Theoretical Analysis of classic IDM tunes

I was thinking about how I wish there more stuff on WATMM (on anywhere, for that matter) that delved into theory and composition and other similar-minded analysis of IDM (or whatever).

I couldn't find any so here were are, innit?

If anyone has any such thoughts, feel free to get the ball rolling. Or if someone wants to posit a tune for analysis by me or anyone else, do that.

This is simply an introductory post; I'll be back in an hour to post some bangin' content.

Caution: this thread has a zero-tolerance policy regarding time-stretching Steinvord tunes

What do you mean by "theoretical analysis" ? Guessing how every element of the tune has been made ?

  On 1/19/2013 at 7:14 AM, LimpyLoo said:

Caution: this thread has a zero-tolerance policy regarding time-stretching Steinvord tunes

lolol

theory just made me think a lot of idm stuff was pretty simple

if you listen to Beethoven your mind gets fucked by the structure

but AE and stuff lack formal organization

I think the most structurally interesting is probably Squarepusher. Hard Normal Daddy is theoretically insane, and beautiful melodically.

  On 1/19/2013 at 5:34 PM, Antape said:

What do you mean by "theoretical analysis" ? Guessing how every element of the tune has been made ?

Like music theory: melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre, dynamics, timefeel, etc

303 + random stuff + 909 + farts+ dblue + more random stuff all ran trough a cassete and rerecorded trough cellphone mic = classic idm tunes

i have thought deep about this. you get lots of weird tonal constructions. rhythms in classic IDM are very unconventional, in that its more about a groove. lots of cool polyrhythmic shit

well then limpyloo why don't you get the ball rolling

aphex is cool cause a lot of his music has diatonical ambiguity.

  On 1/19/2013 at 11:01 PM, Salvatorin said:

well then limpyloo why don't you get the ball rolling

I always loved the harmony in "Mookid."

The 'A' section is a Db pedal with three dyads repeating over it:

'F-C'

'Eb-Bb'

'Db-Ab'.

The 'B' section repeats three very lush 7th chords:

'F-Ab-Eb'

"Db-F-C"

Ab-C-G"

These voicings are all 1-3-7....the '1' is dropped an octave to function as a bass-note

(It's possible those chords might have a '5' in there but I don't have headphones on me so I can't make it out)

But yeah, pretty tune.

i always like the F-Ar-T chord

  On 1/20/2013 at 9:39 PM, Alcofribas said:

i always like the F-Ar-T chord

That's 'cause you're a fartface.

learning to finger the T chord is a major milestone in any idm guitarist's progression, imo

Analysing IDM from a western note music perspective is going to miss the point tho. IDM is more about the spectral/timbral realm and it's a big melting pot. If you really want to get theoretical, sure, analyse the chord progressions, but something akin to spectromorphology is better equipped for understanding what's going on in IDM... esp with the glitchier abstract side of things.

I always find the complexity argument no offense but kinda bunk on some level. EG: Ghanaian drumming doesn't have some of the larger structural complexities of classical composers, but (to paraphrase Aaron Copland), classical composers are neophytes (newbies) when it comes to rhythmic structures.

Yeah, electronic music's inherently able to have greater diversity of timbres, and timbres that change as you're playing the instrument, so it's natural that the other aspects of the music -- what was thought to be synonymous with music until the technology improved -- take a back seat to showcase that. Electronic music is usually very simple if you disregard the timbres. This is why electronic covers of rock songs, classical music, or anything else originally played on static timbres can sound more interesting than the other way around, as you can combine the best of both words rather than the worst of both worlds.

There doesn't seem to be much innovation in music in the last few decades. It's probably because I'm getting old and my own personal taste is for electronic music from the nineties, but it probably doesn't help that there don't seem to have been many seminal musical inventions since then. The most recent ones I can think of are Auto-Tune, vocal synthesis and convolution reverb. It's only tracks that employe these technologies, especially ones that use Auto-Tune as an obvious effect, that you can listen to and say with certainty were made after the invention of those devices. Otherwise, most music being made now could have just as easily been made much earlier. Before then, things like physical modelling, sampling, FM synthesis, and going back synthesis in general were important, as were electric amplification and sound recording. Without using any of those, it really would be pretty much impossible to tell when a piece of music was written.

Anyway, yes, let's analyse some good music, but remember that the sounds are as important as the rhythms, harmonies, and melodies. Mookid's great, partly because of its pretty ambience, which sounds like a vocoded drumloop (with the original soon joining it), and silly bleepy noises that slide up and down with lots of reverb on them. That, and those shimmering pads, and the main melody. Now, if only he cared about clipping back then... It's very good at conjuring a sort of wistful emotion (at least, that's how I interpret it), but the chords are only a small part of how that effect is achieved.

I read an absolutely horrible book about electronic music in my teen years that had deconstructive analysis on some techno tracks. I remember that Mescalinum United was analysed. It was pretty hilarious.

Also I remember there was this part about A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray, where the author claimed that in the track is a sample of Captain Picard yelling "Data!" which is significant because it's post-modernism (TNG) colliding with post-post-modernism (techno) and only a couple of people will understand the significance of this. Welp, the sample is actually Dudley Moore yelling "Later!"..

It also painted a picture of ravers being some super-intelligent race discussing culture and science while drinking smart drinks. Remember those?

The book is in Finnish, but if anybody's interested it's called "Tekno: digitaalisen tanssimusiikin historia, filosofia ja tulevaisuus" which could be roughly translated to "Techno: the history, philosophy and future of digital dance music." Which is funny because a lot of the music covered was made with analog gear.

  On 1/23/2013 at 3:21 PM, mokz said:

Also I remember there was this part about A Guy Called Gerald's Voodoo Ray, where the author claimed that in the track is a sample of Captain Picard yelling "Data!" which is significant because it's post-modernism (TNG) colliding with post-post-modernism (techno) and only a couple of people will understand the significance of this. Welp, the sample is actually Dudley Moore yelling "Later!".

Now now, we need to find some sort of job for philosophers. ;)

On an interesting side note, Voodoo Ray was supposed to be Voodoo Rage, but the sampler didn't have enough memory to fit in the whole phrase.

  On 1/23/2013 at 2:06 PM, ZoeB said:

Anyway, yes, let's analyse some good music, but remember that the sounds are as important as the rhythms, harmonies, and melodies. Mookid's great, partly because of its pretty ambience, which sounds like a vocoded drumloop (with the original soon joining it), and silly bleepy noises that slide up and down with lots of reverb on them. That, and those shimmering pads, and the main melody. Now, if only he cared about clipping back then... It's very good at conjuring a sort of wistful emotion (at least, that's how I interpret it), but the chords are only a small part of how that effect is achieved.

i assumed it was taken as read that we can only address certain elements, not all.

  On 1/23/2013 at 9:56 PM, LimpyLoo said:

i assumed it was taken as read that we can only address certain elements, not all.

Oh. I have more of a holistic approach to analysis. Sure, it's silly to speculate about unimportant things such as, say, the model of filter used on a given part, but certainly whether it's highpass, lowpass, bandpass, notch, comb etc can make a big difference to the overall sound and mood. You couldn't analyse rock music with distorted fifths if you only heard covers played on acoustic instruments. It wouldn't even be clear why fifths were being played (the distortion introducing overtones which would clash with the middle note of a primary triad), let alone the raw aggression being imparted. With electronic music, you might even be ignoring the majority of the point.

You know that old joke about how music lovers use a hi-fi to listen to music, whereas audiophiles use music to listen to their hi-fi? You could probably argue that electronic musicians sometimes tend to use the melodies, harmonies and rhythms just as simple background dressing in which to hear the timbres. That's an exaggeration, but I'm sure you get the point.

Actually, thinking about this a bit more, look at On, or my own Ame Sakusan, or pretty much any song in the genre of dub, or anything using a delay as an instrument in its own right. You're pretty much inherently blurring the line between what counts as a note and what doesn't. Sure, you could say that On starts with three notes, then a few others joining it, in a melody so simple it's boring. But with the delay, that's not at all how it sounds. The echoes of the notes sound like new notes in their own right, only slightly muted, as if a pianist is painstakingly playing everything just right with very complex patterns of both pitch and velocity. The original notation has to be simple, otherwise the delayed result would be overwhelming and chaotic.

To talk about the notes outside of the delay in that instance is to forget that the effects are being used as instruments in their own right, fundamentally shaping the sound of the dub and ambient genres. I love SAW II, but it wouldn't sound anywhere near as interesting without the delay and reverb.

(Incidentally, I only just noticed the subtle percussion on [Matchsticks] for the first time this week... Not the delayed knocking sound, but another thing, almost like breathing through a medical ventilator or respirator, as with Heat Miser. I'm not sure how I missed it, now.)

why do you use the word idm

it's genre faeces man!!!!!!

By and large, the harmony in idm tends to be incredibly simple. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that the rhythms are so frantic and/or abstract. Generally, the more excited your rhythms are, the less tonal information you'll be able to fit in.

I like to take my experience writing baroque era tunes and combine them with idm elements.

An example:

I had a bad feeling when I made this thread. Sure enough, it's full of troublemakers.

Okay this is a pretty simple progression but the way he develops it is fucking brilliant. The use of sustained chords in the "chorus" builds a nice resolution. but the way he does the beginning chords give them a minor "feel" to them even though you could call this whole song to be in a major key. it's that final note, the bVI of the relative minor that always stuck out to me.