DR on Music Theory Print

Dramma per musica

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dream pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Etymology and characteristics#

“Dreampop” was coined by Alex Ayuli of A.R. Kane to describe the duo’s sound in the late 1980s. Although distinct from shoegaze, both terms have sometimes been used interchangeably, and the style overlaps with much indie rock, indie pop and synth pop. According to Pitchfork editors, the term “was always more of a descriptor than a proper genre” and its defining features are “atmosphere, intimacy, a light coating of psychedelia, and, yes, dreaminess.” It is thought to relate to the listener’s “immersion” in the music. The AllMusic Guide to Electronica defines dream pop as “an atmospheric subgenre of alternative rock that relies on sonic textures as much as melody”. According to Paste staff, the genre emphasizes mood and sonics over lyrics, so that “chords and tracks blur seamlessly into one another so frequently that it can be difficult to even decipher when one song ended and another has begun.” Common characteristics are breathy vocals, guitar effects, and a densely produced sound, Effects such as reverb and echo are ubiquitous, with tremolo and chorus also heard on recordings to achieve the style’s “floaty, surreal, cloud-like haze”.

Dream trance

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

The key element of dream trance resides in catchy and deep melodies of such tracks, typically played on an acoustic instrument (piano, violin, saxophone, etc.) that are mastered and then sampled onto an electronic beat structure. The melodies are considered “dreamy”, i.e. tending to alter the listener’s mind, hence the name.

Origins#

The creation of dream trance was a response to social pressures in Italy during the early 1990s; the growth of rave culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of nightclub attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to car accidents as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called strage del sabato sera (“Saturday night slaughter”) in Italy, were being estimated at 2,000 since the start of the 1990s. “Children” by Robert Miles influenced by Gianni Parrini Album I Love the Dream Project, is one of the pioneering tracks of the genre and was created due to these accidents. The decision by DJs like Miles to end their sets with slower, more calming music—intended to offset the high-energy, repetitive tracks played earlier—was met with approval from both authorities and the parents of car crash victims.

Dreampunk

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Dreampunk emerged in the mid-2010s. Many early dreampunk artists drew influence from film scores, vaporwave, and drum and bass. Dreampunk originates from the debut of 2814, the ambient duo composed of Luke Laurila () and David Russo (Hong Kong Express). The name is derived from the word cyberpunk because of its frequent use of imagined metropolitan spaces in its sound design, evoking the experience of walking through a futuristic city.

Drill 'n' bass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

AllMusic referred to the genre as “a spastic form of breakbeat jungle that relied on powerful audio software and patient programming to warp old midtempo beats and breaks into a frenzied, experimental potpourri of low-attention-span electronic music.” Critic Simon Reynolds described it as “jungle by non-junglists for non-junglists,” stating that producers are “free to take the idiomatic features of jungle — fucked-up breakbeats, mutant bass, sampladelic collage —and exacerbate them away beyond any conceivable use-value to DJ or dancer.” Author Peter Shapiro called it “double-time drum ’n’ bass with impossible-to-dance-to rhythms and toilet humor.”

Drill music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lyrics#

Drill lyrics tend to be adversarial and aggressive, sometimes with a “combative energy”. Drill lyrics strongly contrast with the subject matter of earlier Chicago rappers and contemporary mainstream hip hop which at the time of drill’s emergence tended to glorify and celebrate a rise to wealth. Drill rappers use a grim, deadpan delivery, often filtered through Auto-Tune, influenced by the “stoned, aimless warbling of Soulja Boy (one of the earliest non-local Keef collaborators) and Lil Wayne before him.” Atlanta-based rappers Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame were important influences on the early drill rappers.

Drinking song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

English#

“99 Bottles of Beer”
“Barnacle Bill the Sailor”
“Barrett’s Privateers”
“The Barley Mow”
“Beer, Beer, Beer”
“California Drinking Song”
“Drunken Sailor”
“Engineers’ Drinking Song”
“Fathom the Bowl”
“Friends in Low Places”
“Good Ship Venus”
“Home for a Rest”
“I Used to Work in Chicago”
“If You’re Happy and You Know It”
“(I’ve Been Floating Down) The Old Green River”
“Lanigan’s Ball”
“Limericks”
“Little Brown Jug”
“Seven Drunken Nights”
“The Goddamned Dutch”
“The S&M Man”
“Walking Down Canal Street”
“Whiskey in the Jar”
“The Wild Rover”
“The Rattlin’ Bog”

Other#

“Bevilo tutto” (Italian song)
"" (Belarusian song)
“Ein Heller und ein Batzen”
“Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder”
“Helan går” (Swedish)
“Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata

Lieder#

Franz Schubert wrote several lieder (art songs) known as “Trinklied”: * 75, Cantata “Trinklied” ‘Freunde, sammelt euch im Kreise’ for bass, men’s choir and piano (1813) * D 148 (Op. posth. 131, No. 2), Cantata “Trinklied” ‘Brüder! unser Erdenwallen’ for tenor, men’s choir and piano (1815) * D 169, Chorus “Trinklied vor der Schlacht” ‘Schlacht, du brichst an!’ for double unison choir and piano (1815) * D 183, Cantata “Trinklied” ‘Ihr Freunde und du gold’ner Wein’ for voice, unison choir and piano (1815) * D 242, Trio “Trinklied im Winter” ‘Das Glas gefüllt!’ for two tenors and bass (1815, 1st setting; D deest is the 2nd setting, with a different title) * D 267, Quartet “Trinklied” ‘Auf! Jeder sei nun froh und sorgenfrei!’ for two tenors, two basses and piano (1815) * D 356, Quartet “Trinklied” ‘Funkelnd im Becher so helle, so hold’ for two tenors, two basses and piano (1816, fragment) * D 426, Trio “Trinklied (Herr Bacchus ist ein braver Mann)” ‘Herr Bacchus ist ein braver Mann’ for two tenors and bass (1816, lost) * D 427, Trio “Trinklied im Mai” ‘Bekränzet die Tonnen’ for two tenors and bass (1816) * D 847, Quartet “Trinklied aus dem 16. Jahrhundert” ‘Edit Nonna, edit Clerus’ for two tenors and two basses (1825) * D 888, Song “Trinklied” ‘Bacchus, feister Fürst des Weins’ for voice and piano (1826)

Drone metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Typically, the electric guitar is performed with a large amount of reverb or audio feedback while vocals may or may not be present. Songs often lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense and are typically very long. The experience of a drone metal performance has been compared by novelist John Wray in The New York Times to listening to an Indian raga in the middle of an earthquake. Wray also states, “It’s hard to imagine any music being heavier or, for that matter, very much slower.” A pioneer band of drone metal called Sunn O))) has indicated a kinship with sound sculpture. Jan Tumlir indicates a “sustained infra-sound rumble of sub-bass—so-called brown noise”.

Drone music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Forerunners#

In 1949, Nouveau Réalisme artist Yves Klein wrote The Monotone Symphony (formally The Monotone-Silence Symphony, conceived 1947–1948), a 40-minute orchestral piece that consisted of a single 20-minute sustained chord (followed by a 20-minute silence) —showcasing how the sound of one drone could make music.

Origins#

Composer La Monte Young is a pioneering figure in drone music. He described himself as fascinated from a young age by droning sounds, such as “the sound of the wind blowing”, the “60 cycle per second drone of step-down transformers on telephone poles”, the tanpura drone and the alap of Indian classical music, “certain static aspects of serialism, as in the Webern slow movement of the Symphony Opus 21”, and Japanese gagaku “which has sustained tones in it in the instruments such as the Sho”. Young started writing music incorporating sustained tones in 1957 with the middle section of For Brass, The group released nothing during their lifetime (although Young and Zazeela issued a collaborative LP in 1969, and in 1970 Young contributed one side of a flexi disc accompanying an issue of Aspen magazine ). The concerts themselves were influential on their own upon the art world including Karlheinz Stockhausen (whose Stimmung bears their influence most strikingly) and the drone-based minimalist works of dozens of other composers many of whom made parallel innovations including Young classmate Pauline Oliveros, or Éliane Radigue, Charlemagne Palestine, Yoshi Wada, Phill Niblock and many others. In 2000, La Monte Young wrote: " About the style of music that I originated, I believe that the sustained tone branch of minimalism, also known as ‘drone music’, is a fertile area for exploration."

Drum and bass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins (late 1980s – early 1990s)#

Drum and bass traces its roots to the UK rave scene and breakbeat hardcore of the late 1980s. Tracks such as Lennie De Ice’s We Are I.E. (1991) combined breakbeats with reggae-influenced basslines and are often cited as precursors to jungle and drum and bass. Early producers including 4hero, Doc Scott, LTJ Bukem, Goldie, and Grooverider began shaping the sound by stripping away elements of hardcore rave music and emphasising bass and complex drum patterns.

Drum cadence

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

*“How to Write a Drum Cadence”, wikiHow.com.

DR on Music Theory Print

Dramma per musica

See also#

Dream pop

Etymology and characteristics#

Dream trance

Definition#

Origins#

Dreampunk

History#

Drill 'n' bass

Characteristics#

Drill music

Lyrics#

Drinking song

English#

Other#

Lieder#

Drone metal

Characteristics#

Drone music

Forerunners#

Origins#

Drum and bass

Origins (late 1980s – early 1990s)#

Drum cadence

See also#

Further reading#

External links#