyric ‘vain!, vain!’

03 ‘The Cold Acre’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. double note melody line
  2. beat, bup ba-dup, ba-dup, ba-dup
  1. prosody: vox melody jumping from low to high notes
    ‘some go high and very low’
  2. breathy bv, enters slightly ahead of lead vox. same lyric
    ‘stranger strange’
  1. boxy drum beginning
  2. prosody: ‘rise, rise, rise and tune your pianos’
  1. ambience: other worldy
    brushes, verb soaked ekc gtr, breathy vox, distant keys, verbed tambourine
  2. vox: high (falsetto) doubled with low vox

07 ‘Just Passing Through’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. single element of track (preferably something relatively hidden) as intro that fades in and out
    eg. subtle organ fade in intro, stops
  2. differentiate 2 chords in a progression with different drum beats
    eg. chorus is just 2 chords; first instrumental version of chorus features 2 different drum beats for each chord

08 ‘Thin Captain Crackers’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. lyric: ‘don’t bring em up if you can’t put em down’
  2. middle: elc gtr – single chord whilst bass etc continue progressions

09 ‘Bottle Baby’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. no percussion
  2. ac gtr up close, piano distant

10 ‘Mt. Wellington Reverie’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. vox lines delivered via alternate takes; ends overlap
  2. lyric: ‘so many souls were sold, so many lies were told’

11 ‘ The Baron of Sentiment’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. long, descending vox melody line, cut short and extended then repeated

12 ‘ Bolte and Dunstan Talk Youth’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. doubled lead vox with high falsetto harmony (octave?)
  2. 2 instruments doubling melody
    ie. piano and gtr picking doubled together
  1. mid section vox: monotone
    eg. ‘in a berth of the port wharf the song of the penitent sailor…’
  2. melody progression reminiscent of Nick Cave’s ‘People Ain’t No Good’

14 ‘Vernoona’ – Moo, You Bloody Choir (2006) – Augie March

  1. 1. call: high vox, multi harmonies
    ‘autumn leaves are flying’
    2. response: low, doubled with bass
    ‘time to find yr wintercoat’

The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

 

  • concept/themed album
  • great melodies
  • emotive yet rocking
  • simple instrumentation arrangements

01 ‘The Suburbs’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. rollicking rhythm 6/8? 12/8?
  2. add ornamentation in 2nd verse, strip back in 3rd verse

02 ‘Ready To Start’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. single note riff, adds second semitone to create tension
  2. after last line drums turn to toms, building to next section (verse or repeat chorus)
  3. final section intro: rapid fire bass line (synth?), drums reduced to kik

03 ‘Modern Man’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. add a beat to a 4/4 riff
  2. chorus: vox melody doubles with lead gtr, then deviates

04 ‘Rococo’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. ‘musical’ word with syllables extended/repeated; eg. ‘rococo-coco’
  2. marry a synthetic inst with a natural acoustic inst. eg. legato synth bass and ac gtr

05 ‘Empty Room’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. play riff/beat as fast as possible
  2. pulsing monotone stays consistent throughout all chord changes

06 ‘City With No Children’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. riffs on 2 chords, sliding from the tonic to the 4th and back
  2. bass, gtr and kik/tom all on the riff

07 ‘Half Light I’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. cello/string section finale, doubled with indistinct vox
    state melody first, then add vox but keep low in mix, lyrics unintelligible
  2. accent with highest possible notes eg. triangle

08 ‘Half Light II (No Celebration)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. companion or sequel to previous track
  2. great synth pulse/delay

09 ‘Suburban War’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. picked elc gtr intro, verbed – Beatle-esque sound
  2. pause then big finish: new beat, tom based – faster?

10 ‘Month of May’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. ‘1234’ vox count in – when track is clearly not an ensemble of players
  2. about three quarters in, organ does semitone (flattened) tonic, changing key

11 ‘Wasted Hours’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. country style ac gtr playing
  2. pause into chorus

12 ‘Deep Blue’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. one note piano riff – on the snr beat – reminiscent of police’s ‘every breath’
  2. elc gtr – 2 note riff/solo

13 ‘We Used To Wait’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. elc gtr stabs match snr tuplets, big verbed sfx/stab every few bars, fem bv match snr too
  2. middle (between 2nd verse and 1st chorus): single chord instrumental build

14 ‘Sprawl (Flatland)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. distant, verbed (warehouse) percussion against intimate vox – lonely feel
  2. staccato(?) violin – like ‘godfather’ italian drama

15 ‘Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. bridge: changes key, up 3 steps. ending returns to original key
    <capo 3rd fret> C Am F C – Eb Cm (G bridging chord) – C Am F C
    I VIm V I  – (up 3 steps) I VIm  – bridging chord: III major (new key)/V major (old key) – (down 3 steps) I VIm V I
  2. rapid two note off beat highlight
16 ‘ The Suburbs (continued)’ – The Suburbs (2010) – Arcade Fire

  1. last track on the album, continuation of first track on the album – bookend the album
  2. same chords, same melody, same chorus lyric, same tempo but different feel

House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

 

  • melodic yet dark – vocal focused
  • heavily produced – interesting beats & instrumentation
  • concept/narrative album
  • adult language and concepts

01 ‘High For This’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. great intro – oscillating tremelo tone panning around
  2. watery submerged beat

02 ‘What You Need’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. processed vox loop
  2. last line of chorus vox ends with delay

03 ‘House of Balloons – Glass Table Girls’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. transition is a funky repeat + pitch drop of vox
  2. stitch 2 songs together to make one

04 ‘The Morning’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. monotone vox over rich chords
  2. strange percussion – balloon bursting/fireworks

05 ‘Wicked Games’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. same chord pattern broken by pauses
  2. thicken riff over time
06 ‘The Party & The After Party’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. pulsing, breathy beat – surging
  2. two versions of the one song (same chords/melody) stitched together
07 ‘Coming Down’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. 10CC-like sample (fem spoken whispered)
    becomes loop and melodic/rhythmic element of remaining track)
  2. chorus: main lyric line in two halves
    ‘i always want you when i’m’ – ‘coming down’

08 ‘Loft Music’ – House of Balloons (2011) – The Weeknd

  1. 2 lead vox overlapping, like a conversation, or good/bad internal dialogue
  2. midway: track descends into dreamy ambient track
    delays, pan sweeps, eq sweeps, verb soaked

High Violet (2010) – The National

  • low register vox
  • slow tempos but with fast internal rhythms
  • simple base structure (3 or 4 chords per song) but intricate parts interwoven
  • repeated melodic phrases over changing chords

01 ‘Terrible Love’ – High Violet (2010) – The National

  1. lines broken mid-word

04 ‘Little Faith’ – High Violet (2010) – The National

  1. ???

Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  • spoken word samples as basis for lead vox and/or song structure
  • melodic yet down tempo, rather than emotively strident
  • ‘recitative’ – singing in rhythms of ordinary speech (Sprechgesang)
  • sometimes pitches are not emphasised (monotone or sprechstimme )

01 ‘A Little Longing Goes Away’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. artificial tremelo effect – like Butthole Surfers ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Man’
  2. stops suddenly

02 ‘Be Good To Them Always’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. spoken samples used as template for song structure
  2. kik – sounds like basketball bouncing
  3. great riff – call & response (possibly using delay)

03 ‘ Vogt Dig For Kloppervok’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. portamento (sliding between notes)
  2. tremelo vocal effect – like butthole surfers ‘hurdy gurdy man’
  3. ducking

04 ‘ Smells Like Content’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. a lot of words delivered very quickly
  2. 4 chord pattern in 7 bars
    1 / / 2 / / 3 / / 4 / /  / / /  / / /  :

05 ‘It Never Changes To Stop’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. voice breaks – keep a flaw/mistake, make it a central point of focus
  2. lyric: repeat a point but worded slightly differently – as i do in everyday speech

06 ‘An Animated Description of Mr. Maps’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. drum accents match spoken word accents from a certain point
  2. do the above with singing

07 ‘Venice’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. score an existing narrative – documentary? news story?
  2. music cuts right on the final word of narrative

08 ‘None But Shining Hours’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. gtr riff in 3s against a 4/4 rhythm
  2. ripping sfx beat, rhythmic atmos

09 ‘If Not Now, Whenever’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. layers of spoken word samples, overlapping
  2. switching from 3/4 to 4/4 and back again

10 ‘An Owl With Knees’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. plucking, delay, gtr rhythm
  2. chords and vox together, on 1s
11 ‘Twelve Fold Chain’ – Lost and Safe (2005) – The Books

  1. shuffling background noise adds atmosphere – is it a loop?
  2. crackling ‘percussion’ – vinyl surface noise as rhythm
Return top