Transcription - Squarepusher, "Iambic 9 Poetry"

The same teacher that introduced me to Andy Kravtiz in the previous post also introduced me to Squarepusher around the same.  This stuff blew my mind.  I had friends who were really into acid house, techno, and happy hardcore, but that sound always seemed cheesy and boring to me.  As electronic music went, though, I could fully appreciate what Squarepusher was doing and enjoyed other artists in the drum 'n' bass/IDM/big beat scenes.

The first album I picked up was Feed Me Weird Things, the opening track "Squarepusher Theme" being a personal favorite of mine then and now.

I transcribed some of it 10 or 15 years ago, but it was a real slog, and when the laptop which stored the not backed up transcription was stolen I didn't have the heart or patience to start it again.

But recently I was checking out a later Squarepusher release called Ultravisitor and decided to write out some of the playing from the tune "Iambic 9 Poetry".  Squarepusher, real name Tom Jenkinson, is not only a DJ/producer but also an excellent bassist, with most of his bass lines being played live.

Jenkinson also plays drums and I believe is the one playing them on "Iambic 9 Poetry".  With Squarepusher's material it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between what is played live and what is programmed.  It's even more difficult on this tune and all of Ultravisitor as he used clips from live performances in the creation of this studio album.  The drums on this particular tune sound pretty live to me until about the halfway point where it sounds like the might be some programming or effects going on.

Either way, it's a cool groove on a cool tune, so here is what I'm pretty sure is Tom Jenkinson playing drums on "Iambic 9 Poetry".  The first line repeats pretty much the same from 0:55 to about 2:10 where the second line starts and continues until in becomes basically untranscribable around 3:22.

Groove Transcription - Kenna, "New Sacred Cow"

One of the few pluses of this period of zero gigs is that fact that with no other music to prepare I have reverted to just playing any old random thing for fun, and reaching deep in the bag for different material.  So, the other day when an old pop record that I used to listen to in college came to mind, I gave the whole record a spin, transcribed the grooves from a few of the tunes, and started playing along with them.  The record is Kenna's New Sacred Cow.  It's not the deepest record in the world, but it's nostalgic for me, and actually has some pretty cool grooves on it.  Also, I like working on grooves that weren't necessarily written from a drumset perspective as it forces you to think and play in a different way.  So here are three of grooves, should you feel so inclined.

hellbent was one of the singles from the record and, besides having an interesting groove that is reminiscent of a half-time shuffle, it has a cool video to go with it (though it doesn't seem to be on YouTube, unfortunately)

vexed and glorious has some nice counterpoint between the tambourine (notated as a cymbal here) and the rest of the kit.  If you play or sing them separately they really feel like two parts that would be played be different people.  But when you stick it all together it feels nice and is a lot of fun to play.

And finally, war in me.  The drums don't come in until at least halfway through the tune, but again, it's a groove written most likely at a desk rather than behind a kit, which gives it an unnatural feel that is nonetheless very enjoyable to play.

Groove Transcription - Roni Size, "New Forms"

Drum 'n' Bass, as far as I can remember, never got really big in the States.  In high school, I remember some kids listening to techno and going to raves.  Some of these kids were my friends, and I also recall being ridiculed when I told them the only electronic music I could really get into was drum 'n' bass. More than 20 years later, I now teach a class in the history of EDM for West Virginia University, so a couple years ago I spent an entire summer reading about and listening to just about every style of EDM there is.  And while I can appreciate a lot of it more now, I'd still have to say that drum 'n' bass is some of the hippest and most listenable of those styles.  It certainly has the coolest drumming.

One of the most recognizable names in drum 'n' bass is Roni Size.  His album New Forms is a seminal work of the d'n'b canon.  In 1997 it won the Mercury Prize here in the UK, beating out Radiohead's OK Computer.  Below is the title track to the album.  In some ways it's very easy.  It's similar to that rock groove that every non-drummer can somehow kind of play.  But on the other hand, it's very fast, very intricate, and requires a lot of control.

I've written out the main groove that repeats throughout the song, but the devil is in the detail.  If you listen closely to the whole thing, you notice that each time around there are a few notes added here and there, giving it just a little bit more lift and energy each time.  In a weird way it reminds me of how some of the best jazz drummers build the density of their playing so gradually you almost don't notice it happening.  Anyway, here it is.  Drop me a line if you'd like a PDF.

Groove Transcription - 4hero, "Play With the Changes"

The electronic music world, as a sweeping generalization, is somewhat of mystery to me.  I'm fascinated by it, and enjoy a lot of it, but haven't taken the massive amounts of time required to really delve into it and understand it.  At this point in the game, saying "electronic music" is much like saying "rock" or "jazz".  They are all genres that have grown so large and splintered into so many sub-genres that those large umbrella terms don't really say much anymore.

The impression that I get is that electronic music is both mysterious by nature, and also rather incestuous.  Artists release albums under aliases, and as guests, many having worked with each other, collaborating and remixing each others work.  This can make it hard to find out about an artist.  Such is the case with 4hero.  A London based duo, 4hero seem to have dipped their fingers in about every pie there is.  A Google search of them brings up a few of their albums, but also a number of compilation discs, remixes, productions, aliases, etc.  Initially getting their start in techno and house, they later became one of the biggest names in the UK drum 'n' bass and jungle scene.  They've collaborated with, and remixed artists as varied as Jill Scott and Azymuth.  In their last big studio release, 2007's "Play With the Changes", the duo quite successfully dabbled in the world of acid jazz, nu jazz, downtempo, neo-soul, whatever you want to call it.  It's a killer album that I highly recommend.

The title track features a few great grooves that translate very well to the kit.

Out of the gate we hear:

Gently tucked into the mix there's also a 3-2 cascara pattern on a cowbell:

And around 2:56 there is a very cool breakdown.  The notation at the top is intentionally arbitrary, as you can experiment with playing the 16th notes with a brush, or a shaker in one hand.