Rhythmic Deviance in the Music of Meshuggah

Capuzzo, Guy

doi:10.1093/mts/mty005

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Return to text 8. Examples of more specialized studies in these areas include jazz (Honing andde Haas 2008, Bu erfield 2011), funk (Danielsen 2006, Bruschi 2020, and progressive rock and metal (McCandless 2010, Capuzzo 2018. Many of these studies address issues of rhythm and meter in their focused repertoire from a general perspective as well as in connection with drummers and drumming specifically.…”

Section: Discographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching the Backbeat

Cairns

2022

MTO

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This article explores manipulations of the nearly ever-present backbeat in rock music from the “long” 1980s. The status of the backbeat as not only metrically consonant but a defining feature of rock meter is discussed within the context of dual-aspect meter. Operating from the assumption that isochronous snare drum hits in rock are heard as a backbeat, placing those snare drum hits on beats other than 2 and 4 creates a particular kind of metrical dissonance, which I refer to as a backbeat switch. I examine two ways in which a backbeat switch occurs, the quick flip and the polymetric pogo. A quick flip usually occurs at a phrase break, where the drummer apparently (but intentionally) “drops a beat” and then resumes the backbeat pattern, thus shifting it “to the left.” A polymetric pogo involves a situation where the backbeat-insistent drummer is pitted against the rest of the band playing in an odd-cardinality meter, resulting in snare hits that bounce back and forth between even-numbered beats and odd-numbered beats every other measure. Short examples by The Cars, Paul Weller, Steve Vai, and Sting are used to demonstrate the article’s fundamental concepts, and longer examples by Tesla, Jerry Goldsmith, and Extreme place these concepts into larger contexts.

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Section: Discographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching the Backbeat

Cairns

2022

MTO

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“…[27] However, there are a few points in "Ohmnivalent" when meter clearly facilitates musical parsing, especially when it is broadcasted in the form of a backbeat. The backbeat is ubiquitous as a meter-marking (or meter-creating, as argued by Hudson forthcoming) schema in popular music in general, (14) and discussions of the music of Meshuggah-who are a major aesthetic inspiration for Anomalous (phone interview)-point to the backbeat's role marking meter in opposition to (or as a ground for) guitar riff pa erns (Pieslak 2007, Smialek 2008, Lennard 2016, Hannan 2018, Capuzzo 2018, Lucas 2018).…”

Section: Schemas: Backbeatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Density and Clarity, Technical Death Metal, and Anomalous’s “Ohmnivalent”

Hannan

2022

MTO

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In this article I introduce the concepts of structural density and structural clarity, which describe how difficult or easy a given piece of music is to parse, and present an analysis of the song “Ohmnivalent,” by the technical death metal band Anomalous, as a case study. Because the song moves from high structural density at its start to structural clarity at its end, it allows for a nuanced discussion of the factors that contribute to these effects. I argue, drawing on the work of Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, Dora Hanninen, David Huron, and Lawrence Zbikowski, that repetition, clear cues for segmentation, schemas, and clear categorical belonging all contribute to structural clarity, while their lack or ambivalence contribute to structural density. While my article focuses on the specifics of a single, extraordinarily complex technical death metal track, I close by suggesting that the concepts of structural density and structural clarity have wider potential applicability as ways of thinking about the experience of musical form.

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“…Return to text 9. Other scholars who have discussed rhythmic and metric complexity in similar styles include Covach (1997), Osborn (2010), andCapuzzo (2018).…”

Section: Scomentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetrical Meter, Ostinati, and Cycles in the Music of Tigran Hamasyan

Schumann

2021

MTO

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Tigran Hamasyan (b. 1987) is an Armenian jazz pianist and composer whose music has been described as “grounded in serious reinterpretations of Armenian culture via his take on Bach, French romantics, jazz, dubstep, metal, and modern electronic music” (".fn_cite_year($manukian_2018).", 637). Hamasyan has recorded thirteen studio albums between the years of 2006–2020, and analyzing these recordings suggests that asymmetrical meter, ostinati, and cycles are not a random occurrence in Hamasyan’s music but rather a crucial component of his compositional language. This article defines three types of cycles—phrasal, structural, and developmental—each of which has a unique compositional function. Another important distinction made in this article is the difference between “complete” and “incomplete” cycles. Complete cycles are those that repeat two metrical layers without disruption until they return to a shared point of alignment, while incomplete cycles are those in which the meter used in one or more of the layers is disrupted before returning to a shared point of alignment. Several of my own transcriptions of Hamasyan’s music are analyzed to discuss how asymmetrical meter, ostinati, and cycles are used to create various formal processes in Hamasyan’s compositions.

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Rhythmic Deviance in the Music of Meshuggah

Cited by 16 publications

References 8 publications

Switching the Backbeat

Switching the Backbeat

Structural Density and Clarity, Technical Death Metal, and Anomalous’s “Ohmnivalent”

Asymmetrical Meter, Ostinati, and Cycles in the Music of Tigran Hamasyan

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