INFLUENCE OF BLUEGRASS AND RADIOHEAD ON METRIC COMPLEXITY IN PUNCH BROTHERS RACHEL HOTTLE | McGill University [email protected]
CENTRAL QUESTION What are the metric signifiers of bluegrass’s and Radiohead’s influences in Punch Brothers’ music?
BACKGROUND KEY DIFFERENCES Bluegrass Radiohead • Punch Brothers: progressive acoustic quintet • “syncopated” • “syncopated” • Traditional bluegrass instrumentation: mandolin, rhythms mapped rhythms mapped onto fiddle, guitar, banjo, double bass, vocals onto isochronous non-isochronous • Genre-bending sound: bluegrass tunes, rock covers, meters meters original pop and long-form classical compositions • Meter changes are • Meter changes are • Radiohead is one of their strongest avowed infrequent, frequent, disrupt the influences momentary, tactus, create long- preserve the tactus term instability
1/5 INFLUENCE OF BLUEGRASS AND RADIOHEAD ON METRIC COMPLEXITY IN PUNCH BROTHERS RACHEL HOTTLE | McGill University [email protected]
METRIC CONTEXTS OF “SYNCOPATED” RHYTHMS Bluegrass: isochronous meters Radiohead: non-isochronous meters
Click icons to play examples
Opening of “Home Sweet Home,” Earl Scruggs. Transcription Opening bass line, “2+2=5,” Radiohead. Transcription from Osborn from Rockwell 2009, red annotations mine. 2017, red annotations mine.
influence influence
Opening guitar riff, “You Are,” Punch Brothers. Guitar/bass ostinato, “Angel of Doubt,” Punch Brothers. 2/5 INFLUENCE OF BLUEGRASS AND RADIOHEAD ON METRIC COMPLEXITY IN PUNCH BROTHERS RACHEL HOTTLE | McGill University [email protected]
METER CHANGES Bluegrass: infrequent, tactus-preserving, often one or two extra beats
“Clinch Mountain Backstep,” Ralph Stanley. Figure from Rockwell, 2011.
influence
Punch Brothers, “Missy,” Punch Brothers. Red box shows meter change at end of refrain before going into verse 1. 3/5 INFLUENCE OF BLUEGRASS AND RADIOHEAD ON METRIC COMPLEXITY IN PUNCH BROTHERS RACHEL HOTTLE | McGill University [email protected]
METER CHANGES Radiohead: tactus-disrupting
influence
“Go to Sleep,” Radiohead. Figure from Osborn 2017. Tactus changes from quarter note to eighth note when meter “Three Dots and a Dash,” Punch Brothers. changes from 4/4 to 12/8. Tactus changes from quarter note to eighth note. Eighth note = Eighth note Sixteenth note = Eighth note
4/5 INFLUENCE OF BLUEGRASS AND RADIOHEAD ON METRIC COMPLEXITY IN PUNCH BROTHERS RACHEL HOTTLE | McGill University [email protected]
MULTIPLE METER CHANGES REFERENCES • Osborn, Brad. “Rhythm and Meter.” In Everything in Its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead. Oxford University Press, 2017. • Rockwell, Joti. “Time on the Crooked Road: Isochrony, Meter, and Disruption in Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Music.” Ethnomusicology 55, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 55-76. • Rockwell, Joti. “Banjo Transformations and Bluegrass Rhythm.” Journal of Music Theory 53, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 137-162. • Palmer, James. “Who’s Feeling Crooked Now? ‘Progressive Bluegrass’ in the Metric Disruptions of Punch “Next to the Trash,” Punch Brothers. Brothers.” Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Arlington, VA, 2017.
5/5