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Infinite Gangnam Style

static.echonest.com

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Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#61

Post by [deleted] »

stianan wrote: post #60
amplitwist wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, this is a fairly unusual song, in music theoretical terms. Almost all pop songs use the I, ii, IV, V, and VI chords, with popular progressions including I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and I-V-VI-IV. Since this is tonal music, it obviously includes the I chord. It does use only four chords, but they are uncommon. Most of the song uses the I chord (G major in this case), but during the buildup, it uses an surprising I-II-II…

I think I have to a disagree with your analysis. The verse is in a minor key judging by the looping riff. This is interrupted once in a while by a iv-v-i cadence, and then the verse continues. Then the build-up, which happens in the parallel key III: IV-V-VI-VI IV-V-III-III-III and then back to the minor key for the chorus.

[deleted]

Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#63

Post by arn »

kbutler wrote: post #59
lazerwalker wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's unique about Gangnam Style is that it's a cultural meme in America that isn't in English. It would be really interesting to see what sort of different sentiment this project would inspire if applied to a song where Americans could actually understand the lyrics and cultural references, or if it was shown to a South Korean audience.

que sera sera. c'est la vie. There are lots of cultural memes in America that aren't in English. You can restrict to "recent pop culture", but even in straight music, 99 luftballoons was big 25 years ago. I'm sure there are many other examples.

99 red balloons was translated to english. My admittedly-unreliable-recollection is that's the one that received most radio play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14IRDDnEPR4

Edit: I guess I'm wrong:

per wikipedia:

Having achieved widespread success in Europe and Japan, plans were made for the band to take the song international with an English version by Kevin McAlea, titled "99 Red Balloons". The English version is not a direct translation of the German and contains a somewhat different set of lyrics.[2] The later-released English translation, "99 Red Balloons," was the version that became popular outside of Germany and neighboring countries, with it topping the charts in Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland. Interestingly, it was the original German version that American audiences preferred, becoming the highest Billboard charting German song in US History, when it peaked at #2 in the US. [3]

Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#64

Post by cynicalkane »

amplitwist wrote: post #42
obiefernandez wrote: post #23

My 4 year old sat and watched and sung along with this in delight for about 30 minutes (when we turned it off, cause like, enough already...) Someone should analyze why this song is so catchy.

Actually, this is a fairly unusual song, in music theoretical terms. Almost all pop songs use the I, ii, IV, V, and VI chords, with popular progressions including I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and I-V-VI-IV. Since this is tonal music, it obviously includes the I chord. It does use only four chords, but they are uncommon. Most of the song uses the I chord (G major in this case), but during the buildup, it uses an surprising I-II-II…

You're close but not quite there. The build up is VI-natural VII-I-VI-natural VII-V7b9. So you have the chords right but the root note wrong.

The major I for the third chord is the really key piece of that chord progression. Shifting up and down chords by step is pretty common in pop music, but shifting into major I the first time then the flat 9 dominant the second time (especially with the natural 7 right before it!) is a powerful harmonic one-two punch.

I don't want to be 'that guy', but the other guy responding to you has it totally wrong. Try to plunk out chords on the piano with the music and see for yourself.

Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#67

Post by bbgm »

catshirt wrote: post #45
stdbrouw wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how Ableton Live works (and Renoise introduced a similar live view a while ago), although of course it doesn't take any random audio file but rather your own compositions, written in Ableton.

you can use any audio in Ableton. a big draw is it's time warping tools which makes it easy to manipulate songs like this. the real difference is Ableton doesn't have the ability to automatically chop the song into logical parts. Maschine can do this, but it doesn't automatically play subsequent parts based on properties on the current one.

Celemony Melodyne does some interesting things with audio as well. Ableton Live 9 has some nifty features where it converts Audio to Midi, which you can then assign to any other sound. Nifty

Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#69

Post by DanBC »

Sunlis wrote: post #49
Nux wrote: post #48

Seems like we're going back to "Built for Internet Explorer" days.

Why would you say that? The author said them self that this works best in Safari and Chrome. http://static.echonest.com/InfiniteGangnamStyle/faq.html

People used to build websites and tweak them for a particular browser. They'd use tags that only worked with one browser, or attributes that worked better with one browser than another.

They'd then stick a little graphic on the page saying "This site works best in [Browser name]"; often with a download link.

When Nux says "Seems like we're going back to "Built for Internet Explorer" days." I guess they're saying "It seems that we're going back to a time when people tweaked their websites to work with a particular browser, rather than concentrating on standards compliant code and cross browser compatibility".

Re: Infinite Gangnam Style

#70

Post by amplitwist »

cynicalkane wrote: post #64
amplitwist wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, this is a fairly unusual song, in music theoretical terms. Almost all pop songs use the I, ii, IV, V, and VI chords, with popular progressions including I-IV-V, ii-V-I, and I-V-VI-IV. Since this is tonal music, it obviously includes the I chord. It does use only four chords, but they are uncommon. Most of the song uses the I chord (G major in this case), but during the buildup, it uses an surprising I-II-II…

You're close but not quite there. The build up is VI-natural VII-I-VI-natural VII-V7b9. So you have the chords right but the root note wrong. The major I for the third chord is the really key piece of that chord progression. Shifting up and down chords by step is pretty common in pop music, but shifting into major I the first time then the flat 9 dominant the second time (especially with the natural 7 right before it…

Thanks for the reply; I was wondering what key that it shifted to, since everything sounded weird when I tried it. I just do this stuff by ear and guess the key, but I've never had any music theory training. How do you recognize the key once you have the chords?
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