My favourite Tegan & Sara track by a long shot. Sara wrote it. The bassist is Matt Sharp, formerly of Weezer, and it was produced by Chris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie, of course!).
The bassline in the second half of the chorus was the thing that initially attracted me, but upon further inspection, I think the entire track is ingenious. The bass isn't present during the first verse - the piano hold its place. It enters during the chorus. In the first half, it kind of harmonizes with the melody being played on the piano. Then in the second half, it goes way up the neck into a bloody gorgeous countermelody that makes the entire song, in my opinion. (Plus I like how the end of the chorus hints at a C section that doesn't come until the second time around.)
The pure brilliance comes in during the second verse. The piano is playing the same thing it did during the first verse, that is an F major chord. But here the bass is playing a D underneath it, causing the entire thing to sound as a D minor seventh chord. Essentially, the bass makes us hear the second verse in a different harmonic context than the first verse. It sounds darker and heavier, just as the lyrics become more claustrophobic. Man, I don't know if it was the producer or the bassist (or even Sara) who made this decision, but whoever did, they know a hell of a lot about music.
The recording process is dirge-like, because it's such a thickly produced song that I'm not sure which parts to leave out and which to keep. I might hear some keyboards and go, "Extraneous!", but then I discover that they're contributing to the overall harmony and are thus essential. Listening to the song so many times, I've gotten a bit too ambitious because I seem to have fallen in love with the whole thing instead of just the bassline. Anyway, I'll post what I have so far before I destroy it by trying to cover the entire thing. Hope the beauty of the bass comes through!
June 30, 2009
June 25, 2009
Wurlitzer Jukebox!
My two favourite bassists in history are Andy Rourke of The Smiths and Philip Moxham of Young Marble Giants. When deciding which YMG songs to put on my All-Time Favourite Basslines List, I initially just wrote "all of Colossal Youth" (which is an album). Then I narrowed it down to just one song: "Wurlitzer Jukebox!"
This song in particular exemplifies some great aspects of Phil's playing. It opens with a mad bass lead and then segues perfectly into some simple bouncy background stuff. To me, he always seems to perfectly balance all his roles in a song; as melody player, rhythm player, and harmony player.
For my presentation of this track, I started by plugging a pattern into this drum program, the rhythm rascal. Sadly, this program is designed for hard rock, and sounds pretty bad in general. So I decided to put the pattern in backwards, record it, then flip the whole thing backwards again using Audacity. (Audacity is a free recording program I'm using. You can really do a surprising amount of things with it.) In other words, you hear the alternating bass and snare sounds in order, but the sounds themselves are backwards. I played the melody on a bass instead of singing it, since this is after all an exploration of the dark underbelly of this unappreciated instrument.
You can hear the end result, with full instrumentation, here.
You can hear the bassline on its own here.
(You will have to scroll down and download them.)
Keep in mind that the sound is never gonna be perfect because this is the microphone I'm using:
This song in particular exemplifies some great aspects of Phil's playing. It opens with a mad bass lead and then segues perfectly into some simple bouncy background stuff. To me, he always seems to perfectly balance all his roles in a song; as melody player, rhythm player, and harmony player.
For my presentation of this track, I started by plugging a pattern into this drum program, the rhythm rascal. Sadly, this program is designed for hard rock, and sounds pretty bad in general. So I decided to put the pattern in backwards, record it, then flip the whole thing backwards again using Audacity. (Audacity is a free recording program I'm using. You can really do a surprising amount of things with it.) In other words, you hear the alternating bass and snare sounds in order, but the sounds themselves are backwards. I played the melody on a bass instead of singing it, since this is after all an exploration of the dark underbelly of this unappreciated instrument.
You can hear the end result, with full instrumentation, here.
You can hear the bassline on its own here.
(You will have to scroll down and download them.)
Keep in mind that the sound is never gonna be perfect because this is the microphone I'm using:
June 24, 2009
Mnth Mbaez Projekt
So I've decided on a project to undertake now that it's summer. The other day, I decided to make a list of all my favourite basslines...fifteen of them or so. I've found that all I really need in a song is a good bassline - everything else can be just terrible, and I won't notice. And I want you all to hear these basslines the way I hear them!
My original plan was to just write about each of them and post youtube links. This plan was quickly crushed when I discovered that not only were some songs inaccessible on the internet, but the ones that were around were of horrifically bad quality! Therefore, I've decided to record these basslines myself, with any other instruments necessary for context, and post them along with my thoughts on them. I'll aim to post one every couple of days. The first is already underway!
My original plan was to just write about each of them and post youtube links. This plan was quickly crushed when I discovered that not only were some songs inaccessible on the internet, but the ones that were around were of horrifically bad quality! Therefore, I've decided to record these basslines myself, with any other instruments necessary for context, and post them along with my thoughts on them. I'll aim to post one every couple of days. The first is already underway!
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