I’ve transcribed the first twenty-nine bars (not counting repeats) of Zomby’s ‘Kaliko’ to use a case study and detailed musical example here for a number of reasons. The Zomby EP features some of the best examples of metrical ‘wonkitude’, but the wilder Zomby tracks like ‘Gloop’ and ‘Aquafre5h’ are horrifically difficult to transcribe. That said, ‘Kaliko’ is one of my favourite Zomby tracks because of its unusual and oddly compelling textures and weird formal structure.
‘Kaliko’ is a remarkably complex, sophisticated piece of music. It can be read as an essay in the duple-vs-triple metrical tension of dub, and as such it thoroughly deserves to be considered ‘hyperdub’ after the record label it was put out on. The kaleidoscopic play of constantly rolling textures in expanded tonality reminds me of nineteenth- and twentieth-century étudesor studies, especially those composed by avant-gardist György Ligeti. It can also draw comparison with the work of Ives and Carter, central African polyphony, experimental gamelan and most especially the early modernist polyrhythms and cascade-like figures of Stravinsky in works like The Rite of Spring.
The main texture of ‘Kaliko’, established at bar 22, is actually a patchwork of slightly different heterophonically polyrhythmic textures built from different rhythmic/metric manifestations of the upward cascade figure, shifting slowly with rhythmic diminution and augmentation, accompanied by an array of complex polyrhythmic drumloops big enough for a whole Flying Lotus record. To return to the race metaphor, there are three competitors by bar 28 (a moment which was prepared for by thickening square 1’s texture to two semi-imitative parts, something that looks like it was written by Scriabin, at bar 24): the two squares and the bass, with the metrically shape-shifting percussion and the saw which dominated at the beginning just presiding with the odd typical D sharp interjection. These kaleidoscopic, perpetuum mobile textures create a fantastic sense of momentum that is (I believe) unique in dubstep. To try another metaphor, it’s like various sets of overlaid spinning wheels and polygons of different sizes and shapes in the mind’s eye.
Read the full article @ http://rougesfoam.blogspot.com/2009/06/loving-wonky.html
Respect to Rouge's Foam.