Obsessing 7 with BetZe13 - SeeVan

Here is a little diddy I did a few years back for the RPM Challenge. Drums are spliced from BetaMonkey Odd Meter Meltdown, and the rest I played live, simple but groovy...

BetZe13 - SeeVan 7/4

Keepin' it ODD,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Tesla - Edison's Medicine

Its like a block, I just can't put a hair flipping, camera smuggin' glam band and the injustice to Tesla together. Call me a stero-typer, but I saw most of these bands back in the day and they really just had a one track mind, okay 2. So give it to Tesla for alerting us to something so far out of this genre and after sifting through their dancing distractions, you can't help but notice they are excellent rock musicians. They stay in 4 most of the time but these unlikely emissaries slipped into some oddness here, and right at the correct line wouldn't you say?

Chorus
Nor did the man outta time, man outta time. 7/4
Thought you was crazy. You was one of a kind. 4/4
Man outta time, man outta time. 7/4
All along, world was wrong. You was right. 4/4

Tesla - Edison's Medicine 4/4, 7/4


Keepin' it ODD,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Meshuggah - Ritual

See, the softer side of Meshuggah knows the sacredness of seven and its effectiveness in the use of rituals. What the diddledang you talkin' bout....? The common denominator of this song is 7 (with the exception of the solo). If you look closely and pull this song to pieces you would agree with me. The first section we shall call the verse has a 14/8 feel divided 8+6 or you could say 7/4 4+3, but my subjectivity would stay with the 14/8. So then we move onto the chorus sounding part and that for sure has a 7/4 feel. The solo then departs the 7 and goes to an 8 feel or most commonly known as 4/4. The singing interlude same, but I think they are superimposing the feel of the 14 6+8 over 2 bars of 8 here... trippy eh?... Now, can you see how their seductive use of 7s effectively sets the trance for the ritual?

Meshuggah - Ritual 7/4, 14/8 [8+6], 4/4


Seduced by 7s,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Animals as Leaders - Behaving Badly

The first thing I said when I heard this band was.... where's the bass? I mean real bass, not the 8th string tuned down & played by a guitarist. I immediately dismissed them... Somehow they got back into my player... perhaps it was the pull of the 7 & 9s.. hummmmm So here they are Behaving Badly, maybe because they are giving the finger to four & skipping that last anticipated beat resulting in that magical number 7... (and 6 & 3).

Animals as Leaders - Behaving Badly 7/4, 6/4, 3/4


Behaving ODDly,
BetZe13
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Still Obsessing 7: New Playlist 7-8 to 7-15-12 all 7s

New 7s this week on Odd Time Obsessed Radio
Tracks from Don Ellis Orchestra - Pieces of Eight
Meshuggah, Metallica, Dijeridu Drone, Bulgarian, Moondog, Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, OSI, the Flowbots, the Fallen, Radiohead, TypeA, Sting, less, fred and more.

223ly yours,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with less - Another Rapist

There is one song that I tend to default to when going through a break up... 'Its Over' by less. Some how it decisively flushes out the sticky residual emotions and general pissed off-ness. I needed this song yesterday...
...Back in the early 2000s I met less during my shell-shocked San Francisco days. I had moved from city of drones, Washington DC and was in awe of the polar opposite artistic freedomatic approach to life. Tainted by my musical schooling and east coast entrainment, it was ever so foreign for me to see this musical creation process. The rock star archetypal or career concerns did not pollute their process of drawing out bits and pieces stuck between alpha and theta, creating potential for a cult-like following. If they had all the resources they needed, I am sure they would've taken over...
...so since it has been a while (for the need of the break up song) I ended up listening to the whole album. And guess what, amongst other odd meters I found some 7, awesomeness just got wicked awesome. The chorus is 7/4, 7/4, 7/4, 8/4 (4/4) - the rest is in 4.

less - Another Rapist 4/4, 7/4

more to comments on the oddness of this artist to come,
more less info Firecodecore.com/less

Chick in 7,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Gentle Giant - Black Cat

Forty one years ago this juicy prog-ness was bestowed to the underground astute musical masses. Back then, odd meter was more in vogue, or I should say hip, going by their own riffs.

As you can see, the transcription begins with 7/8 and if you would like to see all of the pages the link is available in the notes on youtube. The majority of the song is in 7 with breaks in 3,4,5 & 6. The transcription is from an eighth note point of view, but I feel it more as quarter notes. This is where it might get tricky - is it 7/8 or 7/4? I say 7/4. Why? Because first and foremost is the feel. We can start with the tempo, how fast does it feel? Well at first listen I would say moderate, its actually 114 bpm. So does a quarter note equal 114 bpm (7/4) or an eighth note equal 114 bpm (7/8)? This subject I would say is slightly subjective. So I hear it as moderate tempo, so would call it then 7/4. But really whats more important here is the cool cat bass line...

Sevenly,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Fu Manchu - Pick Up Summer

Today here in the states we are celebrating our freedom and independence and this is usually the real start of summer. So what better way than to kick it off with Fu Manchu - Pick Up Summer. These guys represent hitailin' the open road, California sun, muscle cars and fuzz boxes that perfectly matched my convertible Mustang... that is until I drove it into the ground. Anyways the odd point here is that this is the only song I know by them that is in a odd meter. So here it is: 7/4, 7/4, 8/4, 7/4 (verse type of part) breaks in 8/4 or 4/4 and some 6/4... awesomeness...


Freely,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with the Don Ellis Orchestra - Beat Me Daddy, Seven to the Bar

Does it get any cooler than this... Experimental Ellis and his orchestra, performing boogie woogie in 7 with three bass players, two drummers a conga player, 5 trumpets, one quarter-tone trumpet, 8 more horns and a piano/organ player? Perhaps it does... ... but have yet to see. Mr. Ellis states that it is in 7/8 but I hear it as 7/4. But who am I to argue with the metric maestro. Anyways, this song really swings the 7, grooves that beat 7 to the bar.

Don Ellis Orchestra - Beat Me Daddy 7 Beats to the Bar - 7/4


Beating 7,
BetZe13
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Obsessing 7 with Alice in Chains

In the early innocence of AIC, they ventured into 7 just for a partial part of one song, a hit song I might add. The pre-verse and verse are in 7/4, and the rest is in 4/4. Sometimes what gives this away is when the singer holds a note because the are not used the feel of the meter. It works here, and so does Cantrell's 7-solo phrasing. Being as creative and inventive as they are, I would/will like to see more experimental with odd meters. If they can hair toss like this to 7 imagine what they could do in 21/8.


Keepin' it ODD,
BetZe13
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7-1 to 7-7-12: Obsessing 7 this week and all month

This is the month for obsessing 7 - 7/4, 7/8, 7/16... Starting off with variations of this rotation and more to come...

Tune in to Odd Time Obsessed Radio

50 Foot Hose – Rose - 4/4, 7/4
Alice in Chains - Them Bones - 7/8, 4/4
BetZe - MIDI Treat - 11/8, 7/8, 3/8, 5/8
BetZe - See Van - 7/4
Bitches Brew - Bitches Brew - 5/8, 7/8, 5/4, 7/4
Boullt, Lindsey - Aurora’s Aura - 7/4, 9/4, 5/16, 9/16
Boullt, Lindsey - Cleopatra’s Third Eye - 7/8, 4/4, 7/4, 6/4, 6/8, 9/8, 15/8, 10/8
Boullt, Lindsey - Moving Panvishnu - 7/8
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline - 7/4
Brubeck, Dave Quartet - Unsquare Dance - 7/4
Can - One More Night - 7/4
Captain Beyond - Mesmerization Eclipse - 7/4, 4/4, 11/4
Congreso - Vamos Andando Mi Amigo - 7/4, 4/4
Crimson Glory - In Dark Places - 7/4, 4/4
Devo - Jocko Homo [Booji Boy Version] - 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4
Dillinger Escape Plan - Party Smasher - 8/4, 4/4, 7/16
Don Ellis - Barnum’s Revenge - 7/4
Don Ellis – Orientation - 7/8, 9/8
Ekova - A Soul’s Delight - 7/4
Eskimo – Raven - 4/4, 7/8
Fallen, The - From Fragile to Strength - 7/4, 4/4
Flobots - Rhythm Method - 7/8, 9/8, 3/8
fred - Mucous Music - 9/8, 7/8, 4/4
fred – Mantra - 7/4, 6/4, 4/4
Free Design – Bubbles - 7/8, 4/4
Fu Manchu - Pick-Up Summer - 7/4, 4/4
Genesis - Dance on the Volcano - 7/8
Gentle Giant - Black Cat - 7/4
Hank Levy - Pete Is A Four-Letter Word - 7/2
Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters 6/8 – 7/8 - 6/8, 7/8
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues In Aspic(Part II) - 5/4, 7/4, 9/4 + +
King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair - 6/8, 7/8, 8/8
King Diamond - Lucy Forever - 7/4 solo
Lamb – Merge - 4/4, 7/4
Lamb of God - A Warning - 7/4
Lamb of God - In the Absence of the Sacred - 7/4, 6/4, 9/4, 4/4
Led Zeppelin - The Ocean - 4/4, 7/8
Levy, Hank - Bop City Revisited - 7/4
Lords, Traci - Good n Evil - 7/8
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Be Happy - 7/4
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Cosmic Strut - 7/4
Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP - 3/4, 2/4, 7/4
Melvins - Resolve (New and Improved) - 5/4, 4/4, 7/4
Meshuggah – Ritual - 7/4, 7/8, 6/8, 8/8
Metallica – Blackened - 7/8, 9/8, 6/4, 4/4, 7/4
Michael Karwowski - Is This All There Is? - 7/8, 9/8
Moondog - My Tiny Butterfly - 7/8
Moondog - Voice of Spring - 7/8
National Health – Pleaides - 4/4, 5/4, 7/4 +
Nosfertu – Highway - 5/8, 7/8, 9/4, 7/4, 4/4
Opeth - Hours of Wealth - 7/8, 4/4
Opeth – Windowpane - 7/4
Orange Goblin - Hot Magic, Red Planet - 4/4, 7/8
OSI – Better - 4/4, 7/8
Ozric Tentacles – Myriapod - 4/4, 7/8
Pink Floyd – Money - 7/4, 4/4
Police, The – Mother - 7/4
Porcupine Tree - So Called Friend - 7/8
Porcupine Tree - The Sound of Muzak - 7/4, 4/4
Porcupine Tree – Deadwing - 7/4, 4/4
Prong - Beg To Differ - 6/4, 5/4, 7/8
Quercus - Moonlight Mardigras - 7/4
Radiohead - Paranoid Android - 7/8, 8/8
Radiohead – 2+2=5 - 7/8, 4/4
Rush – Driven - 6/8, 7/8
Ryan Rapsys – Pseudocyo - 4/4, 5/4, 9/8, ¾, 11/8, 7/8
Say Bok Gwai - Yellow 5 - 7/8, 4/4
Self - Lucid Anne - 7/8
Setzer, Brian - Everybody is Up To Something - 7/4, 4/4
Solitude Aeternus - Midnight Dreams - 6/4, 5/4, 7/4
Soundgarden – Outshined - 7/4, 4/4
Spyra - Blue Daffodil - 7/8
Spyra - Sons & Daughters - 7/8
Sting - Like a Beautiful Smile - 7/8, 8/8
Sting - Love is Stronger Than Justice - 7/4, 4/4
Sting - Straight to My Heart - 7/8
Symphony X - Set the World On Fire - 4/4, 7/4, 9/4, 14/4
Symphony X - The Sacrifice - 7/8, 8/8, 4/4, 3/8, 6/8
Symphony X - The Walls of Babylon - 4/4, 6/4, 8/8, 6/8, 14/8, 7/4
Symphony X – Domination - 4/4, 7/4, 5/4
Symphony X – Seven - 4/4, (7/8 + 6/8), 7/4, 8/4, (7/8 + 8/8)
Tesla - Edison’s Medicine - 4/4, 7/4
Tool – Schism - 5/4, 13/8, 12/8, 15/8, 9/8, 10/8, 6/8 ,6/4, 14/8, 7/4
Ween - Even If You Don’t - 7/4, 4/4
Wild Turkey - 12 Streets of Cobbled Black - 7/4, 4/4
William Ackerman - Brother A Teaches 7 - 7/8
Woody Pak feat. Prime – Hyped - 7/8

Keepin' it ODD,
BetZe13
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Derek Sherinian - Oceana

Okay I am just gonna call this guy Derek Sevenian...

Well in case you don't know who this cat is (ehemmmm which I didn't until my frenchy oddmeterite, David Taugis clued me in on this), he is a elite rock pro keyboardist, that's played with so and so and you know who...

Hey and this is his 7th solo album... coincidence?

Check out the tracks..

5 Elements - yup you guessed it... 5/4
Mercury 7 - you are so smart... 7/8
Mulholland - 7/4, 15/8(I think)
Euphoria - 6/4, 4/4
Ghost Runner - (thought it was a Eye of the Tiger cover at first) 4/4
El Camino Diablo - 7/8, 4/4
I heard that - 4/4
Seven Sins - no not again... 7/8
Oceana - 4/4

If you really, really want to learn how to play in 7 - listen to this album, play/shred along, you won't be bored. This would make an extremely effective Music Minus One (instrumental karaoke) CD. The recording is pristine, lots of layers to be interested in as you are locking in the varying grooves and along with all melodic keyboards and guitar noodling the bass is loud and clear and most beautiful sounding.

Shred with Sevenian and you will be a ProInSeven.

Keepin' it ODD,
BetZe Thirteensky
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Catch a Cricket Commercial - 7/4

Does anyone remember this commercial?


I don't, but how cool is it that its in 7/4 & 3/4? I found this nugget in "Great Songs of Madison Avenue" Hal Leonard Publishing (c)1976. All the other commericals were in 4. Someday when I am in a MIDI mood, I am going to record & arrange this commerical in Cubase. I long to hear the essence of 1973 through this commerical and pretend what it was like when it was cool to have a Cricket in your pocket.

7/4
Cricket Lighter, is really quite a light,
It'll last for months, and still burn
3/4
bright,
with thousands of sure-fire lights
and a flame you can set to just the right height.
7/4
Catch a Cricket, for a dollar forty nine,
by Gillette.

-BetZe13
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Where's the Odd Reggae?

So my friend Leighton is moving back to Jamaica tomorrow for a bit and it of course got me thinking: What if there were more Reggae/Dub music in un4/4? Would it be so bad? Would it cause an uproar? What if they could mix and trix up that 2 & 4 upstroke guitar a bit? Reggae is right up there with Trance that sends me seeking relief in Mike Patton type patterns. What if Reggae could follow this just a bit? Only one example I've found so far is a cover:

Dub Side of the Moon - Money 7/4, 4/4 covered by Gary "Nesta" Pine & Dollarman

I think 7/4 sounds perfectly normal in Dub style (I especially love the beginning)- I wish that I could hear more... Does anyone out there know any???

-BetZe13
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Who Knew Part IV - Flaming Youth

My uniform is leather, and my power is my age
I'm getting it together, to break out of my cage
Flaming Youth, set the world on fire
Flaming Youth, our flag is flyin' higher and higher...

Well who knew 'Destroyer' - an album that shaped my youth (and made me forever long for boots that were supported by monster teeth) had some un-4/4 in it? While in my single digits, my brother played this album over and over and over, shaping my tender consciousness. I didn't catch the odd meter at the time... shame on me... but I do think it planted an odd seed or two.

Check it out - the guitar solo is in 7/4 and the same riff repeats at the end but its in 4/4 - pretty cool, this gives it a dropped beat, circular feel which sometimes can be found in this genre (straight-ahead rock).

Your Oddness,
BetZe (Simmons)
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Seseme Street in 7/4

It counts to 12 but its in 7/4 & 4/4!! Does learning to count get better than this?



I love to count,
-B

OddTimeObsessed.com

Danish Pop in 7

Here’s something new for you,
(well it was new for me)
Perler fra Svin
(what? – Danish for Pearls from Swine)

I’m a sucker for any odd meter, so when the genre of Danish Pop was introduced, I immediately thought oh no sticky sweet (I prefer darkness). But when I had a listen to these fellows, I really enjoyed it. They have a great authenticity and originality about them, even though I don’t really know what they are saying. But, Jakob Johansen (gotta love that name), guitarist, song-writer whose project this kindly clued me in on the lyrical meanings.

Vaegelsind – 7/4 is about being fickle, unbalanced, wanting everything and not being able to choose.

Morgen med Sara – 7/4, 4/4 “Morning with Sara” about an ex-girly and longing for something you don’t know what it is or someone you don’t know who is or where to find.

I think that Jakob has reached his ambition of “making music that is rhythmically ambitious and lyrically profound while remaining easily accessible, melodic and catchy”. He lives in Denmark, studying journalism and has been writing pop tunes for the past 7 years. And as he told me that he discovered what a time signature was 5 years ago and since then has become more and more obsessed with odd meters. Now that’s my kind of musician. I look forward to his future odd creations (13/8 hint hint).

Have a listen – and of course they will be streaming on the Odd Time Obsessed broadcast.

BandBase.dk/PerlerfraSvin

(The site is in Danish, so just click the play button)

Holder sig Aparte,
-BetZe

OddTimeObsessed.com