Grunge, Electronic - Lecture notes 20 PDF

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Prof. Smith...

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Grunge: Nirvana & Soundgarden

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Electronic Music

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group of bands that come from certain area (around Seattle) early 90’s, hard-edge rock bands on coattails of Nirvana similar to just alternative rock Nirvana ○ formed in Aberdeen, WA in ‘87 ○ went on to become most pop. grunge group of early 1900’s ○ comb. elements of punk w/ a melodic sensibility ○ punk influence group led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Kurt Cobain ○ angry/depressed/alienated lyrics ○ creative yet simple song construction ○ primarily pwr chords, not a lot of riffs ○ Nevermind album, shift in pop. music ■ aggressive yet catchy punk music ■ music video for arguably catchiest on album -- “Smells Like Teen Spirit” & gets on MTV ■ create pop. style for a few years ○ “Sliver” ■ verse chorus ■ dynamic -- loud, soft ■ quiet verse, loud chorus, next verse a bit louder, loud chorus, next verse even louder ■ each verse varies dynamically, gets louder, instrumentation and tambor of voice change Soundgarden ○ formed in Seattle, WA in ‘84 ○ blending heavy metal riffs & vocals w/ punk minimalism ○ elements of progressive rock mixed w/ sort of punk sensibility ○ much more influenced by heavy metal than Nirvana ○ a lot of riffs, less pwr chords ○ detune/drop beat (allows to play pwr chords faster) ○ “Spoon Man” ■ 7 beat riff ■ not complex sound, more natural origins largely in works of 20th cent. classical composers such as Pierre Schaeffer & Karlheins Stockhausen music compre not until 70’s until pop. based groups using electronic sounds Kraftwerk ○ electronic music group from Germany formed ‘70, credited w/ popularizing electronic music

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West Africa: Ali Farka Toure and Oumou Sangare

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building own instruments (electronic percussive sound) drift into electronic and stay there vocals processed or monotone android-like stage character “Pocket Calculator” ■ melodic hook lies in synthesizer, not voice ■ voice is monotone/robotic ■ no real human element Brian Eno ○ composer known for electronic music ○ elements of minimalism from classical music; repeated patterns, easy listening ○ slowing pattern based approach way down, stretching out ○ using echo, reverb ○ long, minimal soundscapes ○ “” ? ■ discreet music (maybe this is the title, idk) ■ repeating patterns ■ almost meditative, mantra Juan Atkins ○ important figure in early devel. of techno in early/mid 80’s w/ his group Cybotron ○ dance-based, relatively radio friendly ○ techno transforms into electronic dance music ○ techno polyrhythmic, relations to funk, has scifi/futurist kind of sound ○ “Clear” ■ danceable ■ one of earliest tracks ■ essentially same approach as funk ■ goes back to West African folk music w/ complex patterns like funk music -- complex polyrhythms, complex vocal melodies, lots of percussion instruments, don’t really have chord progressions or forms influence on the blues Ali Farka Toure ○ Malian guitarist, vocalist, & songwriter ○ music a blend of traditional African music & Amer. blues ○ became well-known as one of 1st African blues musicians to gain pop. thruout continent ○ incorp. elements of blues into his own style ○ pentatonic scale -- diff. from traditional blues b/c more like folk music ○ more embellished, same scale ○ gospel-like vocal melodies ○ funk-like polyrhythm ○ “Keh-tee-nay ?”

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■ form essentially just verses over a band (or maybe he said vamp) ■ riff-driven vamps (?) Oumou Sangare ○ Grammy award winning Malian singer/composer who performs Wassoulou music ○ performs in Malian & French ○ Wassoulou music often feat. call-and-response with complex melodies; only has female singers ○ band a mix of Africa & West, using traditional instruments & Western instruments ○ other elements like previously mentioned African music style ○ “Kainy Woura” ■ band, backup singers ■ polyrhythmic, lot happening ■ funk, blues, gospel sounds ■ continuing vamp...