Radiohead's odd time signatures is quite rare.

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by manco, Feb 23, 2021.

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  1. The majority is 4/4, but they have many more than 3 songs not in 4/4.

    Regardless. Rhythms can still be “complicated” in 4/4
     
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  2. WHMusical

    WHMusical Chameleon Comedian Corinthian & Caricature

    Whilst Sum Radiohead Heads Art About: A Quick shout out for Ed OBrien´s EARTH!!!

    I assume most of you have heard it, but if you have not, check it out! It has become my most played record from last year--2020--The Big Suck.

    I don´t know time signatures from forged signatures, but I KNOW I love this record.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2021
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  3. Timos

    Timos Forum resident

    I’m pretty sure, yeah. I’m not posting a video of me counting, though! :)
     
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  4. Timos

    Timos Forum resident

    No, it’s still 4/4 - just syncopated, AKA ‘offbeat’.
     
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  5. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I am not sure what you mean by "density of their arrangements". They sometimes use what's known as rhythmic dissonance.
     
  6. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Sometimes I get 5/8 and sometimes 4/4. :confused:
     
  7. I think the intro is 5/8 which continues as a polyrhythm over 4/4
     
  8. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    That is what I thought. At first I thought it was polymetric after the intro. Sometimes I still get confused with that one.
     
  9. TheSeldomSeenKid

    TheSeldomSeenKid Forum Resident

    The first 2 Songs on ‘Kid A’ are Cold and Emotionless to me, and just the opposite to ‘OKC’ in that way. I just skip the Title Track when playing the CD. The 5th Song is just Ambient Music that is not groundbreaking, and I can just listen to my Brian Eno CDs for that genre of Music. I recall reading that Kid A was influenced by Aphex Twins and Auteche(spelling?), and not a fan of their Music, but like you said, Kid A is not groundbreaking. Since the Songs on Amnesiac were recorded the same time(I think the plan was a Double Album), I wish they would have just taken the Best 5-6 Songs from those Albums to make 1 Great Album. Of course, we all will have different takes on what those Best Songs are from those 2 Albums. Different can be good though, as I love The National Anthem and Morning Bell(Kid A Version), and How to Disappear Completely is as good as anything they have done-IMO.

    Someone should have stolen the Instructional Manual to that device where J Greenwood was plugging cables into it, when it was mentioned at the time that he had only yet read half of it:agree:.

    Doing something different does not mean groundbreaking. Too much filler on their first 3 Post 2000 Albums(especially on Hail to the Thief-And I really disliked the Blips and Beeps B-Sides as I bought the CD Singles at the time being a fan of the band)-IMO, and I was glad to hear a Better Album with ‘In Rainbows’(I love a few of the B-Sides, especially, ‘Down is the New Up’). Then for me a low point with The King of Limbs, but I love A Moon Shaped Pool. Also like the Greenwood Soundtrack Albums. For Yorke, I like his Suspiria Soundtrack, but his other Solo Albums just are not my thing, but for others, YMMV.
     
  10. somnar

    somnar Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC & Amsterdam
    4/4.

     
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  11. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    Nah. Real prog actually IS complicated. It's not just fans saying it is like with Radiohead(s).
     
  12. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    No. The intro is a quarter note rest where you hear nothing followed by 3 beats, and then the rest id 4/4. You could also think of the first bar starting on 2. It's definitely not in 5/8 at all.
     
  13. Eleventh Earl of Mar

    Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far.

    Location:
    New York
    You could!

    If I generalized prog fans, then I'd claim all music shorter than 10 minutes is bad
     
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  14. Just listened again and you’re right in that it is not 5/8, but I think you are incorrect that it is 4/4. Guitar sounds like 5/4 with the band in 4/4.

    Regardless, this debate almost proves my point above that whether or not a rhythm is complicated or not has very little to do with time signature.
     
  15. Timos

    Timos Forum resident

    Hmm. Sounds like a shoehorned 4/4 from that guy’s tutorial “to avoid having different time signatures for each bar”, but hey ho! :)
     
  16. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    But I don't think it's complicated at all. Here's a link to the first page of the sheet music. It is exactly the way I counted it when I heard it for the first time earlier today. Let Down
     
  17. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    Yeah, some proggers do have a weird size fetish, as if doing a 20 minute track automatically confers more artistic gravitas. Gentle Giant never went that way, but no one questions their prog bonafides.
     
  18. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    Ever heard the bass line to Hound Dog? The rhythm in the bars that sound so "weird" to people are exactly the same as that bass line and in the same time signature. 4/4.
     
    Last edited: Feb 23, 2021
  19. somnar

    somnar Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC & Amsterdam
    I disagree. Makes far more sense when counting in 4/4 with the swung eighth notes. And, as he goes at great lengths to say, time signatures are more about giving players a way to understand the structure and form of a piece than just counting from bar to bar.
     
  20. That is sheet music arranged by someone else for a choir. Not a very good reference point.

    “Complicated” is a subjective term so probably not the best to use for this discussion. Radiohead frequently uses blends of syncopation, polymeters, time changes, etc. to make things more complex rhythmically. It is not straight ahead 4/4.

    I mean the time signature for Pyramid Song has been debated for ages. Even if it is in 4/4, it’s anything but straight ahead. The fact that there’s ongoing debate about all of this proves the fact that it is more complex than you are making it out to be, IMO.
     
  21. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    The fact that there's a debate is s symptom of the types of people that frequent this forum. Armchair experts/critics. The professors I had in music school would laugh at these types of "discussions" and move on to something that's actually debatable.
     
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  22. LOL, OK, dude. Now you have to be a music school professor to comment on music. Why are you on this board if you are just going to belittle others?

    For the record, I’ve been a musician since about the time I could read sand have studied plenty of music theory.

    Now it’s clear why you are here. To troll and try and flex your “knowledge” to appear superior, when you have no idea about your audience. But you are clearly better because of your musical tastes. Congrats. :righton:
     
  23. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    Man, I'm sorry if I came off as a troll. That's definitely not my intent. When there's a debate about something like this, I gotta jump in because I love music theory. This is a simple open and shut case to me due to how I was taught. It's just very clearly 4/4, and all I was saying is that the people that taught me, who I respect a great deal, would consider this a non-debate.
     
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  24. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    I am still not sure that it is not in 5/8. Without that quarter note rest, the intro falls into 5/8. The accents fall on the 3 and 2 beats counting 123, 12.
    You guys know more than me about this.....what determines if there is that quarter note rest?
     
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  25. Lownote30

    Lownote30 Bass Clef Addict

    Location:
    Nashville, TN, USA
    I judged it by how the drums come in. If you count it in 5/8, that doesn't come out right. The higher notes definitely come around every 5th note in the top line, but they aren't the first note in each phrase. They are the 5th note in each grouping, so that makes it not feel like 5/8. How the drummer feels it is, to me, the way the band is feeling it, and how it should be counted in this case.
     
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