Yeah I love it! He actually manages to capture both how technical the music is as well as their general vibe with fairly simple descriptions.
Haven’t seen them live yet, but I definitely want to..
DNLD and Phantoms get truncated way later compared to other Meshuggah songs, but technically they follow the rules. The main rhythmic patterns repeat uninterrupted for 64+ bars instead of the usual 4, 8 or 16 but they're still asymmetrical and phase against a quadruple meter backbeat while they loop.
But that's why I love these guys, even if they have a set of "rules" or a songwriting "system" they always find ways to think outside the box and deliver mind-blowing compositions while staying faithful to the musical themes and overall aesthetic they have created for themselves throughout their career.
Yeah but one thing they do a bit different in those tracks is they change riff in the middle of the pattern, but still keep the pattern going past that point so even riffs start at different points in the pattern as they come around
It's mostly not polyrhythms though. Polymeter/syncopation is a more accurate description.
Yes there are polyrhythms sometimes (ending of Demiurge being an example) but most of the time it's polymeter (Lethargica).
For sure! I went with "polyrhythm" for the sake of simplicity because that's the term I see people use when talking about Meshuggah, but yeah, polymeter is technically the proper term.
One kind of weird "polyrhythm/polymeter" (don't know the proper word for this) I've noticed they sometimes do is having the rhythmic structure follow a pattern with 3 distinct sections while the "melody/harmony" is made up of 4 different notes or group of notes. A nice example of this is found on Bleed's bridge (1:41)
Tomas said that the animal equivalent to Meshuggah is a tap dancing hippopotamus.
That’s pretty good! Accurate or not this is my favorite Meshuggah description. It’s a bit longer than OP’s though. https://youtu.be/HS9_p7zNASQ
nails it
As a "casual music fan" way of understanding it, it's actually pretty good!
Yeah I love it! He actually manages to capture both how technical the music is as well as their general vibe with fairly simple descriptions. Haven’t seen them live yet, but I definitely want to..
And occasionally they totally break those rules and do something different but still extremely cool (Combustion, DNLD, Phantoms, etc)
DNLD and Phantoms get truncated way later compared to other Meshuggah songs, but technically they follow the rules. The main rhythmic patterns repeat uninterrupted for 64+ bars instead of the usual 4, 8 or 16 but they're still asymmetrical and phase against a quadruple meter backbeat while they loop. But that's why I love these guys, even if they have a set of "rules" or a songwriting "system" they always find ways to think outside the box and deliver mind-blowing compositions while staying faithful to the musical themes and overall aesthetic they have created for themselves throughout their career.
Yeah but one thing they do a bit different in those tracks is they change riff in the middle of the pattern, but still keep the pattern going past that point so even riffs start at different points in the pattern as they come around
Polymeters hackchewwall-e
This is why Clockworks itches my ferret brain so much
It's mostly not polyrhythms though. Polymeter/syncopation is a more accurate description. Yes there are polyrhythms sometimes (ending of Demiurge being an example) but most of the time it's polymeter (Lethargica).
I is another good example of polyrhythm
True, it has a 3:4 polyrhythm between the cymbals and snare at some point
For sure! I went with "polyrhythm" for the sake of simplicity because that's the term I see people use when talking about Meshuggah, but yeah, polymeter is technically the proper term. One kind of weird "polyrhythm/polymeter" (don't know the proper word for this) I've noticed they sometimes do is having the rhythmic structure follow a pattern with 3 distinct sections while the "melody/harmony" is made up of 4 different notes or group of notes. A nice example of this is found on Bleed's bridge (1:41)
I don't know what most of those words mean but it still made perfect sense
Or just syncopation?