Trying to decode "I" by Meshuggah (LIVE STREAM!)
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- Опубліковано 12 чер 2024
- Who knows, maybe I'll find something !
Plot twist, I didn't.
0:00 intro
3:42 background
12:25 riff #1
20:29 riff #2
29:30 riff #3
41:50 riff #4
45:58 riff #6
54:04 riff #8
1:01:48 riff #10
1:06:58 riff #11
1:11:00 riff #12
1:14:00 riff #13
1:18:00 that line in 11
For the record, Tomas Haake himself explained that there was no pattern to find in the intro of I:
"Yeah, the very beginning of that track, that whole drum fill, if you will, between the kicks and the toms, I don’t know if I could ever learn that one in the exact same way. I think a lot people don’t really know that it is random, and we never learned it ourselves. I just recorded drums and as I said, we just recorded guitars and bass on a bar by bar basis. We never really learned it as big chunks of music. It is written and recorded in a weird way."
Do you have a link or source? Would be appreciated!
@@arheru It's from an interview with Patrick Slevin for The Aquarian from 2008.
It's one i rarely listen to because it's such a big experience, but when I do I'm always like "It's time"
Yeah, and the same goes for Catch 33. Feels wrong to listen to only a part of it.
It's honestly a pretty fun listen if you're listening casually imo tho.
I'm like that with 7empest by Tool
@@dan.j.boydzkreationz I feel that way with Third Eye. Tempest doesn’t keep my attention to be honest
I've always felt that "I" is a very psychological listen because of how it uses little chunks of patterns that the listener gradually becomes more familiar with and recognizes. Once the listener is recognizing these little chunks in the patterns, there's this fascinating blend of memory, anticipation, and disorientation in the listener's mind that is suuuper unique. For example, as I listen to "I," I always notice this weird sensation like I recognize something happening in the song but I don't know what it is and I don't know where I recognize it from. It's as though, if you let yourself get lost in the song, your subconscious does all of this work by itself to make sense of the patterns that persistently defy expectations, and as a mindful listener you can observe your own mind's disoriented interpretation process. At least, this is how it goes for me and I can't think of any other piece of art that produces such an experience.
Dude. Thank you! Couldn't say that in a better way myself. You actually just condensed my thoughts about this incredible piece of music that I haven't been able to rationalize.
I've always thought that this particular song deserves to be studied and analyzed like a proper piece of art and could be apreciated even by non-metal fans. And it's amazing how what you described fits perfectly in the frame painted by the lyrics and the music itself, so dystopic, oppressing and yet enchanting.
Yepp, you always have this feeling while learning this song is that, 'oh I know what comes next' and the song is like: NOPE.
but when you get it right its phenomenal.
@DannyZ Your description is on point. The way you put it reminded me of a very different genre and difficult listen: The Caretaker - Everywhere At The End Of Time. It's 6.5 hours long, but do some reading into what its trying to achieve and the reactions people have felt from it - this is the closest answer I have to your challenge of a similar piece of art to "I" using your context.
@@puyobe thank you for making me discover that!
I remember asking for this in the comments several times. I'm so glad you did this. GG Yogev !
DAAAAAAMMMMM - I missed this live, had been waiting to this since announcement and having all alarms etc - but I went jogging and got bit stuck in traffic and never checked my phone until now at home, soooo ..
Me too so I'm pretending it is live to reduce the pain 😭
hahahahahaha jogging is important !
If you rearrange riff #6 a bit you can see a pattern - the 121221 part repeats (with a few exceptions) and is followed by various "endings"(mostly 3)
121221 3
121221 3
121221 212
121221 3
121221 213
121221 3411
1212_1 3
121221 2213
121221 3
121221 3
121221 3
121221 313
121221 2213
121221 3
121221 3
1_1221 3
121221 3
1211
I named 121221 'A' on my 'cheatsheet' XD
A=121221
A 3 A 3 A 2 1 2 A 3 A 2 1 3 A 3 1 0/0/0, (F2)
1 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 A 2 2 1 3 A 3 A 3 1 1 2 2 1 3 A 3 A 3 1 3 A 2 2 1 3
A 3 A 3 1 1 2 2 1 3 A 3 1 2 1 1
Legend.
In 'I', I love that most of the riffs have a motif/puzzle piece/fragment that they use many times (like the 121221 in riff #6 *), so it's still LIKE the normal Meshuggah thing, because we can still hear repeating patterns...but all the slight variations and additional one-time fragments change everything! "So close, yet so far away" from the normal Meshuggah thing, as if 'I' captures the band in a parallel universe. The most hilarious thing is that it's still in 4/4.
It's like they make their fragment, scatter it around the riff semi-randomly, and then fill in the gaps with the random/varied/one-off content. More like a painting than a mechanical system. Quite beautiful.
* I would actually include the 3 in the main pattern (so, 1212213), because it happens exactly like that 10 times, and the other 8 times are variations. And the beauty of 'I' is that the variations happen in random ways at random places :-D
I posted it on a FB group ages ago 😁
@@guitaristssuck8979 I don't use facebook /*shrug* Anyway, I'm not surprised that someone else managed to notice this pattern it does not seem THAT complicated to me.
@@Pheandir I remember I wrote it down on paper even earlier, mind you, I bought the CD in 2005, couldn't help but writing it down... other fans must have done the same back in the day too 😁 pre-social media age 😄
For me this is the best song/album from Meshuggah. Every time I listen to this track, I just immerse myself in the flow of very heavy and complex music. I don't even try to understand what's going on, I just go into hypnosis. After listening, I feel like I have lived a small life. And I wonder: how could they come up with this?
* EP 😜
So the guitar lead in 22 is still classic Meshuggah. It repeats 5 total times completely equaling 110 beats. On it's 6th repetition it gets truncated 18 beats in equaling an 128 beat phrase. This fits neatly into a 32 or 16 measure phrase, however you are thinking of it. It's the one truly classic Meshuggah pattern on the entire song.
Thanks for your work on this and all their songs 🤘 "I" still remains as my top fav today
Like Tomas said once: "No one knows how I goes"
I've always gotten the impression that it was a song that is composed of multiple styles. One being improvising on some levels on top of a light but constant snare. Another being chaos. Another being music built around the lyrics. Another being a super intricate guitar and drum tandem. I definitely have to dedicate time to listen to the whole song otherwise I skip it. It's an experience lol. Dope video.
My favorite song is definitely Catch 33, and more specifically the In Death - Is Life / Is Death part
Haha, I immediately recognized the "DAH" when you showed the score sketch at 12:30
Slowly but surely chunking my way through this monster video, but worth it.
We've reached peak music.
Especially #6
also, 'Nobody knows how to play I'
except these guys: ua-cam.com/video/2EiNgI7d5ao/v-deo.html
and this guy, ua-cam.com/video/SbGc3XhSUzg/v-deo.html
and this guy playing it on rocksmith ua-cam.com/video/rM46S2P77L0/v-deo.html
oh, and its on songsterr :D
Watching this sparked my quite-long-time-abandoned language of reading and writing notations, felt so nice to read all this mayhem in real time and realize it is still all there in my brain
hahahahaha nice
Favorite Meshuggah song = Do Not Look Down, the song that I could not get my head around the time sig of the opening riff until I came across your video. Awesome stuff, you present things in such a creative way keep them coming!🤘
In the "2nd Riff", the first section that you have written out - there is a mostly steady pattern, in your "smaller" numbers: 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1. That repeats again, and then ends with: 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 (and then goes into the half-step up section - which I can't find any repeating parts).
Then the 3rd section of the "2nd Riff", your "smaller" numbers do repeat again - actually with the same pattern as the first section, but that's only after the first "2, 1, 1, 1, 1" (after that "Big" 3 and "small" 1) that it opens with.
Anyways! Awesome video so far, really enjoying it!!
Edit: Also, that just made me think of something... maybe they were playing around with "somewhat" repeating patterns not in the "melodies/chugs" but in the "rests"? I wouldn't put it past them to consider doing something like that.
Also, you can hear a cymbal playing a steady 4/4 throughout the riff.
@@xXHURPADURPXX aka every Meshuggah song ever
@@dinospumoni5611 I mean, every song to my knowledge is in 4/4 but that doesn't mean that the drums are playing like a cymbal in 4/4 in every section of the song.
This entire song is the first 4 pages of Moby Dick in Morse code..
@@xXHURPADURPXX they are in Meshuggah songs though that's kinda their whole M.O.
This is an epic undertaking! Thanks for sharing with us ❤
Meshuggah's magnum opus imo.
Fucking amazing, so glad you did this. You didn't "fail" these riffs at all, THEY just transcended common sense.
That said, I hate to be this guy, but there's a tiny issue with riff #3.2...it's not the same both times! Painfully close, though.
The first time is what you wrote (31 beats), but the second time is 32 beats. The second time, they've "copied" the material of beat 3 and "pasted" it between beats 30 and 31.
And then they repeat beat 1 at the end to fill the 4/4 (31 + 32 + 1 = 64).
Perhaps this is actually what you meant, and I misunderstood it.
Anyway, another awesome thing about this unforgettable riff:
From beat 24 of #3.2 (the first time), through the repeat, up to and including beat 7...this IS the first 15 beats of #3.1. So cool. I'm sure you got that already...it was actually easier for me to notice because there ISN'T any guiding snare/crash on the pulse, hahaha.
I might try to tackle the "3s and 2s" in riff #10/#10.1 and see if I can find any patterns, groups, anything...but I feel doomed already.
Stellar work as always man \m/
Personally, i believe that rhythmical pieces like this, to understand it you must feel it, just that.
Saved to watch later, can't wait 🤘
You made it dude !
Eternal respect for that
I appreciate it!
Je n avais pas connaissance du Live donc j arrive en retard mais je tiens à dire que c est une belle initiative et une chance de partager avec toi !
Merci pour la communauté 😉
From Chat replay: "Yogev transcribes this on 102% (playback speed) just for the challenge" \,,/
Thanks for decoding this monstrosity of a song. I can finally play the damn thing(while looking at your notations)
You're a madman, Yogev!
Missed the stream, because, work. Catching it now 🤘
2:59
*Best video of this channel by far!* ❤
YOU'RE a MADMAN OMG!!!!
Oh, damn, missed the livestream.
And now I wish you made a separate video about gatis and possibly other stuff from indian music you find useful and impressive (the tihai videos were amazing, so you surely know how to make those).
Oh, danm, I've lost that opportunité while I've been jamed with my band....
Maybe something is encoded there? Like in Morse code, but some other way. It's possible to try grouping sequences, map them to an alphabet and compute distributions for the symbols comparing them to the known languages (at least English and Swedish). Unfortunately such small segments wouldn't be enough for frequency analisys.
There's a one-man band Cosyns which encodes religious messages in Morse code into their tracks.
Mad man...love it
When Catch 33 came out, I read an interview of Meshuggah and Tomas basically said: there's a lot of sequences that are programmed, or digitally duplicated. I think the same happened with "I" (recorded and released just before Catch 33). Patterns look like they were randomly put together, which can "easily" be done with a computer.
Yo, wtf. I went to watch Minecraft vids with my nephew, come back and see this. No regrets, wow.
very nice content thank you so much!
אתה המלך.
awesome, Thanks man!!!
This was insane! How do I get a hold of your notes please? 🙂
I tried the intro and right now my stamina is lacking, but I wont give up just yet. Its the intro that is the biggest problem, the rest is pretty playable :D
Insane
Спасибо за стрим.
Very nice work!
What songs are "meh" for you on Immutable? The two that are not among my favorites are The faultless and Armies of the ...
I agree on those 2, and tbh, and this may be controversial, I'm not totally in love with "God He Sees".
Am I gonna get scolded for saying that? maybe.
@@YogevGabay God he sees didn't move me at all on first listen but it's grown since.
@@OfficialArthusamakh Same same yeah
luar binasa
XDDD at "where's the "1"? The whole song is the "1".
Good stream, Yogev! I did the same thing you did on the r/Meshuggah subreddit, and seeing you doing the same gave me satisfaction and happiness. Godspeed!
I had posted a comment with a link to your post hoping Yogev would see it, but I don't see it anymore :/
I'm guessing it was automatically deleted because there was a link in it? Who knows...
Your transcription is insane man, Yogev's got competition :p
Ohhhh!!! show show meeeeeee
Weird?! maybe UA-cam deleted it? try sending it again
@@YogevGabay it's a post on the Meshuggah subreddit called "In honor of Mayshuggah, I remade my visualization of I"
@@ianismajoris Man that's so weird. There's no way to fix that? The posting thing
I missed the Live show =/ I can hear you lol. . Do not look down , I have 3 versions on my playlist . Hmm Matter of fact i need to listen to it now .
♥
OMG!
I mean... Frederik himself said the song is entirely random and they can't remember how to play it... Also the solos are fucking NUTS
yeaaah boiii
WoW!!!!
Great way to write a song. Mostly random, put together by a band that are also very good producers and know how to cut and paste without anyone noticing.. skillz
I think that 1st patterns was the guitar
Very similar to catch33, that make me think to repetitive music Steve Reich or Glass, artistic approach without compromise with money
what does this all mean?
is the answer 42?
what is the question?
How many roads must a man walk down.
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
Fuck yes.
We can hear
Why would you do this to yourself?
You did what you could Gabay, but no one truly knows how I goes.
Amen to that
Have you seen this? You HAVE to: ua-cam.com/video/VdaKe9_sTyE/v-deo.html. Fredrik’s genius behind all. And the good question is: why they chose to use DFH, if Thomas was recording all live? My guess - they have some difficulties while mastering or something like that. Anyway: great job, mister!
Are you ok?
Do I look ok ?
@@YogevGabay studly as always
that riff #1 sketch seems to be based on the actual paper the used: ua-cam.com/video/VdaKe9_sTyE/v-deo.html
i know they used The Drumkit From Hell for this record. no real drums were used, i believe due to time constraints and contractual obligations. they probably aren’t as familiar with how this one goes due to it only really needing to be done the one time, pressed then sold, never to be toured on. they have another song called “War” in which they did the same thing. i think catch 33 is similar as well in execution. they like playing around with our minds. i welcome it.
Actually, afaic drums in "I" was actually improvised by Haake during jam-sections with Thordendal and above his drum-track other instruments was layered and recorded.
@@user-se4yi1eo7r Yeah, I'm fairly sure drums in "I" are real. I think Catch 33 was their only album with programmed drums (except for the "War" song).
Yep. C33 was made with programmed drums, but it still follows the "standard" Meshuggah composition approach (repeating patterns). People do know how it goes, and the band plays some of it live (on the current tour, incidentally). 'I' is their only release which never follows that standard, which is a huge part of its appeal :-D
i actually got to see them perform some of Catch 33 live! they pretended as if their show was over but i could hear the backing guitar tracks from that record and very much to my delight the came back on, no fuss, and played half of that record. it was such a treat
@@IAmVictorFurious Wooooah that sure is a treat. Please tell me it was the second half? 😁
Ist