MAAAAD TUNE. What do you guys make of 'Polyriddim'? Could it kickstart a new wave of boundary-pushing Dubstep? Let me know all your thoughts in the comments! 🖤
When I first heard this. I be like wtf. 7/4 and 122.5. So now I know this kind of riddim is the most unique riddim I've heard. I really think this is more unique than any song I've heard, I've never heard a song this unique ever! Thanks for reviewing this interesting track.
When you said "I don't think any of you are ready", I was like " Yeah sure". This song broke every rule of Dubstep I can think of, and I love it Edit: this song also makes me realize that as a producer, I have a long way to go
Polyriddim is the first tune ive heard that, in my opinion, breaks the rules and boundaries of what we hear in dubstep and created this masterpiece. Its definitely going to spark the imagination of other producers but i gotta back up Connor on this one; please please please leave the tune as it is. Sometimes we need to accept the originality of certain music (ex: this) and let it be a pillar that holds up this metaphorical structure of the dubstep we listen to today. Biggups phonon, biggups odio records, biggups cedric for the artwork and biggups connor for another well done review
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Polyriddim. The time signature is extremely unique, and without a solid grasp of music theory most of the notes will go over a typical listeners head. There’s also phonons nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his music- his personal philosophy draws heavily from jazz,for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these tunes, to realise that they’re not just riddim- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Polyriddim truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the part in Photons song that goes “DodoDodoDododo,” which itself is a cryptic reference to other lesser known genres. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as phonons genius wit unfolds itself on their soundcloud. What fools.. how I pity them. And yes, by the way, i DO have a polyriddim tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothin personnel kid just look at these profoundly gifted fans
I am firmly within the "polyriddim is gamechanging" camp, everything about this song is so much fun, so refreshing compared to the other songs being released nowadays, and beyond the experimentation it has so much love, personality, and energy throughout it. The note placement is just so masterful and makes this and song like no other, such a groove to it. I couldn't gush enough about it, I swear. Definitely the most creative song so far this year and I would place it in my top 10 of the year no doubt.
I mean if more people do experimental stuff like this the game will have been changed, I guess now we just have to see if people will follow in phonon's footsteps or if this is a one-off miracle.
i've been a strong advocate for this kind of experimentation to break into heavy electronic music for a long time and i'm really glad to see this happen! maybe this will help other producers who are into making more experimental dubstep reach an audience!
Love this! I’ve always loved playing in 7/4 and 5/4. I even wrote a tune once that went from 14/8 to 13/8 and back again! The cleverness of the key changes in this piece is that they aren’t obvious - the track/tune flows smoothly back and forth. Great review of a groundbreaking tune x
Personally I believe what's great about polyriddim isn't just about the interesting time-signature or the microtonal aspects of the track, but more the accessibility of it and how, even though it changes the formula, it also has many elements that still make it an enjoyable riddim/dubstep banger that can be enjoyed by riddim/dubstep heads. I think the fact it's accessible is great for the scene as other producers may find encouragement in knowing that even small changes to the dubstep formula can have a big impact and make for a fresh and engaging experience. Note: I am on Odio and my opinion may be biased.
You can hear it after each drop that it switched from 7/4 to 4/4. If you pay attention to the hats in pattern you can tell. There is no illusion, you just need to clean your ears.
@@emmu__ Basically what Phonon did is that because 7/4 would be hard to transition to at the regular 140 beats per minute, with the 4/4 time being at 140 BPM, he transitioned the key and BPM to 122.5 as part of this math equation: 140 x 7/4 = 122.5. What this means is that while the time signature is completely different, the listener can still easily perceive the song being at 140 BPM like many normal dubstep songs are.
I've done a few songs with different time signatures now, and one that I'll be making will be a deathstep number that's 13/4 based off of Irish folk dancing! :D
@@justalpha9138 yes, I'm speaking of the denominator. It is whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, thirty second notes etc.
Ahh, good days. I remember watching the Disciple Livestream and Modestep dropped this banger with VR being entirely confused. Great moment, even 4 years later
Really love the experimentation and I really really appreciate how much people are talking about this, really sets a good standard for the scene for me. It shows that there IS a market for people who want experimental and different interesting riddim, and it can be more than just the generic stuff we've been hearing for years, for what it's done to us, I am very impressed. The track itself is very interesting, I love the first drop and the intro is brilliant too, but the biggest issues for me is that the snare is too blown out and distorted and I think the second drop is a let down, but as I say, what's it's done to the scene is amazing, so far...=}
Love how people are discussing the snare! I think it's pretty spot on, smacks just right, but really interesting that people find it too much. Maybe these things are subjective after all... 🤔
@@Nawtystep Obviously, just as all music opinions! But on headphones (could just be my headphones) I hear a lot of modern EDM recently that has snares too loud and too distorted, I think they need to learn that it's not about the loudness to most people, it's about the timbre and the shape of the sound=}
Meter and rhythm is the single most under-explored avenue of creativity in bass music. Really appreciated how inventive this gets with the meter changes, that alone carries the tune. Loved the key changes too, far too few producers are willing to modulate at all, much less *microtonally.* Though I will admit it's a harder listen than most bass music. Definitely the kind of thing you have to go into with the proper mindset, not just something you can space out to. Stuff like this couldn’t completely replace the simpler fare, but I definitely appreciate the variety.
I don't know, I feel like on the first listen it was kind of a harder listen, but on subsequent listens I've gotten the feel and groove of the song pretty well. I don't find it nearly as disorienting as some people say tbh.
Melodic rhythm is still rhythm. And with how often the meter changes, any percussion pattern more complex than the kick-snare would make it even harder to keep a hold on.
It's songs like these that really show us how far behind dubstep and edm as a whole are compared to most other genres of music. This type of stuff isn't really new, it's just a concept that has been translated to a genre that is still quite in its infancy. I don't think this style will really make waves until fundamental music theory knowledge is encouraged for all producers, as most bass music producers right now have little to no theory education. While the the ideas are cool, the song is just a mishmash of a bunch of theory concepts that have been around for quite some time, with no actual direction or intent. As someone who has put hundreds of hours into learning theory (from all different areas, classical, jazz, etc etc) I appreciate the creativity put into the work, but I doubt there will be any significant "scene" change until learning music theory is deemed as important as learning how to EQ properly, for example. But, believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm so excited for when bass music producers actually have musical motives for these abstract concepts (ie odd meters and microtonality). While the stuff phonon is doing in this song is fun, I don't hear any musical intent, or REASONS for him to be adding these things other than it "just sounding interesting", or just for the sake of doing it at all. The real innovation will begin when producers begin to use these concepts in ways that goes beyond "this sounds interesting", and more into "this improves the overall experience of the music, emotionally, figuratively, and technically".
I definitely agree with that music theory stuff you said....it definitely helps a lot. It's easier to arrange tracks and make them make sense if you know what i mean
It's not because it's infantile as a genre within the timeline, it's because the definition of the genre itself is supposed to be limited and suppressive, atonal in quality, hence why a lot of people who produce riddim don't "need" to learn music theory, this subverts that definition, not advancing the genre itself. That's why it works and that's why it's unique. It's not so much as pushing the genre forward, breaking boundaries or whatever, rather just experimenting and having fun within the paradigm and introducing concepts to it, which are in general considered to be unorthodox.
I'm excited to see more time signature changes in the future. Metal has been doing it a long time and it kicks ass! 4/4 is great but there is so much more musically out there to play with
Truth is, time signature changes are hard to do in a daw, so most of us don’t bother. I’m trying to figure it out but my brain is fried! There’s no way to automate a change in tempo, so you need to drop beats and notes by hand. Tough stuff
@@teqnify63 I disagree with you on that point. There are tutorials for how to automate and change tempo in DAWs. It's just knowing how to do it in your specific DAW. I don't think a lack of knowledge on how to do it means it is a difficult thing to do. Also, simply using a different time signature in tracks would be awesome. Iv heard a handful of tracks with it and it is awesome.
In early 2019 I remember Junk Droid tweeting out he was working on an ep with odd time signatures in each song. I'm not sure if it ever dropped but I hope he still releases it now, even if he wouldn't be the first to do it.
I first heard this track a couple nights ago when I was listening to Oolacile's Future Riddim playlist, and it was easily the most subversive dubstep/riddim track I've ever heard, and I mean that in the best way possible!
Just took a listen to this. This is REALLY experimental sounding, and I really like it! Interesting how a 4/4 dubstep beat can be translated to 7/4. I’ve actually heard this being done in dubstep before from another producer, Xtrullor, but this is still really cool! Also the artwork is just too good. Represents the song perfectly. Edit: Okay...just took a look at the comments in another video of this song. It’s disappointing to me that so many people are closed minded about this. I can understand that this isn’t exactly what everyone enjoys about music, but that shouldn’t be a reason to openly call it “trash” or something like that.
Kaiodi 2 songs: Event Horizon (7/8), and Ego Death (90-ish BPM, 7/4). Both are at least a year or two old, so I’d say Polyriddim is still the most unique bass track recently.
I didn’t think I’d like this song as much from the teaser, but it’s really grown on me and I love it! From the intro to the unpredictable drops 🔥 I also got ‘First of the year’ vibes for some reason from the intro & breakdown too
The first time I heard it was when I also saw that video of virtual Riot and modestep, I really laughed a lot trying to understand what was happening, then I found out that it was going to come out and it was not a joke, after listening to it a couple of times and analyzing it Enough, I could find a taste for it, sincerely it is a pretty fun track to listen to that makes you aware of what is happening, a track that you could not only put in the background and sincerely, I love track, very innovative and gives us a new alternative in the bass scene in general, i love it, sometimes taking risks can also lead us to many sides, what will be next for phonom? Great job phonom and Odio récords!
Bro good to see you again. It's like RU-vid stopped showing your new videos in my home screen, so I thought maybe you took a break or got Covid or some shit. Keep it real.
I remember my friend hitting me up and recommending the track to me and telling me that this track is revolutionary. After a couple of hours, I finally decided to give it a proper first listen, and I was massively taken aback. So much so, I hated the first listen, but when I started to talk to that friend about it, I was tempted to listen again, and from there I grew to love it. It’s now currently one of my favourite tracks of the year, and I look forward to more from Phonon, as this was actually the first of his tunes that I listened to
It's different for sure which is why I like it however I wouldn't call this groundbreaking like some other people. A few years ago this would've just been considered a poorly put together dubstep track.
its something normal when you are usually used to listen to common rhythms. try listen to other tracks that have irregular measures and middle eastern music to get used to
So basically Polyriddim is an attempt at Anti-music theory in music, much like how Tim and Eric are Anti-Comedy Comedians....interesting...Not sure what I feel about it yet but hell it's a pretty substantial risk! Sounds like it worked out pretty well! Though i think the better term would be Metamusic theory. Because despite breaking barriers of what is traditionally understood as music, it's still its own theory in music!
I think the problem is that, as much as it might try to be.. this isn't anti-music theory It's just odd time divisions, tempo and key changes for the sake of it and there's loads of stuff like that out there, including some dance music, that executes this with a lot more focus If you want anti-music then you'd listen to something like Noise or maybe something post-vaporwave/plunderphonics stuff or deconstructed club or smth
Your comment is a fundamental misunderstanding of music theory. It has key switches, tempo changes, and odd time signature changes, which is uncommon in modern electronic music, but not in music as a whole. You’ll find plenty of examples of this in classical music and other non-electronic genres (i.e rock, jazz, etc).
during the first listen it gave me anxiety initially, though the intro and build-up had me going. after stewing on it for a while i came to really enjoy and appreciate what it did and how it went about it. lovely track and informative analysis with an interesting point of view.
For a long time I thought that polyryhtms would be something that riddim could get some benefir from and I was really interested to see someone had this idea. Although I really appreciate someone pushing the boudaries of the genre, I'm not that big of a fan for this track, maybe it's the emptyness that pulls me away from it or the fact that it's a brand new time signature for my brain and I'm not used to it.
@@Nawtystep by emptiness I mean how dry the drop sounds, I like tracks with more meat and full rather than just a bass sounding, it's just my personal taste. The time signature pulls me off as well but has nothing to do with the emptyness/dryness, I'm just not used to this at all. As a side note, I would've added maybe more sounds to the drop to add an extra touch of variation (which already has, don't get me wrong) I'm not saying these are things that make the track worse, it's just a matter of my preferences. Again, I acknowledge that this track is a really good one by itself, very well executed overall for what it's intending to do, it's definitely worth the attention it's receiving lately
it took me 3 listens to really fuck with this and i love it now. its just great, cant wait to see how other people take this idea and spin it into their own thing.
God, I have come back to this track more times than I want to admit and I genuinely cannot understand how people are so into it after the first 10 seconds of the drop. that first section is fucking sweet, and then it turns into nonsense, like it comes off to me the same way scales do in classical music. I get it, you know how to flourish. It has so many of the makings of a good tune, even the weird time signature works in its favor, the """"""nontraditional rhythms'""""""" come off more as a justification for not being repetitive to me.
People's always complaining about the lack of creativity on the bass music scene, and then this guy releases this masterpiece, one of the most original songs I've heard in a while, and everyone is hating on him. Like, wtf, I just don't understand it. I found out about it because of some memes I saw, and people were saying that it was trash. I looked it up on RU-vid, and man... I was blown away. I loved it. Since the first time I listened to it. Such a unique song man. Haters gonna hate. Loved your review as always!
Love polyriddim, but the most unique track in recent memory for me has to be angels and demons by skybreak. Just everything about it, the ideas explored, the emotion in it just works so God damn well
Last time I listened to a dubstep track this refreshing was probably Oolacile - Kandi. (Or at least that's what I believe at the moment.. I should see again what tracks come out last year ahah)
@@OfficialQuerppMusic To be fair, i enjoy the more simple and metallic stuff rather than complex orchestral, i used to like both at the same level, but at one point i kinda got bored of trying to feel a deep meaning behind dubstep, and i decided that it's music that stimulates my brain and makes me wanna listen more, so i just listen to it rather than trying to analyse it, that's why i logically stop listening to complicated pieces and started to like more minimalistic ones.
MncMarcos interesting point, i can relate to what you are saying. What i listen to depends on what i’m doing during the day. But we must admit that Apashe gave us something special, just like Joyryde’s new album. Literally 2 years in the making, it’s a full time job!
@@OfficialQuerppMusic Connor will get blown away after listening to Akeos & Ayonikz - Toll Gate. I'm listening to it on repeat since the past hour☠️💫. Oh and it's on no. 1 dubstep beatport rn🔥🔥🔥💯.
All subjective of course, but I personally don't get any feeling from the ideas on that album. They're just there, don't really do anything interesting. Yes the orchestral aspects is great, fantastic at points even. But I'm not gonna like it just because it does that, it has to work that in with the heaviness and not have them exist as two separate entities in the body of work. See what I mean? Weird comparing a whole album and a single, but on Polyriddim I get personality, I get shock value, I get cleverness, unpredictability, and sharply produced front to back. Apashe's album is, for me, few if any of those things. Ambitious, but not cohesive
@@OfficialQuerppMusic I wouldn't say that. I don't prefer one genre or style to another. So long as it's well done, it moves me (etc.), I'm on board with it. Couldn't care less what genre/style it is, there are songs from every one I love
It's a refreshing, long-overdue change from conventional riddim and one that I hope moves the genre forward. My biggest gripe with the 4/4 variant is that many of it's creators seem content to rest on their laurels and not evolve or grow musically.
Tut Tut Child - Queen of Your Heart was in 5/4, but wasn't nearly as boundary pushing as this, with it's "nested tuplets" and such. Warptech - In the Stories is an odd Drumstep worth looking into. It doesn't have an odd time signature, or an odd overall structure. But it DOES have an odd number of bars, which is the layer of rythmic structure in between the other two. Thanks for making this video!
Maybe he did do that, if so all the better. Messing with expectations/norms like that, people still fucking with it - he'd be making a sick track and playing us at the same time
Took me a while to like this track, it was really different, and interesting. First time listening, I really didn't like it much, but listening to it more, I've grown to like it a lot. Dubstep should keep throwing things like that more often, because it's not every day you hear dubstep in 7/4 time.
Nice Review as always and daaaamn that's a different banger! You should check out Geoxor especially the track Twilight , the feeling he gives is so amazing. The Brig Stand up is also very good. And Gravity Falls OVA Dubstep Remix, so heavy and godly.
It's pretty cool. Can't wait till we see other weird fusions of dubstep like noise dubstep (fusions of harsh noise with dubstep), microtonal dubstep (Instead of using 12EDO using other equal or unequal temperament scales. I actually think Polyriddim utilizes microtonality in the beginning portion what you described as a key change was probably microtonal modulation), atonal dubstep (No core key. I think this could have merges with noise dubstep). I think dubstep could easily be revitalized by looking at more experimental genres and taking influence from more obscure music techniques (which is what this piece does here). Not gonna lie, I wasn't really too phased or freaked out by this track because I've gotten used to lots of really weird stuff but I think its pretty nice that genres such as dubstep are branching out. My initial reaction was mostly of me being content because this is where I want the dubstep scene to go towards. More weird stuff. Good video!
Fun fact: the entire song is in 7/4 from beginning to end. It’s so much fun to count along to and you have to REALLY focus cuz the 16th notes can trip you up. But it’s a steady 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 odd drop, it’s so satisfying!
heard about Xtrullor? He used to make epic mellodic dubstep. Two of his songs I think are in 7/8. Event Horizon and Ego Death. Both are fantastic! Have a listen for sure.
I can just imagine if this was produced by a kid in an electronic music program/school it could have been pushed on the side by a majority of fellow students and teachers, because they couldn't see what is special about it. As it happens all the time. Thank the internet and Phonon's proactivity for pushing himself to visibility!
Its kind of funny that sometimes good songs take time to like. At first when I listened to it I had very similar experience to VR but I began to get hooked on the song. I've had the exact same experience listening to dubstep for the first time 8-9 years ago.
the first time I listened, I paused it immediately😂 the next few times I listened, I finally understood what he was trying to do and I was like YOOOOOOOO. it was my favourite song for a while lmao. still a massive head banger for those who know how to head bang to it. love polyriddim.
Hearing it at the original BPM rather than sped up during DJ sets definitely lets you feel the “groove” better. The more I listen the more it seems to make musical sense.
I'm not into the track at all, but I have massive respects for what's going on behind the curtain. I could never switch from 7/8 to 4/4, not even once during a song. There's so many elements that just makes this song a structural and musical masterpiece. Mad respect to Phonon.
Late to this vid, but I was SOO thrilled when I heard that FINALLY someone was using odd time signatures in the EDM. I started experimenting with time signature myself some months before this tune was announced, and my hybrid trap song in 5/8 was met with some mostly good feedback, but I was left wishing someone notable in the EDM scene would break the ice (since I don't have even close to enough of a following to have that impact), and i literally jumped out of my seat when I saw the announcement for polyriddim Personally, I'm not a fan of the sound design itself, but that is largely personal preference of course. Everything else was very well executed and really scratches the itch I have for odd meter and experimentation being a huge jacob collier fan myself. I am beyond overjoyed what it has sparked in other producers. I mean he started basically the exact trend I was hoping would start after I began to dive into odd time signatures, and seeing so many other artists experimenting is just so exciting!
You said EDM but I think you’re talking about Dubstep, because odd time signature has been a thing for years now in EDM, some Dedmau5’s music for example :)
one thing I don't see people talking too much here, and that is, imo, more interesting than the transitions, bpm changes etc. And it's really the heart of the track : the tuplets. In music we usually subdivide beats by filling them with a certain amount of evenly spaced notes. 4 notes in a beat, you got sixteenth notes, 6 notes in a beat and you got sextuplets, etc. But what if you put like 7 evenly spaced notes in a beat ? Or what i you put 15 evenly spaced notes over the course of 7 beats, and then you take 4 consective of these notes that you replace with 5 that take the same amount of time ? You end up with crazy tuplets and nested tuplets, in a similar fashion to Frank Zappa in the black page. This, I think, is what really gives that random, alienlike vibe to the track.
I hope this progresses the genre. Genres like Djent and Math Rock have been doing this for years. Animals As Leaders, Hail the Sun, Dance Gavin Dance are just a few examples. The thing is, this can't simply be replicated and sound good. This approach to song writing challenges the ear because we are conditioned to 4/4. I hope this doesn't become a fad that every producer/label requires for full sets, like basic "headbanger" tracks. It has to be done with a guided approach. I hope this pushes creativity in many ways beyond timing.
One of the songs that comes to mind that surprised me like this one was S'mores by TrollPhace & Popsikl, it really caught me off guard the first time listening. But it doesn't come nearly as close to being as unique and ambitious as Polyriddim is.
man, tbh the 7/4 was cool and all but THE NESTED TUPLETS. I am so overjoyed that in the midst of a pandemic and what's going on in the world right now, we get this fresh shit!
So this is the most experimental song. A key change to a microtonal key signature, a tempo change to a tempo with a decimal, a time signature change to 7/4, and it still slaps
Honestly speaking, I kinda like many things in the track, the cheeky melody is kinda nice to hear.. Also, the build-up is also cool and feels like a big wave is coming or sth.. But idk about the experimental side of it.. I just have trouble jamming to experimental tracks and the huge hype they get, cause to me it feels like experimental is just something that someone who doesn't know how to be in rythmn would create.. It surely makes the track unique, but for me I think it's literally super easy to make something when you don't have any boundary to be in, you'd just go random, make something, glue them together, and people would appreciate..
Connor will get blown away after listening to Akeos & Ayonikz - Toll Gate. I'm listening to it on repeat since the past hour☠️💫. Oh and it's on no. 1 dubstep beatport rn🔥🔥🔥💯.
The tune and idea were great, no denying that. I do want to see this a bit more fleshed out, I feel like this track could have done more with the sound design, rather then using one stab sound the entire drop. I also wanted to see the track do more with those little breaks in the drop with the keys and string melodies cutting into the main stabs. Has a lot more potential then this song's sound design and structure offer.
This song is the most unique song in this scene that i have heard in months/years. I am so happy this got released. Wondering, how this inspires other producers?
I like this tune a lot simply because it's something totally different, unexpected. Can't imagine it would play out that well in terms of danceability in a live setting but it's one of those brainmelters that would just cause people to lose their shit with no real idea on how to react other than "THE FUCK IS THIS!?" and trying to figure out how to move to this other than explosive gunfingers.
Dude honestly, riddim/heavy bass music has been waiting for a HUGE change like this. I really wanna start making music like this, and encourage people to make music like this. We could have like microtonal riddim in 6/9 at 113.7 bpm, the possibilities are infinite.
