Archive for the ‘KEY IDEAS to plunder’ Category

Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  • use of field recording to set place and mood
  • softly sung/spoken vocals
  • lyric structures
01 ‘Berlin ‘ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. use of field recording to set place and mood
  2. softly sung/spoken vocals ‘it was paradise’
  3. lyric: 1. LOCATION (2. her)
  4. lyric structure; A B A B
02 ‘Lady Day’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location) 2. HER (3. him)
  2. lyric structure; A1 A2 B A1 A2 B B B B
03 ‘Men of Good Fortune’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her) 3. HIM (4. he says/she says)
  2. lyric structure; A B A B A B A B C C C C
04 – ‘Caroline Says I’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him) 4. HE SAYS/SHE SAYS (5. drug paranoia)
  2. lyric structure; A1 A2 B C1 C2 A1 A2 B
05 ‘How Do You Think It Feels’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says) 5. DRUG PARANOIA (6. hate)
  2. lyric structure; A B A2 A B A2
06 ‘Oh, Jim’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says 5. drug paranoia) 6. HATE (7. numb)
  2. lyric structure; A B C A2 A B C D D E D2 E F
07 ‘Caroline Says II’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says 5. drug paranoia 6. hate) 7. NUMB (8. loss)
  2. lyric structure: A1 A2 B A1 A2 B C B2

08 ‘The Kids’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says 5. drug paranoia 6. hate 7. numb) 8. LOSS (9. the final act)
  2. lyric structure: A1 A2 B A1 A2 B
    within A; lines 1,2,3 constant, lines 4,5,6 vary
09 ‘The Bed’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says 5. drug paranoia 6. hate 7. numb 8. loss) 9. THE FINAL ACT (10. after)
  2. lyric structure; A B A B C A B
10 ‘Sad Song’ – Berlin (1973) – Lou Reed

  1. lyric: (1. location 2. her 3. him 4. he says/she says 5. drug paranoia 6. hate 7. numb 8. loss 9. the final act) 10. AFTER
  2. lyric structure; A B C A B C

Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  • pop structures but with synthetic instrumentation
  • especially synthesised vocals

01 Superbad (Soul Substitute) – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. replace guitar lick with electronic blips
  2. extend vocal words/notes with internal looping

02 ‘Be Near Me’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. unnaturally truncated – stuttering jump cut effect
  2. bursts of tuned static for chord stabs

03 ‘Sunshine Superman’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. mimic stereo spread of classic 60s (beatles?) track

04 ‘The Future (Spiritual Surface Noise) – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. mix of recognisable instruments and electronics
  2. spoken word samples also processed, though not used musically at least stylistically integrated

05 ‘Jealous Guy (Poeme Syncope)’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. delay/phasing effects – droplet percussion, swirling sustained chords

06 ‘You Are In My System (Funky Linear)’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. contrast between long sustained musically rich backing with busy, tonally minimal, electronic rhythm.
  2. actual notes made by internal vocal loops

07 ‘Ashes To Ashes (Digital Space Replicant)’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) -LB

  1. lyric prosody

09 ‘Angie (Miniature Numerique)’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. piano melodic phrases ending in electronic ‘punctuation’

10 ‘Silence Is Golden (Moral Morph)’ – Pop Artificielle (1999) – LB

  1. taking only a fragment of an existing song and building a new track
  2. long build of noise and texture leading into melodic section

Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper (2009) – Julian Plenti

  • baritone vocals

01 ‘Only If You Run’ – Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper – Julian Plenti

  1. intro + oscillating texture
  2. vox melody on the beat
  3. I – V – VIm – IV verse, IV – VIm – I – IIIm chorus

02 ‘Fun That We Have’ – Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper (2009) – Julian Plenti

  1. slowing loop countering the beat
  2. a single line repeated with an internal repeat. “with all the fun that we have, we have come far”
  1. monotone one chord – minimalist tricking of giving the eventual change more impact
  2. low baritone vox

04 ‘Games For Days’ – Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper (2009) – Julian Plenti

  1. the beat (and 1 and) ( 2 3 4)
  2. VIm – IV – I – III7

06 ‘No Chance Survival’ – Julian Plenti … Is Skyscraper (2009) – Julian Plenti

  1. “living in a cave, man” – name calling puns ie, honey, honey. sugar, sugar. tea, bag.

James Blake (2011) – James Blake

  1. unconventional song structures
  2. multiple layers of vocals and overt electronic manipulation
  3. sparse, minimal materials yet result is rich
  4. lyrically economical – often a single line is repeated for an entire song. non-narrative lyrics
  5. use of electronics yet still highly emotive – coldly modern yet traditionally emotive at the same time
  6. extreme bass

01 ‘Unluck’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. overlapping lyric – almost a round
  2. poly rhythmic hi hat

02 ‘The Wilhelm Scream’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. overall structure with noise crescendo
  2. single melody/lyric line repeated

03 ‘I Never Learnt To Share’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. crescendo plateaus into loop
  2. single line repeated but with gaps and last paraphrase repeats

04 ‘Lindisfarne I’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. solo vocals – reminiscent of imogen heap’s ‘hide and seek’
  2. ringing phasing effect

05 ‘Lindisfarne II’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. distorted acoustic guitar – sound like mic distortion?
  2. off beat woody tuned percussion

06 ‘Limit To Your Love’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. deep, oscillating bass
  2. long pause with delays fading out

07 ‘Give Me My Month’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. live performance recorded in a sonically interesting place (ie. background sound)
  2. falsetto vocals

08 ‘To Care (Like You)’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. popping edit loop, changing chord, as backbone of song
  2. double meaning homophones

09 ‘Why Don’t You Call Me’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. begin with ‘live performed’ section, then build track from edited loops of same material
  2. use edit pops as beat

10 ‘I Mind’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. vox loop layers as harmony and melody
  2. white noise as cymbal (swell, reverse ‘open hi hat’) – ducked by kik
11 ‘Measurements’ – James Blake – James Blake

  1. harmonies with slight differences – reminiscent of queen’s ‘somebody to love’
  2. hiss/overdub artefact as deliberate texture
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