Riff Analysis 038 - Animals As Leaders "Arithmophobia"

[@ohhhrayos_esjulio3323]

Man I remember when this song came out, it literally felt like it was too much for my brain like I couldn't keep track or grasp onto anything that I could understand for at least the first 5 listens it was a very specific and unique occurance I had never experienced before and it's really cool to see why I was experiencing that at the time from a theory perspective :3

[@asherplatts6253]

5:50 "I would dolphin-ately say that these ways of hearing the beat are easier... 🐬"

[@manuelmoreira8575]

That chug riff slowed down gave me vibes of Snarky Puppy's "Lingus" bass and piano ostinato during the mythic Corey Henry solo! Anyone else?!

[@pacoside1092]

That's a weird way of looking at it, but interesting for sure! As a drummer and big Garstka fan, I'm pretty sure this was born as a drum thing and the guitar were composed on top. The "13, 13, 13, 11, 10" odd-grouping fest is just very very Garstka. I also know he can feel those things very anchored to the quarter note pulse.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

For sure! Definitely not trying to say that this is how they feel it-just trying to wrap my head around what happened for me as it got faster before I really learned it

[@jacobfletcher3922]

Virtuosos indeed! Another excellent breakdown. A music theory dummy like me could almost keep up, but I'll dolphinitely be adding a few more views trying to better comprehend

[@drewsmithbass]

Trioscapes represent 👌😩

[@boarderking133]

Wow that half time bit sounded like a completely different yet equally awesome song

[@jonathanjeffers8340]

Fantastic analysis man! This riff used to boggle my mind for years until I sat down to learn it. I couldn't even begin to explain what the actual rhythm is but I eventually just learned the groove by feel from many hours of practice. I appreciate the work you do!

[@EdenPorterMusic]

you'd have a field day with that most recent single of theirs, "Monomyth", really sick stretching of time to [...spoilers?] take a 12/8 pattern using 2- and 3-note units and transmute it into having 3 or 5 notes in those same units that's no longer isochronous, and THEN rectify the tempo of those units into a new isochronous tempo. (or, in other words, they create an inconsistent tactus on top of an unchanged pulse, then make the tactus consistent and change the pulse to follow.)

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Been really digging it but haven't looked into it, excited to though! AAL is another band (like Meshuggah, Defeated Sanity, BTBAM, a few others) where I could easily make a full video about every single riff they've ever written and have something new and cool to talk about

[@BNettleNutz772]

Music

[@thekellykellestine]

I was out of town for field work this week, but I was very happy to see this video when I got home today.

[@eyesforeternity]

Mom, can we have Rick Beato - What Makes This Song Great? Mom: No we have what makes this song great at home What makes this song great at home: "Look At A Difficult Groove And See What Makes It Difficult"

[@DarrenMcStravick]

Is that an insult?? This dude is awesome, tf are you talking about

[@AlexTechNicol]

Handsome? Young? Stop making me blush. Great video dude 🤘

[@humbledb4jesus]

watching your videos is like watching michael penn math videos... i have enough education to know what you're talking about but enough wisdom to know i have no idea what you are doing with it...

[@GabrielGuzmanMM3]

damn, great job with this video! love the different interpretations you show us for these wacky riffs

[@stephenweigel]

Wow this is a fantastic analysis! You do great work on this channel

[@cmloegcmluin]

I see you Stephen! Yes this channel is amazing

[@fadingdimension]

Dolphinately a great video.

[@kakz1466]

Hey! Your content is honestly so cool. I’m wondering if you are able to explain “future breed machine” by Meshuggah, especially the part at 0:52.

[@darlyngton_nyc]

Listening to the song yesterday and thought "he has to make a video for this" Wish came true🤑

[@terran236]

keep it up! love this analysis.

[@nuke97]

Happy day a new video! Just got the notification today though.

[@ckokomo808]

Gnarly outro music 🤘🏽

[@metalmusictheory5401]

haha thank you I have fun with those

[@Justin-ax]

Wonderful... Thank you for this!!

[@Warp_Head]

I still haven't figured out the subliminal message you're sending with that shapeshifting bookpile, but I bet it's something sinister and nerdy.

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Haha I wish there was any reasoning behind it-just wait until I start filming in front of my actual book case in NYC

[@gikigiio]

My family said hi to you too!

[@vaporreads5095]

Cool books. Borges, Marquez, Herbert, Dostoevsky. the gangs all there!

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Good eye!

[@andrewmichael2406]

Fear of numbers

[@castilejo]

Hey man awesome video as usual. I would like to ask u if you could do a breakdown of Beyond Bludgeoned of Brain Drill. Just for the memes.

[@patriciapandacoon7162]

here to feed the algorithm demons

[@AdrienRako]

This is insance content, thank you.

[@UnrelentingAssault]

Mom said hi.

[@nwinches]

dolphinitely next level offbeats.

[@fooldeth]

Sick Trioscapes shirt

[@RobertStange-qh7bu]

Can I ask about the books on the shelf?

[@jason1888]

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

[@metalmusictheory5401]

I sure am!

[@jason1888]

Lol

[@sergioboccia6020]

Hi. Are you into armwrestling?

[@bigziggy9017]

I know you’ve covered them already but you should check out the grooves on Vildhjartas new album. Worth covering imo

[@metalmusictheory5401]

Really digging the album so far!

[@1serious0mfr]

How did they write this

[@TheSquareOnes]

Probably by starting with the angular riff, calculating where they would need to land back on 1 after a few bars of 4/4 and then adding the slower pattern on top. It doesn't seem that much more difficult to come up with than any other djenty riff, the real difficulty probably came in when it was time to actually learn to play the ridiculousness they just wrote in time with one another (although given the band, that might not have been too challenging either in the grand scheme of things). In a post-computer world it's actually surprisingly easy to come up with some really mathy, complex music in very little time. Once you understand the basic theory behind it you can often just throw numbers at the screen and get a quick sense of whether or not it will sound cool enough to invest the time learning to perform it.

[@basedtrucker]

I love you 😍

[@RedWhiteNBlade]

WoOOw tabs without the frets transcribed... this dude mustve gone to college

[@Cestariarts]

I just don't like this song at all, never really caught me in any way