![\"Cover](\"cover_art.jpg\"\n)
\n “Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n![\"Rough](\"sheet-0.svg\")
\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n![\"Reduction](\"sheet-1.svg\")
\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "drumkit", "slug": "drumkit", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/drumkit/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "electric bass guitar", "slug": "electric-bass-guitar", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/electric-bass-guitar/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "electric guitar", "slug": "electric-guitar", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/electric-guitar/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "genre", "slug": "genre", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/genre/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "philosophy/on-genre/index.md", "content": "In eartifacts articles, the concept of musical\ngenre is occasionally used,\nsometimes to organize artifacts and sometimes as a convenient way to make\ncertain comments. Naturally, genre is a slippery concept at best; it is taken\nas given that only broad generalizations can be made, and therefore any attempt\nto precisely define genre(s) is guaranteed to fail. The use of genre is\npredicated entirely on how useful it is in very particular situations, that is,\nit is considered to be completely non-normative. This article attempts to\nclarify how the genre concept is used by eartifacts.
\n\nWhen the genre concept is used by eartifacts, the concrete (that is,\nmore-or-less well-defined rather than totally subjective) aspects of the music\nitself, as heard by a listener, are considered relevant. Little attention is\npaid to the “scene” that a piece of music comes from, and to\nrelated works by the same artist or related artists. In addition, no attention\nis paid to textual content (even within the music itself, i.e. lyrics) like\ntitles, band names, album names, &c. Little attention is paid to the era\nthat a piece of music comes from; a piece of music that comes out a decade\nafter a scene dies that sounds like it was from that scene will likely get some\nof the same genre labels.
\nLargely subjective dimensions of music like e.g. “intelligence”,\n“sadness”, “abrasion”, &c. are not considered\nrelevant. Rather, the actual musical/sonic qualities (instrumentation, tonal\ncontent, vocal delivery, loudness, tempo, &c.) are considered relevant\ninstead, and should be enough that subjective dimensions mostly act as proxies\nfor combinations of sonic ones.
\neartifacts tries to stay limited to conventional (i.e. often used) genre terms.
\neartifacts’s artifacts are taxonomized based on assigning a list of one\nor more genres to each artifact. This is for the purpose of organization and\nease of use, because it allows readers to get a vague sense of what kind of\nmusic is represented by a particular artifact, and allows browsing by genre:\nsee here for all genres represented by eartifacts.
\nSometimes genres are useful when making a comment on a piece of music, to say\nthat an element of the music is typical (or atypical) for its style, or is\npossibly borrowed from “somewhere else”.
\nThe term “pop” is not used on its own as a genre term by\neartifacts. This term generally refers to either of two things:
\neartifacts does not use the term “emo”, as the term refers to too\nmany separate genres to be worth anything (likewise with\n“screamo”). Instead, some terms that are used by eartifacts that\nare sometimes referred to as “emo” are listed below:
\n| term | Wikipedia | as historically defined by |
|---|---|---|
| skramz | screamo | Heroin, Antioch Arrow, Portraits Of Past, Saetia, Orchid, Jeromes Dream, pg.99 |
| midwest emo | midwest emo | Cap'n Jazz, Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, American Football, TTNG |
| pop-punk | pop punk | Sunny Day Real Estate, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy |
It’s not worth listing genres that are used by eartifacts that are\nsometimes referred to as “screamo”, since this would include any\ngenre that makes use of screamed vocals at least somewhat frequently.
\nThe terms “post-hardcore” and “post-punk” are used by eartifacts as super-genres.
\nIn particular, post-hardcore is used to broadly mean\n“hardcore punk derivatives that are not almost entirely defined by\nhardcore punk, all of which come historically after the first wave of hardcore\npunk”. The mention of era here is not actually that relevant except that\nit emphasizes that post-hardcore music is the kind of music\nthat could only have arrived after the first wave of hardcore punk. As a strict\nbroadening of hardcore punk, it is exclusive with “hardcore” proper, and is also not restricted to just\nthat music that is said to have the “post-hardcore” sound as exemplified by bands like At the Drive-In and Saosin.
\nThe term “post-punk” is used analogously to\n“post-hardcore” (and is thus exclusive with punk) by eartifacts.
\n\nThe term “hip-hop” is often taken to mean that\nthe music has an emphasis on rapped vocals. However, there exists plenty of hip-hop that does not have an emphasis on vocals at all or may\nbe entirely instrumental. For this reason, hip-hop that\ndoes have an emphasis on rapped vocals is labeled as hip-hop by eartifacts, and instrumental (or nearly instrumental) hip-hop is labeled as both hip-hop and\ninstrumental hip-hop by eartifacts.
\nThe term “rap” is not used as a genre term by eartifacts because\nhaving a distinguishing term for “hip-hop-with-rapped-vocals” is\nnot useful in this context.
\n\nThe term “IDM” (short for “intelligent dance music”) is\nnot used by eartifacts. The term does not identify anything beyond a very vague\nsense of the instrumentation (one may as well just use the term “electronic” instead), and is also a loaded term that\nrelies on the music being perceived as “intelligent” to qualify,\nrather than relying on musical/sonic properties.
\nThe term “electronica” is also not used, for the similar reason\nthat the term “electronic” is used instead.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/philosophy/on-genre/", "slug": "on-genre", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "philosophy/_index.md" ], "title": "on genre", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "tags": [ "genre" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "philosophy/on-genre/", "components": [ "philosophy", "on-genre" ], "summary": "In eartifacts articles, the concept of musical\ngenre is occasionally used,\nsometimes to organize artifacts and sometimes as a convenient way to make\ncertain comments. Naturally, genre is a slippery concept at best; it is taken\nas given that only broad generalizations can be made, and therefore any attempt\nto precisely define genre(s) is guaranteed to fail. The use of genre is\npredicated entirely on how useful it is in very particular situations, that is,\nit is considered to be completely non-normative. This article attempts to\nclarify how the genre concept is used by eartifacts.
\n", "word_count": 1123, "reading_time": 6, "assets": [], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "guitar", "slug": "guitar", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/guitar/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "introduction", "slug": "introduction", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/introduction/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "philosophy/introduction_to_eartifacts/index.md", "content": "eartifacts is a small, informal museum of musical artifacts; in particular, the\nmuseum is a museum of articles, each one of which informally analyzes a single\nsong/track/composition. The focus is on “popular music” (in the\nbroad sense of “anything that is neither folk music nor\n‘classical’ music”). eartifacts is far from being the first\nliterature to focus on popular music: there exists plenty of scholarly (and not\nscholarly) popular music literature out there in journals, magazines, websites,\n&c. However, eartifacts is considerably different in a number of ways.
\n\neartifacts makes no attempt to judge the (relative) merit of any works of art,\nmuch less assign something as silly as a numeric rating to works of art.\nBecause of this, eartifacts is not a source for music reviews in the\ntraditional sense.
\neartifacts also attempts to avoid the use of wishy-washy and flowery language\nthat is too glib to mean anything, instead focusing on precision of language.\nIt also attempts to entertain concepts that are musically literate, rather than\nleaning on (often outright incorrect) stereotyping of musical styles and\ntechniques. Because of these things, eartifacts is not a source for music\nreviews in the traditional sense.
\neartifacts does direct a critical eye towards (musical) works of art, and\ndoes so in an article/essay format that gives a — in some sense —\ncomplete overview of the work in question. Because of this, eartifacts is a\nsource for articles that resemble reviews (albeit vaguely) and can serve some\nof the same purposes.
\neartifacts articles are not academic in nature; no ties to academic\ninstitutions or other businesses are present, and eartifacts articles are not\nsubject to peer review.
\nRather than being academic, eartifacts articles are written from (and to) the\nperspective of a music listener who wants to casually take a critical look at\nthe music that they hear (and hopefully learn from it).
\nThere is a longstanding and venerable tradition on the Internet of “music\nblogs”. Music blogs are typically expected to act as a sort of\ncontinually updated gallery of music, where those that enjoy the musical tastes\nof the maintainer can browse the gallery for new music to listen to (especially\nsince such music blogs often provide low-quality digital copies of the\nrecordings themselves). In addition, each entry in the gallery (each entry\ntypically being on the level of a single band/artist) is typically expected to\ngive some sort of background information and/or description of the band/artist\nin question.
\nRather than being a kind of gallery, eartifacts calls itself a\n“museum” because the focus is as much on a detailed examination of\nthe content (and the history) of the subjects as it is on simply cataloguing\nthe subjects. eartifacts has somewhat of an anthropological bent, but is\nlargely focused on the “raw content”, so to speak, of the music\nitself. eartifacts also does not provide any of the audio that is the subject\nof its articles.
\nHowever, like a music blog, eartifacts as a whole can only ever hope to reflect\na tiny sliver of the wide range of musical styles and tastes that exist in the\nworld. Also like a music blog, eartifacts may possibly function well as a way\nof finding new music.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/philosophy/introduction-to-eartifacts/", "slug": "introduction-to-eartifacts", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "philosophy/_index.md" ], "title": "introduction to eartifacts", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "tags": [ "introduction" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "philosophy/introduction-to-eartifacts/", "components": [ "philosophy", "introduction-to-eartifacts" ], "summary": "eartifacts is a small, informal museum of musical artifacts; in particular, the\nmuseum is a museum of articles, each one of which informally analyzes a single\nsong/track/composition. The focus is on “popular music” (in the\nbroad sense of “anything that is neither folk music nor\n‘classical’ music”). eartifacts is far from being the first\nliterature to focus on popular music: there exists plenty of scholarly (and not\nscholarly) popular music literature out there in journals, magazines, websites,\n&c. However, eartifacts is considerably different in a number of ways.
\n", "word_count": 589, "reading_time": 3, "assets": [], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "odd time signatures", "slug": "odd-time-signatures", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/odd-time-signatures/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "power trio", "slug": "power-trio", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/power-trio/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "unclean vocals", "slug": "unclean-vocals", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/unclean-vocals/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] }, { "name": "vocals", "slug": "vocals", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/tags/vocals/", "pages": [ { "relative_path": "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/index.md", "content": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n\n\n | artist | \n\n Off Minor\n | \n|
|---|---|---|
| title | \nMonday Morning Quarterbacks | \n|
| album | \nThe Heat Death of the Universe | \n|
| year | \n\n 2002\n | \n|
| duration | \n\n 2:56\n | \n|
| genres | \n\n skramz, \n jazz punk, \n math rock, \n post-hardcore\n | \n|
| label(s) | \n\n Clean Plate Records, EarthWaterSky Connection\n | \n|
| instrumentation | \nunclean vocals | \nJamie Behar, Steven Roche | \n
| electric guitar | \nJamie Behar | \n|
| electric bass guitar | \nKevin Roche | \n|
| drumkit | \nSteven Roche | \n|
This tune is not quite monothematic, strictly speaking, but is nevertheless\nin a broadly theme-and-variations form. The first two bars set the theme; here\nis a rough transcription of those two bars, with repeat signs showing how it is\nrepeated:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first thing that stands out here is the choice of meter: I’ve written\n\n11\n
\n4\n because this represents the pulse that is felt and\nthe unit of repetition, although arguably \n11\n
\n4\n is more of\na hypermeter here that should “actually” be \n3+3+3+2\n
\n4\n. Regardless, there is a clear 3-against-2 feel\ndue to the dotted quarter notes overlapping the quarter note pulse for the\nfirst 9 pulses of each measure, i.e. a \n3+3+3+3+3+3+4\n
\n8\n\nfeel. The pace is fairly swift, at circa 185 pulses per minute, so a bar of \n11\n
\n4\n is not terribly long.
Also of note is the orchestration here. The ensemble itself is typical of rock\nmusic in general: the classic power\ntrio. But the way that the power\ntrio is used here is unusual (although characteristic of Off Minor as a band).\nThe bass is here at the forefront of the arrangement alongside the guitar, and\nthe two weave together their own melodies while the drums play a groove that\nboth reinforces the rhythms of the bass and guitar (with the more-or-less \n6\n
\n8\n feel in the snare and kick drum) and also plays against\nit (with the straight quarter notes in the hi-hats). This particular theme as\nit is played here is vaguely a call-and-response, with the bass going into its\nvery high register (hence the use of 8va in the\ntranscription) to respond to the chord-melody of the guitar.
From here we will take a look at a traditional decomposition of this theme into\n“harmony” and “melody”.
\nWhat follows is a reduction of the theme as transcribed above:
\n\n \n Lilypond source |\n MIDI rendering\n
\nThe first harmonic region here is pretty obviously some kind of A minor chord;\nhere it is labelled as \nAm7 because\nthe G natural is played prominently in the bass guitar part.
\nThe second harmonic region is a little bit trickier, as the only obvious part\nis that B♭ is in the bass. Arguably, this simple and traditional kind\nof chord-based analysis fails us here, but we can still get some insight from\nit. One could try to analyze this harmonic region as a \nGm13/B♭, or even as some\nkind of B♭ power chord with an added ♯4 and a 6? But here we\nhave chosen \nE⚬/B♭, for two reasons. One is that playing a\nstraight-ahead \nE⚬ over the\nreduction melody seems to sound the most similar to the original. The other\n— perhaps more important — reason is that it makes this into\nessentially a \nI – V – I\n progression. The \nAm7 functions as a rootless \nF▵7/A chord (or rather,\nrootless \nF▵9/A), the tonic\nchord of F major. The \nE⚬ is the\n\nvii⚬\n of F major, functioning in the same way\nas a (again, rootless) \nC7, the \nV7\n of F major.
\nAmong many other things, this use of what are (virtually) rootless chords could\nbe a contributing factor to why Off Minor often gets the “jazz\npunk” label attached to them, considering that jazz places such an\nemphasis on the 3rd and 7th factors (as well as\nextensions) of chords that it draws away from the root’s importance.
\n", "permalink": "https://eartifacts.gitlab.io/museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "slug": "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks", "ancestors": [ "_index.md", "museum/_index.md" ], "title": "Off Minor – “Monday Morning Quarterbacks”", "description": null, "date": null, "year": null, "month": null, "day": null, "taxonomies": { "artists": [ "Off Minor" ], "labels": [ "Clean Plate Records", "EarthWaterSky Connection" ], "genres": [ "skramz", "jazz punk", "math rock", "post-hardcore", "post-punk" ], "tags": [ "vocals", "unclean vocals", "guitar", "electric guitar", "bass guitar", "electric bass guitar", "drumkit", "odd time signatures", "power trio" ], "years": [ "2002" ] }, "extra": {}, "path": "museum/off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks/", "components": [ "museum", "off-minor-monday-morning-quarterbacks" ], "summary": "“Monday Morning Quarterbacks” is the penultimate track from Off\nMinor’s (one of two major bands formed in the wake\nof Saetia’s demise, the other being Hot\nCross) debut full-length. It is effectively the ultimate\ntrack, as the following track is a brief solo guitar rendition of Monk’s\n“Off Minor”, entirely different from the full-band\nskramz of the rest of the album.
\n", "word_count": 866, "reading_time": 5, "assets": [ "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/cover_art.jpg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.svg", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.midi", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-1.ly", "museum/Off_Minor_-_Monday_Morning_Quarterbacks/sheet-0.ly" ], "draft": false, "lang": "en", "lighter": null, "heavier": null, "earlier": null, "later": null, "translations": [] } ] } ] }