Tuesday Tunes

I’d like you to count to Twelve … no, Eleven. Sharing the name of a piece of medical equipment, today’s song fills me with energy, but is incredibly hard to dance to unless you really know how to count.

The Song
Song: Gamma Knife
Artist: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Album: Nonagon Infinity - 2016 - ATO / Flightless
Method of discovery: Triple J’s Hottest 100 2016

Personal thoughts: I know that psychedelic rock is not everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, I’m certain psycheledic rock would be something more surreal than a cup of tea, to be honest. Maybe a flask of viscous, colour-changing liquid that looks like it’s softly breathing. Whatever, I’ll drink it if it means I get this song. There’s a basic guitar riff and an impression of a wolf/eagle hybrid before the drums enter and don’t really let up. The beat is relentless, and the distorted guitars thrum you into submission. The whole song is a drug trip in itself, but there’s a brilliant reason as to how it forces you to sink further and further into it’s distorted depths. The real thing that shines here is …

Theory (General): … the Time Signatures. For those who know music theory, feel free to jump down to ‘Theory(Specific)’. For those who haven’t the foggiest: most music you could think of would be in 4/4, which means there are four (4/4) quarter beats (4/4) in a bar. e.g. U2 - With or Without You. If you clicked or tapped along you’d feel these four beats. 3/4 has three (3/4) quarter beats (3/4) in the bar. e.g. Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection. Other songs divide further down into six eighth beats (6/8 - e.g. Queen - We are the Champions). The main difference between 6/8 and 3/4 is where it feels like the first beat sits. Try counting three beats for Queen and emphasising the first beat every time. It feels wrong. Most songs stick to one Time Signature, but what makes Gamma Knife a favourite of mine is …

Theory (Specific): … The Time Signatures. The song is in 12/8 .. no wait, 11/8. Well, both. And sometimes neither. It starts with two measures of 11/8, then before you realise what’s happening the song is in 12/8 for the rest of the intro and the verse (‘Milk and Honey…’). The chorus of ‘Gamma Knife” rises over three bars of 6/8, which serves as a deceptive “half bar” that makes your ear tumble forward in the song, expecting more. The second verse (‘Crack the whip…’) is over 11/8, regaining 12/8 stability for the guitar heavy polyrhythm (a whole ‘nother kettle of fish) playing eight evenly spaced notes over the twelve beats in the bar. This whole thing repeats before we get to the instrumental end of the song, which is punctuated by a heavy drum solo over 11/8. I’ve never had so much fun figuring out whether I should have one or two extra fingers to count on. Our brains like balance. The three most prolific time signatures (4/4, 3/4, 6/8) provide a nice sense of balance. But switching them around, or having an uneven number of beats, serve to unbalance us. Gamma Knife stacks these techniques atop one another to create a sense that we are Alice, falling down the rabbit hole.

Research: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (hereafter referred to as Gizz) are one of the busiest bands in Australia. They’ve released thirteen albums since forming in 2010. If you spread them evenly, the speed they release albums isn’t enough enough time to have a baby (8.3 months per album). Their Fourteenth album is due to release later this month, which is their first since 2017, when they dropped their last … five albums. Gizz released five albums in 2017. And I’m still waiting for Winds of Winter.

Give it a go: If you feel like getting confused trying to count to eleven, twelve, or six.

Give it a miss: If you don’t like to think about music while you are listening

[links]
Spotify: Gamma Knife, Tuesday Tunes
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard: Website, Spotify, Wikipedia
Other: Gamma Knife (Medical)