Musical experiments
Musical experiment No. 2 - Responding with song
Musical experiment No. 3 - Playing with your neighbours
Musical experiment No. 1
Pop Song Formula
Not all pop songs are as formulaic as the following. But lots of them are. The Matrix, a super-songwriting trio, pen radio hits for the likes of Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears and Hilary Duff. To play with the pop formula, we asked Patrick Keenan and Myron Schulz (who would normally follow a less conventional song-writing method) to each write a song roughly following these pop song rules.
1. Time:
No longer than 3:30.
The first chorus should come in at around 0:50.
2. Format:
Intro: 4 bars
Verse: 16 bars
Chorus: 8 bars
2nd Verse: 16 bars
2nd Chorus: 8 bars
Breakdown/Bridge
Double final Chorus: 16 bars
Outro: fade out on a repeated chorus
Hanging bits (optional): “In some records there will be one or two bars stuck in between two of the sections where most of the music stops and a few bits are left hanging in the air before the whole track comes crashing back into the next section.”
3. Tempo:
No faster than 135 beats per minute.
In a 4/4 time signature.
4. Lyrics:
Chorus must deal with the most basic human emotions (e.g. “That’s the way, a-ha a-ha I like it a-ha a-ha”). Not too negative. Verse lyrics must be relatable and human. The first line of the chorus sums up the entire emotional meaning of the song. This should also be the title of the song.
Source: The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way by The Timelords (The KLF)
Both artists stuck pretty close to the rules and wrote some pretty catchy tunes.
Speak My Mind - Patrick Keenan (2008)
Patrick Keenan is a songwriter whose unconventional pop song-ery is influenced by The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Velvet Undergound, The Breeders, Tom Waits and Blur. He accepted the challenge to try some conventional pop with great enthusiasm.
myspace.com/patrickkeenan
Let's All Get Together - Myron Schulz (2008)
Myron Schulz used to craft epic retro-pop tunes with Canadian bands The Pets and The Waking Eyes. These days he’s not focused on playing live, but rather on songwriting, re-cording and pitching to film/TV/licensing opportunities.
myspace.com/myronschulz
Musical experiment No. 2
Responding with song
Music has always been a way for people to respond to the times in which they lived. Psalmists wrote tunes lamenting socio-political strife, Guthrie sang about labour rights, Dylan sang against the war.
We gave Chris Neufeld a challenge: to musically respond to the issues of our time. We gave him four articles about big-theme news items and asked him for a song. The topics were:
The food crisis
Global warming
Reliance on oil
Over-advertising
Here's focused in on Naomi Klein's piece about reliance on oil and disaster capitalism and wrote this tune.
Where the Danger Lies - Chris Neufeld (2008)
Like the kid at school who plays you for a fool
You believe most everything that’s said
Only later can you tell that you fell for every swindle
Every true bully finds a way inside your head
Follow where you’re led
Makes no difference where the danger lies
It’s all for the sake of the fear laid skies
You’ve gotta listen clear, a tragedy is near
You gotta trust the learned men
Take our fine advice, we gotta tame the price
And you just can’t comprehend
It’s the only way my friend
Makes no difference where you call your home
It’s all for the sake of the fear laid skies
It’s all in the name of the Redeemer Lies
Freedom don’t mean a thing when you got no choice
Freedom don’t mean a thing when you got no voice
If you wanna drive and your way to survive
It’s time to finally concede
We’ve gotta pick our spot and drill for all we’ve got
We gotta let the land bleed
Save your family
Makes no difference where the danger lies
It’s all for the sake of the fear laid sky
It’s all in the name of the Redeemer lies
Musical experiment No. 3
Playing with your neighbours
Playing music can be a way for people to connect. But what if your neighbours don't play the same kind of music? Mike Petkau, founder of Record of the Week Club, wanted to find out.
The club is a weekly recording session where three musicians, from different musical walks, but the same physical community (Winnipeg), write and record a song in one night. The musicians never know who they will be collaboration with until they show up at the studio. One week saw a roots singer, a DJ and a symphony violinist record a dance pop tune.
"Rarely are we forced to work outside out comfort zone with musicians whose creative experience can be fundamentally different than our own," says Petkau on the club's website.
The song featured here has songwriter John K. Samson (see page 82 of the magazine), Nikki Komaksiutiksak (Inuit throat singer) and Blunderspublik (electronic artist) working together.
Keewatin Arctic - Record of the Week Club (Week 13)
To hear/buy more Record of the Week Club songs see recordoftheweekclub.com
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