“Re-casting Metal: Popular Music Analysis Goes Meshuggah”
The field of popular music analysis seems to be largely divided between three contrasting analytical perspectives: “formalist” analysis involving methods employed for music of the Western classical tradition; sociological analysis, which tends not to engage works in a musically-theoretic way, but rather, situates them within a socio-cultural context; and a synthesis of sound, textual, and timbre analysis of specific pieces with features of sociological analysis. For the most part, advocates of each of these three perspectives regard those who espouse contrasting stances as misunderstanding some of the most important features of popular music. One particular area, however, where there does appear to be a certain degree of agreement, at least as demonstrated by the majority of analyses within the scholarly literature, is in regard to the popular music genre of “metal.” Friesen and Epstein, for example, describe the musical elements of the genre as “relatively simplistic,” while Moore believes “that heavy metal is the most formulaic of rock styles.” My paper aims to challenge these commonly held assumptions by examining the music of the Swedish metal band, Meshuggah. The primary focus of my analysis will be on the rhythmic structure of the their songs, which is based on an integration of large-scale odd time signatures, mixed or changing meter, and metric superimposition. I will show that “formalist” analysis, particularly in respect to rhythm and meter, does have an important place in metal, and Meshuggah's music challenges many of the conventional norms that have previously characterized this genre.
“Charlie Parker’s Blues Compositions: Elements of Rhythm and Voice Leading ”
Charlie Parker is widely recognized as having been one of the greatest improvisers in jazz; as a result, most studies of his music focus on solo improvisation while giving little attention to his compositions. This talk redresses this issue by examining some of Parker’s most important bebop tunes with a view to highlighting their compositional subtleties. With particular attention paid to rhythmic issues, this paper builds on earlier studies of Parker and applies Harald Krebs’s recent theory of rhythm to jazz.
The talk begins by showing levels of rhythmic interaction in the twelve-bar riff tune, "Cool Blues," then proceeds to the complexities of the introduction and melody of "Relaxin’ at Camarillo." The introduction to "Camarillo," for example, features a complex G3/2 dissonance in which the actual beat only emerges once the tune begins. And rather than emerging clearly, the first four bars of the tune feature continuing rhythmic ambiguity. After the discussion of "Camarillo," the talk concludes with an extended discussion of "Bloomdido," one of Parker’s most accomplished blues tune.