If you enjoyed this and you'd like to hear my thoughts on Thirteenth Step, there's a live listening party recording on my Patreon that you can download! www.patreon.com/posts/59493734
33:12 "It's like both an angel and a devil embodied him...". From what I know of Mr. Keenan, interviews and such, he would LOVE that particular piece of descriptive analysis. Well played.
I really appreciate that you use the word "melisma" so much in this series. It's helping me cement it in my vocabulary lol. Thanks so much for everything you do!
The first time I saw them live they opened with Renholder and it perfectly set the mood. Paz emerged alone and enchanted us with a minute long rendition on violin and slowly bandmates came out to join in creating a trance over the crowd.
Yes! That may still be my favorite concert at least in terms of the sound quality. Perfect sized venue. The biggest thing i still remember well was when Maynard, Billy, and Paz all came in on vocals at parts. Sounded so good.
Danny Lohner is a hidden member of APC and i think he's been on every APC project. Probably from working on the Tapeworm project. He was also involved on the early Puscifer albums.
I just love how you adore some of the parts and chord progressions of the entire album. The album that shaped me as a musician and created basis for my own style. You've showed me so many things I always knew but I was not aware of them at the same time. Thank you for that ^^ PS - Renholder is sang by Billy ;)
32:48 "It's just the minor scale. The minor scale is really good." The feeling you have, the sense of humble respect you convey, so good. I think, in my head at least, that's going to be your tag line. That, and something about about the flat 6th chord. Not sure which quote it would be, there are so many. :)
Sleeping Beauty is one of my favorites on this album because of the uneasy feeling it gives you. It’s like you know something isn’t right but they’re ok with it not being right. The lyrics confirm it. I’ve tried to learn this song on the guitar for some time but I’ve always struggled with 7/4 and changing time signatures
when this little album analysis first popped up, i was WAITING for you to do thomas 'cause like...you have no idea how much i love this song. i'm always enchanted by the ''illuminate me'' part like i'm willing to do a cover just to do that
Thank you Ixi! Mer De Noms has been a staple for me for over 20 years. I've listened to it hundreds of times but watching you pull the beauty out of these songs like warm taffy is just amazing!
Renholder uses the Half Whole Diminished scale. I've seen it and the Whole Half Diminished called Octatonic scales. King Crimson uses diminished scales in Red.
Been waiting for this part. Sleeping Beauty is my favorite track off the album although it took a while for that to be the case. It definitely took a lot of listens to the whole album before I really appreciated that song.
Revisited this breakdown cos I've been listening to Renholder lately! I think it's Billy who sings on that track instead of Maynard. The voice sounds different
I really appreciate the effort you've put into editing recently. Seeing the modes and scales for these songs has helped me figure out certain sounds. Your videos have helped me go back to playing piano after 30 (!!!) years!
Yes there will be some Tool videos in our future! In the meantime, I did a live analysis of Ænima - it's like 5 hours long 😅 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BwBJ_a-PASI.html
Billy sings Renholder! Live, at least - the vocals also sound different from MJK on the studio recording, so I think it's also him there. Also, I'm pretty sure the vocals say something when you speed up the song. Glad to see the Thomas love. Underrated.
Maynard is credited as the vocalist of Renholdër. "Maynard James Keenan - vocals (tracks 1-12), gord (kalimba) (track 12)". But Billy's vocal abilities should not be overlooked, he's really good. I was just watching a live performance of Thinking Of You and he's killing it on the upper harmony. I am really impressed by him all around.
@@iximusic Renholder credits on the album itself are: "Maynard - vocals, Billy - lead vocals, guitar, piano, Josh - drums, percussion, Paz - violin, vocals, Kelli Shafer - vocals". You can see this on the album in an annoying circle, or images of this on Discogs if you don't own a copy!
Thomas is a hidden gem on this album and some of my favorite drum work by Josh Freese. Certainly countable as 4/4 in the first half, though where he's hitting cymbals I always saw him either playing over bar (emphasizing a different '1' downbeat not on the 1 - Meshuggah does this on drums a lot too) or he is playing 3/4 and 5/4 (or 3 and 2) to get an overall 4/4. And there are times he is playing behind the beat that give the song an even stranger pulse. Also, the left hand only snare fill while the right keeps cut time on on the open hat on the 4th measure of that chunge riff is sooooo good. Ba-bap bap ba-bap!!!
I think you’re right. I was first thinking diminished scale, because of the alternating whole/half pattern, but regular diminished starts with whole step. Interestingly, dominant diminished is the only mode of the diminished scale! Apparently it is used to play lead over dominant seventh chords.
@@iximusic if you offer lessons point me in the direction of how to sign up! If not I'll definitely come to you for advice. I'm on your Patreon so I'm gonna see what I can follow along with there as a beginner ☺️
Cool! I haven't used Skillshare but it looks like a great resource. I do teach lessons but I have a waiting list at the moment. Feel free to send me a message on Patreon or email me at lessons@iximusic.com. Thank you for being a Patron! 🙏
I'm loving this. As much as i dug the Nin content, this is definitely the first album I just listened to over and over. I literally don't think there's a mediocre song on the album. Thanks for the deeper dive than I've ever explored it. Even as a music producer I seldom the necessary time examining the music that got me so in love with music.
Also, I commented shortly into this. The melodic drums go throughout this album at many points. Neil Peart and other great drummers are amazing for following that. As a percussionist in a prior life I love the drums on this album. And the vocables of Maynard that you described as ribbons. I am just digging this like crazy. Makes me want to deep dive into so much other amazing music.
I gotta say Ixi, you've got a real knack for comedy. I had quite a few spit takes throughout this series. Great work! Also, I know it's not a reaction channel, and that's not what I'm expecting, but I've always wanted someone like yourself (hecka music theory knowledge) to examine the music of my favorite band of all time "Between The Buried And Me." It would be a huge challenge, the understatement of the century, but it might also bring exhilaration and insight that would otherwise go unknown. A great song of theirs to check out would be "Astral Body." It's one of their shorter ones. Keep up the great work.
Great video, thanks so much. I thought Maynard in Thomas was saying “Beauty” in the incoherent part as a call back to the previous song (you thought it might be prayed or something) I could be wrong 😀
@@iximusic you are awesome:) love what you're doing n your taste in music n your singing n piano abilities are *chef's kiss:) keep up the greatness you redheaded siren:)
I just wanna say thank you so much for making these videos! I don't know anything about music playing/theory, but I love watching these, they are so entertaining and they make me appreciate the songs more than I thought I ever could! Thomas is my favorite APC song and one of my all time favorite songs, so I immediately watched this video as soon as I saw it was uploaded =)
I don't know that there's any album I've listened to front to back more than Mer De Noms, so I'm loving these videos. Have you considered breaking down their other albums or will you be moving on to another artist when this concludes?
Thank you James! No immediate plans for a series for that one, sorry! But there is a 2-hour recording of a Thirteenth Step listening party that you can download from my Patreon. It has my reactions, since I was less familiar with that album, and also some musical analysis! www.patreon.com/posts/59493734
Hi ixi. Wouldn't it be C# Locrian (1, b3, b7, b5) chord prog @ time 21:07 of this video? You called it C# metal. Please let me know. Thanks. PS - I love your videos!
Haha C# metal ;) Yes you could say the bassline is playing a Locrian figure; I think you could also say it's minor blues because, which also has those notes.
The guitar part in the bridge section is using a Leslie rotating speaker effect along with a delay. I’m not sure if it’s actually a Leslie or just an effect pedal. I’ve used a Jim Dunlop Rotovibe to get this effect too.
Maybe! Adam Neely would be a better person to go over that because it goes a bit outside the limits of my musicology knowledge. All I know is that the "plagal" or "amen" cadence of IV-I was named (to my understanding) for its frequent use in church music. 4-3 in a melody, like "ahhhh-mennnn", fits harmonically over a plagal cadence. Sorry I don't know if this was helpful! It would definitely be easier to play it for you. I'll keep it in mind :)
@@iximusic I have a problem with 'Churchy' music! Radio 3 in the UK is the classical station, and unfortunately a lot of the canon is historically music commissioned by the church. My preference is for late-20th century modernists like Glass, Adams , Reich and Riley.
Every month I host an all-Patron livestream where you can submit a song for me to listen to and do a live analysis of! It's not quite as in depth as these videos of course but it's a good time! This month's is tomorrow 1/28 starting at 5pm Central and will be recorded for later viewing: www.patreon.com/posts/61355852 Other than that, I post polls to give Patrons some say over what I cover next in analysis videos and for the PIGGY & SWINE listening parties. Feel free to check it out!
No immediate plans for a series for that one, sorry! But there is a 2-hour recording of a Thirteenth Step listening party that you can download from my Patreon. It has my reactions, since I was less familiar with that album, and also some musical analysis! www.patreon.com/posts/59493734
I love mer de noms and appreciate your analyses so much. I would be interested in your thoughts on songs from “eat the elephant” since it’s a piano heavy album and was written mostly on piano.
